Construction on Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD’s fourth comprehensive high school is moving fast, according to district officials.
The school board received an update on the progress of Eagle Mountain High School in far north Fort Worth during their Oct. 23 board meeting. The campus is scheduled to open for the start of the 2024-25 school year.
“It is progressing, and it is on schedule. It’s fast and furious,” Chief Operations Officer Clete Welch told trustees.
A $524.7 million bond that voters approved in 2017 is funding construction. Initial estimates showed Eagle Mountain High, 3507 Bonds Ranch Road, costing about $200 million.
However, construction costs increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing inflation, according to the district. The current cost for the school is more than $271 million, a district spokesperson said.
Administrators axed its planned replacement of Wayside Middle School in the 2017 bond to fund Eagle Mountain High School.
The replacement campus for Wayside Middle School is proposed in the $659.1 million bond voters are considering in the Nov. 7 election.
Eagle Mountain High’s administration wing will likely be one of the first completed parts of the high school, Welch said. Interior lights, ceilings and other fixtures are being installed.
“When you’re looking at administration, you’re starting to see a finished product. It’ll slowly progress toward the academic area of classrooms,” Welch said.
Eagle Mountain High’s gym still needs a roof, officials said. Large steel beams are being installed.
“They’ll keep moving very quickly like that,” Welch said.
When completed, the 636,000-square-foot Eagle Mountain High School will be the district’s largest, according to VLK Architects, a firm with an office in Fort Worth that designed the campus.
The school’s design incorporates natural light and features panoramic views of the surrounding landscape. A sky bridge connecting academic wings, outdoor dining areas, fine arts spaces and athletics will have a view of a natural pond and creek on the school’s property.
A dock at the pond will allow it to be incorporated into science lessons. And art classrooms will have access to a covered outdoor deck.
Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD’s other comprehensive high schools are Chisholm Trail, Boswell and Saginaw.
Jacob Sanchez is an enterprise journalist for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or via Twitter. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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