Prosper Independent School District officials rang in the construction of the district’s fourth high school last week with a ground-breaking ceremony.
Speaking on August 4 at the event on Prairie Drive, Superintendent Holly Ferguson told the crowd how excited she was to achieve this milestone.
“Here we are at yet another monumental moment in our great district,” Ferguson said, according to Community Impact. “How very blessed and fortunate we are to build the most amazing facilities for our students to learn.”
Richland High School is being built in response to an unprecedented surge in student enrollment numbers, which currently stand at over 28,000 students.
While it isn’t slated to open for another two years, Walnut Grove High School — the district’s third high school — will welcome students for its inaugural year this month.
A video from Prosper ISD shows some of the construction projects in the pipeline as of July.
It features Walnut Grove, Richland, and other campuses expected to open this month, such as Brenda Calhoun Early Childhood School and Dan Christie Elementary, as well as a fifth middle school slated for August 2024, Daniel L. Jones Middle School.
The video shows Richland High School at the end as an empty lot.
When it’s finished, the school will stand two stories high and feature special zones for career and technical education classes, a central library, a 1,000-seat auditorium, and a 2,200-seat arena.
While the main building will span 530,000 square feet, a separate 75,000-square-foot multipurpose building will also be erected on campus.
“The construction of this new high school demonstrates Prosper ISD’s commitment to providing outstanding educational opportunities for its students and fostering their growth in academic and various career areas,” Ferguson said during the ground-breaking ceremony, per Community Impact. “We build the best because our students deserve the best, and our community expects the best.”
Frisco ISD has also launched several initiatives to build new school campuses in response to surging numbers of students.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, Richard Wilkinson Middle School and Shana K. Wortham Intermediate School were added to its roster for a total of 77 campuses this month.
While districts like Prosper and Frisco have been experiencing surges in student enrollment, Dallas ISD has been losing students for years.
This has been in part due to Dallas ISD’s poor student achievement outcomes. STAAR exams for the 2021-2022 school year showed that 41% of its students scored at grade level, significantly below the 48% statewide average.
By comparison, Frisco ISD has been one of the better-performing districts in North Texas, with 74% of students scoring at grade level on their STAAR exams that year. Prosper ISD saw slightly lower results, with 66% of students achieving at grade level or above.
