Dallas ISD to decide in 2 weeks whether to renovate tornado damaged campus or build new school
DALLAS - Dallas ISD will need to decide two weeks from Thursday whether to rebuild or simply renovate Thomas Jefferson High School, which was severely damaged by the October tornado.
That means the district will have to move forward without knowing if voters decide to approve a bond in November.
The Dallas ISD School Board now has two weeks to decide whether or not to spend an additional $65 million to start fresh with a new Thomas Jefferson HS, or save the money and renovate.
“If we don’t decide in two weeks, we’re talking about 2023. Apologize for intensity, sort of,” Dallas ISD Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa said.
Less than 90 days after a tornado ripped apart three Dallas ISD schools, the district already has images of how new schools could look.
The district is planning to use one of the country’s largest K-12 contractors, which is building another campus in West Dallas.
“If we don’t approve contractor, they can’t deliver on this timeline,” Dr. Hinojosa said.
The district is not doing a request for proposals because of the emergency timeline to get schools back for 3,000 students at the start of the 2022 school year.
“The students and families are very grateful, but they want to be back in their community,” Dallas ISD Trustee Dr. Edwin Flores said.
Option one is to renovate Thomas Jefferson HS for $82 million, while option two is to start from scratch for $147 million.
“The only reason I prefer option one is it is less money I have to raise. Option two is easier if you wiped everything out and rebuilt,” Dr. Hinojosa said.
But it will ultimately be up to trustees to decide, in just two weeks. Hinojosa said the district does have the money to rebuild Thomas Jefferson HS using its nearly $600 million rainy day fund.
“What happens if a bond doesn’t pass? We could still pull this off. But only backup plan is the fund balance,” he added.
And plans are moving ahead to combine Walnut Hill Elementary with Carey Middle School near Thomas Jefferson in a Pre K-12 model.
“We’ve really fallen in love with this idea to have an upper campus and lower campus, K-12 on one site. If that’s not something you love, you need to let us know immediately,” Hinojosa said.
Carey MS is a total loss, so it will be knocked down.
Walnut Hill Elementary is set to be turned into a career institute at $80 million if it is rebuilt from the ground up.
And the superintendent said that decision will be based on whether voters approve a bond in 2020.
Insurance is only covering $65 million of the at least $192 million tab for the three schools.