Lampasas ISD dedicates 'awesome' high school
Posted On: Tuesday, Sep. 22 2009 05:17 AM
By Jackie Stone
Killeen Daily HeraldLAMPASAS – The new high school up on the hill has been holding classes for close to a month, but it wasn't officially welcomed into the community until Monday.
Lampasas Independent School District officials, students, builders and the taxpayers who paid for the shining new facility attended the dedication of Lampasas High School Monday night.
"On behalf of the students and the staff, it's my privilege to say thank you for a job well done – but really what we're thinking is 'This place is awesome,'" Principal Mark Kehoe said.
"We have great science labs, they're awesome," he said. "We have a beautiful library with a great view, it's awesome. We have two gyms where you can stand here and watch two games at the same time instead of walking through the mud in the dark to see the other one, it's awesome."
Superintendent Randy Hoyer and school board President James Briggs handed out thanks to many in the audience, from school board members and county officials who were involved with the project to Charles Pence, who donated the 88-acre plot of land the school sits on.
They also made a point of thanking the taxpayers for approving the school bond and the 41-cent tax increase that went with it in 2007.
"This is a property-poor district and it was quite a sacrifice on their part, but they cared more about the kids in this district than they did about their pocketbooks or themselves," Briggs said.
The new Lampasas High School used about $39 million of the bond, said Shane Jones, LISD's business manager.
The old high school had a maximum capacity of 700 students, and couldn't support the current class of roughly 1,100 students, Jones said. The new campus has a capacity of 1,600.
The old high school building was renovated and now serves as Lampasas Middle School.
Jones said the new high school takes up two-thirds of the 88-acres available for it. The extra land could be used in the future, possibly for agricultural classes or other facilities.
After the ceremony, members of the high school's drill team led anyone who was interested on a tour of the roughly 235,000-square-foot building.
"The Flames will be positioned throughout the school to point you in the right direction if you get lost. We still have some freshman that are lost, so we'll understand," Hoyer said.