New Eco-Friendly High School Tops List of Recent District Achievements
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After much planning and effort, the Boerne Independent School District moved into new territory when it opened the Boerne – Samuel V. Champion High School in August 2008.
Not only is the new school a cutting-edge, environmentally friendly facility, when the under-renovation Boerne High School reopens in fall 2009 it’ll mark the first time the district has operated two high schools.
The new school, as well as renovations and improvements at the ISD’s other facilities, all stem from a voter-approved bond issue in 2004. The district also will be doing some grade-level restructuring, moving 9th-graders to the high school, rather than the middle school, once both high schools are prepared for classes.
ISD staff, including Superintendent John P. Kelly and Don Tillis, facilities director, has been hard at work making presentations around the community so everyone knows what’s coming.
“Of key importance for the Boerne ISD was to be as cost efficient with the taxpayers’ bond funds as possible while constructing a state-of-the-art high school facility and renovating the current high school,” Tillis says.
In particular, the community information sessions have centered on the new high school, which features a unique rainwater harvesting system among its many eco-friendly design aspects. The system is designed to collect and gather more than 1 million gallons of surface runoff, roof runoff and condensation from air-conditioning systems. It can store more than 250,000 gallons of that water, and according to district officials is the first of its kind in Texas. It’s easy to see, too; an elevated storage tank is prominently featured in the school’s design, although the larger tanks are underground and invisible.
In addition to the rainwater harvesting system, Champion High’s construction also incorporated other green elements that include recycled limestone in the building foundations, landscaping mulch produced from trees that were removed from the site, dark-sky lighting for athletic and exterior illumination, and Energy Star equipment for all mechanical systems.
The changes at the high-school level are only the beginning. Tillis says once funds become available, other improvements in the district will include major campus renovations at Curington, Fabra and Fair Oaks Ranch elementary schools; a new gymnasium at Boerne Middle School North, a new gymnasium at Boerne High, an entirely new elementary school and security improvements throughout all schools. While these plans are on the drawing board, they represent the large-scale planning and innovative thinking that’s made Boerne’s schools some of the best in the area. And people are definitely noticing.
“Boerne ISD, for the first time in its history, has become a two-high-school community, which is directly related to the current level of growth as well as continued growth in the Hill Country,” Tillis says. “The Boerne ISD continues to be one of the top-performing districts in the San Antonio area, and as a result many families move to the Boerne area primarily for the school district.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Jesse Knish
