EPISD Facilities Advisory Committee faced with major tasks

The El Paso Independent School District could be calling for a bond election in November.

Although there is still a lot to be considered the district’s facilities advisory committee is studying how they could improve issues when it comes to outdated buildings.

It could mean consolidations and possibly new campuses.

The process of calling for a bond is still in the early stages. The district may not even call for a bond.

The ideas presented to the facilities advisory committee are only considerations but the district says they are making efforts to streamline their facilities.

“We recognize that these 80 citizens that are helping us have a big task at hand,” said Gustavo Reveles, EPISD spokesman.

Reveles is talking about this facilities advisory committee. The committee is made up of parents-grandparents, members of the military and even students.

“They are doing a lot of work and spending a lot of hours looking through information, vetting some of the information that’s being given to them and they are going to be making some decisions that are going to be hard,” Reveles said.

The committee recently toured the districts facilities to see how or what the district could improve on. Perhaps one of the hardest tasks at hand would be considering school consolidations.

Right now in the early stages some schools could be lined up for major changes.

Clardy Elementary School, a 62-year-old school that the district says is only 78 percent utilized could be consolidated with Henderson Middle School but the school could eventually be turned into a state of the art facility.

The 62-year-old Bonham Elementary School could be consolidated with MacArthur Elementary School and that campus could be turned into a state of the art facility as well.

Also, Jefferson High School could be turned into what the district calls a “urban learning environment.”

And for those worried too many students might be packed into one school:

“That doesn’t mean larger class sizes it actually means the opposite because you have more resources you can actually maintain a smaller class size,” said Melissa Martinez, EPISD spokesperson.

And with all the possible shifts will buildings be left empty?

“The school district has made an effort to come up with a plan that would partner up with the city for example to offer those buildings as potential community centers or to other entities that could provide social services or neighborhood services,” Reveles said.

The facilities advisory committee has until Aug. 10 to present the board with their recommendations.