New WFISD high schools pass halfway point on construction

Wichita Falls ISD's two new high schools are more than halfway complete, according to Dr. Donny Lee, WFISD superintendent.

Wichita Falls Memorial High School and Wichita Falls Legacy High School are slated to receive students for the 2024-2025 school year and are on pace to be built on schedule.

At Legacy High School, lighting and tile installation are ongoing. Additionally, crews are working to pour the new parking lots, but most of the work being done is in the interior of the building.

Lee said he estimates the schools are roughly 55% to 60% finished, and the process of building the schools has stayed on track despite a handful of weather delays.

“When we backwards planned, we thought about, 'When would these buildings open?' Memorial was scheduled to open in March, Legacy’s scheduled to open April, early May, and they’re still on schedule to do that even with a little bit of rain and snow and ice that we’ve had. So on schedule, on pace, on budget,” Lee said.

The substantial completion dates, which are the days planned for construction to be completed and for the district to have access, are Feb. 19 for Memorial and May 22 for Legacy.

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Students will arrive for school in August, but there will be multiple open house events prior to the start of the school year for students, parents and community members to take in the new facilities.

Another milestone at Memorial High School, which is slightly ahead of Legacy, was the completion of the school’s storm shelter. Some classrooms have even had marker boards put in, signaling the completion or near completion of some areas.

The work at Memorial has also advanced more on the exterior with the building’s columns and brick veneer progressing.

One recent hurdle for WFISD has been working with the Texas Department of Transportation to ensure the layout of roads and traffic lights around the new schools are adequate to handle the number of students, faculty and staff the schools will hold.

Lee said TXDOT is just one of several organizations the district is working with, including the city of Wichita Falls, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, and gas and electric companies.

"This is a multifaceted collaboration of people all working together for a common goal,” he said.

Despite the number of entities involved, progress has stayed on track with projected goals.

David Potter, the contract-phase administration architect and president of DP4 Consult, told the school board July 11 that construction crews working on the project, “have yet to ask for days that extend the contractual date they’ve gotten, so we’re pleased about that.”

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Lee added that there have been few issues to slow construction, allowing the school district to keep the project on pace.

“From the construction point, we haven’t had serious challenges in relation to anything other than weather’s slowed down a little bit. The materials have come. We haven’t run into any issues with those things as well," he said.

As for manpower on the ground, there have been 250 people at each site, Lee said.

"So right now, I hate to say it out loud, we haven’t run across significant challenges out there at this point. Things are going really, really well,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: WFISD high schools' construction on pace