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Steel structures make up the future Joey Rodriguez Junior High School in east Arlington on Sept. 3, 2024. With an expected opening date in fall 2025, the school will replace Carter Junior High School. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)
” data-medium-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/AISD-Bond-update-1-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/AISD-Bond-update-1-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button”>The cafeterias in elementary schools saw it first.One by one, Arlington ISD students at each campus started eating their lunches on new, polished tabletops.The new cafeteria tables then appeared across the district’s 10 junior high campuses, and they’re now rolling out across the district’s high schools.The tables are funded by the district’s $966 million bond package that Arlington ISD voters approved in 2019. To Kelly Horn, the district’s assistant superintendent of facility services, the lunchroom improvements represent the meaningful, but often unnoticed, improvement projects that bonds facilitate.The cafeteria tables come as the district moves into the final years of the bond’s projects, which include new stadiums, bigger kitchens and renovated restrooms.The district currently has about 45 active projects, Horn told trustees at an Aug. 15 school board meeting. How is funding split between phases?

The 2019 bond’s facility improvements saw the most expensive projects in phase one.

Phase one: $283.1 million

Phase two: $168.5 million

Phase three: $175.2 million

Phase four: $62.4 millionPhase five: $163.5 millionThat number will increase as Arlington ISD enters phases four and five, which Horn said will be the busiest season of the bond. Earlier phases see fewer, bigger projects — such as new playgrounds districtwide and the rebuilding of several elementary campuses — whereas the last two phases are filled with smaller-scale improvements.In the final phases of the district’s 2014 bond program, nearly 160 projects were worked on at once, Horn said.“That’s kind of where we’re about to begin to be,” he said. On the district’s first day of school Aug. 14, several elementary schools opened to new carpet, ceilings and lights, according to a district blog post.Martin High School, which enrolled 3,670 students in 2023-24, saw renovations to its orchestra and choir rooms completed. Crews also poured a concrete slab for an additional band hall.At Bailey Junior High, which has operated partly from portable buildings during construction, students started the school year walking through a new entrance, eating in an expanded cafeteria and sitting in 10 new classrooms, Horn said. Last year, the central Arlington school enrolled 764 students.School renovations will continue through the school yearAt Arlington High School, construction crews will spend the fall finishing the Fine Arts and Dual Language Academy. The building includes a new library and band hall for the campus’s roughly 2,500 students. The addition is expected to open in January 2025 after winter break.Sam Houston High School’s approximately 3,000 students will see a new library built this fall, and northwest Arlington’s Duff Elementary will open its wholly renovated gym and library by December, Horn said.In east Arlington, at the former site of Knox Elementary School, steel structures are going up for the future Joey Rodriguez Junior High School — a replacement for Carter Junior High School. The new school is expected to open in fall 2025.The approximately 155,000-square-foot campus will include 48 classroom spaces and reflect the district’s investments in collaboration spaces, performing arts classrooms and special education programs.Arlington ISD’s investments in athletic infrastructureThe bond funds the renovation of Martin High School’s existing practice field, Glaspie Field, building it into the district’s third varsity competition field, which can hold sports like football, track and soccer. The stadium is eyeing completion by the end of 2024, and Martin will share it with Seguin High School.Arlington ISD needs three varsity competition stadiums for its six high schools, according to the district’s website. The district used to rent Maverick Stadium from the University of Texas at Arlington, but now will have a replacement with Glaspie Field.Construction materials litter Glaspie Field as it’s converted into the district’s third varsity competition field on Sept. 3, 2024, in Arlington. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)The district’s two existing varsity competition stadiums, Cravens and Wilemon fields, are also seeing renovations and improvements with designs in the final stages, Horn said. Arlington High School recently opened its new competitive softball field, which was renovated from a practice field. Five other softball fields across district high schools will see similar treatment.All six of the district’s high schools are seeing additional improvements to their athletic facilities, including field turf and track replacements, gymnasium improvements and new lockers. Drew Shaw is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601. At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.