The 2014-2015 school year just started Tuesday for students in the Northwest Independent School District, but already school leaders are looking to the coming years as big growth numbers are projected.
On Monday night, the eve of the new academic year, the NISD School Board received its latest demographic and growth report from Templeton Demographics.
District Communications Director Emily Conklin said that included some big enrollment outlooks for Northwest with growth expected to reach 25,200 students by 2018 and more than 32,000 by 2023.
In this year alone the district said enrollment surpassed the 20,000 student mark, making it the second-fastest growing in the DFW area.
To compensate for the big numbers the NISD is planning to open its third full high school next year off U.S. Highway 287 and Blue Mound Road near Haslet.
V.R. Eaton High School, as it will be called, is already well into construction, and leaders hope to actually start moving into the school sometime in the spring semester.
Carri Eddy, who has been named principal at Eaton, said the new campus is just one of many they are working on to address the district growth pattern.
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"A year after Eaton opens we're looking at adding another middle school, and then we'll continue to build the neighborhood schools," said Eddy.
Dennis McCreary, assistant superintendent for facilities, planning and construction, said the current construction has been in the planning phase since 2009, as they've had a large growth outlook for some time.
"To make sure that we're prepared for the growth and lots of visioning, so not just thinking about today but also thinking about tomorrow and where the growth will be," said Eddy.
The new high school, with a construction cost of about $92 million, will be three floors with state-of-the-art green technology implemented, including a geothermal heating and air system.
The district has brought the community in heavily on the planning for the new building with future students most recently selecting things like the color scheme and mascot: the Eagles.
Eventually, Conklin said the plan is to make the Haslet-area campus a super-campus like their location in Justin, featuring an elementary, middle and high school, as well as support buildings.
Since 2000, the Northwest ISD has grown from a little over 5,000 students, more than doubling in the last decade alone, according to the district's website.
The district spans 234 square miles and services 14 communities in three counties with two current high schools, an accelerated high school, five middle schools and 17 elementary schools.
This will be the first school year in about a decade they haven't added a new building as they take on the big high school building scheduled to open in August 2015.
