A growing charter school in Irving celebrated a major expansion Friday of its upper school.
Great Hearts in Irving completed a new 61,000-square foot building that will add 23 classrooms, a gymnasium with a weight room and locker rooms, and a performing arts wing. It will also add two multipurpose rooms with catering kitchens and office space for faculty.
A tuition-free charter school, Great Hearts opened its Irving campus in 2015 to serve kindergarten through 12th grade. It operates 10 brick-and-mortar campuses in North Texas and San Antonio, with enrollment exceeding 10,000 students, as well as schools in Arizona.
Great Hearts said in a news release that the campus expansion is evidence of the growing demand for a liberal arts curriculum that incorporates advanced math and science.
Currently, more than 6,370 students are on the waitlist for Great Hearts schools, according to the release. In Irving, more than 1,700 students are on the waitlist, roughly the same number enrolled.
Last year, Brendan Miniter, an editor at The Dallas Morning News, was named Texas superintendent of Great Heart schools.
