The McKinney ISD Board of Trustees approved putting out a request for qualification looking for an architectural firm who could produce drawings for a potential new elementary school that could open for the 2023-24 school year.
In a presentation to the board Tuesday, MISD Executive Director of Facilities Services and Construction Greg Suttle said demographics indicate the time is right to start planning to open a new elementary school in the northern part of the city.
“In our last projection, it looks like our schools in the north are becoming over capacity. Due to projected growth, it looks like for fall of 2023 we would need another elementary school,” Suttle said.
He proposed beginning the process in order to get drawings completed by an architectural firm. By putting out the request for qualifications a firm could be picked by the board as early as January, said Suttle.
From there, documents could be ready in August 2021 with construction potentially starting a month later and concluding in May of 2023, he said.
If growth slows, potentially due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, or the bond package isn’t approved, Suttle noted they simply could put the architectural drawings in a drawer and utilize the same plans later on.
“We know the north is growing, there’s developments up there, people are moving in, so worst-case scenario fall of 24,” he said. “The only way to be ready for fall of 23 is to start now.”
Plans used for previous elementary schools would need updating, Suttle said, since it’s been a decade since MISD last built an elementary school and there have been technological advancements and chances to code in the interim.
The measure was approved as part of the consent agenda, which passed unanimously.
