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Aledo ISD

Aledo ISD: District announces land acquisitions

Cites partnerships, planning with local government entities

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Through partnerships and planning together for the fast-growth within the Aledo ISD boundaries, AISD - with the help of the City of Willow Park and the Parker County Emergency Services District 1 - announced two sites that have been secured for building future schools in the district. 

Aledo ISD recently closed on 40 acres from the Beggs Ranch, within the ETJ of the City of Willow Park on the north side of Interstate 20 with access from Ranch House Road; this land was acquired via a sewer easement swap. With property access points along Ranch House Road, Aledo ISD said it will work with the City of Willow Park to ensure - just as has been done with prior campuses - that pickup and drop off traffic safely queues around the campus. 

“We are excited to work with Aledo ISD on a school site for Willow Park,” said Willow Park Mayor Doyle Moss. “It is a testament to the leadership of our city and our community that so many people are willing to sit down together and plan for our growth.”

Aledo ISD also received a donation of a 12-acre elementary school site near Kelly Road and Bear Creek Road in Kelly Ranch Estates that will be adjacent to a property that will house a new Parker County Emergency Services District fire station. There are eight fire stations and 28 full-time firefighters on duty spread across the entire Parker County ESD, and this new site will help with future growth.

“Where the ESD builds its next fire station will be dictated by growth, but we’re being proactive in acquiring land so we are ready to expand our public safety services as we grow,” PCESD1 Chief Stephen Watson said. “As we have seen recent rapid growth in the southeast part of the county, this site will most certainly benefit many residents as well as solidify our connection to Aledo ISD.”

ESD Station 34 sits across the street from Aledo High School-Daniel Ninth Grade Campus on Bailey Ranch Road, and Station 37 is on Thunderhead Lane about ½ mile south of Stuard Elementary School. 

These important relationships between Aledo ISD and local cities, developers and the local emergency services district (ESD) have been forged through many years of working together for the benefit of Eastern Parker County, specifically its students and the Bearcat community. Because of this work, Aledo ISD has been able to complete these two transactions with no impact on the budgeted amount of money for land in the 2023 Aledo ISD Bond. 

 “With rising prices and rapid development within the 130 square miles of Aledo ISD as well as the desirability of moving to our area, land acquisition is a high priority as we look to our future,” Aledo ISD Superintendent Dr. Susan Bohn said. “We are grateful for the Aledo Growth Committee’s foresight and thoughtfulness to include funding for land in the Aledo Bond 2023 proposal, for our community’s support of the bond proposal, and for the continued dialogue with our local stakeholders and their understanding of the importance of keeping our school district thriving and growing greatness.”

Although sites are being acquired by Aledo ISD, there is no determination being made about the timing or location of the next AISD campus, whether it be an elementary, middle or high school. Having these sites will allow the district flexibility to accommodate growth, and the timing, location and type of school will be recommended by a future citizen-led bond committee after they look at projections for enrollment, demographics, bonding capacity, infrastructure and more. However, the district has been more aggressive in pursuing land for future use in anticipation of future growth.

“It has taken years of relationship building and continuous communication with our local community leaders and developers to work in partnership for land donations to Aledo ISD,” Aledo ISD Board of Trustees President Forrest Collins said. “Many of the families who move into these developments move here to become Aledo ISD Bearcats, and we are grateful for how these developers work with us to build up our community’s education infrastructure.”

Since the district’s most recent land transactions have been donations or swap agreements, the district still has $14.9 million of the original $17.8 million in bond funds to utilize for future sites.

In 2022-2023, the citizen-led Aledo Growth Committee proposed the 2023 Bond program to Aledo ISD Trustees and also put together a long-term growth plan that included projections for timing for additional Aledo ISD elementary and middle schools as well additional high school space, whether that be in the form of a traditional high school or a college and career academy. In the last couple of years, Aledo ISD acquired two pieces of property that could serve as sites for a traditional high school and a college career academy.

Any new school construction would begin only after a newly-formed citizen-led growth committee convenes and recommends a bond proposal to Trustees and the community, followed by a successful bond election for the district.

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