The answer of “when” is a little hard to define — it takes a combination of enrollment/growth and need for space, available bonding capacity, and the community backing this decision with a bond election.
During about a 10–year span starting in 2013, growth was so significant that it necessitated three successful bond elections (2015, 2019, 2023) during that time. With the economy and therefore growth slowing in Aledo ISD over the last two years, the district has been given the gift of time to breathe — to explore possibilities, to envision and prioritize what additional high school space may look like to serve our future Bearcats best, and, ultimately, to plan without a deadline.
This work is being done through the 2025 Aledo Growth Committee, and they are seeking public input and feedback at a Community Meeting from 6-7:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 27, at the Daniel Ninth Grade cafeteria.
“The 2023 Aledo Growth Committee that formed the 2023 Bond and also a long-range plan for growth was spot on in deciding that additional high school space was not needed at the time of that bond election,” Board President Forrest Collins said. “They studied enrollment, bonding capacity, growth, existing learning space and more, and they determined in 2023 to table the discussion on additional high school space and prioritize the need for space at the elementary level.
“We’ve reconvened most of that group now and added a handful of new members to focus solely on visioning and priorities for future high school facilities,” Collins said. “New or additional high school space is still not needed in the immediate future, but we know that could change if our rate of growth increases again.”
The 2025 AGC is led by community co-chairs Dan Reilley and Kelli Stumbo — who co-chaired the 2023 AGC. The committee has met twice this fall to review enrollment, understand conceptual design (the initial phase of the design process), and discuss the future of learning and preparing students for jobs we don’t even know exist yet. They will continue to meet this winter with plans to tour several high school facilities — new comprehensive high school campuses and advanced academics and Career and Technical Education campuses — in the DFW area.
Ultimately, the AGC will lead the development of conceptual designs for future high school facilities, incorporating community input and vision. Their goal is to produce two conceptual designs — High School No. 2 and a College and Career Academy — that includes a program of spaces, education design specifications, conceptual floor plans and massing models, and a site analysis for each.
“We are not finalizing floor plans, picking out tile, or deciding hallway paint colors; there is no immediate decision for our community to make regarding a second high school, but now is the time to plan the next step as our community grows,” Reilley said. “It is the right time to engage the community and lean into what we expect secondary education to look like for our kids. I recognize that the high school experience for my current ninth grader may look entirely different for my current first grader. I want the community involved in what that could and should look like!”
The 2025 AGC serves as a voice of the community to help determine what students, parents and the community expect, which is why they are seeking feedback on October 27.
“We realize that it’s hard for our elementary parents to envision their child in high school, but this important work will definitely impact them,” Stumbo said. “We hope parents of students of all ages will come to the community meeting to give feedback. This will be incredibly valuable when the district’s enrollment and bonding capacity necessitate new high school learning space.”
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