Photo by Paige Hert

Silhouetted by the morning sunrise, a crane moves into position to continue the construction of the math hall located in the upper left wing of the building. The construction to the English hall concluded at the beginning of the first semester. AP Language and Composition and English IV teacher Kristin Burke is now teaching in her renovated classroom in the main building, and she said she enjoys the changes that were made to the English hall. “Obviously new carpet and paint has been awesome,” Burke said. “Removing the bulky cabinets and built-in desks has given us more room, and the new tables facilitate collaboration among students and give them more table space to work.”

Three summers, four semesters and one completely renovated 27-year-old high school: the construction of the school is well underway after nearly eight months of progress and is improving the school with every semester that passes.

Beginning in the summer of 2024, the school has been undergoing construction through Bartlett Cocke in order to improve its functionality and appearance. Some key changes include new lighting, flooring, carpet, furniture and paint. In addition, the heating and air conditioning system is being replaced. This project and several other renovations are being funded by the 2023 Leander ISD Bond, which was approved on May 8, 2023. 

“What people don’t always realize is that school districts don’t have money for buildings and new facilities,” Principal John Sloan said. “The district has to ask the community for [money], and as communities grow, we need more schools. As we’re building new schools, we don’t want to just ignore the existing older facilities, so they have to ask for money for those kinds of projects.”

During the summer of 2024, several portables were placed in the parking lot to allow the English teachers to continue teaching their classes while their classrooms were being renovated. According to Sloan, this created several challenges for both students and teachers. 

“The logistic pieces, with dropping all those portables in the parking lot [that] take up parking, and then getting students in and out of the portables, [are] a challenge, especially at first before they had card readers,” Sloan said. “It’s a lot when it comes to the moving and every phase [during which] teachers have to pack up all their stuff [and] prepare to have it moved out of or into the building. And so it’s cleaning out all the spaces and getting everything out of one of the wings to prepare for the construction crews to come in [that’s difficult].”

AP Language and Composition and English IV teacher, Kristin Burke, said there were positives and negatives to teaching in the portable classrooms. 

“I think the initial packing and throwing away of years worth of files and binders was the most difficult, although it was somewhat cathartic to finally let things go,” Burke said. “While I was at first nervous about moving to the portables, I and some of my fellow teachers really enjoyed the proximity to our team members and the ability to stand out in the sunshine between classes. The only downside, of course, was no running water or bathrooms. We made it work, though, and were relatively happy with the overall experience.”

Freshman Tucker Johnson said he has had a positive experience with the portables and he enjoys the clean and modern look of the newly renovated English hall.

“With the portables it’s not that bad, it’s just a little bit of walking,” Johnson said. “And honestly it’s kinda nice because it’s actually doing something instead of just [walking in] all the normal hallways. It’s nice to just walk somewhere else.”

Now teaching in her renovated classroom in the main building, Burke said she enjoys the changes that were made to the English hall that were completed at the end of the first semester. 

“Obviously new carpet and paint has been awesome,” Burke said. “Removing the bulky cabinets and built-in desks has given us more room, and the new tables facilitate collaboration among students and give them more table space to work.”

The construction is continuing according to plan, with the math hall currently underway, and the renovations should be completed by the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year. 

“My vision for the school won’t really change based on the construction and the appearances,” Sloan said. “I think this just helps with our vision of making this a really fantastic learning environment to be in. The [new] facility is enhancing that experience and making it even better.”