TEMPLE, Texas — Temple ISD hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its brand new $38.2 million Sampson-Howard Elementary on Tuesday, March 7.
Members of the school board, district officials and a few future students took part in the ceremony as they dug their golden shovels into some dirt from the construction site located on Old Highway 95 and Barnhardt Road.
This will be the first brand new school to open for the district in over 25 years and it's set to bring in its first students in the fall of 2024.
President of the Temple ISD Board of Trustees Dan Posey stated, "Events like this do not happen every day and they certainly do not happen in isolation. We are here today because of a community effort that has been years in the making. TISD is blessed to be a part of a community that prioritizes our children and invests in their futures."
Past educators are also a huge part of making this school possible, so much that the school is being named after Cornelius Carl Sampson, who taught and coached in the area way back in the 1920s. The other half of the name stems from Durward and Jean Howard, who both taught in the school district in the 1940s.
The district began conducting extensive research in 2018 to plan for how this new campus will look.
District 7 Trustee Shannon Myers stated, "During the bond process, the board and Senior Leadership Team toured several elementary schools across the state, trying to find the best design, innovations and concept model to match our community."
"The new fine arts concept was exactly the kind of unique and innovative concept that we were looking to provide to our families here in Temple, which has always supported and championed the arts," Myers added.
To view more information on this new school, visit here.
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