Dickinson ISD eager to open educational village
If it takes a village to raise a child, Dickinson Independent School District believes it is making a move in the right direction.
Construction on the Lobit Education Village is nearing completion, and in the fall, hundreds of students in prekindergarten through sixth grade will flock to the site for the first day of school.
Louis G. Lobit Elementary School and Elva C. Lobit Middle School are on FM 517 between Calder and Cemetery roads in League City, built on 40 acres donated to the district in 1974 by the Lobit family.
Construction costs for the two schools are $40.7 million, with $15 million for other costs such as furniture and technology.
Inspired by the couple who owned the land, the names for the new schools were approved by Dickinson ISD trustees following a May 2014 $56 million bond referendum. ‘Everything migrates out’
The timing to open the education village is right, considering the rapid rate of population growth spurred by commercial and residential developments, said Tammy Dowdy, the district’s communications director.
She cited the planned Lago Mar development and Tanger Outlets as examples of what is drawing families to the area.
“It keeps growing,” she said. “As Houston, Clear Lake and Clear Creek get built out, everything migrates out. We’re just right in line.”
As retirees sell their homes to younger families in the area, more school-aged children enroll in the district, Dowdy said.
District enrollment has increased by 4,000 in 10 years to about 11,000. Enrollment grew by 1,000 in the last two years.
“That growth is not stopping,” Dowdy said. “Everything our demographers are telling us is that it will continue.”
Lobit Education Village will help the district accommodate additional students, she said. The idea behind the village is to provide a multischool site that gives students and teachers at various grade levels access to common resources.
While the two schools will be separate campuses with separate entrances, administrative and school staff, they will share a kitchen, library, nurses’ office and mechanical systems.
The cafeterias may be joined if needed for large events, and parking can also be shared for special events.
Enrollment is projected to be 550 for the elementary and 400 for the middle school.
Principals for both schools were named early in the year and spent the past few months organizing their campuses.
“They’ve been working with our facility department in different processes from design to hiring teachers to selecting furniture and supplies and building curriculum,” Dowdy said.
“There are lots of little things that go into starting a school. People don’t realize all the work involved,” she added. Principals prepare
Stephanie Williams is the new principal for Lobit Elementary, while Terri Bruce will serve at the helm of Lobit Middle School.
Williams graduated from Dickinson High School and returned to work in the district for the past 19 years, starting as a paraprofessional and then serving as a pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teacher before becoming assistant principal and principal.
She helped open San Leon Elementary nine
years ago as the assistant principal and was promoted to principal seven years ago.
“Opening a new campus presents different challenges,” Williams said. “I like the change. I like to see the growth taking place in the district, and I’m honored to be part of it.”
Bruce has 26 years of experience in education, teaching for 10 years and then serving as an assistant principal and principal for schools in the Alvin and Friendswood school districts.
“I wanted to be part of this new adventure,” Bruce said.
The two principals have worked as a team to establish the campus.
“This partnership is invaluable,” Bruce said. “It’s a big puzzle, and being able to share and do that with someone else has been great.”
She is confident that teachers from both schools will collaborate and create programs allowing students of all ages to interact.
“Stephanie will build the foundation — and we get to polish them,” Bruce said.
Said Williams: “Our first year is really about creating a community and saying this is what the Lobit Village stands for. We’re a family and we have a specific job, to serve these kids really well.”
Bruce added that fostering nurturing relationships between students and teachers at each campus will be a priority for both principals.
“The beauty of working together is that we’re pretty much right in line with our goals,” she said. “We want to create an environment where students want to come to school. Having really engaging lessons — that’s what keeps students excited. They look forward to what’s going to happen next.”
Classrooms will be equipped with interactive whiteboards and teachers will have portable tablets. Students will have access to Chromebook laptop carts.
“It’s basically all about being very mobile,” Williams said. “It all will be wireless so kids and teachers can move around.”
The campus will also have a spaces for collaborative learning and group projects, including a courtyard that will double as an outdoor classroom.
The principals believe they can plot an easy transition for their students from elementary to middle school.
“There won’t be as much anxiety for students or parents,” Williams said.
Middle school children will be able to act as mentors to the younger children, Bruce said.
“We want our sixthgraders to interact with the younger students and be role models,” she said. “We want them to be ambassadors. A lot of our school programs and service projects will be for everybody. That builds responsibility, and it builds leadership.”
In the months ahead, Williams and Bruce will have a wide range of final details to handle.
Later, Williams said, “We’ll look back, reflect and see what we did right and what we can do better.”
For more information about Dickinson ISD, visit www.dickinsonisd.org.