FBISD moves to expand student options
District plans to build career and technical education center in Telfair
A key component in Fort Bend ISD’s plans to strengthen and expand its career and technical education programs will be a center expected to open in two years in Telfair.
Slated to go on a 65-acre, district-owned tract, the 177,000-square-foot center would be four times larger than the 35-year-old facility at Dulles High School that it will replace.
The planned center, at an estimated cost of about $45 million, will be funded with money from the 2014 bond; nearly $59 million was set aside for improving the district’s CTE program to accommodate enrollment growth, expand students’ options for career exploration and deepen district partnerships with local business.
The center will be built to spark student creativity and collaboration.
A library equipped with advanced technology features will offer spaces for group work.
“We’re trying to embrace the 21st century elements of working together and being a very flexible, dynamic environment, where students can simulate real world examples and practice their skills,” Jen-
nifer Henrikson, principal at Stantec, the firm designing the center, told district trustees on June 20.
The school board approved conceptual plans in December.
Though Fort Bend ISD has CTE courses on all 11 of its high school campuses, certain programs such as culinary arts and transportation require a separate facility that all the schools share. During the spring semester of 2016, about 15,600 students were enrolled in CTE courses and 340 took courses at the Dulles facility.
The district would develop about 23 acres of the Telfair property for the two-story center, leaving space for expansions or other district facilities.
The center will house programs including education, culinary arts, cosmetology, transportation and advanced construction, ideally with access to the public at night and on weekends.
Students in career and technology programs will be bused from home campuses to spend half a day at the planned center, just as they are now at the one at Dulles.
Fort Bend ISD’s traffic studies show that the center will be within 42 minutes of any given district high school, Fort Bend ISD director of CTE Meredith Watassek said.
The proposed location on the corner of Chatham Avenue and University Boulevard puts the center closest to Clements, Austin and Kempner high schools.
The proposed site is within the 100-year flood plain, an area that would flood during a weather event that in any given year has a 1 percent chance of occurring, though Watassek said the area did not flood during last month’s storms in Fort Bend County.
Assuming the trustees approve education specifications for the building in July, the district will enter the design phase for the project in the fall and begin soliciting construction bids in February or March 2017, Watassek said.
Construction is expected to take 16 months.
The center is scheduled to be open by August 2018, Watassek said.
The facility should provide services for between 1,800 and 2,000 students per day, which will be sufficient for the next 10 years, Watassek said.