Humble ISD School Board Votes to Rebuild North Belt Elementary
Humble ISD has saved enough money on bond projects that the district can now build five new schools instead of four through Bond 2018.
“The bid process that we've been going through right now has been very favorable and increased our savings,” Robert Sitton, School Board President, said at the November 10, 2020, School Board meeting.
The current economic conditions in the construction market is allowing the district to stretch Bond 2018 funding to meet North Belt Elementary School’s needs.
The Board voted unanimously to build a new North Belt Elementary School on a 27-acre site located at the southeast corner of Old Humble Road and Bender Road. The district utilized bond funds originally designated for a new multipurpose room/gym at North Belt to purchase this tract of land in April 2020 so that North Belt Elementary could receive not just a new gym out of Bond 2018 – but a whole new campus with a gym.
North Belt Elementary, 8105 North Belt Drive, is an older campus on a smaller lot. It opened 53 years ago, in the 1967-1968 school year, on 10.7 acres of land and serves 740 students.
“We were able to take North Belt’s multipurpose room money and purchase new land for them, to pull them off the Beltway and have a more accessible, community-driven school,” Humble ISD Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Fagen said. “We are very excited about that.”
The site for the new North Belt Elementary is 27 acres located at the southeast corner of Old Humble Road and Bender Road.
A new North Belt Elementary School will also help the district manage student enrollment growth because the new school will be designed for 950 students.
“Building Lakeland Elementary and North Belt Elementary larger than they were allows us to alleviate crowding and serve all of our students without an additional campus,” Dr. Fagen said. “We’ve really tried to be efficient and think into the future, and not overbuild.”
By using the same building plans for several schools, Humble ISD will save on costs. “We have two different options as far as replications that will bring our costs down,” Dr. Fagen said. “We will be interviewing the two architects who have prototypes on the books.”
Christina Morris, North Belt Elementary Principal, is excited that her students are gaining a larger campus that will provide updated learning spaces and better traffic flow.
“I am so excited to offer our students a new learning environment that will provide innovative spaces where students are excited to learn,” Ms. Morris said. “I am honored to be part of this monumental change in Humble ISD and to serve our students and community. Our students deserve the best we have to offer and Humble ISD is the best.”
Humble ISD is building four other new schools - Middle School #10, Elementary School #30, a new Kingwood Middle School, and a new Lakeland Elementary School - through Bond 2018. The district is also completing renovations, additions, updates, and repairs to campuses across the district -- all without raising the tax rate.
