HOUSTON – Four Houston Independent School District schools have reopened their doors to welcome students into new facilities in the new year.
Sharpstown, Scarborough and North Forest high schools and Robinson Elementary School have all been rebuilt or renovated with state-of-the-art learning spaces.
Sharpstown High School will start classes next month in a new $62.8 million facility that was built adjacent to the current building. The new school features a two-story, light-filled atrium that will also serve as a dining commons and flexible use area.
"We love the concept of the mall where this is the center, the heart of the school, and I just saw one of my administrators working with a student out in one of the areas in a hub -- so that's cool -- working with a student and monitoring other classrooms so it's a great concept," Sharpstown High School Principal Dan DeLeon said.
Robinson Elementary School students will return to their home campus after relocating in September due to Hurricane Harvey. The students spent the fall semester split between Pleasantville Elementary School and neighboring Holland Middle School as crews worked to repair and renovate their home school.
"I think especially for our older students, it's a sense of relief to be back. But for the younger students, it's a new school to them, so it felt like the first day of school for a lot of us," Robinson Elementary School Principal Paige Fernandez-Hohas said.
Scarborough North Forest high schools also reopened Monday. Construction is ongoing at roughly two dozen additional campuses across the district.
Once complete, HISD said it will feature one of the most modern portfolios of urban high schools in the country.