Bond 2017 Passes
EMS ISD now able to move forward with renovation plans within the district
On Nov. 7, the EMS ISD bond passed with a 68 percent majority vote, allowing the district to move forward with its plans on renovation throughout the district and to build a forth high school.
“The best way is to look at the different elements of the bond,” EMS ISD superintendent Dr. Jim Chadwell said. “The bond plans for the future.”
The bond proposed updates for security cameras, sidewalk repairs, playground updates and new fencing for schools throughout EMS ISD. For Chisholm, the bond included to add turf in the softball and baseball fields and the minor competition field.
“Chisholm students won’t notice really, as the school is still relatively new,” Dr. Chadwell said.
Chisholm students will also be unaffected by the redistribution of students when the new high school opens in 2024, a charter passed in the bond. The school will be built north of the district, off the planned extension of Boat Club Road and Saginaw Blvd. With the projected growth of the community in the next four years, the bond plans for the 4000 student increase in attendance of EMS ISD schools.
“The bond passing shows that [the community] supports its schools and believes in the direction it’s going,” Dr. Chadwell said. “Not every bond is approved [in other schools] and by the pass of this one, it shows the community really cares about its students.”
Other things that the bond included is a natatorium that all three—and later the fourth—could use, funded out of a partnership with the YMCA. However, the date of completion is currently unknown.
Chisholm Trail High School will also not be 6A in the coming year. The attendance projected for the year will be under the threshold. The same goes for the two other schools.
“I grew up in Fort Worth and worked in Northwest ISD,” Dr. Chadwell said. “I’m used to growth and Fort Worth has been growing since I was a child. There are places that don’t grow, and thus you can’t get what’s needed for schools [unlike our own]. I have two children and I want them to grow in a fast-growing community.”
