New school in Bastrop prepares to open its doors
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News 8's Tracy Gladden filed the following video report.
In three weeks, 600 ninth and tenth graders will walk through the front doors of Cedar Creek High School.
Contractors are putting the finishing touches on the new school in Bastrop County.
"I think we are just on the verge with the economy correcting itself of this area really exploding. There's a lot of development that's about to hit again when the economy corrects itself,” Bastrop ISD Superintendent Steve Murray said. “So we are going to be expecting a lot more student growth over the next several years."
The new school is expected to relieve congestion at Bastrop High School. Last year, the school had 2,400 students.
"We were pretty much at capacity. They had already added on several times, put a ninth grade annex," Murray said.
The second high school has been in the works for several years. It was presented to taxpayers as a bond issue back in 2007.
"The students from this community who have gone to Cedar Creek Elementary, Cedar Creek Intermediate and Middle schools are excited about having their own high school," Murray said.
Cedar Creek High School will be the home of the Eagles.
"I’m sure there's going to be some natural rivalry that's going to go on between the Eagles and the Bears, but that's exciting," Principal Russell Sassin said.
He said teachers and administrators have worked to construct cross curricular boundaries for a different kind of teaching and learning experience at the school.
Students [will] really [be] taking responsibility for their own learning. Teachers will still teach, but really [they] will act more as facilitators than direct teachers," Sassin said.
He said all the students will have laptops and iPads.
In three years, Cedar Creek High school will be a four grade-level school, meaning Bastrop ISD will have two 4A high schools.