CALVERT, Texas — For a long time, the children of Calvert ISD have been learning out of a dilapidated 101-year-old school building, as well as several portable classrooms.
Excitement was in the air Wednesday morning during a groundbreaking ceremony, as all 145 Calvert ISD students congregated outside the old building all grade levels share. Members of each grade, as well as faculty and alumni, got a chance to turn dirt where the new 22,000 square foot facility will stand.
For Carolyn Rosemond, it’s been a long time coming. Rosemond attended class in Calvert when the schools were first being integrated.
She taught Calvert elementary students in the 1990s and has been on the school board for more than 20 years.
“We had 400 kids at the elementary [in the 1990s]," Rosemond said. "With the building not up to par and no housing, it drove our students away. And now we’re getting them back.”
The district has already seen two bond elections for the new building fail, before a $10 million bond finally passed in May 2021. Enacting this change has been a passion project for the superintendent, Dr. Thyrun Hurst.
“The walls are dilapidated," Hurst said of the current three-story structure. "We have non-functioning science labs, and the computer labs are small, with outdated equipment. So a new school is going to bring us state-of-the-art equipment, technology, and just new learning spaces for our students, in general.”
The new building will be constructed adjacent to the old one, which will still offer some use; particularly the auditorium, Hurst noted. The new school will have enough space to house all grade levels, meaning the younger children will not be forced to learn in the portable classrooms as they do now.
Builders expect the school to be completed in a time frame of 12 to 14 months.