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Hays CISD opens third high school to alleviate overcrowding

The third high school in Hays Consolidated Independent School District opens for classes on Aug. 15.

AUSTIN, Texas — Moe and Gene Johnson High School will open its doors to students for the first time on Aug. 15, as the newest school to open in Hays County.

The three-story, 413,500 square-foot campus cost $122 million and was approved by voters in a May 2017 bond.

“We had an explosion of growth coming and so we know that we needed to address it and this was one of the ways to do so,” said Sandra Bryant, former vice president of the Hays CISD School Board.

The school hosted the community on Saturday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and to honor Moe and Gene Johnson. The district estimated at least 1,500 people attended.

“It's a milestone certainly for our community. We are actually – we're continuing to grow,” said Tim Savoy, district spokesman. “Not only are we growing, but we're probably seeing that growth accelerate a bit.”

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The other two high schools in the district, Lehman and Hays, reached capacity with about 3,000 students each. Savoy said they were built for about 2,250 students.

The new high school features career and technical education programs in prominent areas, near the cafeteria and gymnasium. Some of those programs include cosmetology, nutrition and culinary.

“It's great in terms of opportunities we offer for students for their education, but it's also great for sort of attracting students to come to high school – and no offense to some of the core-subject teachers, but I know that a lot of kids, when they get excited about the creative projects, so they're going to come,” Savoy said.

The school will open this school year with only ninth- and 10th-grade students. The first graduating class will be in 2022.

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