MISD board approves of grade expansion for IDEA Travis
At the moment the idea Travis school currently has just over 1000 students in grades pre-k through 8th with about 600 students on the waitlist.
MIDLAND, Texas (KOSA) - On Monday evening the MISD board voted to approve the expansion of Travis school.
The IDEA Travis school has been around since 2020 but the school only taught grades pre-k through 8th.
Now after the board vote, the school will expand to grades 9th through 12th.
“We are very excited that we got approved for high school. It was something that I was hoping for and cheering for a long time” said Hailey McCarthy, Exec Principal IDEA Travis.
At the moment the idea Travis school currently has just over 1000 students in grades pre-k through 8th with about 600 students on the waitlist.
With the expansion of the school, once completed it would teach around 1500 students all the way up to 12th grade.
The plan is to grow each grade one year at a time so next year the high school will only offer up to the 9th grade.
This means the entire expansion will not be completed until the 26′-27 school year.
“It will not be an existing MISD building. The district is at capacity and part of our commitment is to create new space to help collaboratively relieve the enrollment pressure that’s on the district” said Bethany Solis, Exec Director for Idea Public school in the Permian Basin.
For the first year when they add just the 9th grade, they will house the students in portables on their current campus, which is their short-term solution.
They do have another piece of property where a more permanent facility will be built.
With the expansion of the new high school for Travis means that they are going to need teachers to teach the students…
Their goal is to bring in teachers who are familiar with the area and understand the students.
“Midland is a hard place to find great teachers. We look in a lot of areas here. The first thing is we train our teachers, so we try to create a pipeline of teachers that are local. So, we’re looking for recent graduates that we can train to be excellent.”
This is a great opportunity for new teachers in the area since the high school will open up next fall for 9th graders and will need teachers.
If any parents have any questions about IDEA and want to learn more McCarthy said to reach out and they’ll answer all your questions.
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