HOUSTON — The Houston Independent School District said a new high school that was scheduled to open at the beginning of the upcoming school year will not be ready in time due to delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The new Austin High School was supposed to open in August 2020, but now, it won't be ready to open until early 2021.
HISD officials said the new timeline was due to a "three-month delay in the school’s furniture shipment and manpower shortages caused by mandated social distancing requirements resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic."
Students and staff will remain at the temporary learning center across South Lockwood Drive until the new facility is ready to open.
"The $80.9 million project calls for a state-of-the-art school with flexible learning spaces, sound upgrades for the existing auditorium, and preservation of the historic front façade of the original main building, which opened in 1937," HISD said in a release. "Austin is among 40 schools, including 29 high schools, across the district that are being renovated or rebuilt as part of the 2012 Bond Program."
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