Manor Independent School District
Manor Senior High School is scheduled to open in August.
Manor Senior High School is scheduled to open in August.
Manor Senior High School is scheduled to open in August.
Manor Senior High School is scheduled to open in August.
Manor Senior High School is scheduled to open in August.

$48 million high school campus nears completion in Manor (Texas) district

March 8, 2018
The new facility, Manor Senior High School, will mainly house juniors and seniors; freshmen and sophomores will remain at the existing Manor High.

The Manor (Texas) school district is putting final touches on a new secondary school building.

The Austin American-Statesman reports that the The 215,000-square foot, 1,200-student campus, Manor Senior High School, will open with 900 juniors and seniors in August. 

The new campus to be home base for juniors and seniors, and the existing Manor High School—about four miles away—will be primarily for freshmen and sophomores.

The two-campus high school is also an attempt to better engage students. It has been designed to have the look and feel of a small college campus: open and collaborative work spaces, large windows and natural light, and charging stations for cell phones and laptops.

The $48 million campus is being built with 2014 bond money, initially earmarked for renovations to the existing Manor High School. Instead, the district put that money toward new space.

“Splitting those students out in the smaller learning environments, I think we’re going to see a better return on investment,” says Manor Superintendent Royce Avery. “When teachers have more opportunity to engage smaller groups of kids, it has a more profound effect of what kids are giving them and what they are giving the kids.”

The 9,100-student Manor district, situated in suburban Austin, is expected to grow by another 2,600 students in the next five years. The existing Manor High is at capacity with 1,762 students.

The Manor Senior High campus largely will offer upperclassmen core classes. But upperclassmen taking career and technical education courses at the original campus, as well as Manor High students taking advanced level courses, will be bused back and forth between the two schools. 

The new campus will feature a Makerspace, with some hardbound books like a traditional library, but also collaborative work spaces and high-tech tools like a 3-D printer; a technology room where students can borrow laptops or tablets; small conference rooms similar those found in college libraries; a commercial kitchen with the feel of a restaurant for culinary arts students; and a student-run coffee bar.

VIDEO—Tour of new facility:

Sponsored Recommendations

How to design flexible learning spaces that teachers love and use

Unlock the potential of flexible learning spaces with expert guidance from school districts and educational furniture providers. Discover how to seamlessly integrate adaptive ...

Blurring the Lines in Education Design: K–12 to Higher Ed to Corporate America

Discover the seamless integration of educational and corporate design principles, shaping tomorrow's leaders from kindergarten to boardroom. Explore innovative classroom layouts...

Room to Learn: Furniture Solutions for Education

Preparing students for the future. Utilizing our experience in the education market, we offer a dynamic selection of products that pair technology with furniture to help stimulate...

Transforming Education: A Case Study in Progressive Classroom Design

Discover how Workspace Interiors and the Baldwin School District reshaped learning environments in Long Island, New York, creating pedagogically responsive spaces that foster ...