The first new comprehensive high school in Lubbock County, Texas, in more than 50 years is welcoming students for the first time.
The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports that Lubbock-Cooper Liberty High School has opened with around 350 students — only freshmen and sophomores, initially. The school will add juniors next year and seniors the next, increasing the campus population to 500 and then 800.
The Lubbock-Cooper district held a ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this week to celebrate the opening of the new school, first envisioned in 2019 as a way to keep pace with the district’s rapid growth.
Liberty High School is the first new comprehensive high school in Lubbock County since Estacado High School opened in the Lubbock district in 1967, and the second in Lubbock-Cooper's 87-year history.
In 2021, Lubbock-Cooper district voters approved a pair of bonds totaling $420 million that included funding for the new high school.
Although the campus is ready to welcome students, the Liberty High building is not complete. The new structure as it exists today is only around three-fifths of the planned academic space, and construction will continue in the coming years, officials say.
Spaces for fine arts, career and technical education are expected open in two years, and an auditorium, a football stadium, gym, and other athletic facilities are also planned in the future.
"For six years, from now until about 2028, we will be building on out here and finishing this campus," Superintendent Keith Bryant said.
