Community ISD continues to grow – and it’s growing fast.

Superintendent Roosevelt Nivens gave a state of the dis­trict recently at the Lavon Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Since I’ve been here, we’ve added 1,000 kids,” said Nivens, who joined the district in 2015 in a telephone interview with the News. “We are projected next year to add between 400 and 660 students.”

The reason he points to for the recent rise in enrollment can be traced to the effects of the pandemic.

“The pandemic has shown people that they don’t have live so close to work for their com­mute – now people can work from home,” he said. “So folks are moving out and they’re coming out this way.”

The district’s current enroll­ment is 2,733, and the district is in the throes of a building pro­gram.

“We just opened up a brand new high school this past Au­gust, and so we now have the facilities to be able to give our students those experiences in a first-class facility,” he said.

The old high school was ren­ovated and the middle school now occupies that building, and it opened in January. The dis­trict will break ground on a new elementary school in Josephine this spring.

“I can foresee us under some kind of construction project for the next 10-15 years,” Nivens said.

For the full story, see the Mar. 10 issue or subscribe online.

By Don Munsch • [email protected]