(Seguin) – The Seguin ISD has given Superintendent Dr. Matthew Gutierrez the green light to secure the land needed for its future elementary school. The unanimous vote on Friday by the Seguin ISD Board of Trustees directs Gutierrez to finalize negotiations for the purchase of 25 acres in the 6500 block of FM 725. The property, priced at $1.375 million, will serve as the site for the replacement school of the district’s current McQueeney Elementary campus. The property is located approximately two miles north from the school’s current location.
Gutierrez says this latest deal brings them closer to completing all the projects outlined in Bond 2019.
“Of course, this has taken us a little bit of time beyond what we had anticipated. Since 2019, I think we are all aware of what has happened with property values and so it has been a bit of a challenge of looking at various properties across the district and finding a price point that would be reasonable to us,” said Gutierrez.
Although there were challenges of finding property at the best deal possible, Gutierrez thanks the Dammann Family for making the process easier and possible with its long-standing integrity and support of local schools.
“We’ve been very fortunate though to be working with the Dammann family and they are looking at their land serving a purpose if they were to sell – a purpose that would contribute to the community and they see a school doing that and so they have, we feel, given us a reasonable price point for the 25 acres that we are needing for a replacement campus for McQueeney Elementary,” said Gutierrez.
Pleased to have also reached a deal with the district is Property Owner Ethel Dammann. Dammann says she is excited that a part of her family’s legacy will continue to live on through the Seguin ISD.
“Education is very important to us. Lloyd grew up here in Seguin and he graduated from Seguin High School. He started his teaching career at McQueeney Elementary in ‘60 or ’61 and then when it became part of the Seguin schools instead of a county school, he came into Seguin and taught at Ball and Briesemeister until he retired. I’ve spent 38 years teaching not in Seguin but in a nearby school district, so education is very important to us,” said Dammann.
Gutierrez says the property has a New Braunfels address and is located just in between Lake Creek and Terminal Loop on 725.
“It’s going towards New Braunfels on FM 725. It’s about 2 miles past the current McQueeney site so it is towards the end of that side of the district. So, it would still be the furthest campus just like McQueeney is right now but most of the growth that is happening in our school district boundaries is on that side of the district and not only is that where the current significant growth is but we are anticipating even more growth happening and so we are looking at also increasing the capacity for that school building. Currently, there are 300 students at McQueeney. We are looking at a facility that would house about 800 or so students considering the fact that that is going to be a fast-growing area,” said Gutierrez.
Plans to replace McQueeney Elementary School has been a long-term goal for the district for the last several years. The latest attempt to see that school to fruition, however, will be decided by voters this Nov. 8.
“I wanted to remind our community that we are going out for a $138.5 million bond which includes a new McQueeney Elementary so the funding for that replacement school would come from the passage of this bond and then once – hopefully that passes, then we can start focusing on that next set of land that we’ve got to find to accommodate a third middle school,” said Gutierrez.
Included in the proposed bond issue is $54 million for a new elementary campus. According to district officials, the current McQueeney Elementary is one of the district’s oldest campuses. They state, “due to the age of the facility, many of the spaces are not in compliance with current TEA recommendations for curriculum and classroom space. The buildings are made up of separate wings that require outdoor access.” Plus, they say “due to the shape of the property, the parking and pick up and drop off areas are tight and often cause traffic backups on FM 725.”