This week, the first 2,500 Chromebooks for students were delivered to the district’s five comprehensive high schools, marking the first tangible item funded by the 2024 Bond.
The devices will be used to ensure that all campuses have enough Chromebooks on hand for upcoming SAT, STAAR and other online tests. The devices will also be used to support any student whose Chromebook needs to be replaced or repaired before the end of the school year.
“After a year or more of having to implement many creative ways of keeping student devices functional, we were literally down to zero devices left in-house,” said Jennifer LaPittus, director of technology infrastructure. “Despite our challenges, we’ve not had one single student without a functional Chromebook at any time.”
Another 6,500 Chromebooks will be delivered by late March and distributed to every campus to ensure that all students have working Chromebooks through the end of the school year.
The district will begin replacing 2,000 end-of-life teacher laptops in April, and will begin replacing 44,000 end-of-life Chromebooks at the start of the 2025–26 school year.
Campus project schedules
After selling all 2024 bonds and receiving the funds—$350 million total—for the first year of the program, the district has posted project schedules for every campus. These schedules are subject to change but detail the timelines for work at every school.
Schedules include both campuswide projects—design work for building additions, for example—as well as smaller standalone projects such as marquees, playgrounds and parking lot improvements.
“We’re so thankful for the support of our community for this bond, and we’re excited to be able to share these schedules,” said Superintendent Hafedh Azaiez. “We can get started on some of the smaller projects as soon as this semester, improving learning spaces for our students and teachers throughout the district.”
In the first year of the 2024 Bond Program, the major projects set to start include design work at eight campuses:
- Berkman addition – Design
- Cedar Ridge High School addition – Design
- CTE Center – Purchase and build out design
- Deerpark addition – Design
- McNeil High School – Next phase renovation design
- Round Rock High School – Design and site master planning
- Stony Point High School addition – Design
- Westwood High School field – Modular design and permitting
Avoiding cost escalation was paramount when campus and district schedules were being created.
Projects were then prioritized using a combination of existing systems replacement schedules, such as for roofs and HVAC systems. The district also worked to create project timelines that provided equitable distribution of funding by vertical learning community.
Market conditions that could affect schedules include the availability of materials—some of which may be subject to new tariffs—and labor, as well as the procurement method for each project.
Explore campus schedules and learn more about the 2024 Bond Program at bond.roundrockisd.org.
