The halls of East Waco’s G.L. Wiley Middle School will once again ring with the sound of children as J. H. Hines Elementary School moves onto the campus for the coming school year.

The nearly 300 Hines students will be at Wiley while their old school, at 301 Garrison St., is demolished and their new school is built. The new school is one of the many projects Waco Independent School District is tackling thanks to $172.5 million in bond money approved by voters in may 2008.

The new school will house Hines students and students from Doris Miller Elementary.

Groundbreaking is June 5.

“It’s the best choice we possibly could have, because we’re still in the neighborhood and parents still have access to us,” Hines Principal Archie Hatten said about occupying Wiley temporarily.

Waco ISD trustees, in a controversial move, voted to close chronically low-performing Wiley last August. A temporary restraining order re-opened the school for one week, and a weeklong temporary injunction hearing followed. The injunction was denied and Wiley’s doors were closed once again, with students dispersed to other Waco middle schools.

The district has been using Wiley this year for meetings and training.

Dean Highland and Bell’s Hill elementary schools will be rebuilt in the next few years and those students will have to be displaced for a year. It has not been decided where those students will go while their home campuses are under construction, said Waco ISD spokesman, Dale Caffey. Dean Highland students could possibly stay at Doris Miller Elementary or Bell’s Hill students could temporary take over University Middle School. University Middle students will eventually occupy the current University High School.

Hatten said the hassle of moving to a new school for just one year is relative.

“To get a new school, we have no choice but to move. The district is making it as painless as possible,” he said.

Before work begins on the new school, though, Hines is planning to honor the current campus and its history. At one time, Hines was the East Waco Colored School, a Montessori magnet school and a sixth-grade center, Hatten said.

Hines students and staff are planning a reunion for May 15 and 16, and they are inviting the community to come reminisce and visit. Students will be interviewing distinguished alumni from the former schools and a kiosk with historical information will be placed in the new Hines Elementary.

“It’s going to be a real nice little celebration,” Hatten said.

wgragg@wacotrib.com

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