In response to the deteriorating conditions of the high school cafeteria, the district proposed a bond for a complete remodel of the area. This led to an approval of $8,900,000 for the project with an expected completion date of March 23, 2026, the Monday after spring break.
“I really don’t enjoy the workaround of being in the student lobby, but I do think the new cafeteria is for the better,” senior Vee Hewett said. “Our previous cafeteria was very old. Students, staff, just about everyone had something negative to say about it. It wasn’t in anybody’s control how old it was, and the cafeteria staff did amazing things with what they had, but the upgrade was very much needed.”
The previous iteration of the cafeteria was constructed in 1983, 43 years ago, and held up to 400 students at a time. In recent years, more and more students have joined the district leading to the area becoming near capacity, which created long lines for food and overall safety concerns. Once construction started, the district still wanted to remove those two obstacles in the new designated areas for eating, the student lobby and Ninth Grade Campus cafeteria, until the lunch room is completed.
“Since I am a sophomore, I have never had lunch in the high school campus’s cafeteria before the remodel,” Tinl Jones said. “I liked sitting and eating in the NGC’s cafeteria because it was a large area where noise could spread out and [with] no clutter of kids. Having to eat lunch in the student lobby is not the worst experience, but having a real cafeteria surely beats eating in a hall every time. The tables in the student lobby are too close to each other, the walls are close so noise doesn’t travel far, and I can’t get lunch food from there.”
Besides the cafeteria construction, other areas of the high school are being worked on. The CTE section of the building, the 600 hall, was proposed for a 26,000 square foot renovation and a 31,000 foot expansion. This was approved leading to an allocation of $29,500,000 for the project.
“I don’t have any classes in the 600 hall so I’m not exactly affected by it, but the closures to the parking lot have been extremely annoying,” Hewett said. “We were told that certain gates between the front and back parking lots were closed due to traffic flow and construction, but there is no construction in that area and it honestly causes more traffic. I could be wrong, but the construction on the other side of campus does not affect our parking lot. I’ve been late so many times because I have to go around the stadium and onto a completely separate road rather than just cutting through the parking lot.”
With both of these remodels and expansions underway, the thought of improvement has brought new ideas to students, ones that bring to mind the condition of other portions of the school. This concern is rising because when buildings age they tend to degrade, even when kept up with, and materials slowly wear down. With the lowered quality, people who are active in that complex will want parts remodeled or expanded.
“The classrooms and the parking lots,” senior Diego Vazquez said. “First the classrooms because they are old and need a remodel to brighten the mood in each classroom. Also the classrooms are rather small for classes that have 25 students or more. As for the parking lots, the spaces to park are small and the lines are so faded because of the sun that [no] one can see them. Also traffic gets pretty bad when there are a lot of people leaving so more exits would also benefit the students and campus.”
This remodel, once completed, will allow for the original cafeteria risks to be removed and improve the kitchen’s electrical, mechanical and overall plumbing work. It will also allow students who were never able to use the cafeteria to eat somewhere that are not the current designated places.
“The experience is a little different than I would have hoped,” sophomore Makenna Lee said. “It was weird to go from eating in a large space of a lunch room to the compacted main hallway. But the thing about it being crowded is that about 50% of the people in that lunch period are missing. Some are at the ninth grade campus and others are who knows where.”
Sources: Joshua ISD Proposed Projects
