91��Ƭ��

New Joey Rodriguez Junior High topping out ceremony

The ceremony on Monday was hard to hear because they didn’t pause the construction going on all around.

But the sawing and welding and clanging of iron spoke louder than anyone speaking into the microphone about the progress being made on the future 91��Ƭ�� Joey Rodriguez Junior High School. Construction of the new school is funded by the 2019 Bond, and the new campus will replace the 66-year-old Carter Junior High.

Ty Parsons, executive vice president for the project’s general contractor, , echoed the sounds of progress when he said to everyone gathered for the topping out ceremony, “It’s going great. We’re on schedule, we’re on track.”

He told everyone that there are an average of 130 construction workers on site each day, but that will soon ramp up to 225 to 250.

While the 130 worked, 91��Ƭ�� trustees, administrators and Carter principal Elena Lopez, along with representatives from Lee Lewis and , gathered in the space that will eventually house the cafeteria to celebrate the topping out – the point in construction when the last beam of the steel building is installed.

To celebrate the construction milestone, everyone signed their names on the final beam before it gets hung.

They were joined by the family of the school’s namesake Joey Rodriguez, including his parents, wife and three children.

Rodriguez was a much-loved teacher and soccer coach at Sam Houston High School who died in 2021 after a battle with COVID-19, leaving a trail of heartbreak statewide but a legacy larger than his life.

“We’re excited to build this building in your husband’s honor,” said 91��Ƭ�� superintendent Dr. Matt Smith. “I’ve only been here a short time, but I already know of the impact he had on this community.”

Smith also thanked the board of trustees and community for all they have done to get the new school to this point.

After signing the beam, everyone – decked out in hard hats and bright yellow safety vests – got a tour of the new building.

It’s approximately 155,000 square feet and ranges in height from the three-story classroom blocks on the north to a single-story administration office space and a one-and-a-half-floor media center. The new facility is designed to serve about 1,500 students and includes 48 classroom spaces, including CTE classrooms, break-out and collaboration spaces, teacher workrooms and offices. There will be performing arts classrooms for band, orchestra, drama, choir and art, along with rooms for SPED programs, science labs and a storm shelter. Outdoor spaces include a new entry plaza and canopy, a regulation synthetic turf football field with a four-lane track, bleachers, press box, concessions and restrooms.

The construction schedule calls for the building to be dried in by December. “Dried in” means the walls and roof are all on so that the inside is protected from the elements. At that point, the interior can be finished out.

Mixed Emotions

The building tour brought both joy and pain to Rodriguez’s parents, who traveled all the way from Abilene for the ceremony.

“I wish my Joey was here,” Susie Rodriguez, Joey’s mother, said.

She then reminisced about how her son would help his students and soccer players with anything they needed, like helping them get scholarships, giving them rides, getting them food and so much more. He loved soccer, and he loved the kids even more.

“He had a very outgoing personality,” Joe Rodriguez, Joey’s father, said. “He liked people and people liked him.”

“Joey had a lot of love,” Susie said.

It’s the love that now serves as the foundation for the future school.

The new Joey Rodriguez Junior High is scheduled to open for students at the beginning of next school year.

of the construction and topping out.