16 Jun 2005
White Rock Community Leader Served District for 37 Years
DALLAS– Dallas Independent School District officials, including General Superintendent Michael Hinojosa and Ron Price, first vice president of the Board of Trustees, were joined today by community, city representatives and the Smith family to break ground on Larry G. Smith Elementary School, 5229 Gus Thomasson Road in Mesquite.
Smith served the district for 37 years as a teacher, coach, youth action officer, principal and area superintendent. The last six years of his career with the district were spent overseeing the schools in the White Rock community.
"We remember Larry best as a person who treated all children with respect," said Price. "He always encouraged them to be the best at whatever they decided to do in life."
The 91,000-square-foot Smith Elementary School will accommodate about 800 students and include 37 classrooms, an auditorium, a media center, a kitchen and a cafeteria. The school will open in the fall of 2006 and will serve as a relief school for Casa View, Charles A. Gill and Edwin J. Kiest elementary schools.
KAI is the architect for Smith Elementary School and DMJM Management is the program manager.
In January 2002, DISD passed the largest education bond program in the history of Texas. The $1.37 billion program is funding 21 new schools, almost 60 additions that include early childhood additions to present schools, and renovations to nearly every campus in the district. Contractors are working on more than 140 school facilities, including new schools, additions to schools, and renovations to schools. For more information on the bond program, go to www.dallasisd.org/bond.
Upcoming groundbreakings are:
Tuesday, June 21 Felix G. Botello Elementary School, 225 South Marsalis Ave.
Thursday, June 23 Jerry R. Junkins Elementary School, 2808 Running Duke Dr., Carrollton
Friday, July 15 Jack Lowe, Sr. Elementary School (& Middle School at
Vickery Meadow), 7000 Holly Hill Dr.