23 Jun 2005
Ceremony Honors Dallas Businessman, Community Leader
DALLAS– Dallas Independent School District officials, students and community representatives broke ground Thursday for the new Jerry R. Junkins Elementary School at 2808 Running Duke Drive, Carrollton, Texas.
The school is named after visionary businessman and humanitarian, Jerry Junkins, who helped create the Head Start programs in DISD, which today are part of the "No Child Left Behind" initiative. Junkins was president and CEO of Texas Instruments but many say his biggest passion was improving education. His commitment to early childhood education earned him the John B. Connally Award from the Just for Kids Foundation.
"Jerry fought for education reform in Texas schools by promoting measurement and accountability in the classroom," said DISD Deputy Superintendent Larry Groppel. "He believed that every child could learn and he established a legacy of putting TI's resources to work to improve our schools."
Junkins Elementary School, which is scheduled to open fall 2006, is 90,000-square-feet and will accommodate 800 students. It features 37 classrooms, a kitchen, auditorium and cafeteria. The new facility will become a relief school for Nathan Adams, Anne Frank and John J. Pershing elementary school students.
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.
The next scheduled groundbreaking is:
Friday, July 15 Jack Lowe Sr. Elementary School (& Middle School at
Vickery Meadow), 7000 Holly Hill Dr.