The Houston Independent School District is hosting another series of community meetings to discuss the progress being made within the 2012 bond program, which will renovate or rebuild 40 schools to create 21st century facilities.

The meetings will be held in June, July and August for selected schools in the first two groups of campuses slated for construction. The goal is to present the work done so far in the design process and to share site plans, exterior drawings and, in the case of some schools, final blueprints and construction schedules.

The district has pledged to host at least three community meetings for each bond campus during the different phases of the building program: planning, design and construction.

“We’re well on our way to building 21^st century schools that meet the needs of our students and school communities,” said Leo Bobadilla, HISD’s chief operating officer. “These meetings offer a great opportunity to learn about the work that’s being done and to share feedback and ask questions. Our goal is to ensure all of these facilities meet the needs of each community so it’s important we hear from people.”

For some of the schools, the meetings mark the third community gathering in a process designed to encourage collaboration and participation. The first round of community meetings was held in October and November to gather feedback on preliminary designs and concepts. A second round was held in February, March and April to finalize the designs. Now, the third meetings will help kick off the construction phase of the program.

Another six schools, including Bellaire High School, Davis High School, Dowling Middle School, Eastwood Academy, Lamar High School and Yates High School, will be holding their first community meeting.

Input from the community meetings is used to guide the work of the groups of teachers, staff, administrators, students and community members, known as Project Advisory Teams. The teams have been meeting at each of the 25 bond campuses in the first two groups of the program to determine the specific educational needs and space requirements at their schools.

“Our Project Advisory Teams are meeting regularly with their architects and HISD planners to develop innovative 21^st century learning environments at each of our bond campuses,” said Sue Robertson, general manager of Facilities Planning. “Their work is critical to ensuring we build schools that work for our students and communities.”

All meetings will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., unless otherwise noted. In addition, a community meeting will be held for the Early Childhood Center in the North Forest area, which is being built with state funds, rather than bond monies.

See below for the schedule:

Please check http://houstonisd.org/bondcalendar for any schedule changes that may occur.