The new Austin High School is now scheduled to open in January 2021 — a delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The school was originally scheduled to open in August 2020. HISD Construction Services Officer Derrick Sanders said the new timeline was due to a three-month delay in the school’s furniture shipment and manpower shortages caused by mandated social distancing requirements resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Austin will remain at its current temporary learning center located across South Lockwood Drive until the new facility opens.

“We have experienced new and unexpected obstacles presented by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sanders said. “But we remain committed to ensuring the health and safety of our students, staff, and employees, while also working to provide state of the art, top of the line schools for everyone.”

The $80.9 million project calls for a state-of-the-art school with flexible learning spaces, sound upgrades for the existing auditorium, and preservation of the historic front façade of the original main building, which opened in 1937.

Austin is among 40 schools, including 29 high schools, across the district that are being renovated or rebuilt as part of the 2012 Bond Program.

More than 80 percent of all HISD construction projects are complete, and HISD will soon boast of one of the most modern portfolios of urban high schools in the country.

Follow @Build_HISD on Twitter for the latest construction updates on the 2012 Bond Program and school construction across the district.