A new Argyle ISD school welcomes its first students

Those announcements? A cheerful welcome from Jordan, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and the Pledge to the Texas flag.

Students found their classrooms and started getting acquainted with the new campus. One kindergarten class waited outside its classroom as the teacher pointed to a vertical row of stickers.

“So how do you want to say good morning?” the teacher said. “You can do this, a wave and a good morning, or you can do this, a high five. Or, what about a fist bump?”

One of her shy charges suddenly got sheepish, and poked a finger at the morning greet. Pushing three fingers into his mouth while grinning and performing a half-turn away from his teacher, the boy gave a wave.

“That’s great!” the teacher said. “Good morning to you, too.”

The campus was funded from Argyle ISD’s 2017 bond election, and the project cost $33,496,720. The school is a 21st-century campus — all students and visitors have to enter through the front entrance, with doors locking when they close. Faculty and aides chaperone young students down the hallways, and the gymnasium doubles as a storm and disaster shelter, sealing the doors against assailants and whatever a Texas tornado might send flying.

Argyle ISD broke ground on Argyle South Elementary last June, and the building has the capacity for 850 students.

On Monday, the school had almost reached that capacity with 787 students. Argyle ISD is a rapid-growth district and just passed another bond package for schools and facilities. Argyle South is a harbinger of what’s to come as North Texas lures newcomers with bustling cities, though housing prices and growth have many searching for housing near schools.

The school was built in a neighborhood near Lantana, so scores of parents and grandparents walked their students to the building. Less than a block away from the school, new homes are still under construction, but families headed to the school shared the sidewalk with joggers and early morning dog walkers.

Once there, students were met with cheerful signs of a new school year. The main hallway declares in Technicolor text: “Together we are Argyle.” The school colors — black, white and red — popped up in welcoming displays with balloons, hay bales and signs. The front office can’t totally be disguised, with its long reception desk, tall glass windows, computers and printers. But the wall facing the office door is full of cozy and encouraging signs, in school colors, no less.

Argyle South has roomy classrooms for music and STEM curriculum. Neal Karpienski, the music teacher, created zones in his sprawling room. A comfortable chair sits in a corner near a stack of floor cushions, and a “composers corner” offers what looks like a bust of Beethoven wearing headphones, a ukulele and a laptop connected to speakers. Karpienski is set to encourage his students to make acoustic music and digital bops.

“We’re not quite finished in here,” said Argyle South librarian Asha Caldwell. “We’re still getting furniture arranged and getting books over here and on the shelves.”

The library is roomy and bright, and the checkout desk is ready for business. Pastel letters say, “Hooray! You’re finally here.”

“We’re so excited for the kids to be here,” Caldwell said. “We’ve all been waiting for this, and now we’re here.”