Jubilee Leadership Academy began construction of a new campus at 1025 Main St. this week in Brownsville.
Nestled in a growing part of the city known as Paseo de la Resaca, the charter school is taking steps to minimize the impact dropping off and picking up students will have on the surrounding area, officials said.
Jubilee expects the new school to open about a year from now. Construction is underway on a site next to the WalMart on Ruben M. Torres Boulevard and behind businesses that are catty corner from the H-E-B on Paredes Line Road.
The school site is set off Main Street, a road set a block north of Ruben Torres and feeding off to the east from Paredes Line Road, within the Paseo de la Resaca development.
The builder is La Feria-based Noble Texas Builders.
The new school will replace the one Jubilee Leadership Academy currently operates in leased space at 4150 Jaime J. Zapata Ave. It has about 200 students.
“Jubilee understands the impact increased traffic can cause for daily commuters of the area. With that in mind, the district has been very intentional with its plans for student pick-up and drop off,” Jubilee Academies said in a statement. “Plans are to have the capacity for all, if not most, traffic on-site and avoid causing any congestion in the public road areas. This plan has been shared and approved by the city of Brownsville and their Traffic Engineering Division.”
Jubilee marked the start of construction for the 50,000 square-foot campus with a ground-breaking ceremony Wednesday.
Superintendent Kevin Phillips said Jubilee is proud to be part of the Brownsville educational community and the educational cooperative started by SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
“Put on your seat belts and get ready to see what’s going to happen with this new Jubilee campus,” Phillips said. “We commit to our students and our families that you will be ready for the future, your kids will be ready for the future when they spend their time with Jubilee.”
Phillips characterized Jubilee as a charter school district with a private-school family feel.
State Board of Education member Ruben Cortez of Brownsville said Jubilee’s growth illustrates the exciting things happening in public education.
“As somebody who struggled a lot in school,” Cortez stressed the importance of teachers. “I would be dead or in jail if it wasn’t for some amazing teachers and a mother who wouldn’t give up,” he said he often tells people. Lacking credits and thanks to the graduation plan he and his counselor worked out, Cortez was able to graduate on time with his class at Porter High School.
“The schools are the backbone of any community,” Cortez added. “Whatever position you have in education, you help shape the whole child.”
Sandra Garcia, a bilingual specialist at Jubilee Leadership Academy’s current location, said the new building represents “a great opportunity for us to grow without restraint.”
Tom Koger, Jubilee CEO and director of schools, said plans for Jubilee Leadership Academy had been in the works for three years. “It will be great to own our own building,” he said.
Jubilee also operates Jubilee-Livingway at 350 Ruben M. Torres, Jubilee Brownsville at 4955 Pablo Kissel Blvd., and is part of the San Antonio-based Jubilee Charter School District, which has campuses across deep South Texas.
