Our Great City

While the Keller Independent School District welcomed back 33,000 students on the first day of school August 23, 2010, 1,750 of those students started traditions at two new campuses.

For the 11th straight year, Keller ISD opens a new campus, this year opening two: the 5-8 grade Timberview Middle School and the Keller Early Learning Center.

"We are proud of both of these beautiful new buildings,” said KISD Superintendent Dr. James Veitenheimer. “Several years of hard work have gone into the planning the design and construction of these campuses and they are outstanding editions to the outstanding facilities Keller ISD offers its students and community.”

“These facilities are unique in design and use of technology; however, consistent with established financial parameters that have guided the construction of all our district facilities,” Dr. Veitenheimer added.

Timberview Middle School is KISD’s first and only campus to house grades 5 through 8. The unique campus provides new challenges of ensuring that all four grade levels have the same opportunities and receive the same nurturing environments as do students across the district. What developed was a campus designed with an emphasis on embracing new technologies and green initiatives, and classrooms that foster collaboration between students and educators.

Timberview classrooms are organized in unique groups that surround collaboration spaces. Features such as rotating classroom walls provide the opportunity to share small group projects with a larger assembly of students. Timberview is also the first KISD campus to be built to the standards of the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED). The LEED for Schools rating system is a program developed by the U.S. Green Building Council that recognizes the unique nature of the design and construction of K-12 schools.

The campus’ green features include:

• An energy garden
• Light harvesting
• Geothermal HVAC
• Reduced volatile organic carbons (VOC)
• Joint school/community spaces
• Reflective surfaces
• Acoustic reflectivity
• Enhanced natural lighting

“Timberview Middle School marks the culmination of nearly two decades of sustainable development efforts with the district,” said David Stanford, Principal at Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford, the architecture firm contracted to design the new school. “As one of the first LEED for Schools in the North Texas region, Keller ISD patrons and students will benefit in numerous ways from the forward-thinking design implemented within the campus.”

The Keller Early Learning Center will hold the district’s prekindergarten programs, as well as special education programs such as PPCD, STACCP and TALK. Located behind the campus, but not connected to it is a facility that contains additional district warehouse space, administrative offices, and professional development meeting rooms.

The Early Learning Center also has some unique features including rotating walls that allow collaboration between classrooms, and the alphabet and numbers are imbedded on the floor and walls promoting active learning throughout the building.

Both the Keller Learning Center and Timberview Middle School are located on the same property at 10300 Old Denton Road in Fort Worth, in the northwestern portion of the Keller ISD boundaries.