New High School in Denton?

[VWG]

Last week I was talking to a guy in Denton whose kids attend Denton Ryan HS. He told me that Denton will be building a third high school next year.
Anybody else heard this?
Also... I have heard that Ponder (2A) will be playing football in the next few years. Ponder doesn't currently have a football program along with other 2A schools around the Ft. Worth area. Peaster, Brock, Krum... etc....

[wildstangs]

I have heard the same thing also. I think the goal is to keep their schools 4A. A couple of years ago I heard Joey Florence (the Ryan head coach) talk about how he felt their move up to 5A was temporary until the new school could open up. I cant remember what they are going to call the school, but it starts with a G if I remember correctly.

[jason]

denton isd will be getting a new high school...that was announced a while ago....


...we're lookin for names/dates/etc...

[jason]

the new high school will be called 'Guyer High' and will open in the fall of '05...it is located in south denton...

[Ranger Mom]

Guyer will make fast varsity debut

Except football, new school will open next fall with teams in 4A

12:56 AM CST on Friday, November 12, 2004

By MIKE McCLENDON / Denton Record Chronicle

Denton school district officials announced Wednesday that Guyer High School will field varsity athletic teams in every sport except football at the Class 4A level during its inaugural year next fall.

"It is going to be a challenge for Guyer High School," said Tony Swafford, Denton school district assistant superintendent for secondary programs. "We hope we can develop a schedule that will allow them to experience some success, not just in athletics but in all UIL events."

Guyer, now under construction in southern Denton on Teasley Lane, will become the district's third high school.

The school – which will begin with freshman, sophomore and junior classes – will field freshman and junior varsity football teams.

District officials said the Guyer Wildcats will compete in varsity football in 2006.

Guyer will not play varsity football next season because of the nature of football scheduling, said Ken Purcell, the Denton school district's athletic director. Varsity football schedules are made in two-year increments and require contracts between the schools. This season marked the first year of that two-year cycle.

"Football is the only sport that requires contracts to schedule games," Swafford said.

Purcell said he does not know in which UIL district the Guyer athletic teams will compete next year.

The UIL could put Guyer with Denton in District 5-4A or with Hebron, Lake Dallas and Frisco in 9-4A, Purcell said.

Guyer's opening will have an immediate effect on the Denton and Ryan athletic teams. Denton and Ryan have combined to win four state titles in the last four school years. Both schools will lose students to Guyer.

"I don't think it's good from an athletic standpoint," Ryan football coach Joey Florence said. "The growth and the uncertainty makes you nervous. You just don't know. But you have to deal with it."


Denton girls basketball coach Bobby Bates said the opening of a new school typically dilutes the talent at all the schools in the district.

This year's freshmen and sophomores at Denton and Ryan will have the option of staying at their current schools. Current eighth-graders who live in the Guyer attendance zone will be required to begin high school there unless they have siblings who choose to remain at Denton or Ryan.

"I feel pretty confident that the guys we have here are probably going to stay here, even the younger guys," Ryan boys basketball coach Bryce Overstreet said. "I think the tradition we have here at Ryan is going to help us out, as far as that goes."

Several Denton school district coaches expressed surprise that Guyer will include juniors next year.

"They had talked about opening as freshmen only," Ryan baseball coach Bret Warnack said. "They had talked about freshmen and sophomores. I've never even contemplated juniors."

If Guyer opened as freshmen-only, Denton and Ryan probably would be forced to compete in Class 5A after the next UIL redistricting, Purcell said.

Purcell said he expects the opening of Guyer to cause Ryan to drop from Class 5A back to 4A after next year. He said he prefers that all Denton high schools compete in Class 4A.

Purcell said he hopes to hire a head football coach/athletic coordinator for Guyer by February. The head football coach would then work with Purcell and Guyer principal Barbara Fischer to hire the rest of the school's coaching staff.

Purcell said he expects Guyer to struggle athletically in its first season of competition but pointed toward another local school as a model for success.

"Look at Hebron," Purcell said. "Hebron was a doormat when it opened, and now it's competing for championships in several sports."

Swafford said personnel is a key.

"I've seen it go either way," he said. "Plano West won a state championship in girls soccer the first year the school opened. A lot will depend on the people we put in leadership positions."

[KTJ]

Denton will also build a 4th high school in the next few years. Land has already been bought for that.