Sam Houston school expansion set for summer start, adds room for 160

Sam Houston school expansion set for summer start, adds room for 160 

Daily Times 

February 22, 2026 

By: Mathaus Schwarzen 

Construction on Maryville’s Sam Houston Elementary will take 15 to 18 months to complete, hopefully syncing with work on the nearby Maryville High School. Staff held an informational meeting for surrounding residents at the elementary school Tuesday, Feb. 17, offering them a glimpse of the proposed project and an explanation of how it will affect the area. 

The project will add room for 160 more students, bringing total capacity to 660. Maryville City Schools will accept bids for the project March 3 and hold a called meeting of the school board to discuss submissions March 9. Work is scheduled to begin this summer. 

Once completed, school staff said students will primarily be pulled from Foothills Elementary to the renovated Sam Houston campus. 

 

The final cost to the school system will depend on bids. Mike Winstead, director of schools for Maryville City Schools, declined to comment on how much staff anticipate the work will cost. 

Sam Houston Elementary currently serves 479 students. 

Growing up 

Population growth has prompted multiple changes for the Maryville school system in recent months. In 2025, the city approved a $55 million bond to finance expansions to Maryville High School. 

At Tuesday’s meeting, Winstead told parents and residents that the school system will cover work on Sam Houston with funds set aside during the COVID-19 pandemic. MCS, he said, has about $15 million in savings. 

Winstead said base operational costs of about $1 million per location keep MCS from simply building an entirely new school to accommodate growth. 

“This is a 20- to 25-year solution, but it’s the right solution now,” Winstead told guests at the meeting. He pointed out that Foothills and John Sevier elementary schools have already gone to eight teachers per grade and assured parents that the atmosphere at both schools has remained the same. 

The same should happen at Sam Houston, he said. 

“We won’t go there from day one, but it gives us the capacity to grow to eight teachers per grade, and we can do that and still not lose anything about the great community we have here,” he said. 

If the board approves the move, staff will pull about 100 kids and a teacher per grade to Sam Houston when the work is done, primarily moving students from Foothills Elementary, which has seen more growth. 

New digs 

Brian Pierce, senior project manager for Cope Architecture, said all construction employees will pass mandatory background checks and be prohibited from interacting with students while the project is underway. He also said the new windows and doors will employ ballistic film on the inside in keeping with state law. 

Construction should avoid obstructing transit during arrival and pickup, he said, and stay confined to normal work hours. Roads should remain mostly clear, and school operations will be primarily unimpeded. 

The project will add more than 25,000 square feet to the school footprint, bringing the final outline close to 100,000 square feet. To accommodate that growth, contractors will expand the front of the school facility into an existing parking lot, taking out several trees and planting many more in the process. 

On the inside, students can expect the existing gym to be partially converted into a new library, with the stage removed. A new gymnasium with hardwood floors is included in the plans. The cafeteria will also be expanded, with serving lines renovated for two-sided flow. New classroom spaces, a new secure front entrance and a two-lane drop-off area are in the works, among other highlights. 

The playground will remain untouched. 

School staff said the work will be done in phases. 

“The very first phase is the parking lot that will take place this summer, and as far as I know, that’s going to be ready to go by the time you come back to school,” Sam Houston Principal Molly Rice said. The school, she said, has committees for logistics and safety and will alert parents of changes. 

New digs 

Brian Pierce, senior project manager for Cope Architecture, said all construction employees will pass mandatory background checks and be prohibited from interacting with students while the project is underway. He also said the new windows and doors will employ ballistic film on the inside in keeping with state law. 

Construction should avoid obstructing transit during arrival and pickup, he said, and stay confined to normal work hours. Roads should remain mostly clear, and school operations will be primarily unimpeded. 

The project will add more than 25,000 square feet to the school footprint, bringing the final outline close to 100,000 square feet. To accommodate that growth, contractors will expand the front of the school facility into an existing parking lot, taking out several trees and planting many more in the process. 

On the inside, students can expect the existing gym to be partially converted into a new library, with the stage removed. A new gymnasium with hardwood floors is included in the plans. The cafeteria will also be expanded, with serving lines renovated for two-sided flow. New classroom spaces, a new secure front entrance and a two-lane drop-off area are in the works, among other highlights. 

The playground will remain untouched. 

School staff said the work will be done in phases. 

“The very first phase is the parking lot that will take place this summer, and as far as I know, that’s going to be ready to go by the time you come back to school,” Sam Houston Principal Molly Rice said. The school, she said, has committees for logistics and safety and will alert parents of changes.