GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Near Van Buren and Cotton Lane sits a dirt lot that will soon turn into something big.
"This is the old trotting park land and we wanted to bring that history to our school and celebrate the west side and Goodyear and how we've expanded over the years and this spot was perfect for that," said Jason Linn.
Last November, the voters of Goodyear approved a $145 million bond measure on the ballot that is now funding the construction of a new high school for the Agua Fria High School District.
"A couple years ago we started noticing the growth and our district and governing board started exploring the options," Linn said. "We knew we needed to go out for a bond and it went out last November to voters and we got that bond secured."
The school will be the sixth campus for the district and is meant to help alleviate overcrowding with all the growth the West Valley is seeing.
"At Desert Edge and Verrado High Schools, they're well over capacity," he said. "They have over 2,000 at Desert Edge. When I started 15 years ago, they had 1,400. You see the homes going up and everything and it's great for the area, but we also need to help our kids and our teachers and families. They need more options with education, and we need to make sure they have a safe place too because too many kids in the classroom is tough for everybody. It's not good for the students, the teachers and so this is needed in our area."
Work on the new campus has already begun. In fact, construction crews are usually seen working before the sun comes up. Once done, the school will cater to 9-12th graders and will feature a unique layout focused on education.
"We have to prepare our students for life," Linn said. "The Academy Model will give them that option. They can choose a pathway they want to follow and that could lead to a career whether it's by enlisting in the military or enrolling in a university, they'll be ready for life."
Several academies will be offered including Technology, Health Sciences, Marketing and Entertainment. Incoming freshmen will first explore those fields by interacting with professionals or going on field trips to see it in person. At the end of the year, they'll select the pathway they want to follow.
"When they graduate they have more options and they'll have certifications and options established from high school," Linn said. "We intentionally built our classrooms very collaboratively. We put four classrooms together with centralized teaching space for the teachers so they can collaborate."
For the 2025-2026 school year, officials expect to welcome about 450 freshmen and then add a new class each year that follows. The name of the school, Goodyear High School, was given as a tribute to the city.
"Their help was instrumental to this," Linn said. "We're naming it Goodyear High School as a thank you to the community and they helped us build this by approving the bond so what better way to celebrate them and their efforts?"
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