Members of the Maricopa Unified School District, from left, Torri Anderson, Robert Downey, AnnaMarie Knorr and Ben Owens turn the ceremonial first shovels of dirt at the groundbreaking event for the district's second high school. Photo by Jay Taylor.

The Maricopa Unified School District took a step toward a new future when it broke ground on the city’s second high school Friday. Located on an 80-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Murphy and Farrell roads, the new school is scheduled to open in July 2022.

About 100 invited guests attended the event, including Mayor Christian Price and city council, the MUSD Governing Board, members of the construction team, Ak-Chin Indian Community chairman Robert Miguel and members of the state School Facilities Board.

The yet-to-be-named high school will be built in three phases. The initial phase, will include two buildings and accommodate about 1,300 students. The first building will be a two-stories with 80,000 square feet of classrooms. The second will be a combination gymnasium and cafeteria, featuring indoor and outdoor dining areas. The $18.6 million first phase totals 125,000 square feet and a natural grass field that will be used for football and other sports.

Plans for future phases include athletic fields, a music facility and a dedicated Career and Technical Education building.

According to MUSD, other features of the new school include classrooms with makerspaces (areas that provide hands-on, creative ways for students to design, experiment and invent as they engage in science, engineering and tinkering), an art classroom with an “Art Yard” used for kiln work and other art finishing projects, a maintenance and storage facility and a gymnasium for basketball, volleyball and other sports.

District superintendent Dr. Tracey Lopeman noted it has been a long and winding road to get to this point – but they did it.

“We got here,” Lopeman said. “It was 1955 when the first high school, Maricopa High School, opened its doors. Now 66 years later we break ground for the second high school in MUSD. So, today we celebrate the continuation and the expansion of the Maricopa Unified School District’s tradition of excellence and service to the kids and families of Maricopa.”

Lopeman thanked those who have “laid the foundation of high expectations and values,” that got the district to this point, singling out former MUSD superintendent Alma Farrell in particular as portraying those values.

She also extended her personal gratitude to Miguel saying “you represent generations and generations and generations of a love of this area geographically, the city of Maricopa, a commitment to agriculture. Here we are in the middle of a pecan grove – everything you represent we value, and thank you so much.”

The new school’s principal, Marlene Armstrong, said the event is symbolic of MUSD’s leadership and commitment to ensuring all students achieve excellence by preparing them to become lifelong learners.

“We have all collectively committed to creating a legacy of a new high school for the city of Maricopa that will live well past each and every one of our lifetimes,” she said. “This is a great privilege as well as a great responsibility that we are bearing, and we are up to the challenge, and I am thrilled to be partnering with our new assistant principal, Mr. Phillip Verdugo, to plan for the great things that together we will accomplish at Maricopa Unified’s second high school.”

Armstrong and Verdugo, who officially begin their new positions July 1, will lead the development of programming, hire and onboard staff, and facilitate processes that will determine the unique features of the school, which will host freshman and sophomore students in its first year.

According to a statement by the district, “the second high school will launch with its own unique identity, academic coursework, and athletic programming.”