TEXAS CITY ISD CELEBRATED the final beam in each of the three new schools during separate events on Thursday. Manuel Guajardo Elementary School in Texas City, Jimmy Hayley Elementary and Pickney S. Simms Elementary in La Marque are each scheduled to open its doors after the holiday break early next year.
Families of each of the namesakes, along with TCISD officials and members of the Texas City and La Marque city councils, were in attendance for the events, which had to be limited because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Both Hayley and Simms Elementary will serve La Marque students from kindergarten through fifth grades. The need for new elementary schools has been glaring for La Marque since Hurricane Harvey damaged regular campuses, forcing them students to hold classes in temporary facilities.
Hayley Elementary is named after the late Jimmy Hayley, a La Marque native who served decades as the Texas City-La Marque Chamber of Commerce president along with being a part of the La Marque ISD school board. He earned the nickname “Mr. Cougar” for his loyalty to the school’s football program and was in attendance for each of La Marque’s 10 state championship game appearances.
The school is located on the grounds of the old La Marque Middle School, which took heavy damage from Hurricane Harvey.
Located on the original Simms Elementary, which closed its doors in 2013, the new version will still be named after the first principal of La Marque’s Lincoln High School. Simms was also the superintendent of La Marque’s African-American schools before the city integrated in 1970.
Formerly named Northside Elementary, Guajardo is named after the longtime Texas City ISD school board member and community leader. The school will hold kindergarten through fourth grade students.
The schools are part of a $136.1 million bond program that received the blessing of TCISD voters in 2018. A new La Marque Middle School is scheduled to break ground by year’s end.
