Marble Falls ISD outlines athletic facilities calendar

CAPTION: The new scoreboard will operate as a virtual scoreboard and includes five zones or layers for sponsors, mascots, school graphics, sports clips, animations and additional custom content. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

With the school year less than a month from ending, Marble Falls Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Jeff Gasaway and his team are bracing for what he hopes is a busy and productive summer in construction and renovations on projects approved by voters from the May 2025 bond.

This time a year ago, Gasaway and his team were setting up meetings and pulling out calendars as they began listing which projects needed to be constructed first. Once the 2025-26 school year began, administrators had a better grip on that list.

As a result, some of those projects — the construction of the new baseball park and the new scoreboard at Mustang Stadium — are taking shape now after approval from the Marble Falls ISD Board of Trustees.

That leads to where Gasaway is now and what’s next – the multipurpose facility, the new locker rooms at Max Copeland Gym, and the renovation of the PE Gym at the high school to become the new band hall.

“I anticipate during the 26-27 school year that we will have five active construction sites going on,” he said. “That would include the multipurpose, the Max Copeland Gym locker rooms, the (Career and Technical Education renovation), the new band hall, which will be taking over the P.E. gym, and the theater renovation. Probably the three you have in your pocket — the CTE, Max Copeland Gym and the multipurpose — will probably all start very close together, around Aug. 1. The other two will be around a month later because of when their GMP will go to the board.”

That makes the July meeting board of trustees the one where Gasaway wants to present real numbers to members and ask for approval. That is the first step before construction can begin.

“That is the goal is to bring a guaranteed maximum price for the board to approve and if approved, that we would be able to start with the work that needs to be done no later than Aug. 1,” he said.

While Mustang Stadium may be the crown jewel of the Highland Lakes because of all that it has — artificial turf, two-story press box, reserved stadium seats, a nine-lane track and a new scoreboard that also was part of the 2025 May bond — the multipurpose facility may be more important to the athletes and those associated with fall Friday night festivities.

The multipurpose facility, which is projected to be ready August 2027, will have three parts:

• a covered football and soccer field with artificial turf that, when including the end zone, is 70 yards long plus lines for soccer, hashmarks and numbers for football, markings and numbers for the Mustang Marching Band complete with a crow’s nest to film or watch from up high, three track lanes and other features to allow golf, soccer, softball and baseball to use it.

• a gym with basketball and volleyball lines that mirrors what Max Copeland Gym and the Mustang Gym have along with one main basket on each baseline and other baskets on each sideline.

• a state-of-the-art weight room. Athletic director and football head coach Keri Timmerman has been having conversations with several fitness equipment manufacturers, Gasaway said, on what’s available and what to purchase to ensure the athletes get the equipment that helps prepare their bodies for play. “He has a vision and he’s working with Huckabee (and Associates, Inc, the architects of the 2025 bond projects), but also with three different weightlifting vendors to get an idea of how much the weight room will cost and the expectation of the specifics that are there,” the superintendent said.

CAPTION: The way the new Mustang Stadium scoreboard will look during home games. Graphic courtesy of Marble Falls ISD

But equally important are the locker room additions at Max Copeland Gym. The locker rooms will be equal in every way except the boys will have urinals and a toilet, while the girls will have toilets. They are projected to be completed in December.

The extra space will create four different dressing rooms, which is important for tournaments.

“Four different teams utilizing four different locker rooms,” Gasaway said.

He noted the band must have their own band hall ready to move in before the existing band hall can be turned into a dance and studio space for cheer and the Starlettes.

“We have to have a place for the band to be able to practice safely,” the superintendent said. “And so construction on the old band hall will not start until we’re confident that the new band hall will be ready. We will not Give up the old ban home until we’re confident that the new bandhall is ready for the kids.”

Meanwhile, the cheerleaders and Starlettes will practice in classrooms, on the field at Mustang Stadium, in a gym or other location. Gasaway said those students are accustomed to going to different locations on campus.

“Cheer has been the one that in my 10 years here have utilized a variety of different spaces,” he said. “So Mr. Hinson is going to be working with Mrs. (Alyssa) Canales on just making sure they have spaces and that it goes well as we get ready to enjoy a much better facility.”

Gasaway said he and Marble Falls ISD officials continue to look at the bottom line, and that’s because of his belief that is part of being a good steward, a trust from residents he doesn’t take lightly.

“Being in budget has always been one of my very focal questions throughout all of our processes,” he said. “And so when something comes in over budget, it’s alarming because of how much I try to make sure that we’re not over budget. So I’ve worked on keeping the board informed of the process. As I get information from Huckabee, I share with the board. Convey my appreciation to our community for their support of the 2025 bond and their continued support of Marble Falls ISD and what we’re doing.”