Celina ISD's newest campus, Willard Middle School, welcomed students for the first time on Aug. 12, adding 205,000 square feet of classroom space to a district that has grown by more than 1,000 students in a single year.

The growth is staggering.

At the Aug. 17 board meeting, Director of Construction and Facilities Planning David Fink reported that the district opened a combined 438,000 square feet of new space for the 2026-27 school year, including a 233,000-square-foot Academic wing at Celina High School, according to the district's board meeting recap.

"Since this time last year, CISD has welcomed more than 240 new staff members and over 1,000 new students to the district," Superintendent Tom Maglisceau told trustees at that meeting.

Willard is now one of eight campuses in the district. Three more elementary schools are already under construction. Scott Elementary, Grumbles Elementary and Calvert Elementary are all slated to open for the 2027-28 school year, Fink told the board. Board President Kelly Juergens presided over the meeting where those updates were presented.

The expansion stands in sharp contrast to Celina's origins. During the 1883-84 school year, roughly 60 students attended classes in a two-room wooden schoolhouse under a teacher named Mr. Karnes, according to a City of Celina post marking the city's 150th anniversary. The Alla School followed in 1896, a two-story wooden building funded by Dr. Moses Hubbard and his wife Mary Jane Hubbard and built by Ben and Willie O'Brien. It offered nine grades, no tuition and an eight-month term. Alla merged with Celina ISD in 1958.

The Celina Record reported on the opening alongside archival photos of those early schoolhouses, drawing a line from a two-room building with 60 students to a 205,000-square-foot middle school in a district that now adds a thousand kids a year.

Scott, Grumbles and Calvert elementaries break ground next as the district prepares for another wave of families moving into the area.