Text Size:

50th Anniversary Booklet (PDF Version)  

In 1956, Comal County officials were notified that only students who resided within the boundaries of New Braunfels ISD could attend New Braunfels High School due to overcrowding. Up until then, all Comal County students would attend NBHS for their last two years of high school if they wanted to earn a high school diploma.

     Students in rural Comal County attended the following common school districts until this time. Those districts included Danville (1st-8 th), Davenport (1st-8th), Mt. Valley (1st-8th), Fischer Store (1st-6th), Solms (1st-9th), Bulverde (1st-10th), Sherwood (1st-10th), and Goodwin (1st-9th).

     So, an election was held on Oct. 13, 1956 to establish the Comal County Rural High School District and the school board approved the consolidation on Nov. 12 of that year.

     In February 1957 the board of trustees met to determine whether the New Braunfels ISD and the Comal Rural High School District could consolidate, but voted against it. The first full year of school for the new district began Sept. 1, 1957.

     M.H Specht served as county superintendent in the beginning and was succeeded by William Sevier in 1959. Sevier also served as principal of the new Canyon High School.

     The following year, Danville, Solms, and Davenport school buildings were moved to the site of Comal Elementary School. A bond election for $847,353 passed in 1965 for construction of Canyon Junior High, Bulverde Junior High and Comal Elementary schools. The Comal and Bulverde schools were completed in 1967. When the new Canyon Junior High opened in 1973, the old site became Frazier Elementary School.

     In September 1968, Norman Whisenant was employed as the new district superintendent and he recommended the formation of an independent school district.

     An election held April 23, 1968 created the school district that was thereafter know as the “Comal Independent School District of Comal, Bexar, Kendall, Hays and Guadalupe Counties, Texas.”

     The district continued to grow and in 1969 the board accepted plans for further construction at Bulverde Elementary, Goodwin Elementary and Canyon High schools. Plans for the central administration building were presented to the board in 1970 and it was competed in December 1971.

     Approximately 50 acres of land were purchased on the south side of IH-35 for $1,500 per acre as a site for the new Canyon High School with construction beginning in March 1972. A second high school site consisting of 60 acres was also purchased in the Smithson Valley area.

     The new Canyon High School was completed for the 1973-74 school year while Smithson Valley High School was funded by a $4.9 million bond issue passed during the 1974-75 school year.

     That bond issue also financed the construction of Mountain Valley Elementary and Middle School in Sattler, and some $900,000 worth of improvements to the Comal, Frazier and Goodwin elementary schools and the middle schools at Canyon and Bulverde.

     Church Hill School, located on the Goodwin campus, was deeded to the New Braunfels Conservation Society, which restored the 1870 rock building for museum and heritage purposes. The Solms building was moved to the back of the Comal property and used for storage.

     James Richardson was named superintendent in 1977 and served until 1982, when he was succeeded by Dr. Edgar O. Wilhelm. He held that position until 1985. From 1985 until 1990, Bill Brown served as superintendent.

     A $ 19.96 million bond issue was passed by voters in the Comal ISD in 1985 and that money funded additions and renovations to the district’s nine existing campuses, as well as the construction of two new schools — a new Smithson Valley High School near the intersection of Texas Highway 46 and Smithson Valley Road, and a new Canyon Middle on Freiheit Road (FM 1101).

     Bill Brown Elementary School was financed in the $6.9 million bond issue passed in 1989. Bulverde Elementary, Mt. Valley Elementary and Comal Elementary schools received classroom additions and new roofs were provided for the Bulverde Elementary gym, Mt. Valley Elementary, Comal Elementary, Frazier Elementary and Canyon High schools.

     From 1990 to 1993, Joe Rogers was the superintendent and from 1993 to 2001, Dr. Jerry Major served in the leadership position.

     In 1994, district patrons approved a $17.6 million bond issue for construction of Mt. Valley Intermediate, Arlon Seay Intermediate, and Canyon Intermediate schools, expansion of seven cafeterias, three library expansions and mechanical and electrical renovations at seven schools.

     The Comal Leadership Institute opened for students in 1995 as the district’s alternative education center.

     The construction of Spring Branch Middle School, classroom additions to Smithson Valley Middle, Smithson Valley High, Canyon High, and Canyon Middle schools were approved in the 1995 $17.95 million bond election. Smithson Valley High, Smithson Valley Middle and Canyon High Schools also received library expansions.

     In 1999, voters approved a $141 million bond issue for three elementary schools — Hoffmann Lane, Specht, and Rebecca Creek — and a third high school to be built north of Canyon Lake. The bond issue included major expansions for Canyon and Smithson Valley high schools, Canyon Middle School, and Comal Elementary, renovations and additions to various campuses, and technology upgrades for all campuses.
     
     After Dr. Major left the district in 2001, Dr. Jim Grunert served as superintendent from 2001 until 2003 and Nancy Fuller was superintendent from 2003 until 2005. In August, 2005, Dr. Marc Walker was hired to lead the district as superintendent.

      Enrollment in the district today stands at approximately 13,300 students, and increases by about 600 to 800 a year. As a result, voters approved a $189 million bond package in December, 2005 to build new elementary and middle schools, renovate or upgrade all other schools, buy new school buses, upgrade technology, and buy land for future schools.

      What began as a conglomeration of rural schools has become a bustling and sophisticated school district serving an urban and suburban area of almost 600 square miles. Today, the Comal ISD is the largest employer in Comal County with almost 1,700 employees on the payroll year-round.