Condra School unveils new downtown Lubbock location, partnership with TTUHSC
The Betty M. Condra School for Education Innovation this week unveiled its new home in downtown Lubbock and announced a partnership with Texas Tech Health Sciences Center researchers aimed at improving education for students with unique learning needs.
The 4-year-old public charter school, which caters to children with special learning differences and enrolls about 225 students, recently moved from its previous location at the Legacy Event Center on 13th Street several blocks away to the former Kaplan College building at 10th Street and Avenue O. The move required extensive renovations to the facility, and was celebrated during Friday's ceremony put on by the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce.
This move is a huge step for the Condra School and comes thanks to support from a number of business and leaders in the community, said Merinda Condra, founder and superintendent of the school, who described the Condra school as unique to the state in its mission to providing innovative teaching methods to cater to students with different needs.
"Everything we could do to make this school more successful for our children is here," she said, later adding: "We're so thankful our families have trusted us with their most previous resources - their children."
Lisa Sheek, director of community outreach and family liaison at the school, thanked Condra board members, families and staff for their continued support. She said Condra is also appreciate for support its received from Lee Lewis Construction, AARIS, Mission Irrigation, the city of Lubbock, and Texas Tech partners, Tori Gustafson and Tobias Knoll.
The Condra School broke ground on the renovations last summer. At the time, Sheek told the Avalanche-Journal the new building provides a number of benefits to Condra, and will also help in ongoing downtown development efforts.
“We like the area, it’s been convenient for our children and is in close proximity to where we are,” Sheek said at the time. “We’re bringing lots of families in to kind of boost the economy here. The city has given a lot of grant money for people to renovate and try to make things nicer in downtown.”
Part of the interior upgrades include security measures, with bullet-resistant glass and a receptionist who will “buzz” people in.
“It will be super safe for our children,” Sheek said in the previous story. “We’ll be putting a fence around, (adding) all the safety measures we can do to keep our children safe.”
This is the third move for the school, which initially began on Broadway west of Avenue Q, then moved to 14th Street. Since then, the school has also tripled in size, requiring more space. The school hopes to eventually have 300 children in the 24,500 sq. ft. building. The school officially moved to the new location last Monday, Jan. 30.
The school will not utilize the former hospital attached to the building. There is no access between the two sides.
Renovations are still ongoing at the facility. The next phases will involve building a playground and a “gymacafetorium,” which is a combination gym, cafeteria and auditorium.
During Friday's ceremony, Merinda Condra announced a developing partnership with researchers from the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center that she said she's hopeful will contribute to improved education for students at Condra and beyond.
The TTUHSC confirmed its role in the effort, sharing a statement with the Avalanche-Journal offering more details.
"The TTUHSC Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences will be working with the Condra charter school for research into factors that affect reading, including language factors that often go unnoticed, and the role of auditory processing," reads a statement from TTUHSC.
Part of the charter for the school is to support research that will help the children at their school, according to TTUHSC.
"One of the main focal points for this school has been serving children with reading disorders," the statement continues. "One area they have noted is that some children respond to traditional reading intervention, while others do not. The current study by Dr. Tobias Kroll and Dr. Tori Gustafson, will examine relationships of different language, reading, and auditory processing skills to help determine unique factors seen in these children that contribute to success, or lack thereof, in improving reading. The long-term goal of this collaboration is to develop intervention, using these factors, to help children who are not responding well to traditional therapy."
Condra said the school, which is free for students to attend, is still enrolling new students. More information about the school and enrollment is available through its website, https://condraschool.com/en-US or by calling them at (806) 993-4040.
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This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Condra School unveils downtown Lubbock location, partnership TTUHSC
