Bob Hope to open Beaumont campus
Published 7:06 pm Monday, May 28, 2018
- The new campus is already taking applications for student enrollment in August.
By Lorenzo Salinas
Parents and guardians in Beaumont looking for more options in educating their children are in luck because Bob Hope School is expanding.
The Port Arthur-based charter school system that teaches grades pre-K through 12 is opening a new campus in August on 7720 Park North Drive in Beaumont.
It will be an elementary campus that will initially teach pre-K through second grade, with an eye toward expansion further down the line.
Superintendent Bobby Lopez said the school would house approximately 420 students during its first year. That number should eventually rise to 1,400 as the school and demand for it grows.
“We have been very successful in Port Arthur. Currently we have over 1,200 on our waiting list for the current campus,” Lopez said. “And so we’ve been wanting to expand.”
Lopez expressed his desire to not have the school become a “conglomerate” in Port Arthur; and thus by expanding it into Beaumont, he and the administration could avoid that from happening.
“We target certain things we do in model and that’s what we go after,” Lopez said. “We knew there’s an opportunity in Beaumont for quality education, so we decided to go there.”
Lopez was quick to point out the high standards and academic successes of both campuses in Port Arthur.
“We very much stress academics — successful academics — in Port Arthur,” Lopez said.
According to him, Bob Hope School is one of the higher functioning charter schools when compared to other such schools in the state. Lopez said Bob Hope offers a “great deal of education.”
Elementary students could expect dual-language courses and other programs geared toward making them proficient in both English and Spanish. Lopez said this was something most kids don’t traditionally have access to.
“We’re able to offer different kinds of programs,” he said. “That’s a choice. It’s basically what we’re about — giving parents a choice.”
The Beaumont campus will be overseen by members within the administrative team from Port Arthur.
In addition, Bob Hope School is expanding its Port Arthur classes.
“We’re adding grade levels. Currently we have 60 students per grade level at the elementary campus,” Lopez said. “We’ll be going up to 100 students per grade level.”
Bob Hope High School is currently at the 100-student-per-grade level.
Bob Hope School has two active campuses in Port Arthur, with its elementary school on 4301 32nd St. and its high school and middle school on 2849 Ninth Ave.
The school is currently accepting applications for student enrollment at its Beaumont campus on its website: www.bobhopeschool.org.
