Goodyear High School is an under-construction

public high school A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

Goodyear, Arizona Goodyear is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is a suburb of Phoenix and at the 2020 census had a population of 95,294, up from 65,275 in 2010 and 18,911 in 2000. The city is home to the Goodyear Ballpark, where the Clev ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

operated by the Agua Fria Union High School District. It is planned to open in 2025-2026 school year as the district's sixth high school, starting with 400 freshman students on a partially complete campus and then gradually expanding both facilities and student population to a full high school.

History

Site history

Originally, the site of the school held the

Phoenix Trotting Park The Phoenix Trotting Park, was a horse racing track built in 1964 in Goodyear, Arizona, United States. It opened in 1965 and was run for about two and a half seasons. The large, futuristically designed structure gave an optimistic look for the 19 ...

, a failed horse-racing track that opened in 1965, closed in 1966, and sat abandoned until its demolition in 2017.

Planning and construction

Following the growth of the region and resulting increase in student population, the Agua Fria Union High School district was struggling with overcrowding in its schools. Following the passing of the Agua Fria bond in the 2023 Arizona bond election, the district received funding in the range of $145 million to $197 million to address issues including the overcrowding, opting to spend $50 million on the construction of a new sixth campus. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on the site at the intersection of Cotton Lane and Van Buren in May 2024 in which the school's name and mascot were announced. In attendance were the school's future first principal and vice principal, Jason Linn and Micaella Butterfield. The school's mascot, the Maverick, was both a tribute to the former use of the site and to a local non-profit, the West Valley Mavericks, while naming the high school after the city was meant to thank voters who approved the bond that allowed for the construction and opening of the school. The school colors were announced to be Navy, Kelly Green, and White. Similar to the contemporary plan for the district's existing schools for the 2024-2025 school year, it was announced the school would operate on a mixed academic/career-technical model, offering three academies to students with twelve total pathways that students would choose near the end of their freshman year. Due to the gradual disbursement of the bond, rather than immediately building the full school, the district plans to build the campus in phases as the initial freshman students advance and a new freshman class enters. Phase one will include classrooms for about 450 freshman students and 52 staff members, sports facilities, a theater, a gym, a cafeteria, a library, a courtyard, and parking. By the final phase, the school plans to have roughly 1700-1800 students; new construction after the initial could increase that to 2100-2200. On December 3, 2024, the district set the initial boundaries for the school during a board meeting, taking over some areas from the crowded Desert Edge and Verrado High Schools.

Academics

Goodyear High School intends to offer the following career pathways among three areas of focus: ''Creative Arts and Media'', ''Science, Service and Innovation'', and ''Business, Design and Technology''.

Extracurricular activities

The school will start with a freshman

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team due to the initial student body only containing freshman students.

References

{{reflist Public high schools in Arizona