La Grange Poised to Be a Regional Education Hub

Work Transforming Old Bealls into Satellite Campus Going Quickly

The old Bealls in La Grange is quickly being transformed into an educational hub.

Friday, Region 13 Education Service Center Executive Director Rich Elsasser took visiting Region 13 officials and LGISD superintendent Andy McHazlett and Assistant Superintendent Stacy Eilers on a tour of the progress of the old retail store at 215 Ellinger Rd.

The building that used to be a showcase of clothes and shoes, is being turned into a Region 13 satellite campus to offer educator training, student course offerings and even rentable space for the community.

Region 13 includes a 13-county area and serves as a liason between the Texas Education Agency and local school districts. Part of their job is coordinating the kind of continuing education training that all school personnel must go through.

Now a lot of that training is going to be done in La Grange.

After sitting empty for the past two years since Bealls closed, in the last few weeks work has really ramped up.

The facility will have multiple training rooms and conference rooms, equipped with projectors and video screens. There will be one large meeting room in the center of facility that can accommodate up to 150-175 people, but also equipped with moveable walls to partition that space off into smaller areas.

Elsasser said this will be one of three satellite campuses (the others are in San Marcos and Marble Falls) in Region 13 which will allow for educator training closer to home.

McHazlett said he was also excited about the possibility of using the space to offer speciality classes for students that LGISD could not do by itself – but could when in cooperation with other school districts. Elsasser said the space would also be available for rent by the public.

The complex will also have a significant economic impact locally, by bringing trainers and educators to La Grange, Elsasser said.

He said roughly 8,000 feet of the store will not be renovated now but could be utilized at a later time.

They plan to have a dedication ceremony and community open house likely sometime in June, Elsasser said.