New Wilmer Elementary School named after Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson

WILMER – The new elementary school that is currently being built in Wilmer will be named after the 14-term Dallas congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson.

The school is set to open in August of this year.

The walls are up on the 83,720 square foot-foot building, and utility and interior building work is underway.

The Dallas ISD trustees approved the name for the new district school last month.

The shovels for the school were put to soil back in September of last year with both Dallas ISD and Wilmer city officials in attendance.

In addition to the almost 84,000 square-feet, the school will have learning spaces designed for up to 600 students in grades pre-K to fifth grade.

There will also be a soccer field, basketball court and playground.

The total school price tag was $23-million.

Around the new school the city is also making infrastructure changes to accommodate the fall school open date opening.

Nearby, Goode Road is undergoing an expansion and will be a four-lane thoroughfare complete with a traffic signal at Belt Line Road.

As for the school’s namesake, Congresswoman Johnson is currently serving her 14th term representing the 30th District of Texas.

She was the first African-American and woman to chair the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and is the Dean of the Texas Congressional delegation, in addition to serving as Dean of the Texas, New Mexico and Arizona Democratic Congressional Delegation, according to her bio.

She is also the highest-ranking Texan on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and the first nurse to be elected to the U.S. Congress.

She began her career as the first female African American Chief Psychiatric Nurse at the V.A. Hospital in Dallas.

In 1972, she became the first nurse ever elected to the Texas State House and she also achieved that same designation when she was elected to the Texas Senate in 1986.