Ponderosa Elementary School

Ponderosa Elementary was the third elementary that Spring I.S.D. built. It was dedicated in 1971 and was designed from the ground up as an open area, open concept (OAOC) school. The entire faculty was either trained in OAOC at district in-services or came from colleges and universities that stressed this type of instruction and school arrangement. During a remodel in 2001 walls were built and traditional classrooms were created. It was the first and is one of the few Spring Schools that is named for a subdivision, not a educator; the others are Oak Creek (recently renamed Reynold Elementary) and Heritage Elementary Schools.

The Ponderosa Subdivision itself got its name from the TV show Bonanza; it was the name of the Cartwright’s ranch. The school’s first Principal was Mrs. Virginia Simmons; the Superintendent was John Winship and Assistant Superintendent was Dr. Joseph Beneke. Mr. Winship was terminally ill and it was known that Dr. Beneke was brought in to lead the district in the near future. We were a demonstration OAOC School and had visitors from across the United States. It was not uncommon for these visitors to sit down and join the students for the classes. The students became very adept at helping all these adults with the assignments.

This building serves Pre-K  through grade 5 (approx 785 students)

We are the Ponderosa Ponies