The district’s board of trustees discussed the campus closure April 14 during a regular board meeting. The board is expected to reconsider the school’s closure again in June.
The need for the closure comes after a failed bond, which voters denied in November, and declining enrollment.
What happened
A motion to close the middle school at the end of the 2024-25 school year was denied by board members in a 4-3 vote. Board members directed district staff to get additional information from a demographer for a further consideration regarding the closure, which passed 4-3.
“I feel like this is rushed,” board President Dynette Davis said. “I am very concerned about the quality of education that our kids are going to receive next year.”
The demographer report is anticipated to cost $55,000, which would be covered under contingency funds for unexpected expenses, said Kimberly Smith, FISD’s chief finance and strategy officer.
“In a budget crunch time, when we’re looking for funds and everything counts, are we open to spending an additional $55,000 to be told the same information that we already know?” board member Keith Maddox said.
The demographer report should take about four to six weeks, and the board will then reconsider Staley’s closure, Deputy Superintendent Todd Fouche said.
“We should all be bracing and expecting what [the demographer report] is going to tell us,” board member Mark Hill said. “We all need to be prepared to make that hard decision when it comes.”
The outlook
District officials have outlined two potential timelines for closing the middle school campus.
If closed after the 2024-25 school year, then all Staley Middle School students will be moved to surrounding schools—Hunt, Trent and Griffin middle schools. A map with the previous Staley Middle School zone overlaid on the new zones can be found here.
Another option would be closing the school after the 2026-27 school year. Incoming sixth grade students will attend Hunt, Trent and Griffin middle schools, according to the district’s proposed attendance zone maps. Current sixth and seventh graders will remain at Staley Middle in the 2026-27 school year for their seventh and eighth grade years, respectively.
The district would have to hire nearly half of the school’s teaching and operating staff to hold classes for the 2026-27 school year, Chief Human Resources Officer Pamela Linton said. About half of Staley’s teachers have announced their intentions to transfer to another FISD campus or leave the district at the end of the 2024-25 school year, said a district spokesperson.
Proposed middle school zonings can be found here.
Some context
FISD voters denied all three propositions from the district's $1.08 billion bond package, which included rebuilding Staley, in the November election.
Staley Middle School was built in 1973 and originally housed Frisco High School before being converted into the middle school in 1996.
The middle school needs extensive plumbing repairs as it has a 52-year-old underground cast-iron plumbing system, which usually has a lifespan of 50 years, Fouche said. Replacing the system would cost $7 million-$10 million and take 18-30 months to complete. This would remove students from the school for two to three years, district officials said.
FISD’s enrollment is expected to decline by nearly 1,000 students over the next few years, according to updated demographic projections. The district is projected to have 980 fewer middle school students in three years, or one full middle school, according to the March 10 meeting presentation.
