Staley Middle School farewell brings Frisco generations back together
Former students and staff filled Staley Middle School for one last farewell as Frisco prepares to close its oldest middle school and redraw attendance zones.
Families, former students, teachers and neighbors walked back through Staley Middle School on May 17 for one last goodbye, turning the campus into a reunion hall as Frisco said farewell to a building that helped define the city’s school identity for more than five decades. The Staley Legacy Event brought hugs, conversations, refreshments and final performances from the band and choir, making the afternoon feel like both a celebration and a closing chapter.
The campus opened in 1973 as Frisco High School, then was fully renovated and reopened as Staley in 1996 after Frisco High moved to its current site on Stonebrook Parkway and the Dallas North Tollway. For many in attendance, the event marked the last chance to step through the halls of Frisco ISD’s oldest middle school before it closes at the end of the 2025-26 school year.
Frisco ISD’s Board of Trustees voted in October 2025 to retire Staley, citing declining enrollment across the district and failing infrastructure at the building. Officials have pointed to a 52-year-old underground cast-iron plumbing system that would take an estimated 18 to 30 months to replace, a timeline that underscores why the district opted to close rather than repair the campus. The district also said its middle schools that will take in Staley students, Griffin, Trent and Hunt, are about 1,000 students under capacity.
The change will reach families in August 2026, when current Staley students are rezoned to Griffin Middle School, Trent Middle School and Hunt Middle School. High school attendance zones are not changing, a detail that matters for families trying to map out the next several years as Frisco’s growth slows and the district adjusts to a smaller student population. Frisco ISD reported enrollment of 62,755, about 2,800 fewer students than at the end of the prior school year in May 2025.
The farewell also reflected a longer fight over the campus’s future. Voters rejected Frisco ISD’s 2024 bond package in November 2024, including Proposition B, which would have built a new Staley Middle School as part of the district’s $986 million proposal. That measure failed 52.1% to 47.9%, leaving the district to maintain the aging building for one more school year and then move on. Over time, Staley received major updates, including a cooling tower in 2006, fire alarms in 2007, lighting in 2008, a domestic boiler in 2013, hydronic boiler and fire suppression work in 2015, geothermal heat pumps in 2016, and LED lighting and flooring upgrades in later years.
Frisco City Council Member Ann Anderson read a proclamation from Mayor Jeff Cheney and the city council declaring May 17, 2026, as Staley Middle School Day. It was a fitting tribute for a campus that is closing as a school but will keep its place in Frisco memory long after the last bell rings.
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