McKinney students will return to “refreshed” schools this August.
McKinney Independent School District is aiming to finish multiple refresh projects and construction before students return to classrooms this fall. Projects range from revitalizing current facilities to completing construction on entirely new buildings.
Among these projects is the construction of Frazier Elementary. McKinney ISD gave an update in January on the construction of the facility. The school will primarily serve students in the Trinity Falls community and is scheduled to open this fall.
Frazier Elementary will be the district’s 22nd elementary school.
MISD broke ground on the new school campus in June 2022 in a ceremony attended by board members, Mayor George Fuller, and then Superintendent Dr. Rick McDaniel. The school was dedicated to former McKinney ISD educators Ruth and Harold Frazier.
Carolyn Corbin, whose life was touched by the Fraziers, wrote the following in her letter to the MISD School Naming Committee in support of naming the school in their honor:
“They were educators nonpareil. Not only did they impact the lives of young people through their teaching abilities, but they also spent thousands of collective hours working with youth outside the regular school schedule. … Almost every child growing up in McKinney in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s has visited the Frazier Heritage Farm for a picnic, ice cream supper or overnight campout through various youth programs.
“They taught, both in the classroom and also through life-example, myriad students and other young people most all the days of their lives.”
Frazier Elementary will help alleviate overcrowding and “put the district in a position to accommodate increased student enrollment in this area,” said MISD.
Refresh projects for McKinney schools were part of the city’s 2021 school bond program, with $127 million of the program’s overall $245 million in funding dedicated to refreshing projects and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning projects.
McKinney campuses impacted include McKinney Boyd, Scott Johnson, Evans, Webb, Slaughter, Finch, Burks, Bennett, Minshew, and Wilmeth, according to McKinney ISD’s website.
Refresh work at Scott Johnson Middle School originally began last summer with academic areas. Work scheduled for this summer includes the school’s front office, athletic areas, and performing arts areas, according to McKinney Courier-Gazette.