School profile
Salyards Middle School encourages students to serve their community.
When the April 18 rains caused widespread flooding in and around the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, it didn’t take long for the community of Salyards Middle School to respond.
Despite being closed that week, the school collected $5,200 and eight truckloads of cleaning supplies within 90 minutes to donate to those whose homes had flooded.
A recent call for help from Cy-Fair Helping Hands, a nonprofit that assists the homeless, launched a schoolwide collection for nonperishable food items. Meanwhile, the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes recently collected 5,500 pairs of socks for the homeless.
These acts of charity are common place at Salyards, where a culture of service, leadership and excellence are instilled in all aspects of the middle school experience, according to Principal Elizabeth “Liz” Wood. Guided by ‘PROWL’
To foster a sense of pride in the students about themselves and their school, Salyards employs the Positive Behavior Intervention System, using the “PROWL” matrix, which stands for “Pride, Respect, Organize, Willing and Lead.”
“Our philosophy is that of excellence — we want kids to excel in everything they do, whether it’s fine arts, athletics, academics — but at the same time we try to teach them humility and service,” Wood said. “We want the whole child to develop as a better version of themselves.”
Located in the northwest tip of the district at 21757 Fairfield Place Drive, the school opened in August of 2011 to serve the Fairfield and Lakes of Fairfield communities.
The school, named after Cheryl Salyards, a former associate superintendent who served in the district for 32 years, was built to relieve crowding at other middle schools in the rapidly growing district.
With two portable classroom buildings in use, Salyards has hit its limit.
Built for 1,550 students, Salyards has 1,647. Of those, 61 percent are white, 21 percent are Hispanic, 8 percent are black and 6 percent are Asian.
About 13 percent are low-income.
Under the district’s rezoning plan for the next school year, the school will lose about 136 students to Goodson Middle School. Current seventh-grade students in that group have the choice to remain instead of going to Goodson, but they won’t be provided transportation.
Ault, Keith and Swenke elementary schools feed into Salyards, while Salyards feeds into Cy-Ranch High School. Grade to each floor
The campus, which serves grades 6-8, has three floors, with each grade on a separate floor. Each floor has areas for small group instruction, while classrooms have glass walls to the hallways.
“If a teacher has something going on outside the classroom, she can monitor the classrooms,” said Wood, who has been principal since November 2013.
The open environment, outdoor learning areas and separation of the grades, each with the same assistant principal and counselor for all three years, are features parents appreciate.
“They allow the kids to see, touch and feel the ecosystem and how they interact with it,” said Beth Geller-Jandjel, the school’s volunteer coordinator and mom to a sixth- and a seventh-grader.
Tiffany Nolan, who has a seventh-grade son, said having separated grade levels has been great for him.
“It gives kids a sense of not being the smallest or the biggest,” Nolan said.
Geller-Jandjel also appreciates the many clubs and after-school activities at the school.
“It’s great because they allows kids to get used to the clubs and get them ready for high school,” said Geller-Jandjel, whose sons between them participate in robotics, Mock United Nations and Builders Club, a volunteer organization. “It kind of starts training them to think about what they want to do.”
For more information about Salyards, visit http://salyards.cfisd.net/en/.