New Schools

2006
McKinney ISD opened the district's third high school, McKinney Boyd High School, in the fall of 2006. Originally opened to accommodate 1,500 students, when all phases are completed at the school, the school will hold 3,000 students.

McKinney Boyd High School is located at 600 North Lake Forest Drive, just north of Virginia Parkway on Lake Forest Drive and is named in honor of Mary Crane Boyd, the wife of Captain W. L. Boyd. In 1914, a new high school was being built, but ran out of approved bond money to purchase furnishings for the school. Mrs. Boyd donated $3,000 and the school was eventually named Boyd High School in her honor. In 1959, the high school was condemned due to poor conditions of the building. Students moved into a new high school, McKinney High School which is known today as Faubion Middle School. Prior to the opening of McKinney Boyd High School, McKinney ISD had two high schools - McKinney High School, which opened a new building for the school in 1986 and McKinney North High School which opened in 2001.

2007

Jesse McGowen Elementary School

Jesse McGowen Elementary School opened in the fall of 2007 and is located off of Columbus Drive between Hardin Blvd. and Lake Forest at 4300 Columbus Dr.

McGowen Elementary is named in honor of Mr. Jesse McGowen, a former teacher with McKinney ISD.

Mr. McGowen grew up in McKinney, graduated from Doty High School, and returned to teach and live his life in McKinney after graduating from Tyler Junior College and East Texas State University. He began his teaching career in McKinney ISD in 1963. Mr. McGowen held several teaching positions in McKinney ISD in the field of Social Studies. He was a long-time coach at Doty High School and coached football, basketball, and track and field. He also served as a bus driver, and spent countless hours well into the night delivering students home from athletic events when they had no other form of transportation. Mr. McGowen, became a guidance counselor at McKinney High School in 1973, and spent more than 20 years in the position before moving to the LINC Center as a counselor working with at-risk students.

Holding a special place in his heart for the GED program, Mr. McGowen served as the District’s chief GED examiner for many years. He retired in May of 2000 with 37 years of dedicated service to students in McKinney. He is still working with the GED testing program part-time and he says he believes in the GED program so strongly because of the second chance it provides so many students.

His fellow colleagues have described him as a gentle-giant with a sincere love of the children he teaches and counsels. His long tenure is a testament to his devotion to his profession and to McKinney ISD.

Naomi Press Elementary School

Naomi Press Elementary School also opened in the fall of 2007 and is located off of FM 543, just east of I-75 and west of Highway 5. The school is located at 4104 Shawnee Drive.

The school is named in honor of Naomi Press, also a former educator with McKinney ISD.

Ms. Press graduated from Blue Ridge High School and received a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in education from East Texas State Teacher’s College, now known as East Texas State University. She went on to receive a second master’s degree in personnel and guidance counseling from ETSU.

Before joining McKinney ISD in 1941, she taught in Valdesta ISD, Sister Grove ISD, Mesquite ISD, Alla Hubbard ISD (now Celina), and Lone Star ISD.

Mrs. Press taught math at McKinney Junior High for many years before moving to McKinney High School to serve as a counselor. Former students have said that she was always available, day or night, to help with whatever her students needed. Many School Naming Selection Committee (SNSC) members gave heart-felt testimonies of how she positively impacted their lives.

She sponsored the McKinney High School Future Teachers of America Club and encouraged hundreds of student to pursue careers in teaching. Mrs. Press served for many years as the President of the McKinney ISD Classroom Teacher’s Association, as well as an officer for the Texas State Teacher’s Association (TSTA) and the Collin County Retired Teacher’s Association.

Carolyn Corbin, internationally renowned author, public speaker, McKinney resident, and former student of Mrs. Press, wrote the following:

“Naomi Press was an encourager. She inspired her students to aim high and aspire to excellence. It was obvious that she loved teaching and gave untold hours outside her regular school responsibilities sponsoring student organizations and coaching young people for speech contests and state leadership positions in future Teachers of America. Naomi Press had a positive impact. Her life made a distinct difference.”

She retired from McKinney ISD in the spring of 1973 after 32 years of devotion to students.

2008

Middle School #5

Dr. Jack Cockrill Middle School

Dr. Jack Cockrill came to McKinney ISD in 1989, just as the District began an unprecedented period of growth. The McKinney ISD Board of Trustees chose him to lead the district during a period of rapid growth and to create a global vision that would move the district into the 21st century. Dr. Cockrill received a master’s degree from Southeastern Oklahoma State University and a Doctorate of Education from East Texas State University.

During the ten years he served as superintendent (1989-1999), Dr. Cockrill led a number of initiatives. Several of these accomplishments are listed below:

• Four elementary schools and one middle school were built and opened

• The District’s second high school, one middle school and four elementary schools were in planning and/or construction stages during his tenure. The first of the elementary schools, Valley Creek Elementary School, was the first new elementary built in McKinney ISD since the 1950’s.

• Dr. Cockrill was instrumental in getting the first two elementary school sites, Valley Creek and Glen Oaks, donated to McKinney ISD. In addition, several school sites were negotiated and purchased at below market value including Dowell Middle School, Eddins Elementary, Johnson Elementary, and McKinney North High School.

• McKinney ISD was honored for receiving its first National Blue Ribbon School in Valley Creek Elementary.

• Walker Elementary was recognized nationally as a “green” school and used as a model for sustainable design by other districts.

• Serenity High School was created for students recovering from substance abuse.

• The academic offerings at all campuses were vastly expanded, including AP and Pre-AP courses, foreign language courses at middle schools and high schools, technology labs, and Special Populations classes, to name a few.

• McKinney ISD began working cooperatively with the City of McKinney on several projects including city parks adjacent to new elementary schools.

• SAT scores, as well as test scores at many levels within McKinney ISD, increased and the District began receiving recognition as being one of the top districts in North Texas.

• The LINC Center was created as a self-contained learning center to reduce the high school dropout rate.

• The McKinney ISD Public Information Office was created.

• The Human Resources Department implemented an aggressive teacher and administrator recruitment and retention program.

• A county school agreement was created that allowed Plano ISD to share Robin Hood funds with other Collin County schools, keeping more than three million annually in Collin County.

• Since the number one goal of the district was to make decisions that encouraged academic excellence for all students in McKinney ISD, Academic Specialists at each campus were added and staff development opportunities for all staff were vastly expanded.

• The McKinney ISD School Naming Selection Committee was created in 1994 to aid the district in honoring McKinney educators and others.