Cheek Middle School to Open as Denton ISD’s Ninth Middle School

Pat Hagan Cheek Middle School, named for longtime Denton ISD teacher and Denton resident, Pat Hagan Cheek, will open on Thursday, Aug. 10 as the district’s ninth middle school and the third middle school in the Braswell zone. Cheek Middle School, new home of the red, black and silver Chargers, is located off FM 1385 between Noles and Fishtrap/Gee Roads in the Town of Prosper.

Cheek Middle School will begin the 2023-2024 school year with more than 700 students and over 100 staff members. 

Prior to school starting, principal Dr. Beth Kelly and other staff members will be leading tours of the campus for both students and parents on Tuesday, Aug. 8. Sixth graders and their families will be at 9:30 a.m., while seventh and eighth grades will be combined at 10:45 a.m. 

Ms. Cheek, the school’s namesake, spent 37 years in Denton ISD, teaching at Denton Junior High, Stickland Junior High (now Strickland Middle School), Denton High School, Congress Junior High (now Calhoun Middle School) and at the elementary level. While teaching, she volunteered as a tutor for special education classes at Strickland Middle School and mentored at-risk students at Calhoun Middle School. 

Upon her retirement in 2002, Ms. Cheek became active in a new Denton ISD mentoring program called Grandparents in Public Schools (GIPS). She played a vital role in helping to implement a program that paired grandparent volunteers with elementary-aged students. Twenty years later, that program has nearly doubled in the number of volunteers. 

“It is very energizing and inspiring to open a new campus and know you have the opportunity to start new traditions,” Dr. Kelly said. “Everyone who is here is just really excited to be here. To be trusted to start this endeavor and get us off on the right foot is very meaningful.”

Cheek Middle School is one of the final projects from the 2018 capital improvement plan approved by Denton ISD voters. The campus boasts a number of impressive features, including open-air, landscaped courtyards designed for collaboration, turf athletic fields and all-weather tracks, and robust fine arts spaces for band, orchestra, choir and art. 

Cheek Middle School is 178,871 square feet. 

“The collaboration spaces are very inspiring,” Dr. Kelly said. “Being able to move kids out of the classroom into open spaces is going to allow students to be more creative and innovative. The fine arts spaces just feel state-of-the-art. The art classes are connected, and our kids will have direct access to the big courtyard. A lot of the feedback we are getting when people are coming on campus, they say, ‘This looks like a college campus - very sophisticated.’”