Forest Meadow Middle School welcomes former teachers, parents for grand opening

Debbie Horne, Cheri Luck, Rayelynn Dady, Bruce Henderson, Meg Henderson, Paula Davis, Luke Davis and Susan Gammage

Richardson ISD officials introduced the newly expanded and remodeled Forest Meadow Middle School Wednesday, now host to students in grades six through eight. The rebuilt Lake Highlands Middle School officially opened to the community earlier this month. Students began attending classes in both buildings in August.

“We have already fallen in love with so many of the features this campus has to offer,” said Principal Susan Burt, “from our new and newly renovated and updated classrooms that have really inspired our teachers to bring innovation in their teaching and learning, to our collaborative areas behind me where students can engage in group projects. This school was really, truly designed with both academic growth and social development in mind.”

Superintendent Tabitha Branum praised Burt and her team for being flexible during the period when construction crews, teachers and students shared the campus.

“I don’t know if you can imagine what it is like to be in a building and for two and half years to be under construction. They constantly have to move and adjust,” Branum said. “Believe it or not, not everything goes perfectly, and she handled it, and her team handled it, with such grace and flexibility and allowed for this start, this launch, of our middle school to be the best it could possibly be.”

Several former teachers joined former students and parents to tour the building, led by current cheerleaders and student council members. Some struggled to orient themselves between the “old” and the “new” sections.

“I’m just overwhelmed at the change,” said Susan Gammage, who taught ninth grade biology and assigned the infamous “insect collection project” to students, first at Forest Meadow, then at the Freshman Center. Fourteen-year-olds all over Lake Highlands spent weeks searching their environs for creepy crawlers and night flyers to pin to their boards for extra points. “I can’t even envision the old school here now. This is wonderful.”

Rachel McGowan, Tabitha Branum and Frances Money

Former teacher Frances Money was also on campus to tour the new facility. Money taught home economics during the school’s first year and for nearly 20 years after that.

“In the first few years, I taught only girls,” she remembered. Later, a few boys signed up, too, to tackle lessons on cooking, sewing and childcare.

“What they were really learning about was life,” she said.

Patricia Price recalled being among the first Black students to attend Forest Meadow after desegregation. It was challenging to move away from Hamilton Park School, where students and teachers were also Black.

“There were no Black teachers here except for Frances Money,” Price said. “We had no one to talk to, so we went to Miss Money during homemaking to try to express to her what we were hearing in the classroom.”

Not every white student, parent and teacher made the new students feel welcome. Price’s father, Hamilton Park legend Dr. Robert Earl Price, became a leader in the FMJH PTA. He encouraged his daughter and her friends to become involved in music at the school.

My daddy said, ‘You’re going to be in the orchestra,’ but I didn’t want to. My mom, who had majored in music in college, said, ‘Every tub has to stand on its own legs. You’re going to play that violin.’ So, I did.”

Rachel McGowan, Patricia Price and Regina Harris

Debbie Horne, longtime language arts teacher at the school, hadn’t been on campus since she retired from teaching in 2003. During her tour, she searched for the bronze floor plaque honoring Dr. Clayton Bell and wall art honoring Jeff Kane — two revered former principals.

“It doesn’t look anything like it did in my 26 years of teaching here, but it’s a really cool place,” she said. “Change is good. It’s exciting.”

Superintendent Branum closed with a ribbon-cutting using purple ribbon to celebrate the occasion. She thanked taxpayers for backing the junior-high-to-middle-school transition and for approving the 2021 bond.

“There’s nothing more important than when our community invests in our public education system,” she said.

“It ensures that we have an environment like this, that messages to our community, it messages to our staff, and it messages to our students that we care and that we want to ensure they have the best environment that’s not just going to get them through the school experience, it’s going to be one that inspires them to thrive. And that’s ultimately what we would want. That’s our hope and dream for every one of our students — that they are in an environment that inspires them, and that they’re excited to come to school every day.”

Forest Meadow Middle School is at 9373 Whitehurst.