During its January 20 meeting, the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District Board of Trustees approved the namesakes for four future schools and the district’s existing security facility, honoring long-time educators LaFaye Lee, Tom Danish, Judy Kahla, and Carolyn Spillane as well as retired security director Ben Bradley.
Retiring Superintendent Rick Berry, who attended the meeting for this special occasion, made the announcement following the Board’s approval.
LaFaye Johnson Lee was chosen as the namesake for Elementary #41— one of six new schools that will be opened in CFISD over the next two years. Lee spent all 35 of her years as an educator with Cypress-Fairbanks ISD before retiring in June 2003. Lee taught English at Carverdale High School, Dean Middle School, Cy-Fair High School and Jersey Village High School during her first 12 years and then served as a counselor at Arnold Middle School and Jersey Village for the next 17 years. She was named to a district-level position, serving as coordinator of academic achievement for five years before being named a director in 2002.
Lee continues to work part-time for the district. She and her late husband, John, have three children— John Jr., Christie and Courtney, who are all graduates of Jersey Village High School.
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LaFaye Johnson Lee Elementary School is currently under construction at a 13-acre site located along W. Little York, east of N. Eldridge Parkway. Bay Architects, Inc. has designed the school using similar plans from the construction of Tipps and Farney elementary schools. The district’s 41 st elementary campus is scheduled to open with the start of the 2005-2006 school year.
Elementary #42 was named for retired principal Thomas M. Danish, who spent 22 of his 30 years in education working for CFISD prior to his retirement in June 2003. His tenure with the district started at Matzke, where he taught for one year before transferring to Frazier as a team leader and assistant principal for four years. He was later named principal at Post and then Lamkin where he served until his retirement.
Danish served 17 years in CFISD as a principal. He and his wife Helen have one daughter, Teri.
Thomas M. Danish Elementary School is currently under construction at a 10.9-acre site located along Fallbrook just west of F.M. 1960. The final new elementary originating from the 2001 bond election will open in August of 2005. The school was designed by PBK Architects, Inc. and modeled after Sampson, Ault, Gleason and Willbern elementary schools.
After spending the last 32 of her 43 years in education working in CFISD, Julia Williams Kahla was chosen to be the namesake of Middle School #13, the first of two middle schools that will open in 2005. Better known throughout the district as “Judy,” Kahla spent her first seven years in the district as an English teacher at Cy-Fair and Jersey Village high schools. She also served as a director of instruction at Arnold Middle School for three years, an associate principal for Cypress Creek for three years, administrative assistant for personnel services for seven years and was promoted to assistant superintendent for staff development for the 12 years prior to her
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retirement in June 2003.
Kahla continues to work part-time for the district. She and husband Harold have two sons, Byron and Grady.
Julia Williams Kahla Middle School is currently under construction at a 50-acre site along W. Little York between Highway 6 and Queenston Boulevard and was modeled after Goodson Middle School and designed by SHW Architects, Inc.
Having announced plans to retire in December 2004, Carolyn Stamm Spillane was chosen as the namesake for Middle School #14. She has spent the last 28 of her 40-year career as an educator in CFISD. Spillane taught math at Jersey Village High School her first two years in CFISD before being named director of instruction at Campbell Middle School and then Jersey Village. She spent the following two years as associate principal at Langham Creek High School before becoming the district’s director of secondary education in 1990 and was promoted to assistant superintendent for secondary curriculum five years later.
Spillane will complete her career in CFISD as an assistant superintendent with support from her husband, Jim.
Carolyn Stamm Spillane Middle School is currently under construction at the multi-campus site located at Jarvis and Skinner roads where Robison Elementary opened this school year. The school was designed by Bay Architects and modeled after Aragon Middle School and will open with the start of the 2005-2006 school year.
The Cypress-Fairbanks ISD Security Building was renamed to honor former security director Ben D. Bradley, who retired in 1996 after spending 15 years with the district. Prior to his post in CFISD, Bradley served 26 years in the United States Air Force as an agent in the Office of
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Special Investigation and four years as vice-president of the Houston Area Teacher’s Credit Union.
He and his wife Anna have seven children— Susan, Ellen, Johnmark, Patrick, Jeff, Marcy and Jason. Their son Jeff is currently serving in the Air Force.
The Ben D. Bradley Security Center is located on Telge Road north of Highway 290 adjacent to Arnold Middle School. The facility first opened in the spring of 2002 and serves as the centralized base for the district’s safety and security operations. The building was a project made possible through interest earnings and project cost savings from the 1998 bond election.
For more information and news about these future schools as well as the district’s security building, visit www.cfisd.net and click on the “campuses and facilities” link located under the Bond Update heading.
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