Cooley Middle School is dedicated to fostering your student’s unique social, emotional, physical, and intellectual needs through a positive, creative, and rigorous learning environment. As a top ranked educational institution in Arizona, Cooley Middle School offers academically rigorous courses in math, language arts, the sciences and foreign languages. Courses leverage students’ abilities to continue to advanced classes in high school.
In addition to challenging academics, we provide students with many robust athletic and extracurricular activities to engage students with other members of the student body.
Cooley Middle School strives to provide an environment that promotes growth within the lives of each of its students. In tandem with academically focused courses. Cooley offers students the opportunity to develop skills in leadership, the arts, athletics, and STEM.
Cooley Middle School is located in Gilbert, AZ, a community listed as a “Best Place to Raise a Family in Arizona by WalletHub” (No. 7 in U.S. & No. 1 in Ariz. 2019).
Cooley Middle School opened August 5, 2013 and served approximately 930 students in 7th and 8th grades during its first year. The Principal was Dr. Randy Mahlerwein and the Assistant Principal was Heather Preston. The school mascot and school colors were voted on by the incoming students during the spring while the school was under construction. Although the gym and cafeteria building was not completed for the first 2 weeks of school, classes began on time. The outdoor fields were ready after the first month.
The student schedule was 6 periods per day from 8:50 to 3:50 with a 30 minute lunch. Students took 4 core classes of Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, and Science. The 8th grade students took Conceptual Physics as their science class. Additionally, students were able to take High School level Algebra and Geometry to get a head start on their credits. Students selected 2 elective classes from the following: band, orchestra, drawing/painting, ceramics, drama, dance, team sports, lifetime fitness, computer applications, computer foundations, applied technology, robotics, student council, student publications, High School Mandarin, and High School Spanish.
There were sports offered throughout the 4 quarters of the school year and the athletes competed against other teams in the East Valley Conference after school. Student council arranged pep rallies and dances as well as Spirit Weeks where students dressed up to show their Cooley pride. The school held it's first play and there were several music, choir, band, dance, and arts performances. Students competed in Math challenges and Cooley had it's first spelling bee champion make it all the way to the national spelling bee.
The first class of 8th graders were promoted from Cooley Middle School on May 21st at Williams Field High School. There were approximately 420 8th graders who moved on to high school and the event was well attended by about 2,000 guests.
When students were asked what to name Higley Unified School District’s new middle school campus in Gilbert, they selected a name familiar in Gilbert history: Cooley.
The Cooley family has been farming the Southeast Valley for more than 90 years. Eldon and Elona Cooley purchased the land where Cooley Middle School sits in the 1950s.
When the school and the Elona P. Cooley Early Child Development Center were dedicated in September 2013, Mrs. Cooley participated in the ceremony. She shared the story of being a student in the 1920s and visiting her grandparents’ in Higley.
“Higley consisted of one, small grocery store and was out in the desert. My grandparents lived in a very small lumber house on desert land around this area,” she said.
Her grandparents sold that land during the Depression before they could farm it, but a path was set for the future of farming in the Higley area.
Like his wife, Mr. Eldon Cooley’s family history intertwines with Gilbert’s growth. His parents, Freeman and Pearl, raised their eight children on a Gilbert farm. In 1941, Eldon Cooley started purchasing farms around the Southeast Valley and Arizona. For 40 years he did this, farming cotton, alfalfa and grain, as well as building the family’s land acquisitions.
Eventually, Eldon and Elona met, married, and raised their six own children. All of them graduated from college and three of them studied education, Mrs. Cooley said.
The family continued to own and farm the land that is now Cooley Middle School.
Mrs. Cooley, now 92, told students and audience members during the dedication that it was a six-day a week operation for her husband and her sons.
“It was hard work, but had to be done. They too, left a legacy of productive farms and good land.”
She shared the story about the time she received a call from what was then Williams Air Force Base. It was in the 1960s when the base was a hub for pilot training. Unfortunately, two planes collided and landed in the Cooley family’s fields, leaving two pilots dead.
“They, too, left a legacy. They lost their lives in this field preparing to be members of the United States Air Force,” she said.
The Cooleys watched as the land around the farm transformed from agriculture to the homes and businesses that now form Cooley Station.
Mrs. Cooley continues living in Mesa, where she and Eldon built their first house 45 years ago.
Mr. Eldon W. Cooley lived in Gilbert and Mesa for 87 years. He was Mayor of Mesa 1972-1976 and served in several leadership roles with his church.
Mr. Cooley passed away in 2007.
Elona Cooley continues to spend her time with family, including 27 grandchildren, 67 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.