‘No higher honor’: Frisco ISD names school after longtime residents with nearly 40-year record of service to district

Frisco ISD revealed the names of two future schools earlier this week: Panther Creek High School and Buddy and Joni Minett Elementary School.

Cyril William “Buddy” and Joni Minett are longtime Frisco residents who have served on boards and committees for the city and the school district for nearly 40 years.

“We are absolutely ecstatic [for the new school],” Buddy Minett said. “If you’re involved in education in the way that we are, there’s just no higher honor you can receive than having a school named for you. It’s our legacy, in a way.”

The couple were chosen because of their “decades of service and support” to the community, according to a statement from Frisco ISD.

“Like other honored namesakes, their contributions helped shape the FISD of today, and we are grateful for their efforts and dedication to our students, schools and community,” wrote Meghan Cone, director of communications.

Minett, 65, is a local real estate broker who has been a Frisco resident since 1982. He served on the Frisco ISD board for eight years — three as president. He also served six years on the Frisco City Council, beginning in 1992. In 2007, the Frisco Chamber of Commerce named him Citizen of the Year.

His wife, Joni, is a lifelong Frisco resident and part of the second generation of her family to attend Frisco High School. Her parents, Sonny and the late Joanne McSpedden, also have a Frisco ISD elementary school named after them.

The Minetts have five daughters who attended Frisco ISD, and one was previously a teacher in the district. Buddy Minett added that three of his grandchildren are attending Frisco schools, or will, and one who is currently zoned in the Frisco High boundaries would be the fourth generation of their family to attend.

The decision to name the school after the Minetts faced criticism from a small group of residents who flooded social media with references to Buddy Minett’s involvement in a political campaign that ended in him being sued for defamation in 2017.

Minett was part of a local political action committee that sent mailers with false information about a then-school board candidate’s arrest record. Minett told  this week the information was retrieved from state records that had published the inaccuracies.

He said the case was never tried in court, but instead, both parties agreed that Minett would issue a public apology in the Frisco Enterprise.