Part of the “Houston Schools That Inspire” Series
By Meron Tekle
Melillo Middle School is a 2025 School That Inspires because it challenges everything we think we know about middle school. In a time when most schools double down on structure and control to manage adolescent chaos, Melillo leads with trust, creativity, and joy—and it’s working.
Students are outperforming peers across the state in both reading and math, not by tightening the reins, but by loosening them. Here, academic excellence is built on a culture of ownership, collaboration, and authentic learning that feels anything but traditional.
A mentor teacher once told me that middle school is “a collection of people all having the worst year of their lives at the same time.” Adolescence is a challenging time for kids, and by extension, their parents and teachers, so at most middle schools, order and structure are prioritized.
Control the chaos, contain the hormones, keep the lines straight and the voices low. Where many middle schools follow this traditional playbook, Melillo Middle School is breaking all the rules and achieving outstanding results, scoring above the state and local average in both Reading and STAAR across all special populations.
Academic learning spills beyond subject lines, allowing students to explore ideas in ways that feel relevant and connected. Projects are cross-curricular, co-created, and deeply engaging.
At Melillo, students and families help shape the school experience—from classroom culture to daily routines. Decision-making is collaborative, and relationships drive everything.
Melillo prioritizes emotional safety and resets over punishment. Joy is a metric that matters here, with field trips, dances, and daily connections built into the fabric of school life.
In a traditional middle school, learning follows a bell schedule. Science in science class. Reading during ELA. Social studies at 10:15 sharp. But at Melillo, curiosity doesn’t wait for permission.
In a traditional middle school, learning follows a bell schedule. Science in science class. Reading during ELA. Social studies at 10:15 sharp. But at Melillo, curiosity doesn’t wait for permission.
At Melillo, learning becomes authentic by crossing boundaries.
On the day of my visit, I noticed a purple light glowing from the copy room. When I stopped and asked Jennifer Sauceda, principal of Melillo MS, what was happening, she didn’t know either. “Let’s find out!” We opened the door and the purple light we’d seen was shining on petri dishes. A teacher explained that students expressed confusion when confronted with a word problem that referenced microorganisms. They couldn’t grasp the math because they were confused by the subject matter. Where most middle school teachers would have redirected students’ attention to key words and implied operations and moved on, this teacher met student curiosity with a genuine learning experience to make a concept come alive.
Walk the halls and you’ll see murals about books designed by science teachers, or Black History Month exhibits dreamed up by sixth graders in social studies. Visit the Inspire Lab, and you’ll see students building something new every week based on the content and their mood. If you ask about the robotics program, you’ll learn that a single department didn’t create it. It happened because teachers from across the school collaborated to give students what they wanted, despite tight funding.
At Melillo, learning isn’t locked into subjects, schedules, or classrooms. It travels, flexes, and responds.
In many schools, control equals safety. Students are told when to speak, how to sit, and what success looks like. But Melillo flips that dynamic: the more ownership people have, the safer and more connected they feel.
At Melillo, students, teachers, and leaders share ownership.
At an age where many of their peers shun public praise and interactions with adults, Melillo’s students clap when their classmates get answers right and easily greet administrators. They sit on floor cushions, scooter stools, or standing desks, whatever helps them engage. They also help shape the school itself. Classroom walls feature book recommendations written by students, paired with a sign that reads: “When books talk, we should listen.”
Kids aren’t the only ones who get a say in how learning looks. At Melillo, teachers’ professional development is collaborative, not top-down. Instructional coaches facilitate, but don’t dictate. Teachers have a voice in curriculum pacing, remediation strategies, and assessments. Even long-term substitutes are supported in transitioning to full-time teaching positions. Power and decision-making aren’t tied to title and hierarchy here. At Melillo, being a learner puts you in the driver’s seat.
Most schools invite families to occasional events: open house, report card night, a holiday concert here and there. At Melillo, family involvement is a crucial component of success.
At Melillo, community is embedded in the culture.
Every Tuesday and Friday, families are invited to spend time on campus. Some eat lunch with their children outside at a food truck, usually owned by a Melillo parent or relative. Others join PE class or greet students at drop-off, where Sabrina, the beloved crossing guard, knows every child’s name and checks in on their mood.
There’s no hard line between “school” and “home.” Families are seen as partners, not visitors.
Most middle schools tie positive student rewards to other positive outcomes, like test scores. Melillo’s results might imply that this is the one way they align with traditional schools, but the truth is contrary. Here, numbers are never chased at the expense of joy.
At Melillo, joy is a metric that matters.
Students don’t miss out on fun experiences at Melillo because of behavior. Extracurriculars, dance, and field trips take place during the day, allowing everyone to attend. Discipline trackers reset every four weeks, giving students a chance to start fresh. The school practices the mantra of “progress over perfection” at every level, including socially. During my visit, a student groaned, “I don’t like school.” Many teachers would have noticed a visitor interacting with a reluctant student and rushed to correct or explain their less-than-scholarly attitude. At Melillo, the teacher across the room silently gave a thumbs-up and mouthed, “Thank you!” for checking in with a kid who seemed to need a little love. Allowing adolescents to have fun, be curious, and even sometimes show a little rebellion proves that teachers here aren’t teaching subjects; they’re nurturing real kids with real feelings and opinions that matter.
Melillo Middle School’s culture, academic approach, and authentic relationships bend expectations to build and achieve something better than the typical middle school. Campus life here isn’t chaotic or unstructured. It’s carefully and lovingly built around trust.
They’ve broken the traditional rules of middle school, and in doing so, they’ve written new ones: Let curiosity lead. Trust the people closest to the students. Center relationships, not compliance. Make room for joy. Build a school that feels like home.
And they’re proving that’s how real learning happens.
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