The Birdiville Independent School District's Board of Trustees approved changing the name of South Birdville
Elementary to Major Cheney Elementary School at South Birdville on July 23, 2009.
This recognition is very befitting as Major Cheney was very passionate about the education of children.
On December 1, 1891, Major Cheney donated one half acre (105’x 105’) at the Northwest corner of his land for a school for Blacks. The site of the Birdville Colored School (1891-1906) was part of Tract 7 in the John Akers Survey Tarrant County Abstract No. 24. The school closed in 1906.
A ceremony will be held to officially change the name in the fall of 2009.