Fort Bend Independent School District


Fort Bend Independent School District, also known as Fort Bend ISD or FBISD, is a school district that operates 86 schools in Fort Bend County. Based in Sugar Land, Texas, it is the 5th most diverse school district in Texas and is the 43rd largest district in the United States.
The district spans covering almost all of the city of Sugar Land, the city of Meadows Place, the Fort Bend county portion of Missouri City, Arcola, small sections of Houston, small sections of Pearland, the unincorporated communities of Clodine, Four Corners, Juliff, and Fresno, and the Fort Bend County portion of Mission Bend.
Fort Bend Independent School District was created by the consolidation of the Sugar Land ISD and Missouri City ISD in 1959. The school district is the seventh-largest public school system in the state of Texas and third largest within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown Metropolitan Area. The school district is currently the largest employer in Fort Bend County with more than 11,000 district employees, and encompasses some of the wealthiest locales in the State of Texas.
Fort Bend ISD is distinguished by its honors. In 2010, the school district was rated "recognized" by the Texas Education Agency.
The district is the only school district in the nation to be named a 2011 National School District of Character by the National Schools of Character Program in Washington DC—and only one of two districts in Texas to be honored with this designation. The Washington Post ranked Clements, Austin, Kempner, Travis, Dulles, Hightower, and Elkins High Schools as seven of the Top 2011 High Schools in the Nation.

History

Fort Bend ISD was formed when Sugar Land ISD and Missouri City ISD merged after an election on April 18, 1959. The first superintendent was Louis P. Rodgers, who had been the Missouri City ISD superintendent upon the merger. The Sugar Land ISD superintendent Edward Mercer, became the assistant superintendent.
Missouri City ISD was formed from Missouri City Common School, House Common School, and Mustang Common School. Sugar Land ISD was formed in 1918 and was expanded by adding Sartartia Common School and Clodine Common School in 1948.
Originally FBISD was racially segregated, with white high school students attending the consolidated Dulles High School, with its permanent campus in Sugar Land, and black high school students attending M.R. Wood School in Sugar Land. In 1963, FBISD had 600 students. On June 23, 1964, the board of trustees for FBISD began the desegregation process via adopting a plan calling for freedom of choice for attending high schools. The plan was rejected by the commissioner of education for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and the following year on May 10, 1965, it was amended to mandate full desegregation and create zones based on equal ethnic distribution. The desegregation process went into effect in September 1965; in the post-desegregation period Dulles was the district's sole high school until Willowridge High School opened in 1979. Desegregation was officially dismantled in FBISD in 1968.
Rodgers died in May 1967 so Mercer became superintendent. Lawrence Elkins succeeded Mercer after the latter retired in August 1974.
In 1969 the school district had 1,000 students, and its enrollment was increasing. Between 1979 and 1997, a new high school opened at intervals no more than five years apart. The district became the fastest growing school district in the State of Texas. In August 1997 the district had over 14,000 students at its high schools, then numbering six.
A portion of Stafford was formerly a part of Fort Bend ISD, but it broke away and formed the Stafford Municipal School District. In 1977, largely in response to district policy barring bussing for students living within two miles of their schools, the FBISD portions of the city of Stafford voted to leave FBISD for the Stafford MSD. Several rounds of legal litigation ensued, largely stemming from concerns that the secession would impede on FBISD's desegregation process and worries that it would inspire others to leave the district. Ultimately, the move was found to be constitutional in 1981. Residents in Stafford's ETJ are served by Fort Bend ISD, not Stafford MSD.
In February 1984 Rodney E. LeBoeuf became superintendent. LeBouef left in March 1991 and Raj K. Chopra became superintendent in August of that year. Chopra left on July 20, 1994. The next superintendent, Don W. Hooper, assumed power on February 15, 1995.
Circa 1997 FBISD was the fastest-growing school district in Texas, with new comprehensive high schools opening in increments of fewer than five years.
Hooper's retirement was scheduled for June 2002.
In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas, the district administration chose not to make masks mandatory even though the Fort Bend county judge, KP George, issued a mask mandate. Governor of Texas Greg Abbott had prohibited local governments from issuing mask mandates. In August the district board voted 4–3 to reverse its stance and require masks.

Administration

The Fort Bend ISD Police Department is headquartered in Stafford. Its current headquarters was the former FBISD Administration Building located off FM1092 which was later converted into a vehicle maintenance facility after the administration HQ was moved to Sugar Land.
FBISD's current administration building is located in Sugar Land, near the Town Square and First Colony Mall. There is also the FBISD Annex, which contains an auditorium/banquet hall for FBISD, as well as a shop for teachers of FBISD.
When the district was first created Sugar Land Junior High School had the administrative offices. However, there was no tax assessor-collector in Sugar Land, so the taxation office was in Missouri City as that municipality did have one. In the summer of 1961 the district opened the first dedicated headquarters. In October 1985 the current district headquarters opened.

District operations

In 2019 the FBISD administration stated that it was considering changing the class ranking system so that students are ranked according to the school's attendance zones in which they reside instead of the schools which they actually attend.

Athletics and extracurriculars

FBISD is known for having some of the best athletic teams in Houston. All 11 high schools contain 2 gyms, Tennis Courts, a football/soccer/track field, a softball field, and with 1 exception, a baseball field, each fitted with LED scoreboards.
FBISD also manages 2 athletic complexes, complete with turf and Video/LED scoreboards from NEVCO:
  • Kenneth Hall Stadium and Buddy Hopson Field House located next to Hightower
  • Edward Mercer Stadium and Wheeler Field House located next to the Admin Building
  • * Frankie Field is also located next to Mercer, but it is Clements's Home Field
Louis P. Rodgers Memorial Auditorium in Dulles High School was built in 1969.

Recognitions

Seventy percent of the district's campuses received an Exemplary or Recognized rating from the Texas Education Agency in 2002. That same year, the district was named a Recognized District by the Texas Education Agency for the second consecutive year, making it one of the largest public school districts in Texas to receive that rating. Currently the district is ranked "academically acceptable" and has been for the last several years.
Austin High School and Clements High School, both in Sugar Land, have been recognized by Texas Monthly magazine in its list of the top 10 high schools in the state of Texas. In addition, Clements, Austin, and Elkins high schools ranked 313th, 626th, and 702nd, respectively, among the top 1000 schools in the United States by Newsweek.
Fort Bend ISD has been named one of the top 100 School Districts in the Nation for a Fine Arts Education, according to a nationwide survey of public and private school programs.

Governance

The current Superintendent is Dr. Marc Smith, who was chosen by the Board of Trustees on December 15, 2023. He was succeeded by Dr. Christie Whitbeck after her retirement was voted on by the Board of Trustees December 4, 2023. FBISD is served by a Board of Trustees who are periodically elected. Each trustee represents one of the seven regions in the school district.

Schools

High schools

  • John Foster Dulles High School
  • Willowridge High School
  • William P. Clements High School
  • Isaac H. Kempner High School
  • Lawrence E. Elkins High School
  • Stephen F. Austin High School
  • L.V Hightower High School
  • George Bush High School
  • Thurgood Marshall High School
  • William B. Travis High School
  • Ridge Point High School
  • Almeta Crawford High School

    Middle schools

  • Billy Baines Middle School
  • David Crockett Middle School
  • John F. Dulles Middle School
  • First Colony Middle School
  • * 1999–2000 National Blue Ribbon School
  • Fort Settlement Middle School
  • *2007 National Blue Ribbon School
  • Macario Garcia Middle School
  • Hodges Bend Middle School
  • James Bowie Middle School
  • Lake Olympia Middle School
  • Christa McAuliffe Middle School
  • Missouri City Middle School
  • Quail Valley Middle School
  • * Home of the FBISD Gifted and Talented Academy
  • Sartartia Middle School
  • Sugar Land Middle School
  • Ronald Thornton Middle School

    Elementary schools

  • Allen Aldridge Jr. Elementary School
  • Armstrong Elementary School
  • Austin Parkway Elementary School
  • Barrington Place Elementary School
  • Sonal Bhuchar Elementary School - Opened 2023 - Named after an FBISD board member. It was originally scheduled to open in 2022.
  • Blue Ridge Elementary School
  • Brazos Bend Elementary School
  • Briargate Elementary School
  • Walter Moses Burton Elementary School
  • Colony Bend Elementary School
  • Colony Meadows Elementary School
  • Commonwealth Elementary School
  • Cornerstone Elementary School
  • Rita Drabek Elementary School
  • Dulles Elementary School
  • Alyssa Ferguson Elementary School
  • Arizona Fleming Elementary School
  • Edgar Glover Elementary School
  • Lula Goodman Elementary School
  • * Goodman was one of two FBISD campuses that were the most damaged by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, but it reopened ahead of schedule.
  • Ferndell Henry Elementary School
  • Highlands Elementary School
  • Mary Austin Holley Elementary School
  • Heritage Rose Elementary School
  • Hunters Glen Elementary School
  • E.A. Jones Elementary School
  • Barbara Jordan Elementary School
  • Lakeview Elementary School
  • Lantern Lane Elementary School
  • Donald Leonetti Elementary
  • Lexington Creek Elementary School
  • Carolyn and Vernon Madden Elementary School
  • Meadows Elementary School
  • Mission Bend Elementary School
  • Mission West Elementary School
  • James C. Neill Elementary School
  • Oakland Elementary School
  • Oyster Creek Elementary School
  • Palmer Elementary School
  • Rosa Parks Elementary School
  • James Patterson Elementary
  • Pecan Grove Elementary School
  • Quail Valley Elementary School
  • Ridgegate Elementary School
  • Ridgemont Elementary School
  • Scanlan Oaks Elementary School
  • Jan Schiff Elementary School
  • Juan Seguin Elementary School
  • * The capacity is 845, and the school is near Richmond. Molina Walker Architects designed the building and Marshall Construction did the building. The cost was $14,500,000. There are about 36 classrooms, with six per grade level. The school relieved Oakland Elementary School and took students from Mission West Elementary who were enrolled in bilingual programs. Seguin was one of the two FBISD campuses most damaged by Hurricane Harvey. James Patterson Elementary and David Crockett Middle temporarily took Seguin students.
  • Settlers Way Elementary School
  • Sienna Crossing Elementary School
  • Sugar Mill Elementary School
  • Anne McCormick Sullivan Elementary
  • Townewest Elementary School
  • Walker Station Elementary School
  • Malala Yousafzai Elementary School