M. R. Wood Alternative Education: From Segregation to Second Chances
M. R. Wood Alternative Education Center (MRW), presently known as the M. R. Wood Center for Learning, has a rich and complex history intertwined with the evolution of education in Fort Bend County, Texas. Originally established as a segregated school for Black students, it has transformed over the decades, reflecting the changing social and educational landscape of the region. Today, it serves as a disciplinary alternative education program within the Fort Bend Independent School District (FBISD), offering a second chance to students who have faced disciplinary challenges.
The Early Years: Segregation and Community
M. R. Wood's story begins in the 1940s when it opened as M.R. Wood School, a school housing grades 1-12 for black students. Prior to the formation of FBISD, it was part of the Sugar Land Independent School District. The school played a vital role in the Black community, not only as a place of learning but also as a center for social and cultural activities. At one point black students from Missouri City were moved to M.R.
The school's mascot was the Panthers, and the American football team achieved considerable success, winning eight consecutive district championships in the 1950s and 1960s. This athletic prowess fostered a sense of pride and unity within the Black community during a time of segregation and inequality.
Desegregation and Transition
The landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 set the stage for the desegregation of schools across the United States. However, the process was often slow and fraught with resistance. In FBISD, desegregation officially occurred in September 1965. As the desegregation process occurred in September 1965, M.R. Wood students temporarily went to the Lakeview School.
Following desegregation, the role of M. R. Wood School underwent a significant transformation. Lakeview became the home for other former M. R. Wood was changed into an alternative education school housing all special education programs.
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The Rise of Alternative Education
As FBISD continued to grow and evolve, the need for alternative education programs became increasingly apparent. In August 1992 its name changed to the M. R. Wood Alternative Education Center. These programs aimed to provide individualized support and educational opportunities for students who struggled in traditional school settings. By 2001 there were seven programs at M. R. Wood.
M. R. Wood Alternative Education Center became a hub for various alternative programs, including those focused on special education and students with disciplinary challenges. The school was the site of FBISD's Behavioral Learning Center, for students who have violated disciplinary codes. As of that year conditions were crowded; there was capacity for 150 students. Conditions remained crowded by 2003, with many temporary buildings being used.
M.R. Wood Today: A Place for Second Chances
Today, M. R. Wood Alternative Education Center houses the state-mandated Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (DAEP) of Fort Bend ISD. The DAEP program serves as an intervention for students who have violated the district's disciplinary codes, providing them with a structured learning environment and support services to address their behavioral issues and academic needs.
The transformation of M. R. Wood from a segregated school for Black students to an alternative education center reflects the changing priorities and challenges facing the FBISD. While its history is rooted in segregation, it now serves as a place where students from all backgrounds can receive a second chance and work towards a brighter future.
The Legacy of Convict Leasing
The history of Sugar Land and Fort Bend County is inextricably linked to the legacy of convict leasing, a system that exploited incarcerated individuals for labor, particularly in the sugar industry. The water tower and former refinery building loom in the horizon behind the school and serve as a constant reminder of the history that lies beneath our feet. In February of 2018, contractors at the site of the construction of James Reese Career and Technical Center were backfilling a trench and discovered in the soil what appeared to be the remains of 95 unnamed individuals; victims of the system of convict leasing. To the rest of society, they were faceless, expendable laborers whose mistreatment was codified in the language of the Thirteenth Amendment. Today, they lie reburied in marked graves, yet to be identified by DNA analysis. Just across the open field, students walk into the Technical Center every morning.
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This dark chapter in the region's past serves as a reminder of the importance of acknowledging and addressing historical injustices and working towards a more equitable and just society.
FBISD's Desegregation: A Decade After Brown v. Board
FBISD desegregated in 1965. I mean, in our classrooms, the narrative is pretty clear. Brown v. Board came down and overturned separate but equal, making possible the integrated school system we have now. If you paid attention, you might remember something about the 101st Airborne, the Little Rock Nine, Eisenhower.That’s a decade of difference. If I was in third grade the year Brown was decided, I wouldn’t have been able to graduate from Dulles High School, and neither would my brother. I mean really think about that. This wasn’t just a single graduating class, there was a generation of kids who graduated under this segregation purgatory. So what was the hold up? What was happening to the kids attending officially segregated schools after Brown - after racism was supposed to be over? The short answer is, I really can’t tell. The history is pretty opaque - narratives are hardly continuous. It seems like one day racism was explicitly part of the system and then the next our conversations suddenly shifted to talking about how we have to “acknowledge” and “recognize” a racist past. This whole segregation business is relegated to a weird, unspoken historical status. Resources, even official district ones, will in one breath acknowledge segregation and its “end” and then in the next, talk about our long and storied history, as if we could simply mention something like that and then just move on. It’s like talking to a friend that just ended a long term relationship, the topic just kind of floats in the background, it pervades every exchange, but nobody seems to mention it for fear of awkwardness.
Closure of Colored Schools and the Fate of M.R. Wood
“In September 1965, all schools were desegregated and the Oaklane and Staffordshire elementary schools were closed…The Administration Building was occupied in the summer of 1961. Fort Bend ISD had its first graduating class in 1960.”What I do know is that, in the process of desegregating, all previously colored schools were closed and their students rezoned to various schools across the district, with only one exception. M. R. Wood would be the only one of these schools to remain under ownership of FBISD. Did this cause me to raise my eyebrows? Of course. I cannot know how many black teachers lost their jobs or were pressured into resigning because of this or edge case students who now had to walk miles to their new school. School’s weren’t just schools, they were playgrounds and places of community outside of home. They were integral parts of the neighborhoods they were surrounded by, but to the district, they were simply buildings to be demolished and sold off as plots of land. This is why I’m unsatisfied by these one-sided narratives of history - this radio silence. The most devastating inequalities fall on those with least access to the pen of history.
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