Fort Bend Independent School District


The Fort Bend Independent School District, also known as Fort Bend ISD or FBISD, is a school district system in the U.S. state of Texas based in the city of Sugar Land.
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 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 9,000 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. 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. The school district desegregated in September 1965; in the post-desegregation period Dulles was the district's sole high school until Willowridge High School opened in 1979. 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, the FBISD portions of the city of Stafford left FBISD for the Stafford MSD, and the move was found to be constitutional in 1981. Residents in Stafford's ETJ are served by Fort Bend ISD, not Stafford MSD.
Circa 1997 FBISD was the fastest-growing school district in Texas, with new comprehensive high schools opening in increments of fewer than five years.

Divisions/Administration Buildings

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.

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 baseball field, and softball field, each fitted with LED scoreboards.
FBISD also manages 2 athletic complexes, complete with turf and Video/LED scoreboards from NEVCO:
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 Charles E. Dupre who was hired in 2013 after Dr. Jenney retired and left. Dupre previously served in Pflugerville Independent School District. In June 2008, the University Council for Education Administration, housed at the University of Texas at Austin, awarded Dupre the Excellence in Education Leadership Award for his dedication to improving the training and development of school leaders.
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

Fort Bend ISD opened several magnet programs to foster small learning communities with a career based focus. Several Academies are housed at different schools and are magnet programs that require an application. The District provides busing throughout the district for Academy students, irrespective of which school they choose to attend, located at their zoned Elementary Campus. A few of the Academies were shut down due to low application and attendance rates.

Middle School Academies

*The GSA and IBMA academies are under a transition period to Travis HS.
C.O '19 for both academies are at Travis

Former schools