Staff Writer In 1973 I began teaching in F. I. S. D., and for all practical purposes our town seemed to be exactly the same place I had left four years earlier when I chose East Texas State University in Commerce, Texas, to prepare to probably become a math or science teacher. The only real difference was that I had picked up enough extra courses to have a 2nd major in English and a broad-field major in Social Sciences-and I had vacated my plans to teach Jr. High Journalism/ English in Goliad, Texas, and had accepted a position as a girls and boys coach and an English Teacher in Forney, where I would be working alongside many of my former instructors. I was a little nervous and very excited. Some years lasted a little longer than others, but most “flew by” way too quickly-way too fast for me to notice many changes. Too soon I was not the youngest staff member, but I was pretty close to the oldest-as I concluded last week’s article and reviewed the 2003 yearbook, it finally hit me: 2003 was about the time that things really had begun to change in the school district, and, like inches around my waist, I had not really noticed since it was actually a slow, but steady, progression!
1973-1974 found Forney I. S. D. to be a school district with one Superintendent (Johnnie Henderson), one Elementary Principal (Phillip Allison), one High School Principal (A. D. Whitaker, Jr.), and one Special Education Director (Ed Wilson). The District (all levels/all areas) had a total sports coaching staff of Head Coach Richard Norwood and six assistants: Charles McKissick, Billy Davis, Joe Jones, Dwight Bolin, Mike Segleski, and Don Themer. The total varsity football team was composed of 21 players!
The high school “teaching faculty” had 18 full-time and I think three, who were on campus part-time! Grades 1-8 (elementary/jr. high) had 21 and probably also three “shared.” All of this is to the best of my memory and from checking old “annuals,” and I will add that as far as I can tell, we had only 3 maintenance/custodial workers for the entire District-Bill Bennett, George Nichols, and Ray Bannisterin my opinion, three of the most important employees in the entire District!
We had “District” faculty meetings in one small area of the library! Probably the “head honchos” (spokes-persons) of the faculty were Bob Lucas (science), James Blue (Distributive Education), Betty Haynes (Social Studies), Richard Norwood (Social Studies/Head Coach), and Mac Venable (Agriculture). Joe Jones (Head Boys Basketball) and Rea Thomas (Librarian) were probably two of my most constant influencers, at least at first. This was my early perspective as a “new guy.”
The Senior Class had photos of 49 members in the yearbook, beginning with James Alexander and concluding with Sherri Yandell. I believe that I had at least a little knowledge of every high school student and most of those in the lower grades as the year began, since I had grown up in Forney. In most ways this was a blessing, but in a few, it might have been better had I not known so much about so many!
I hope you will appreciate the “ads” from 1973 that are included!
Now, let’s cut to 20032004
and note some BIG Changes….. HOSA (Susan Mikeska) was part of Forney ISD-“Health Occupation Students of America,” teaching students about jobs related to the medical fields and classroom studies about health sciences….. also, members of the “Hison tory Club” were taking trips to museums and historical sites and hearing “teacher” Kyle Key give interesting details about the Kennedy Questions.
The Band continued to grow under Dr. Brack May (19 years at Forney), and the Yearbook continued to evolve in size and contents under “new” addition, Shonda Tindall, as did the activities and output of the “art classes,” under Cindy Mosby. Also new to the upgrades was the addition of the Spanish Honor Society, sponsored by Cheryl Smith. ……..And, continuing to grow by leaps and bounds was CROSS COUNTRY- boys and girls-as both Won District and advanced through Regional and on to STATE! And, I almost forgot that Golf Teams (girls and boys) increased in size and stayed enthusiastic…..plus the girls captured two 2nd and one 1st trophies in their season’s tournaments!
Academic contest participation was high, and Forney had two U. I. L. STATE CHAMPIONS- Sean Dietrich and Myra Houser.
New classes: Students, for the most part, began taking geometry (with some changes) their sophomore years as they did way back when Mrs. Criswell and Mr. Penny attended FHS, and a new addition to the curriculum was AP Environmental Science. “P. E.” each year became more and more a “regular” class instead of just something to do, and it was strange to see students rushing to class and taking achievement tests each grading period with Coaches Posey and Weaver! Other new additions seem to have been Communications Applications, entry-level Journalism I, Life Skills, and expanded German.
The number of High School faculty members by 2002 had increased to 54 or more (Not all were pictured.), and there appears to have been a minimum of 177 Seniors. Sizes of teams continued to increase from earlier years, as the Varsity Football players and coaches appeared to be double the number in 1973, and that does not include the coaches of other sports…..Cross-Country (teams) showed at least 36 members…..Varsity Cheerleaders had grown to 15 from 6 or so in ’73….. Newspaper Staff was at least 16…..Boys Track pictured at least 50…..Drama Club had just under 30, and I could go and on! I had not realized we had grown so much, and it appears that with two high schools now and surely another one to be needed soon, progress will not stop! (I hope my waistline does!)
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