In 1936, Mr. M. O. Robinson and his wife Doroty settled in West to begin a long association with the West Public School System. There was an utter lack of “luxury” in the schoolhouse. The new principal and his wife found a two-room building without running water and other unsanitary facilities. School furniture consisted of double desks made of rigid type lumber firmly fixed in parallel rows facing the teacher’s desks. Drinking facilities were primitive; toilets were obsolete and outdated by modern standards. Wood and coal were used for heating.
Professor Robinson took the first step toward the operation of a make shift lunchroom. Parents’ complaints created an interest in improvement; teachers and parents decided to hold varied fund-raising activities to improve facilities.
Two water fountains were placed in front of the building. There was one for girls and one for boys. They also worked to update restroom facilities. The larger boys and Mr. Robinson dug two cesspools for boys and girls. A wooden fence was built midway between the restrooms.
For many there was no easy road to education. If you were smart it came easy, but if you were not so smart, you either learned or fell behind, and gained new or younger classmates. Due to the fact that many students did not enter by their seventh birthday many pupils in the same class were in there teens. During recess and lunch time girls and boys were seperated in play.
Professor Robinson Had Some Positive Ideas On Pupil Discipline.
- Profane or indecent language and the use of tobacco were positively forbidden.
- Cleanliness of person and person’s clothing was required of each pupil.
In 1946, a new school building was erected. This was the first building built for Negroes in West. Professor Robinson was principal. Mr. Robinson, in later years, remarked “It was a big occasion for the Negro community.
A group of Negro citizens met with the principal to discuss the possibility of organizing a high school in West. These parents were interested in their children receiving a high school education, but realized the expense of sending their children to Waco or Hillsboro to attend high school.
Professor Robinson contacted his superiors and later met with parents of several smaller communities surrounding West. The communities contacted were Abbott, Aquilla, Elm Mott, Chalk Bluff, Gholson, Leroy, and Ross. Proper authorities were contacted, business transactions were completed, and buses aquired. Students in grade six through twelve commuted to West. Thus, Dunbar High School became a reality in 1948. The first graduating class was 1949. In the early 1950’s Axtell was added to our school system.
In 1953, a gymnasium was erected at the north end of Casey’s pasture. The gymnasium building was moved in from Tokio. A vocational agriculture shop was constructed at the west end of the gymnasium in 1956.
The historical significance of segregation and integration has modern impact with the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision of 1896. The seperate but equal ruling stood until May 1954, when the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision set the earlier 1896 decision aside. West, like so many other communities, started to work with its problem of implementing the 1954 decision that the separate but equal idea was unconstitutional.
In September 1965, the Board of Trustees decided to integrate the West Public Schools. Two hundred and eighty Dunbar students integrated into the West Public Schools.
Students of the West Public Schools were not judged soley on what they were learning of the theories of democracy, but were also “graded” on their ability to practice democracy in the classroom and on the school campus.
Our nation’s stength depends on success of the public school in teaching the real meaning of democracy and at the same time, giving the pupils opportunties to associate with one another in a democratic fashion. This is one of the principals on which the United States of America was founded.
Thomas Jefferson advocated universal and free public schools, for education of the people to enable them to govern themselves intelligently. He proposed to “Provide an education adapted to the years, to the capacity, and the condition of everyone and directed to their freedom and happiness.” In the West Public Schools, democratic citizenship is an important aspect of the total educational program. From the first, children are guided toward the realization that they have a pert in preserving democracy by living in a democratic manner. To learn to work in groups, to take turns, to respect each other and to respect the property of others, to help each other, and to behave courtcously.
By working asa group in keeping their surroundings neat, arranging bulletin boards, and getting materials ready, students learn to cooperate when working for the goals of the whole group. Democratic good citizenship permcates all activities on the playgrounds, in the classroom, the cafeteria, assemblies, student organizations, and special programs.
The students enrolled in the West Public Schools were doing more that preparing for and choosing their future occupations and professions; they are active, useful citizens now. When they completed their education, they were ready to take their place as useful citizens in West and other places.
Compiled by: the late Otha D. Johnson, former instructor, retired Waco I.S.D. ’89.