This podcast contains comments from one of Bryan ISD's executive directors of school leadership, Brian Merrill, during the February 21, 2022 BISD school board meeting.

Copy and paste the following link to read and download presentation materials from the BISD school board meeting: https://wtaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/BISD022122naming.pdf

Bryan ISD school board members unanimously accept a committee’s unanimous recommendations for naming two new buildings during Monday night's.

Intermediate school three will be named for professor O. W. Sadberry Sr. According to a BISD news release, Sadberry was a Black educator who helped guide Bryan schools through integration in a career from 1949 through 1970.

BISD's new transportation and maintenance complex will be named for Ruby Haliburton. She drove a BISD bus 36 years until her death last April.

One of the district's executive directors for school leadership, Brian Merrill, walked the board through the committee's selection process. That followed more than 300 nominations for the school and almost 300 nominations for the transportation and maintenance complex.

Bryan ISD news release:

The newest campus and facility in Bryan ISD will honor longtime Bryan educators who positively impacted the lives of generations of Bryan students.

At their meeting on Monday, February 21, 2022, the Bryan ISD Board of Trustees approved the recommendations for O. W. Sadberry, Sr. Intermediate School and Ruby Haliburton Maintenance & Transportation Facility.

O.W. Sadberry, Sr., dedicated his life to equal, non-discriminatory education as a human right for all children. Nicknamed “Prof” by his family and friends because he was always teaching someone something, he worked in Bryan schools from 1949 - 1970, serving as principal at Bryan ISD’s Booker T. Washington Elementary School (grades 1-7). After the school burned the year before integration, Sadberry continued to help guide Bryan schools through the integration process. Sadberry also played a critical role in integrating the public library in Bryan, so people of all ages and backgrounds had access to public education and information. There are generations of African-Americans from Bryan who achieved higher education because of Sadberry’s persistence to do whatever it took for his students to rise above segregation and lead a successful life.

From Bryan, Ruby Haliburton graduated from E. A. Kemp High School in 1962. In 1985, she started driving a school bus for Bryan ISD. Over the next 36 years, until her death in April 2021, she was the first and last educator generations of Bryan students saw everyday. Haliburton’s smile, warm heart and ability to connect with students left lasting impressions that made her bus riders look forward to going to school, and doing their best.

“Bryan ISD is proud to be able to honor these two incredibly deserving individuals,” said Bryan ISD Interim Superintendent Ginger Carrabine. “It is clear from the community interest in this process how important it is for Bryan ISD to honor those who have made a profound impact on all students. We hope this honor will allow more people around the Brazos Valley to learn about these incredible individuals and their contributions to our community.”

Bryan ISD received hundreds of submissions for naming the new campus and facility. Two committees, one for each building, made up of Bryan ISD employees, parents and community members, reviewed all of the submissions before unanimously recommending the chosen individuals to the board of trustees, who unanimously approved the selections.

Bryan ISD looks forward to opening these new buildings and celebrating the lives and impact of both O. W. Sadberry, Sr. and Ruby Haliburton.