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Bryan Trustee Merrill Green doesn't typically let his emotions get the best of him, especially at school board meetings.
But the former school board president and Bryan High School football coach made an exception Monday when a proclamation renaming Bryan High School as Travis B. Bryan Jr. passed unanimously.
"This is a wonderful moment. I can't speak my true emotions," the 78-year-old said, pausing to compose his emotions. "My family is indebted to the Bryans, this community is indebted to the Bryans. This is so important."
The name change is in accordance with a district policy that states school buildings be named after distinguished Texans.
Bryan, who died in September at the age of 87, founded the district's Education Foundation in 1999 in an effort to increase funding and support for schools from local businesses.
Green said Bryan, who was known as the Vikings' No. 1 fan, called him 37 years ago to recruit him as the local high school football coach. Green moved to the community shortly after their conversation and has been here since.
"I can tell you he not only went to every game, he knew the score of every game," he said "Every Friday, he and I had lunch and he never, ever said 'Coach, you could have done this...' As a result, I looked forward to lunch with him."
Changing the name on the building at the high school will be a process that takes time, said school spokeswoman Sandy Farris. She said there haven't been discussions detailing how the district will go about changing signs, letterheads and other material with the school's name on it.
"We'll go to work on what will be done now," she said.
An unrelated subject that drew emotion came later in the meeting when board members and residents voiced their feelings about intradistrict transfers.
Resident Rick Gorzycki said he believes the current transfer policies are too relaxed. He said zoning should be more strictly enforced to relieve community tensions built due to transfer issues at all school levels, such as coaches recruiting for athletics and students picking one school over another for academic purposes.
Current policies state that board members must approve the transfer of students on an individual basis. Factors that may qualify a student for a transfer include reassignments by principals, parental appeals or petitions, and severe bullying cases.
"Our schools have a tremendous impact on how Bryan people feel. When our schools are doing good, our city feels good," he said. "If we continue the liberal transfer policy, I think there's a good chance [Rudder and Bryan ] high schools could be socially and economically segregated."
Several board members said they agreed with Gorzycki.
"We understand exactly what Rick is saying," Green said. "Some things need to be changed. As you know, Bryan ISD is a major challenge when it comes to demographics. You look at our boundary lines it looks like a drunken sailor put them out there."
Added Trustee David Stasny, "Bryan High has gotten some sort of label that it's not as good, and people are spreading that like a poison. That's false. Our biggest challenge in the long run is to make sure both schools are great and we never let resources or personnel favor one school over the other."
All school board members said they agreed the issue was a sensitive one that deserved more deliberation. They said they plan to continue discussing intradistrict policies at a board member retreat scheduled for Friday and at future meetings.
