Felipe Reyna

During the years when Mexican American children had few opportunities in the local school district, a courageous teacher named Felipe Reyna helped initiate the struggle for educational equality. His dedication cost him his job, but years later his accomplishments were at last recognized when the school district dedicated the administration building in his honor.

Born in Monterrey, Mexico, Reyna was raised in Staples where he attended a rural school. After he finished the eighth grade there was no school that would admit him due to segregation. The family's landlord told his father to "get him another team of mules and put him behind them." His father would not hear of it, and instead enrolled Felipe at a private school in San Marcos called the Normal Methodist School. He graduated in 1933 and went on to earn a bachelor’s and master's degree at Southwest Texas State Teacher's College. During World War II Reyna served as a translator with Navy Intelligence.

In the early 1940s Reyna was hired to teach elementary classes at the Southside School. He was instrumental in forming the first PTA as well as "The Boys Club" in 1949 which focused on athletics and civic participation. Reyna also helped initiate actions to improve the political fortunes of Mexican Americans in San Marcos. He helped form drives to pay poll taxes so people could vote, and he helped encourage Mexican Americans to run for the school board. Reyna also led a movement against the school district's policy that banned the speaking of Spanish on school grounds. He also encouraged parents to take advantage of the school district's claim that the schools were not segregated by sending their children to the Anglo "Campus" elementary school, where teaching mate rials were plentiful.

Reyna was told by his supervisors to stop his activities, or he would be fired. After teaching in the system for three years, Reyna's contract was not renewed by the district. He went on to become a school principal in San Antonio. Some 30 years later, on December 8, 1974, nearly 200 people were present as the school district named its new administration building after him. Reyna passed away in 1976 at age 66. The plaque on the administration building reads:

Yesterday he reached for tomorrow
Today we remember that past
To instill knowledge and pride
A course that was just
A cause from which to progress
Adelante!