School board trustee served Southwest ISD for 40 years
Mike Frazier, a longtime trustee and board president of Southwest Independent School District, died Tuesday from health complications as a result of COVID-19.
Frazier, 75, had been hospitalized several weeks with the virus, said Sylvester Vasquez, the current board president. Frazier,
75, is survived by his wife of 42 years, Linda Jean; two adult children, Mike and Melinda; and seven grandchildren whom he is said to have often proudly boasted about.
“He never stopped giving back to the Southwest community,” Vasquez said. “As a fellow board member and a friend, I will personally miss him greatly.”
Frazier served 40 years on the board of trustees before he was unseated in the Nov. 3 election by Pete “Pedro” Bernall III. Trustees selected Vasquez to succeed Frazier as president.
Frazier served nine terms as board president, during which enrollment doubled and the district built at least eight new schools and remodeled all its other campuses. He was also involved in hiring at least five superintendents. Frazier was a trustee on the graduation stage when one of them, current Superintendent Lloyd Verstuyft, received his high school diploma in 1981.
“Mike was definitely not only a professional mentor, but a life mentor,” Verstuyft said. He was an “immensly great listener and great adviser.”
Frazier was an advocate for community schools, that they should be within neighborhoods and easily accessible to children in need, Verstuyft said. Most of schools built during his tenure are embedded in neighborhoods.
About a decade ago, as part of a spirit initiative, administrators almost walked away from a pricey proposal to build arches at school entrances, Verstuyft said. But Frazier persuaded the board and administrators to prioritize what he saw as an investment in school pride, and the arches have since become iconic structures where graduates often take their senior portraits.
Frazier retired from Northside ISD after 31 years as an educator. He spent time in Harlandale and Northside ISDs as a biology teacher, baseball coach and counselor and brought perspective from those roles to the boardroom, Verstuyft said.