Education trailblazer reflects on long career
She made history as the first Black woman elected in Beaumont, with her years on school board marked by victories, controversy
As a student in 1960s Beaumont, Zenobia Bush took the bus with other Black students every day from Hebert High School across town to attend a computer science class offered only at a school in the predominantly white South Park ISD.
“I remember when I first walked into Forest Park High School, seeing their facility versus the facility I had come from, it was a whole different world,” she said. “It was like I was on a college campus compared to where I was coming from.”
It was a crystallizing moment for young “Zee” Bush, who would spend the next five decades breaking barriers.
She is now preparing retire from the Beaumont ISD school board, where she made history as the first Black woman to be elected in the city.
Early in life, her parents shielded her from the harsh realities of racism in America at the time, she said.
Yet during shopping trips to Sears she had to use the restroom in the basement. Signs for “colored” and “white” customers were still ubiquitous.
“Over time that ended as well,” she said.
She went on to study math and French at Lamar University before becoming a math teacher. After several years teaching, Bush left to achieve another first, becoming the first Black woman to work in business services as a computer programmer at Dupont.
Bush, now 70, says she never took that path, or her position as a pioneer for granted. “I took that as an opportunity to do well, so that others can come behind and do well,” Bush said. “I think that is just the way I was brought up.”
But Bush’s true passion of teaching brought her back to education in 1985.
She ran for school board the first year after Beaumont ISD merged with neighboring South Park ISD, a key step in the district’s long road to integration, and a decision that bitterly divided the community with some animosity that lingers to this day.
The district would not be certified as integrated until 2007.
Bush’s early years on the board were spent parsing through the difficult process of splicing two school districts together, and going head-to-head with O.C. Mike Taylor, the superintendent of South Park ISD and a staunch opponent of integration.
“He would laugh at me because he knew I couldn’t really do anything because I didn’t have the votes to really make a lot of change, but he knew I was going to at least speak my mind and eventually, I wouldn’t say we became friends, but there was a respect between the two of us.”
Just a few years later, Bush’s campaign manager Bobbie Patterson became the first Black woman elected to City Council. And in 2019, she was part of the board that selected Shannon Allen as the first Black woman to serve as superintendent of the district.
She “changed the perception by which African Americans were portrayed,” Allen said. “She showed the community that the color of one’s skin shouldn’t overshadow their skill and ability.”
She was also instrumental in selecting the first Black superintendent for the district in 1996, Carroll A. Thomas. Well received when he was first hired, Thomas eventually became the focus of intense scrutiny over mismanagement of a $388 million bond issue and the hiring of several officials who would later serve time in federal prison for embezzling millions of dollars.
Inquiries eventually led to a contested state takeover of the district and ouster of the board.
In 2019, the school board returned to local control after five years of state operation. During that time, the district was recovering from steep financial losses, in part related to the financial mismanagement, leading to cuts in workforce that were accompanied by declining morale, failing schools and increasing discipline problems.
“I think we are still trying to recoup from that,” Bush said.
Some of the progress that was made in the first months of a fully local board was blunted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Bush said she will be an open resource to whomever succeeds her.
“I want the people to know that I have enjoyed serving them, even through the trouble,” she said.