Spring Branch ISD Featured News

For seven consecutive decades, beginning in the early 1960s, a member of the Schneider family has attended school in Spring Branch ISD.

That’s quite a record even for a family who nearly sets another record because of its size. The family is indeed large; the Schneiders raised 11 children, all of whom wore cloth diapers, so jokes the youngest son, Vic.

“My parents estimated they saved quite a bit of money—about $38,000 they figured—by not having to purchase disposable diapers,” he grins, “and there were no twins or triplets among us, all single births.”

Beginning with first son Stephen, born in 1954 and having graduated from Spring Branch High School in 1974, and culminating with the graduation of Caleb, son of Vic, from Spring Woods High School this May, the Schneiders have had quite a presence in Spring Branch ISD schools.

All 11 children attended Spring Branch Elementary and Spring Woods Junior High. The three oldest children (Stephen, Valerie and Victoria) graduated from Spring Branch High School, the middle five (Shavonn, Mark, Roxanne, Ann and Christopher) graduated from Northbrook High School, and the last three (Frederic, Jennifer and Vic) graduated from Spring Woods High School. Caleb began his schooling at Terrace Elementary and Cornerstone Academy.

“All of my brothers and sisters grew up in the same home where our 92-year-old father still lives. My dad also works full time with me at Albert Sterling & Associates, where we represent manufacturers in the commercial plumbing industry,” Vic explains. “We siblings attended different high schools because the school boundaries were changed as Spring Branch grew.”

Sister Roxanne Schneider Worsham thinks being born sixth out of 11 places her in an advantageous spot within the family.

“Being in the middle has helped me become really close to all my siblings,” she says, “from the oldest to the youngest.”

Vic and Roxanne love reminiscing about their Spring Branch Elementary experiences.

“Every Halloween the school would create a haunted house in the back of our large gymnasium. That gym also was where we learned to square dance,” said Vic. “We had a grand old time.”

Roxanne adds, “Square dancing was also one of my most favorite times. And, sometimes, the girls even got to ask the boys to be their partners.”

Both also remember how current events were somehow baked into their elementary school memories. A major impact for Vic was when he and classmates witnessed the Space Shuttle Challenger explode on live TV.

“We had no idea what was going on. Our teacher soon shut off the TV and then started crying,” he recalls.

Roxanne always knew for sure when it was Friday because air raid sirens sounded at noon on that day every week. Those sirens just became a routine sound for the young students.

“We all have very fond memories of all the people who touched our lives through SBISD. There were loving principals, fantastic coaches and resilient teachers,” Vic says. “I remember the lunch-line ladies who could continue to take our sarcasm and even the very funny custodians who would keep us laughing with their jokes.”

Looking back at their middle and high school experiences, Vic and Roxanne enjoyed their classmates and, especially, some of their teachers.

“During my senior year I had almost enough credits to graduate so I only needed to attend school for half days. In the afternoons I worked for Coit Cleaners. My business education co-op teacher was Larry Carter, and he was a true mentor and friend to me.

“He even visited me at my job,” he adds. “He became like a next-door neighbor.”

Roxanne describes herself as quite a “talker” in class, someone who sometimes could be a bit rowdy.

“In my junior year of high school, a bunch of us were cutting up in class. Our teacher eventually got control of the class and wanted to know who had been talking,” she says. “She went around the room, asking each person if he or she had been talking, and all said ‘no.’

“When she got to me, I said ‘yes’ that I had been talking. And because I confessed and told the truth, she rewarded me with a 100 percent score and gave all the others a 0.”

Roxanne praises the educational experiences she had in Spring Branch because they helped get her ready for college and a career in education.

“Spring Branch did an amazing job in preparing me for what lay ahead. I even became very close friends with several of my high school teachers, like Judy Scott Darby, who taught algebra at Northbrook,” she says.

Yes, Roxanne later learned what it was like to be on the other side of the desk after she earned a degree in education and became a teacher herself. She taught elementary students in Katy ISD, became a middle school math teacher and ultimately tutored Joel and Victoria Osteen’s children in private home school for nine years.

Vic and Roxanne like to comment about the overall comradery among students and faculty in Spring Branch schools. Roxanne points out that at Northbrook student cliques were not very common.

“Everyone seemed to get along well. It’s still evident today, too, because every year we hold our ‘Geezer Palooza,’ which is our reunion attended by all classes not just one year,” she says. “Everyone is invited, and lots of folks drive and fly from all over just to get together and have fun.”