“I never applied for the job.”1

Those words appear in Noel Grisham’s 1974 autobiography, Beyond the Schoolhouse: Then and Now. In the book, Grisham outlines his early life and concludes with recollections of tenure as Round Rock ISD’s longest serving superintendent – a job he held from 1957 to 1979.

On the last Saturday afternoon in August 1957, all seven members of the Round Rock ISD Board of Trustees2 made the nine mile journey east to Hutto. Their mission was to offer Grisham the superintendency job. Grisham at the time was serving as the superintendent of Hutto ISD and was admittedly quite content in his role.

“We have a tub full of applications,” Mr. Luther (L.O.) Ramsey said. “We know about your work here. We’ve already checked you out. The Round Rock superintendency is yours if you want it.”3

Ominous clouds were on the horizon to the west from Hutto

Round Rock ISD Trustees had asked for superintendent Oliver Floyd (O.F.) Perry’s resignation just three days prior during their Wednesday, August 28, 1957 meeting. This action was three years in the making and included considerable board and community pressure.

“Ominous clouds were on the horizon to the west from Hutto,” explained Grisham. “The Round Rock superintendent had decided in 1954 that he would improve the Round Rock schools and prepare for some anticipated growth.”4 Perry had been employed by Round Rock ISD for almost 30 years beginning as a respected coach then principal of Round Rock High School. Perry was appointed superintendent on March 7, 1937.

“As long as he maintained the long-standing traditions, sought no improvements or changes, kept taxes at the low level or twenty-year fixed pattern,” Grisham noted, “all was well.”5

Perry’s 1954 plan to improve schools by raising tax rates was met with great opposition from local farmers and ranchers and was the catalyst for his departure. Read more about the three year build up of tensions, Board turnover and opposition to raising taxes that culminated with O.F. Perry’s resignation.

An opportunity town with a future

Grisham’s interest in the vacancy intrigued him, as he noted in his 1974 book. “I viewed Round Rock, it was the opportunity town with a future. I had observed Dallas, Los Angeles and Houston produce their suburban cities. Proportionately, as I thought, Austin would produce at least one satellite city, and this one would surely be Round Rock.”6

Round Rock wasn’t quite that satellite city yet. It was still a small rural farm and ranch community with a student population of 800 with an unfavorable reputation for being rough. Grisham recalled a Hutto ISD Trustee member warning him about the citizens of Round Rock. “Mr. Grisham, you don’t want to leave here and go over to Round Rock. That’s a mighty rough place over there. Those people play rough. Talk to anybody in Taylor or Georgetown or anywhere else in the county about Round Rock. They’ll tell you it’s difficult there.” Grisham knew the challenges that lay ahead if he took the job, noting that, “people around Williamson County had admitted that if a man was unable to believe in either heaven or hell, he should move to Round Rock. There, they said, one could find some of both and plenty of the latter.”7

But Grisham felt that he was up for a larger challenge and on September 4, 1957 – just seven days after O.F. Perry was asked to resign as superintendent – the Board of Trustees awarded Grisham a two year superintendent contract.

Grisham retired as superintendent in 1979. The student population was just over 8,000 at that time. Round Rock was well on its way to being the satellite city that Grisham envisioned it to be when he accepted the superintendency job 22 years earlier.

1 Grisham, Noel. Beyond the Schoolhouse: Then and Now, Page 91.
2 The seven members of the Board of Trustees were: President Mr. Luther (L.O.) Ramsey, Pete Hester, Harry Robertson, O.T. Bengstrom, Neysa Callison, Ernest Johnson and Moody Mayfield.
3 Grisham, Noel. Beyond the Schoolhouse: Then and Now, Page 91.
4 Grisham, Noel. Beyond the Schoolhouse: Then and Now, Page 90.
5 Grisham, Noel. Beyond the Schoolhouse: Then and Now, Page 90.
6 Grisham, Noel. Beyond the Schoolhouse: Then and Now, Page 90.
7 Grisham, Noel. Beyond the Schoolhouse: Then and Now, Page 92.