Dock Jackson, Community Builder

As Killeen ISD students and staff members join the rest of the nation this month to celebrate African-American Heritage Month, another former local educator stands tall in memory as a respected, servant leader.

Dock Jackson, Killeen ISD’s first male African-American principal, was a community builder who's inspiring leadership created a gathering place for everyone.

Dock Jackson – Marlboro School teacher, principal and coach?

In 1954, the Fort Hood school district consolidated with the Killeen school district and the Marlboro School became the school for black students.

At the time, the Marlboro School was composed of three rooms and educated first- through 10th-grade students. Eleventh- and 12th-grade black students attended school in Belton.?

There were two teachers, Vera Landford Nelson and Vera Scott Wabbington and the principal in 1955 was Dock Jackson, Jr.?

Born in Rosebud, Jackson earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees and taught and coached in Rogers when KISD Superintendent C.E. Ellison hired him as principal of the Marlboro School. He also served as a teacher and started an athletic program.

Dock and Thelma Jackson lived in a house on Highland Avenue and raised four children. Mrs. Jackson taught at Marlboro, Sugar Loaf and Hay Branch, retiring in 1991.

In 1956, KISD trustees voted to integrate the schools and black high school students could attend Killeen High School or the all-black T.B. Harris High School in Belton. Marlboro converted to a first- through eighth-grade school.

In 1961, Marlboro became a first through sixth grade campus and added an office, clinic, kitchen and cafeteria.

Dock Jackson continued to teach and coach while serving as principal until 1963, when he became a full-time principal. Eventually, he continued his education career in Temple ISD, retired in 1991 and passed away in 1999.

Across the street from the Marlboro School, a soldier named Marion Douse and his wife, Alice, a former high school teacher lived with their two children. It wasn’t long before Jackson convinced the former teacher to come over and teach sixth grade.

In 2003, with Marlboro Elementary School about to close and move to the new Ira Cross Elementary, Douse, retired from education and still living in the house across from the school, recalled those early days.

The school was as much a community center for the Marlboro Heights neighborhood as it was a school.

“It was a neutral gathering place for everyone,” she said. The school hosted talent shows, recitals, church functions, Halloween carnivals and Christmas programs. Most of the teachers lived on the same streets as their students. “Everybody’s parents were your parents.”

In 2008, Killeen ISD re-dedicated Marlboro Elementary School as the Dock Jackson Professional Learning Center, honoring the district’s first African-American principal.

At the time, Thelma Jackson still lived in the Killeen house she and her husband moved into 53 years before.

“He would really like the idea,” she said referencing what her late husband would have thought of seeing his name on the building where he served for so many years. “He would have been pleased. I wish he could have been here to see it. I am excited about it.”