Rivera High School honors Simón Rivera, Jr., the principal at Central Intermediate School
from 1959 to 1977. Rivera also served as a BISD Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Schools. Two years after his death in 1986, BISD’s fourth high school opened its doors with Rivera’s name on the building. The opening of this new high school came right down to the final hours. BISD crews worked until 2:00AM the day the school was to open, to put furniture in place and beat the opening bell. Bill Gutierrez was the school’s first principal. Rivera houses the magnet program for International Business.