Cinco Ranch High School

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Cinco Ranch High School
Location
Fort Bend County, Texas USA
Information
School district	Katy Independent School District
Principal	Bonnie Brasic
Enrollment	2,800
Faculty	179[1]
Type	Free public
Grades	9-12
Campus	Suburban
Campus size	66 acres (0.3 km²)
Mascot	Cougar
Color(s)	Maroon and white
Established	1999
Homepage	[7]

Cinco Ranch High School is a secondary school located in unincorporated Fort Bend County, Texas that serves grades 9 through 12 as part of the Katy Independent School District. It is located off Cinco Ranch Boulevard within the community of Cinco Ranch. The school opened in 1999.

Cinco Ranch High school was ranked 523 by Newsweek magazine on its list of the top high schools in the United States in 2007 [8].

Contents 1 History 2 Campus 3 Academics 4 Extracurricular activities 4.1 Athletics 4.2 Debate 4.3 Theater 4.4 Computer Science 4.5 Choir 4.6 Orchestra 4.7 Journalism 4.8 Band 5 Discipline and student culture 6 Controversial events 7 Feeder patterns 8 Enrollment Trends 9 Notable Alumni 10 References and footnotes 11 External links

[edit] History

Cinco Ranch High School opened in the fall of 1999 after a $130 million bond issue was passed in the spring of 1996 and another $324 million bond was passed in 1999 allowing for funding.^[2] In the initial years, the school played host to displaced students from other Katy ISD schools including 8th graders displaced by overcrowding at Beck Junior High School in the 1999-2000 school year. Other relocations include students from West Memorial Elementary that moved to Cinco Ranch after the elementary encountered mold related issues in 2002.

Upon opening Cinco Ranch also immediately began taking incoming 9th graders from surrounding areas previously zoned to other Katy area high schools. In 2002, the initial freshmen rezoned from surrounding high schools, in particular Katy High School and James E. Taylor High School, became the first to graduate, having spent 3 years at CRHS. The class of 2004 was the only "5-year class," many of them having been among the Beck students that spent 8th grade at CRHS

[edit] Campus

The original building, built in 1999, has been expanded. It consists of a central rotunda, where the cafeteria, offices, and library are located. Attached to this are two long hallways running in opposite directions, which house classrooms. At the end of one of the hallways are the athletic facilities, including a natatorium, workout facility, gymnasiums, fields, and a stadium. At the end of the other hallway, on the opposite end of the school, are the fine arts rehearsal facilities and black box theatre. The original facility was built on a 66 acre site by PBK Architects to support a maximum of 2,800 students.^[3] The school has a net building area of 433,000 sq ft (40,200 m²). and cost of $37,507,000.^[4]

The school benefited from the expanding budgets of KISD, which could be attributed to rapid growth in the surrounding areas and the addition of Katy Mills Mall, which, through taxes, gave a large boost to KISD funds. In 2001, many of the KISD high schools received renovations, and all received new performing arts centers (PACs). The KISD high schools also received additions of ninth grade centers, which may be attributed to the belief by the district that younger students benefit from an eased transition into high school. The PAC and 9th Grade Center were added to the fine arts end of the hallway at a cost of $11,356,050.^[5] The addition of the Performing Arts Center has improved the quality of both theatrical and musical productions. The department includes the orchestra, choir, band, visual arts, and theater productions.

The secondary expansion, along with 9th grade gyms and offices, made for a very long and narrow two-story building with a total length of one quarter mile. This "tunnel effect" creates an environment for indoor running in the summer. Another large athletic accoutrement, added in 2004, is a hill more than 30 feet (9.1 m) tall with a paved running track paved to facilitate track runner training. Even with the new addition, the growing enrollment has caused a steadily increasing number of portable classrooms to be added to the outside of the school.

The opening of Seven Lakes High School relieved Cinco Ranch High School, which in turn relieved Katy High School.

[edit] Academics

Classes range in size from just 10 in very specialized classes to over 30 (though rarely over 35) in some of the core subjects with an average of 18.4 students per class.^[6] A student can expect a class size around 26-30, generally with less in advanced courses (PreAP, AP, and GT [gifted and talented]) and more in Academic ("normal level") courses. Although the recent foreign language classes offered on campus during school hours, (particularly the East Asian languages such and Japanese and Chinese), have been reported to average about 6 students to a classroom during the 2006-2007 school year. The school is noted by administrators and students for being highly competitive, especially with efforts to rank in the top ten percent of graduating classes, which guarantees admission to Texas public universities. The school is amongst the top 20 most academically rigorous in the state. Instruction is seen as being very rigorous in a district noted for its high quality programs across the board.

In April 2007, Cinco was rated by the Houston Chronicle as the third best high school in the Houston area, preceded only by the High School for Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) and YES College Preparatory. Included in this ranking were TAKS scores, graduation rates, ACT, SAT, and AP testing rates and scores, class size, teacher experience, and percentage of students from poor families. (CITATION: Cinco Ranch HS Newspaper, "County Line," April 19, 2007, vol 8, issue 6.

In the 2005 school year:^[7]

• 508 of the school's 3,314 students took an Advanced Placement test; 89% of them passed and 30% received a perfect score.
• The composite ACT score was 24.3, noticeably higher than the national average of 20.9.
• A GPA of 3.8750 was required to enter the top quarter of the high school class.
• The average SAT score was 1141, which is 113 points above the national average of 1028.

[edit] Extracurricular activities

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)

[edit] Athletics

The school opened with only two classes, and as a result the football team could not compete at the varsity level until the fall of 2000. Though largely unsuccessful at first, the team began improving beginning in 2002, missing the playoffs by a game that year and making the playoffs for the first time in 2004.^{[citation needed]} The school competes at the varsity level in a variety of sports, with a particularly well-known track-and-field program, which won state titles in 2004 and 2005. In March 2005, the school had 27 athletes competing in the Nike Indoor Nationals at the PG County Sportsplex in Landover, Maryland.^[8]

Cinco Ranch's wrestling team, currently coached by Bill Dushane, has consecutively won district championships six times, starting in the 2000/2001 school year. In 2007, the Cinco Ranch Wrestling team won the Texas State Championships for high school wrestling, with Matt Harris and Jamie Sheets claiming their own state titles, and Courtney Lindley becoming a State Runner Up as a sophomore. Altogether, the team produced six state champions.^{[citation needed]}

Swimming has also become a strongpoint of Cinco Ranch athletics. The girls' team have won district championships every year since 2001, while the boys consistently achieve 2nd to Taylor High School until 2008 when the boys won districts. On the regional level, the girls often second themselves to Kingwood; the boys usually attain third to fifth place.^{[citation needed]}

Cinco Ranch's tennis team usually finds itself 2nd to Katy Taylor in District 18-5A play^{[citation needed]}, but the team advanced to the Region III-5A Team Tennis Semifinals for the first time in school history in 2007.

[edit] Debate

Since 2003, the Cinco Ranch Debate Team has four qualifications to the NFL National Tournament in Student Congress and three qualifications to Nationals in Lincoln-Douglas debate. The team has also won the 5A UIL State Championship in Lincoln-Douglas Debate in both 2006^[9] and 2007^[10]. The 2007 NFL National Tournament saw the team's representative in Lincoln-Douglas Debate break to the elimination rounds, marking the first time the team cleared a student at Nationals.

[edit] Theater

The Cinco Ranch Theater Company has been a regional qualifier for the past four years and also has qualified as one of the top eight plays in Texas at the state level in the UIL One-Act Play competition twice. The Company, formerly known as Cinco Dell Arte, qualified for the State UIL (University Interscholastic League) competition for the first time in 2005, and again in 2007.^[11]

[edit] Computer Science

The Cinco Ranch Computer Science team has won 3rd place in the TCEA State Programming Competition, as well as 2nd (2004), 3rd (2005), 3rd(2007), 6th(2008( and 2nd place at the HP CodeWars Competition,6th (2007),5th (2008). The team advanced to Regionals for the last 3 years and also had an UIL State individual champion in 2008. The club hosts an annual programming competition and LAN Parties throughout the school year Club Website[9]

[edit] Choir

The various performing choirs have consistently received superior ratings at UIL and festival competitions. The CRHS Varsity Choir, Chorale, was chosen as a TMEA Performing Choir, one of eight, and only one of two 5A high school choirs, and will perform in San Antonio at the Texas Music Educators Association convention in February.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Orchestra

The Cinco Ranch orchestra has ranked in the top five orchestras in Texas since the school opened in 1999, and placed fourth in the 2005-2006 school year. Cinco Ranch was the #1 school in the region in 2006-2007, taking 27 of the 136 slots available in the Region Orchestras. It has performed around Texas and Louisiana and was invited to play in Carnegie Hall in the 2005-2006 school year.^{[citation needed]}

Since opening, the orchestra has been conducted by Brett Nelsen.

[edit] Journalism

In the 2005-2006 school year, the newspaper County Line received the Silver Star award from the University Interscholastic League. Both the yearbook Panorama and County Line were also awarded with ratings of Distinguished Merit.^[10]

[edit] Band

In marching band, under the initial leadership of David Cutting, the band improved from an 80 member organization to narrowly miss State competition in 2002 due to a timing violation ("Galactic Empires"), and then to go to State in 2004, placing as the 22nd best band in Texas ("The Planets"). Cutting resigned in the Spring of 2005, leading to the institution of a new head director, Michael Ouellette. The band has since met limited success, placing in finals in many marching competitions, but failing to advance to the State competition in 2006 ("Stained Glass").^{[citation needed]}“The Four Seasons: A Musical Journey” was 2007 program and performed with 300 members. The band received Sweepstake at UIL contest.^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Discipline and student culture

Katy Independent School District has been noted in the press, including the Houston Chronicle, as running "a very tight ship" with regards to disciplinary matters. The district has a stated mission of maintaining high academic and disciplinary standards. The district has been criticized in the press, including the Houston Chronicle, as including rules which are expansive to the very edges of what is legal. A general feeling exists among the student body that if a student does something "wrong," as the administration may deem it, whether a rule exists on the matter or not, the student will be dealt with harshly. According to material published in the school paper, this creates a feeling of a very secure environment.^[12]Cinco Ranch also has the largest drug problem in the district.

Data in regards to both acts and punishments is hard to come by, as KISD maintains a policy of not detailing incidents unless questioned. Cinco Ranch has a discipline referral rate of 7.4%, on par with the district's rate of 7.5%, with both notably exceeding the state average of 2.3% by a non-negligible margin.^[13]

[edit] Controversial events

• The 2001-2002 yearbook, "Panorama" had a theme of "Firsts", as this was the year of the first graduation in the school's history. To fit this theme, students in English classes were invited to share "firsts" in their lives, in the form of written essays to be placed in the yearbook. One such essay was one written by a male homosexual student about his experience of “coming out” for the first time. This particular essay sparked outrage in the Cinco Ranch High School community as parents as well as faculty members took up arms about this display of sexual orientation. Amidst many other technical errors overlooked by the publishing company of the yearbook, the publisher agreed to reprint some 1,800 copies. The reprint included corrections to technical errors, as well as the removal (and some would argue censorship) of many student-written stories, particularly the controversial "coming-out" story.^[14]

• During the 2004-2005 school year Katy ISD began a new and revolutionary program in the history of the district, with the use of random drug testing for all individuals involved in UIL competitive organizations, student leaders of any official school clubs, and anyone wishing to park on campus.^[15] This caused much controversy prior to its instatement. Many parents complained to the school district, citing the new policy as the violation of individual rights. The district responded to this by having every student who wished to participate in the said activities sign a waiver granting the school district to test them randomly. This matter had already been settled by the Supreme Court of the United States as constitutional before KISD chose to implement it.^[16]

• During the 2005-2006 school year a football coach and special education teacher, Tim Williford, was caught in a local neighborhood zoned to the school looking into the bedroom of a female CRHS junior. Upon seeing him she alerted her father, who took down his license plate number as he left the scene. He was later arrested on trespassing and a "peeping tom" charge, both misdemeanors.^[17]

• During the 2005-2006 school year a Cinco Ranch chemistry teacher, Denzial Ray Tittle, was indicted on June 8 on five counts of distributing and one count of possessing child pornography.^[18] Tittle resigned March 10 for personal reasons. Prosecutors said his computer contained more than 8,000 images of children. Tittle pleaded guilty and was sentenced to fourteen years in prison.^[19]

• During the 2007-2008 school year a student that was being questioned by officers about passing counterfeit bills to a local merchant led police to a gun and one ounce of marijuana hidden above ceiling tiles in one of the school's locker rooms. He also led authorities to a home in the area where they found manufacturing equipment to make the counterfeit money. Three other students are being investigated for possession of counterfeit money.^[20]

[edit] Feeder patterns

The following elementary schools feed into Cinco Ranch High School:^[21]

• Fielder Elementary School
• Exley Elementary School (partial)
• Griffin Elementary School (partial)
• Hayes Elementary School (partial)
• Rylander Elementary School (partial)
• Williams Elementary School (partial)

The following junior high schools feed into Cinco Ranch High School:

• Beck Junior High School (partial)
• Cinco Ranch Junior High School (partial)
• Garland McMeans Junior High School (partial)

[edit] Enrollment Trends

After opening, Cinco Ranch High School steadily grew to over 3,000 students, with a graduating class of approximately 800 students a year, due to the rapid expansion of the Katy area. However, enrollment has decreased due to the opening of nearby Seven Lakes High School in 2004. [11]

• 1999-2000 = 800
• 2000-2001 = 828
• 2001-2002 = 1,541
• 2002-2003 = 2,834
• 2003-2004 = 2,834
• 2004-2005 = 3,235
• 2005-2006 = 3,601
• 2006-2007 = 3,288
• 2007-2008 = 2,800^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Notable Alumni

• Scott Sellers - American track and field athlete, Division I National Champion and record holder in the High Jump.

[edit] References and footnotes

[edit] External links

• CRHS home page
• The CRHS Cougar Band
• The CRHS Orchestra

• Cinco Ranch High School is at coordinates 29°44′44″N 95°46′47″W / 29.745491, -95.779613 (Cinco Ranch High School)Coordinates: 29°44′44″N 95°46′47″W / 29.745491, -95.779613 (Cinco Ranch High School)

	v • d • e Katy Independent School District
High schools	Katy H. S. | Taylor | Mayde Creek H. S. | Cinco Ranch H. S. | Morton Ranch H. S. | Seven Lakes
Alternative high schools	Arthur Miller Career Center | Opportunity Awareness Center | Martha Raines High School