Pershing Middle School (Houston)

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John J. Pershing Middle School is a secondary school located at 3838 Bluebonnet in Houston, Texas with a zip code of 77025.

Pershing, located in the Braeswood Place neighborhood, serves grades 6 through 8 and is a part of the Houston Independent School District.

Pershing has a neighborhood program, a Pre-AP Gifted and Talented program, and a fine arts program. Pershing is seeking to obtain IB approval.

[edit] History

Pershing Middle School

West University Place Pershing Junior High School, which was named after John J. Pershing, was established in 1928. Pershing originally was connected to West University Elementary School (which was located in the city of West University Place after the city incorporated in 1938); the school moved to its own campus at 7000 Braes Boulevard in Houston in 1948.[1]^[1]

Originally Pershing was an all-white school; it was desegregated in 1970.

Originally, Houston ISD planned to remodel Pershing's 1948 campus. When HISD found that building a new campus from scratch would be more cost-effective, HISD decided to pursue that goal.^[1]

Construction started on Pershing's brand new two-story 216,000 square foot campus at 3838 Bluebonnet (on the same site as the old campus) during the summer of 2005. Construction was expected to end in Summer 2007, and the new campus was originally expected to open in Fall 2007 [2]. The lead architect for the campus was PGAL, with Gilbane as the lead project manager. The original budget was $16,900,000 United States dollars. The construction costs totaled $24.4 million, and the final costs, including books, computers, and architect engineers, totaled $31 million.

The new building opened on Thursday, January 18, 2007; originally the building was slated to open the previous day, but weather conditions lead to the temporary closing of all HISD schools for January 17 ^[2].

Pershing Middle School's campus prior to the addition of lettering

Portions of the former Pershing building remain because many chimney swift birds appeared in the chimney. The Migratory Bird Act makes the act of tearing down the Pershing chimney illegal. ^[3]

[edit] Location

Pershing Middle School's former 1948 campus, scheduled for demolition

Pershing is located within the Braeswood Place neighborhood. Pershing is surrounded by single family houses; it is also next door to Mark Twain Elementary School and the Weekley Family YMCA. The McGovern-Stella Link Branch of the Houston Public Library is walking distance from Pershing. Some Pershing students walk to the Braes Heights Shopping Center in the city of Southside Place.

[edit] Neighborhoods served by Pershing

Pershing, which is located in the Braeswood Place neighborhood, serves several areas of Houston that are in and out of the 610 Loop^[4], including Braeswood Place, Linkwood, Knollwood Village, Woodshire, Woodside, Westridge, Southgate, Old Braeswood, Morningside Place, Westwood, a portion of Maplewood, Sunset Terrace, and a small portion of Meyerland. In addition to portions of Houston, Pershing also serves the cities of Bellaire, Southside Place, and West University Place.

[edit] School uniforms

All Pershing students as of 2007 are required to wear a school uniform consisting of a T-shirt or a polo shirt with Pershing Logo (can be purchased at school) and a pair of khaki bottoms (trousers, shorts, or skirts). All students must wear ID badges. T-shirts going below the wrists must be tucked into the bottom garments.

The Texas Education Agency specified that the parents and/or guardians of students zoned to a school with uniforms may apply for a waiver to opt out of the uniform policy so their children do not have to wear the uniform ^[5]; parents must specify "bona fide" reasons, such as religious reasons or philosophical objections.

[edit] Student body

Houston-area apartment complexes zoned to Pershing advertise the school assignments to attract families

During the 2006-2007 school year, Pershing had 1,732 students.^[6]

• 35% were White
• 30% were African-American
• 26% were Hispanic
• 10% were Asian
• Less than 1% were Native American

39% of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch.

[edit] Feeder patterns

Elementary schools that feed into Pershing^[4] include:

• Condit^[7]
• Mark Twain^[8]
• West University^[9]

(partial)

• Horn^[10]
• Longfellow^[11]
• Lovett^[12]
• Red^[13]
• Roberts^[14]
• Shearn^[15]

The majority of students who are zoned to Pershing either go to Bellaire High School^[16] or Lamar High School.^[17] A few areas zoned to Pershing feed into Madison High School^[18], Westbury High School^[19], and Lee High School^[20] (all pupils zoned to Lee may also choose to go to Lamar or Westside High School^[21]).

All students zoned to Pershing have the option to attend Pin Oak Middle School.^[22]

[edit] Notable alumni

• A. J. Foyt, Jr. (also attended Hamilton Middle School and Lamar and San Jacinto high schools)^[23]
• Marvin Zindler, KTRK ABC-13 news reporter who ended the Chicken Ranch in La Grange, Texas. He appeared at the school's 75th anniversary in 2003.^[23]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Pershing Middle School home page
• Pershing Middle School library
• http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlo/782/billtext/HR00172F.HTM - Capitol bill regarding Pershing Middle School