Waltrip High School

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S.P. Waltrip High School

Established	1959
Type	Public Secondary
Principal	Steve Siebenaler
Grades	9–12
Location	Houston, Texas,, USA
District	Houston Independent School District
Colors	Red and Gray
Mascot	Ram
Yearbook	Aries
Newspaper	The Waltrip Tribune
Website	http://hs.houstonisd.org/waltriphs

Stephen Pool Waltrip High School is a secondary school located at 1900 West 34th Street in Houston, Texas, United States, 77018.

Waltrip, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Houston Independent School District.

Waltrip has Houston ISD's Research and Technology magnet program.

[edit] History

Waltrip High School opened in 1959 to serve many newly-developed post-World War II subdivisions. Waltrip relieved Reagan High School of many students when it opened. Waltrip was relieved by Scarborough Junior-Senior High School when that school opened in 1969. Waltrip was established as an all-White high school and remained all-White until 1970, when Houston ISD was forced to desegregate. Waltrip remained majority White until the mid-1980s. In the early 1990s the school was equally White, Black, and Hispanic. By the 2000s the school was majority Hispanic.^[1]

On October 2, 2006, a student and her mother assaulted a Houston Police Department Precinct 6 deputy over a truancy ticket. The student and her mother were arrested ^[2].

Waltrip formerly had the IB Diploma Programme; Waltrip discontinued it in 2005.

In 2007 Johns Hopkins University referred to Waltrip as a "dropout factory" where at least 40 percent of the entering freshman class does not make it to their senior year ^[3].

[edit] School Song

The Waltrip school song, "Our Waltrip High", was written by alumni Jon Enloe with music by Joe Stuessy , both Class of 1961. ^[4]

Waltrip High, we sing to thee,
Our loyalty we raise.
Strong and noble always,
These tributes we now praise.
Honor, faith and courage,
These we testify.
Thee we'll always honor,
Our Waltrip High

[edit] Neighborhoods served by Waltrip

Neighborhoods served by Waltrip include Garden Oaks, Timbergrove Manor, Shepherd Forest, Shepherd Park Plaza, Lazybrook, Shady Acres, most of Oak Forest, and a small portion of the Houston Heights.

A townhome complex called Cottage Grove is zoned to Waltrip.

At one point, all of the Houston Heights was zoned to Reagan. In 1997, a small portion was rezoned to Waltrip ^[5].

[edit] Student body

As of 2006, the student body ^[6] is predominantly Hispanic.

The makeup of the 1,849 students enrolled during the 2005-2006 school year was:

• 62% Hispanic
• 19% White American
• 18% African-American
• 1% Asian American
• <1% Native American

65% of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch programs.

[edit] Athletics

Waltrip Rams logo

The Athletics Department at Waltrip consists of the following teams:

• Football
• Basketball (Boys and Girls)
• Baseball
• Softball
• Golf (Boys and Girls)
• Track & Field (Boys and Girls)
• Volleyball
• Soccer (Boys and Girls)
• Swimming (Boys and Girls)

[edit] Dress code

Waltrip students are required to wear red, gray, or navy polo shirts and khaki or navy bottoms. ^[7]

The Texas Education Agency specified that the parents and/or guardians of students zoned to a school with school uniforms (the definition includes dress codes which limit colors) may apply for a waiver to opt out of the uniform policy so their children do not have to wear the uniform ^[8]; parents must specify "bona fide" reasons, such as religious reasons or philosophical objections.

[edit] Feeder patterns

Elementary schools that feed into Waltrip ^[9] include:

• Durham ^[10]
• Oak Forest ^[11]
• Sinclair ^[12]
• Stevens ^[13]
• Garden Oaks ^[14] (partial)
• Helms ^[15] (partial)
• Highland Heights ^[16] (partial)
• Love ^[17] (partial)
• Memorial ^[18] (partial)
• Stevenson ^[19] (partial)

Middle schools that feed into Waltrip include:

• Black ^[20] (partial)
• Hamilton ^[21] (partial)
• Hogg ^[22] (partial)
• Williams ^[23] (partial)

[edit] Notable alumni

• Shelley Duvall - Actress and producer^[24]
• Van Malone - Professional American football player for the Detroit Lions^[24]
• Keenan McCardell - Professional American football wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers^[24]
• Barbara Olson - Conservative commentator and September 11, 2001 attacks victim ^[25]
• Patrick Swayze - Actor and dancer.^[24]
• Mark Callaway - Professional wrestler best known as the Undertaker
• John H. Whitmire - A Texas senator^[24]
• Elizabeth Peña and Jenny Ertman - murder victims (in 1993)
  • The murder of the two girls made headlines in Texas newspapers due to the brutality of the crime [1] and the new law resulting from the murder that allows families of the victims to view the execution of the murderers [2] [3]
  • Waltrip High School contains a memorial to the girls ^[26]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Waltrip High School
• Waltrip High School class of 1970 Yahoo group