Wheatley High School (Houston)
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Phillis Wheatley High School is a secondary school located at 4801 Providence Street in Houston, Texas, United States with a ZIP code of 77020.
Wheatley, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Houston Independent School District. Wheatley, named after Phillis Wheatley, is located inside the 610 Loop in the Fifth Ward. Wheatley has one of the lowest enrollments of any zoned Houston ISD high school with 836 students during the 2004-2005 school year [1].
The Wheatley Child Development Center, a preschool and kindergarten, was located on the Wheatley High School campus.
Wheatley has a technology magnet program inherited from the closure of Middle College for Technology Careers in spring 2006; Wheatley's program began in fall 2006.
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[edit] History
Wheatley was first established at the old McGowan Elementary School building at 3415 Lyons Avenue on January 31, 1927. Wheatley started out as an all-African-American high school due to Jim Crow laws. Soon it had 2,600 students and sixty teachers and became one of the largest all-Black high schools in the United States. [2] Wheatley later moved to 4900 Market Street.
By 1970 Wheatley desegregated since all of Houston ISD desegregated.
A new campus for Wheatley High School, designed by Willie Jordan, a Wheatley alum, was under construction in the same plat of land as the first 4900 Market Street campus, although the address changed to 4801 Providence Street [3]. The construction ended in fall 2006 and the new campus opened [4]. The old 4900 Market Street campus was demolished.
The new campus' original budget was $35,000,000 United States dollars. Construction began in summer 2004 and ended during Summer 2006. The lead architect was ESPA Architecture, with the lead manager as Gilbane.
As of October 2006, the fine arts and auditorium buildings are still under construction.
As of August 2007, the fine arts and auditorium buildings Have finished construction. Although the interior of both the auditorium and the fine arts room remain mostly the same there are now new hallways, classrooms and stairwells. The Fine arts room is the old school's library.
In 2007 Johns Hopkins University referred to Wheatley as a "dropout factory" [1].
[edit] Neighborhoods served by Wheatley
Neighborhoods zoned to Wheatley include the Fifth Ward (including Frenchtown), Denver Harbor, Liberty Heights, Barnes and Whetmore, St. Charles Square, Pecan Park Terrace, and a section of East Downtown.[2]
Two Houston public housing complexes, Clayton Homes and Kelly Village, are zoned to Wheatley.
A Houston mixed-income housing complex, Kennedy Place, is zoned to Wheatley.
[edit] School uniform
Wheatley students are required to wear school uniforms as of 2008.
Shirts must be golf shirts colored purple, white, or black.
Trousers, shorts, and skirts must be khaki, black or blue docker-style. Belts are required and closed-toe shoes and tennis shoes are required.
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 [3]; parents must specify "bona fide" reasons, such as religious reasons or philosophical objections.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Harold V. Dutton - Texas State Representative of District 142[4]
- Albert "Al" Edwards - Texas State Representative of District 146[4]
- Arthur M. Gaines - Member of the Houston ISD school board[4]
- Lester Hayes - Former professional American football player for the Oakland Raiders[4]
- Dwight Elmo Jones - Basketball player drafted by the Atlanta Hawks (also attended E. O. Smith Education Center)[4]
- Barbara Jordan - First African-American U.S. Congresswoman from the South.[4]
- El Franco Lee - Harris County Commissioner[4]
- Mickey Leland - Member of the Texas House of Representatives until his death.[4]
- Lonnie Bernard Rochon - First African-American disc jockey in Houston[4]
- (Martha) Algenita Scott-Davis - Former president of the National Bar Association[4]
- Ruth Simmons - President of Brown University[4]
- Joe Sample, Nesbert (Stix) Hooper, Wilton Felder, Hubert Laws - Members of The Jazz Crusaders[4]
[edit] Feeder patterns
Elementary schools that feed into Wheatley include: [2]:
- Dogan [5]
- Eliot [6]
- N.Q. Henderson [7]
- R. Martinez [8]
- Pugh [9]
- Scroggins [10]
- E.O. Smith Education Center [11]
- Bruce (partial) [12]
- Crawford (partial) [13]
- Dodson (partial) [14]
- Isaacs (partial) [15]
- Rusk (partial) [16]
- Scott (partial) [17]
Middle schools that feed into Wheatley include:
- McReynolds [18]
- Fleming [19] (partial)
- E.O. Smith Education Center [20] (partial)
A. Jones, a former feeder school, closed after fall 2006 [21]; students were rezoned to Bruce.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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