César E. Chávez High School[1] is a secondary school located at 8501 Howard in Houston, Texas, United States.
Chavez High School, which is a part of the Houston Independent School District, serves grades 9 through 12. Chavez serves several areas of Houston outside of the 610 Loop in southeast Houston, including the neighborhoods of Glenbrook Valley, Gulf Freeway Oaks, and Park Place.
Chavez High School serves a mainly Hispanic and immigrant population located nearby Hobby Airport. Chavez High School was named after Cesar E. Chavez.
The school has the Environmental Science program for HISD. The school's principal is (as of June 2006) Daniel DeLeon. The school's mascot is the "lobo" (Spanish for "wolf").
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By 1991 the East End area schools Austin High School and Milby High School had among the largest enrollments in Texas. In December of that year school district trustees voted to construct a new high school in September 1995 instead of 1997 due to the severity of overcrowding.[2] By 1997 the new high school had not yet been constructed; area community leaders and parents anticipated the construction of Chávez as Austin and Milby were still overcrowded.[3]
In the fall of 2000, Chávez opened and took most of Milby's traditional neighborhoods. In turn Milby absorbed some students from Austin.[4]
A group called the Unidos Contra Environmental Racism (UCER) protested the school's proximity to many chemical plants soon after it opened;[5] the school is less than one quarter mile from plants owned by Texas Petroleum, Denka Chemical, USS Chemical, and Goodyear Chemical. Juan Parras, the leader of the UCER group, stated that the school would take the brunt of a chemical leak.[6] Heather Browne, a spokesperson for Houston ISD, stated that the Chavez site was tested for environmental hazards in the air and soil in 1992 and 1996; no problems were found in the tests. Browne also stated that one park, three public swimming pools, the City Hall of South Houston, and one golf course are within 2 miles (3.2 km) of Chavez.[7]
In 2007, an Associated Press/Johns Hopkins University study referred to Chávez as a "dropout factory" where at least 40% of the entering freshman class does not make it to their senior year.[8] During that year 21% of high school age children zoned to Chávez chose to attend a different Houston ISD school.[9]
All students at Chavez are required to wear school uniforms.[10] All articles of clothing must be either black, white, or navy blue. Trousers must be "dickie" or "docker" style. Jackets must be solid color of black, tan or white, and hoods may not be worn when on campus. Shoelaces must be white or black.
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; parents must specify "bona fide" reasons, such as religious reasons or philosophical objections.[11]
As of 2009 Chávez's enrollment mostly consists of low income Hispanic and Latino students.[12]
Chavez had 2,297 students [13] as of the 2006-2007 school year.
The racial breakup is as follows:
78% of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch.
Elementary schools that feed into Chavez [14] include:
Middle schools that feed into Chavez include:
Juan Díaz (2001) World Boxing Association's Lightweight Champion in 2004; also the Mexican National Tournament Lightweight Champion in 2000 [25]
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