Madison High School (Houston, Texas)

Madison High School

James Madison High School is a public High School located at 13719 White Heather Drive in the Hiram Clarke area of Houston, Texas, United States.^[1] The school serves grades 9 through 12 and is part of the Houston Independent School District. The school is named after James Madison, a former President of the United States.

Madison contains HISD's magnet program for Space and Meteorological Sciences; the program is known as the High School for Meteorology & Space Science.

History

James Madison Junior-Senior High School was opened on September 8, 1965. In February 1968, Dick Dowling Junior High School (now Dowling Middle School) was opened and James Madison became a high school that temporarily taught 9th graders for that first year. By the next year, it was for grades 10 through 12. ^[2]

In 1974 Carrie Rochon McAfee became the principal of Madison and worked there for 15 years. She was the first woman to become the principal of a traditional public high school in Texas. The Madison community knows her as "Marlin Mama."^[3]

In the northern hemisphere fall of 1981, Madison again covered the ninth grade.^[4]

In the 1980s the school was called the "James Madison Academy of International Education."^[5]

The magnet program opened in 1995 with a partnership with KPRC-TV (Channel 2).^[2]

In 2007, a study by the Associated Press and Johns Hopkins University referred to Madison as a "dropout factory" where at least 40% of the entering freshman class does not make it to their senior year.^[6]

Location

Madison is nearby Hiram Clarke Road, a major thoroughfare.^[2]

Neighborhoods served by Madison

Houston neighborhoods served by Madison^[7] include portions of Almeda, Link Valley and the Hiram Clarke area, including Dumbarton Village, Almeda Plaza, Almeda Manor, Brentwood, Keswick Place, Westbrook, Krogerville, Briarwick, Townwood, Cambridge Village, Corinthian Pointe,^[8] Glen Iris (including Angel Lane), Meredith Manor, Pamela Heights, Post Oak Village,^[9] Summerlyn , San Pablo , Willow Glen, and Windsor Village. In addition portions of unincorporated Harris County are served by Madison.

In 1970 Westwood, along with some other White communities, was rezoned from Westbury High School to Madison because of a court ruling. By 1990, Madison was 1% White while Westbury was about 50% Black, 25% White, 15% Hispanic, and 10% Asian. In 1992 an attendance boundary shift occurred but Westwood was still in the Madison zone. The Westwood community advocated for a rezoning to Westbury,^[10] and after the community gave a presentation to the HISD board, the board unanimously rezoned the community to Westbury.^[11]

Student body

As of 2006 the school was mostly African-American.^[1]

During the 2006-2007 school year, 2,492 students attended Madison.^[12]

• 58% were African American
• 41% were Hispanic American
• Less than 1% were Asian American
• Less than 1% were Caucasian
• Less than 1% were Native American

2009-2010 Profile

• 51% were Hispanic American
• 48% were African American
• Less than 1% were Asian American
• Less than 1% were Caucasian
• Less than 1% were Native American

Approximately 66% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch.

Notable alumni

• Kirk Baptiste - 1984 Olympics silver medalist.^[13]
• Lance Blanks - Former basketball player for the Detroit Pistons. (Did not graduate from Madison)^[13]
• Peter Brett Cullen - Actor^[13]
• Mark Goldberg - Houston City Council member for District C.^[13]
• Greg Kite - Former basketball player for the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Sacramento Kings, the Orlando Magic, the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers.^[13]
• Moran Norris -Fullback for the Houston Texans.^[14]
• Joe Rivera - Artist / inker. Eisner Award winner and Harvey Award winner 2012 ^{[15][16][17][18]}
• Broderick Thomas - Former American football player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Detroit Lions, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Dallas Cowboys.^[13]
• Hylon Williams - Professional boxer and former two-time Golden Gloves champion.^[19]
• Vince Young - Former American football player

Feeder patterns

The following elementary schools feed into Madison High School:^[7]

• Fondren ^[20]
• Grissom ^[21]
• Hines-Caldwell ^[22]
• Hobby^[23]
• Montgomery^[24]
• Petersen^[25]
• Windsor Village^[26]

(partial)

• Shearn^[27]

All elementary and middle school students of Reagan K-8 are zoned to Madison.^[28][29] Portions of the Dowling Middle School,^[30] Pershing Middle School^[31] and Welch Middle School boundaries feed into Madison.^[32] Any students zoned to Pershing may apply to Pin Oak Middle School's regular program, so Pin Oak also feeds into Madison.^[33]

References

• McAdams, Donald R. Fighting to Save Our Urban Schools-- and Winning!: Lessons from Houston. Teachers College Press, 2000. ISBN 0807770353, 9780807770351.

Notes

External links

• Madison High School