Chávez High School (Houston)

Chávez High School
Address
8501 Howard Drive
Houston, Texas 77017
United States
Coordinates 29°41′13″N 95°15′16″W / 29.6870°N 95.2545°W / 29.6870; -95.2545Coordinates: 29°41′13″N 95°15′16″W / 29.6870°N 95.2545°W / 29.6870; -95.2545
Information
Type Public High School
School district Houston Independent School District
Superintendent Terry Grier
Principal Rene Sanchez
Staff 136
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 2,819 (2012-2013)
Nickname Lobos
Website http://www.houstonisd.org/chavez

César E. Chávez High School[1] is a secondary school located at 8501 Howard Drive in Houston, Texas, United States.

The school is part of the Houston Independent School District, and serves grades nine through twelve. Chavez serves several areas 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 near Hobby Airport. The school is named for civil rights activist Cesar E. Chavez.

HISD's Environmental Science magnet program is offered at Chavez. The school's principal (as of June 2013) is Rene Sanchez. The "Lobo" (Spanish for "wolf") is the school's official mascot.

History

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 .25 miles (0.40 km) 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]

In 2014 Terry Grier stated that Chávez should reduce its enrollment to around 3,000 students.[10]

Demographics

For the 2012-13 school year:

As of 2009 Chávez's enrollment mostly consists of low income Hispanic and Latino students.[11]

AP Courses Offered at Chávez

Athletics and Arts

Chavez fields eighteen varsity teams in the University Interscholastic League's Region III, District 20-5A with the Houston Independent School District's largest high schools. The campus has a field house that includes an athletic training room, weight room, team meeting rooms, coaches' offices, coaches and officials' lockers, and large locker room areas for male and female athletes. Other campus athletic facilities include an 8-lane all-weather track, 4 tennis courts, an outdoor basketball court, a practice gymnasium, basketball court, secondary weight room, natatorium with olympic-sized competition pool, football, baseball, softball, soccer fields, and a cross country running course over wooded terrain.

Varsity sports offered at the school include:

Chavez High School has a band and orchestra program, as well a choir and piano class. Chavez also has a Theatre program that consists of acting, musical theatre, and tech.

In media

In the 2011 novel What Can't Wait, the sports team of the Houston high school attended by the main character is the "Loyal Lobos".[12] Chávez High's real-life mascot is the "Lobos",[13] and the novel's author, Ashley Hope Pérez, once worked as a teacher at Chávez.[14] In the acknowledgements section Pérez thanked the students of Chávez High.[12]

Feeder pattern

Elementary schools that feed into Chavez [15] include:

Middle schools that feed into Chavez include:

Notable alumni

Juan Díaz (2001) World Boxing Association's Lightweight Champion in 2004; also the Mexican National Tournament Lightweight Champion in 2000 [26]

Michael Brockers (2009) American football defensive tackle; played college football at LSU; considered by many to be the best defensive tackle prospect in the 2012 NFL Draft.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Houston Independent School District listing for Chavez High School
  2. ↑ "News briefs." Houston Chronicle. Friday December 13, 1991. A34. Retrieved on April 24, 2009.
  3. ↑ Rodriguez, Lori. "NEIGHBORLY NEEDS/Help for homeless touches raw nerve in the East End." Houston Chronicle. Sunday March 16, 1997. A1. Retrieved on April 25, 2009.
  4. ↑ Berryhill, Michael. "The Unchanging Face of Milby." Houston Press. October 9, 1997. 7. Retrieved on April 25, 2009.
  5. ↑ Auliff, Lily. "New High School Under Fire For Environmental Concerns." Citizens' Environmental Coalition Houston. Retrieved on April 25, 2009.
  6. ↑ Sierra, Javier. "A Toxic Bone." Sierra Club. Retrieved on April 25, 2009.
  7. ↑ Dunne, Dianne Weaver. "Environmental Injustice: Poor and Minorities Suffer Most from Sick Schools." Education World. 2003. Retrieved on April 25, 2009.
  8. ↑ Scharrer, Gary. "Report points to 'dropout factories'." Houston Chronicle. October 31, 2007
  9. ↑ Radcliffe, Jennifer. "Critics: In HISD, too many don't go where zoned / Black leaders argue bond has no fix to get kids back to schools in their neighborhoods." Houston Chronicle. Sunday October 14, 2007. B1 MetFront.
  10. ↑ Mellon, Ericka. "Grier: 3 popular HISD high schools must reduce enrollment." Houston Chronicle. October 16, 2014. Retrieved on October 17, 2014.
  11. ↑ Radcliffe, Jennifer. "More students than expected play catch-up." Houston Chronicle. December 21, 2009. Retrieved on December 23, 2009.
  12. 1 2 Pérez, Google Books PT15 (First page of Chapter 2): "Over the weekend, the sign for our high school got vandalized again. Supposedly we're the Loyal Lobos,[...]"
  13. ↑ "Chavez Lobos." Chávez High School. Retrieved on November 8, 2015.
  14. ↑ "A Q&A with Ashley Hope Pérez, Author of “What Can’t Wait”" (Archive). University of Texas at Austin. February 4, 2011. Retrieved on November 7, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Chávez High School Attendance Zone," Houston Independent School District
  16. ↑ "Bonner Elementary Attendance Zone," Houston Independent School District
  17. ↑ "Park Place Elementary Attendance Zone," Houston Independent School District
  18. ↑ "Patterson Elementary Attendance Zone," Houston Independent School District
  19. ↑ "Cornelius Elementary Attendance Zone," Houston Independent School District
  20. ↑ "Lewis Elementary Attendance Zone," Houston Independent School District
  21. ↑ "Rucker Elementary Attendance Zone," Houston Independent School District
  22. ↑ "Sanchez Elementary Attendance Zone," Houston Independent School District
  23. ↑ "Ortiz Middle Attendance Zone," Houston Independent School District
  24. ↑ "Deady Middle Attendance Zone," Houston Independent School District
  25. ↑ "Stevenson Middle Attendance Zone," Houston Independent School District
  26. ↑ "HISD - Distinguished HISD Alumni". HISD. Retrieved 2011-02-24.

External links

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