Lee High School (Houston)
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Lee High School (formerly named Robert E. Lee High School) is a secondary school located at 6529 Beverly Hill in Houston, Texas in zip code 77057.
Lee High School serves grades 9 through 12 and is a part of the Houston Independent School District.
History
Lee High School was named after Robert E. Lee, and was opened in 1962 to relieve high attendance at Lamar High School. At that time, Lee High School had an all white and mostly affluent student body.The United Daughters of the Confederacy's Robert E. Lee chapter number 186 supported the school in its early years; it donated portraits of Lee, gave American Civil War-related books to the library, and gave the school a rebel flag. The school's symbol was the general's family coat of arms, which has a squirrel on the top holding a nut. The school was desegregated in 1970. In 1999 the school's name was changed to simply Lee High School, and its logo became that of a four-point, star bodied-person. [link]
As times changed, the demographic of Lee's student body shifted. It is currently made up predominantly of Hispanic immigrants and sons and daughters of Hispanic immigrants. Lee's student body was relieved of about 1,000 students when Westside High School opened in 2000.
In 2003 the school dropped American football from its sports program; Westside drained most of the American football players from the school and the school did not have enough children who were interested in playing American football. Dropping football is widely considered to be a bad thing in Texas, yet the school administration states it did not receive "a single phone call" in response. This is likely because American football is not a popular sport in the home countries of its largely expatriate student body.
Student body
During the 2004-2005 school year Lee had 2,086 students. [link]Lee's student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with 79% of the students identified as Hispanic. 11% were African-American, 6% were Asian, and 4% were White.
95% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced lunch.
Neighborhoods served by Lee
Despite their lack of proximity, many areas of Houston outside of the 610 Loop, have zoning regulations which funnel students to Lee High School, such as Uptown Houston, St. George Place, Larchmont, Briargrove, Tanglewood, Briar Meadow, Briarcroft, Woodlake, the Houston ISD portions of Piney Point Village, Hunters Creek Village, most of the area considered to be Gulfton, and small portions of Westchase east of Gessner Road. Anyone living in an area with zoning to Lee High School has the option to go instead to Lamar High School or Westside High School. A general trend is that students from wealthier families choose these alternative high schools rather than Lee High School.Feeder patterns
Elementary schools that feed into Lee include all of Briargrove, Benavidez, Emerson, Piney Point and Rodriguez, and portions of Condit, Cunningham, Neff, Pilgrim, Sutton, Walnut Bend and White.Middle schools that feed into Lee include all of Grady, and parts of Long, Pershing, Revere and Sharpstown. All pupils zoned to Long and Pershing Middle Schools may attend Pin Oak Middle School. Accordingly, Pin Oak also feeds into Lee High School.
Notable alumni
- Dan Allen (comedian)
- Billy Gibbons (member of ZZ Top)
- Melanie Hauser (freelance sports writer)
- Joffrey Reynolds (University of Houston star running back)
- Randy Lemmon (radio personality on Houston's KPRC)
- Ron Stone Jr. (1981) (author and reporter on KPRC TV station)
- Peter Gardere (1988) University of Texas American football player
- Mani Ott (1991) University of Arizona American football player
- Bruce Wiggins (1996) University of Arizona American football player
External links
- [Lee High School's official website]
- [Houston Press article about Lee High School dropping football]
- [Reunion information for former Robert E.Lee High School Students]
Houston Independent School District
| |
|---|---|
| Magnet K-12 schools | T.H. Rogers |
| High schools | Austin | Bellaire | Chávez | Davis | Furr | Sam Houston | Jones | Kashmere | Lamar | Lee | Madison | Milby Reagan | Scarborough | Sharpstown | Waltrip | Washington | Westbury | Westside | Wheatley | Worthing | Yates |
| Magnet High schools | Carnegie Vanguard | Challenge Early College | CLC | DeBakey | H.S.P.V.A. | Barbara Jordan | H.S.L.E.C.J. | Middle College |
| K-8 schools | Gregory-Lincoln | Woodson |
| K-8 magnet schools | Briarmeadow | Kandy Stripe | Rice |
| 1-8 schools | E.O. Smith |
| Middle schools | Attucks | Black | Burbank MS | Clifton | Cullen | Deady | Dowling | Edison | Fleming | Fondren MS | Fonville | Grady Hamilton | Hartman | Henry | Hogg | Holland | Jackson | Johnston | Key | Long | Lanier | Marshall | McReynolds Ortíz | Pershing | Pin Oak | Revere | Ryan | Sharpstown | Stevenson | Thomas | Welch | West Briar |
| Elementary schools | Poe | River Oaks | Roberts | West University | Others |
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