Wheatley High School (Houston) - History

History

On Wheatley first opened at 3415 Lyons Avenue in the former McGowan Elementary School building.

In 1927 Wheatley High School was one of the largest Black high schools in the United States with 2,600 students and 60 teachers.

By 1949 Wheatley's first facility on Lyons Avenue became so overcrowded that students attended in shifts. During that year the 14-acre (57,000 m2), $2.5 million 4900 Market Street campus opened. The most expensive high school built in Houston at the time, the campus was designed by the firm MacKie & Kamrath in a Frank Lloyd Wright-influenced modernist style. The campus, described by the Houston Chronicle as "the finest Negro high school in the South," had a 1,500-seat auditorium, a gymnasium, an industrial arts facility, and a swimming pool. The school district spent attention on Wheatley in order to promote the argument that segregated minority schools can be equal to segregated White schools. The former Wheatley campus became E.O. Smith Middle School, and later the Carter Career Center.

In May 1965 William Lawson, a youth minister, asked some Wheatley students to discuss a proposed school boycott. While the school district was integrating, African American leaders believed that it was being integrated too slowly. During the boycott, which occurred five days later, 10% of Wheatley students attended classes. In the 1970s Houston ISD had been desegregated. As the Fifth Ward as a neighborhood experienced a surge in crime, Houston ISD rezoned the Denver Harbor neighborhood, which had many White residents, to Wheatley. At that time the neighborhood was quickly becoming Hispanic. Many area Hispanic students preferred to attend Austin High School and Furr High School as they became the majority population at those schools. John Nova Lomax of the Houston Press stated that pride and discipline at Wheatley began to disintegrate in the 1970s, as counselors complained about a low level of morale among the students. The school abolished corporal punishment around that time, since White parents did not want Black teachers to physically punish white students, and Black parents did not want White teachers to physically punish black students. In addition, many of Wheatley's new White teachers, many of whom did not live in the Fifth Ward, had a lack of experience in teaching inner city Black students. Wylie Henry, a former HISD board member, said that many of the new White teachers "came in and tried to be kids' friends instead of their teachers." By 1978 rumors circulated stating that Houston ISD wanted to close Wheatley.

In the mid-1980s, as crack cocaine became an epidemic in many American neighborhoods, Wheatley students and teachers complained about security issues regarding some area apartments. In 1985 three youngsters walked onto the campus and shot an English teacher who had been conducting drill team rehearsals in the cafeteria. In 1986 a Hispanic student who had transferred from Dallas shot another Hispanic student in the face. After Joan Raymond became superintendent in 1986, she considered closing Wheatley because of difficulties in making the school have acceptable academic achievement and safety. Michael Berryhill of the Houston Press said that it was not politically possible to have the school closed since there were too many Wheatley alumni who did not want their school to be closed.

In the 1990s Wheatley had low test scores and high dropout rates. In 1995 Wheatley had the highest dropout rate and lowest mathematics score of the high schools in Houston ISD. In 1997 none of the teachers at Wheatley High School lived in the Wheatley attendance zone. During the same year, of the 1,800 high-school-age children zoned to Wheatley, less than 1,000 attended the school.

A new campus for Wheatley High School, designed by Willie Jordan, a Wheatley alum, was under construction in the same plot of land as the first 4900 Market Street campus, although the address changed to 4801 Providence Street. The construction ended in fall 2006 and the new campus opened. The old 4900 Market Street campus was demolished.

The new campus's original budget was $35,000,000. Construction began in summer 2004 and ended during summer 2006. The lead architect was ESPA Architecture, with the lead manager as Gilbane. The population of the school increased when Middle College for Technology Careers merged into Wheatley.

As of August 2007, the fine arts and auditorium buildings were finished constructed. 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 was the old school's library.

In 2007 a Johns Hopkins University study cited Wheatley as a "dropout factory" where at least 40% of the entering freshman class does not make it to their senior year.

Schools that received students zoned to Wheatley included Davis High School, Furr High School, Barbara Jordan High School, and Reagan High School. During that year 58% of children zoned to Kashmere chose to attend a different Houston ISD school.

In 2008, as Hurricane Ike struck Houston, 16 people looted Wheatley High School, stealing computers and other equipment.

In 2009, Wheatley High School became Texas Education Agency Acceptable and met Adequately Yearly Progress.

The former Carter building later became DeVry Advantage Academy.