Lanier Middle School (Houston)
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| Lanier Middle School (Sidney Lanier Junior High School) | |
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Achievement with Honor
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| Location | |
| Houston, Texas, United States |
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| Information | |
| Type | Public School (US) |
| Established | 1926 |
| School district | HISD - Central Region |
| Principal | Linda Smith |
| Grades | 6-8 |
| Age range | 10-15 |
| Number of students | 1,319 (2008/2009) |
| Color(s) | Purple, and White, |
| Mascot | Sidney Lanier |
| Teams | The Purple Pup |
| Newspaper | The Purple Page |
| TEA Rating | Recognized (2007/2008) |
| Magnet | Partial: Vanguard/IBMYP |
| PTO | |
| Website | www.purplepups.org |
Sidney Lanier Middle School is a middle school in Houston, Texas, United States, with a ZIP code of 77098. Lanier, a school of the Houston Independent School District, handles grades 6 through 8.
Lanier Middle School is located in Neartown and near Montrose and has both neighborhood non-magnet and Vanguard/IBMYP (of the International Baccalaureate) gifted/talented programs.
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[edit] History
Lanier opened in 1926 as one of HISD's first junior high schools. This school was named for a well-known Southern poet, Sidney Lanier. In 1926, the Purple Pup was adopted as Lanier's mascot.
In 1935 students from Lanier created a petition to rename Woodhead Street, named after John Woodhead, to Higginbotham Street, after the principal, Blanch Higginbotham. According to the article "Historic Houston Streets: The Stories Behind the Name," students at other schools used "Wood head" as a derogatory label for Lanier students, implying that they lacked intelligence. After hearing a testimony about Woodhead's character, the Houston City Council decided to keep the previous street name. The students apologized to E. S. Woodhead, John Woodhead's brother and a Houstonian.[1]
In 1973, Lanier's Vanguard program was instated. Lanier received a rededication after renovations in 1982.[2]
In September 1991 Lanier was one of 32 HISD schools that had capped enrollments; in other words the school was filled to capacity and excess students had to attend other schools.[3]
Lanier's campus has been expanded numerous times since it was first built. The most notable expansion was the addition of the area of the building housing the cafeteria and gymnasium. This expansion has resulted in some quirks in the building that are still visible today, most notably a door leading to stairs to the basement that is only half-exposed above the floor of the hallway. These stairs are no longer in service, as the door cannot be opened due to it being blocked by the hallway floor. Prior to this expansion, the cafeteria was located where the library is today, on the third floor. A dumbwaiter, located where the elevator is today, carried food to the cafeteria.
The windows at Lanier were upgraded at some point. Originally, they were 4-panel window panes that could each be opened. They were upgraded to standard slide-open windows. Possibly at this point, for currently unknown reasons, many of the windowsills in the back side of the school were bricked up.
Lanier's first floor flooded in 1998 due to Tropical Storm Frances. In the early 2000s, to reduce echoing in the classrooms and to allow easier installation of network hardware, a false ceiling was installed in almost all classrooms and hallways. Sometime after 2001, televisions that were in every classroom were removed.
Prior to the 2008/2009 school year, Lanier had a third temporary building which housed bathrooms and water fountains, though only one water fountain out of three was operational as of 2005. At the start of this school year, the building housing the bathrooms was removed, and the other two temporary buildings were moved from the field to other parts of the campus.
Lanier was renovated during the 2008/2009 school year, with a new paint job, new interior signage, and new walkways to the new locations of the temporary buildings.
GSG (Guidance and Support Group) is a class similar to homeroom including students from each grade and each cluster, where students go to every day except Wednesday to discuss abuse, drugs, social problems, goal-setting, and other issues, and also play organized games, most notably capture the flag and handball. Competitions in organized games between GSGs are very common. Students stay in the same GSG for all three years. Two or three students in the last part of their seventh grade year are elected to be the student "leaders for the next year's GSG class, and teach the class. Each GSG is a bit different and has a family type environment where all students are helped to feel comfortable and ask for help whenever needed.
[edit] Neighborhoods served
Several areas of Houston inside the 610 Loop are zoned to Lanier,[4] including Afton Oaks, River Oaks,[5] Boulevard Oaks, Avalon Place, Southampton Place,[6] Broad Acres, portions of the Neartown area west of Montrose Boulevard (including portions of Montrose west of Montrose Boulevard, Castle Court, Hyde Park, Richwood, Lancaster Place, and Cherryhurst[7]), Weslayan Plaza, Oak Estates, Royden Oaks, Ranch Estates, Highland Village, Lynn Park, West Lane Place, Shadyside, Rice Village, most of Upper Kirby (areas of the district located west of Edloe and north of Westpark, residential areas located east of Edloe, west of Kirby, north of U.S. Route 59, and areas located east of Kirby).
[edit] Campus
The campus consists of a three story main building, a separate building (containing a band and a drama room), and 2 temporary buildings (for leadership, debate, health, and the weight room). Lanier has an indoor pool located in the basement of the main building. Lanier also has an auditorium with a wraparound balcony located in the center of the campus between the South and North Patios, the latter officially named the "Tom Hutch-Hutchings Memorial Gardens" in honor of a longtime Lanier World Cultural Studies teacher. There is also a Chess Patio where one can play chess located next to the cafeteria. Lunch may be eaten on the South or Chess Patio, in addition to the cafeteria.
In the main building, the first and second floors have 7th and 8th grade classes. The third floor has 6th grade and core classes.[8]
[edit] Extra-curricular activities and non-core classes
Lanier has a wide array of activities that students can participate in.
Sports: Track and Field, Cross Country, Volleyball, Football, Soccer, Baseball, Softball, Basketball, and Swim Team.
Classes and after school Activities: Speech and Debate, Drama, Art/Media Kids, robotics, chess club, Model United Nations, photography, Fiction Club, Geography Club, NJHS, Band, Cheerleading, Drill Team, Name that Book, Ladies of Lanier, Breakdancing, Student Council, Orchestra, Yearbook
The Lanier dance team, the Expressions, are have won 3 consecutive national championships, and their officer line is the best middle school officer line in HISD. The Expressions also do many trips, including performing in Disney. They are under the direction of Stacey Kornegay and Suzy Wolfe.
Lanier's debate team have won 9 consecutive national championships and are very successful team led by Franz Hill. Currently right now, many can argue that the era is over, due to recent 2nd places by Lanier Debate. The Lanier Band has won the Texas regional band competition back to back and is led by Ali Jackson and the Lanier drama team has won multiple competitions in the last three years.
The Lanier football team finished the season with 0 wins under coach L.C Kirkpatrick
Laurette McDonald, the conductor of the orchestra, leads the students with many awards and an excellent orchestra, who is the best best in the district(HISD)and number one in the state
Languages: Spanish, French, German, Mandarin Chinese
[edit] School uniform
All Lanier students are required to wear school uniforms consisting of monogrammed LMS polo shirts in colors of red, black, purple, or white purchased at the school and pairs of khaki bottoms (trousers, shorts, capris, or skirts) Skirts and capris are for girls only.[9] GSG leaders wear maroon and green shirts. This uniform was instituted at the start of the 1997/1998 school year.
[edit] Student body
During the 2009/2010 school year, Lanier had 1,319 students.[10]
- 39% were White American
- 34% were Hispanic American
- 23% were African American
- 23% were Asian American
- 2% two or more
- Less than 1% were Native American
30% qualified for free or reduced lunch.
[edit] Feeder patterns
[edit] Zoned schools
Elementary schools that feed into Lanier [4] include:
- River Oaks [11]
- Poe (partial) [12]
- Roberts (partial) [13]
- St. George Place (partial) [14]
- Wilson (partial) [15]
All students who are zoned to Lanier are zoned to Lamar High School.[16]
[edit] Location
Lanier is located west of Houston's Neartown neighborhood. Lanier is nearby single family houses and small shops. A convenience store, a hardware store, and a few restaurants are near Lanier Middle School.
The Upper Kirby district, which is near Lanier, plans to establish a "teen center" at Richmond at Wake Forest geared toward students at Lanier, St. John's, Lamar, and other Upper Kirby schools and schools near Upper Kirby. Funding issues have delayed establishment of the center.[17]
[edit] Admissions policy
Students zoned to Lanier automatically are eligible to attend the school, and are automatically able to attend the Vanguard program if they qualify.
For non-zoned students to attend Lanier, parents must submit Vanguard magnet application forms.[18] Admissions from this point on are drawn randomly on a lottery-basis. 256 students are drawn each year. Students beyond this are put on a wait-list.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Walter Cronkite (Journalist)[19][20]
- Denton Cooley (Surgeon)[21][22]
- John Culberson (Congressman)[23][24]
- George Ducas (Singer)[25]
- Linda Ellerbee (Journalist)[24]
- Emeka Okafor (Basketball player)[19]
- Bianna Golodryga (ABC News Correspondent [26]
[edit] References
- ^ Hinton, Marks. "Historic Houston Streets: The Stories Behind the Name." The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park. July 19, 2007. Retrieved on April 18, 2009.
- ^ "A Hypertext History of Lanier." Lanier Middle School. August 18, 2004. Retrieved on April 18, 2009.
- ^ Markley, Melanie. "32 schools hit enrollment cap." Houston Chronicle. Thursday September 26, 1991. A17. Retrieved on April 24, 2009.
- ^ a b "Lanier Middle Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District
- ^ "Map." River Oaks Property Owners Association. Retrieved on December 4, 2008.
- ^ "Information: Schools." Boulevard Oaks. Retrieved on December 4, 2008.
- ^ Cherryhurst Civic Association
- ^ "Building Map." Lanier Middle School. Retrieved on August 9, 2011.
- ^ "Uniform and Apparel Policy." Lanier Middle School.
- ^ "Lanier Middle School" Profile. Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "River Oaks Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "Poe Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "Roberts Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "St. George Place Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "Wilson Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "Lamar High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "Upper Kirby plans flood relief / While residents hope for other projects, funds remain scarce." Houston Chronicle.
- ^ "Magnet English Home." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ a b "Purple Page, November 11, 2005." Lanier Middle School PTO.
- ^ "A Hypertext History of Lanier." Lanier Middle School
- ^ United States Middle Schools
- ^ Interview with: Dr. Denton Arthur Cooley
- ^ "Biography," U.S. Congressman John Culberson, 7th District of Texas
- ^ a b "Distinguished HISD Alumni," Houston Independent School District
- ^ Mitchell, Rick. "On the brink of stardom: There's another George on country's horizon." Houston Chronicle. September 30, 1994.
- ^ [1] - Bianna Golodryga Official Twitter. Retrieved on September 18, 2010.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by River Oaks, Poe, Roberts, St. George Place, and Wilson |
Houston Independent School District Grades 6-8 |
Succeeded by Lamar High School |
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