John H. Reagan High School (Houston, Texas)

John H. Reagan High School

Principal Administrator	Connie Berger
Founded	1927
School type	Public school (U.S.)
Religious affiliation	None
Location	Houston, Texas, United States
Enrollment	1,683 students (2003-2004 school year)
Campus surroundings	Urban
Mascot	Bulldog
School colors	Maroon, White

John H. Reagan High School is a high school in Houston, Texas, United States.

Reagan, which enrolls students in grades nine through twelve, is a part of the Houston Independent School District. Reagan is located in the Houston Heights neighborhood. Reagan, which was named after John H. Reagan, has HISD's computer magnet program.

The school gymnasium is the home court of the Houston Takers, a professional men's basketball team in the American Basketball Association.

As of 2008, the principal of Reagan High School is Connie Berger.

History

Reagan High School

Reagan was first established in 1904 as Houston Heights High School.

Houston Heights tied with Cleburne High School, 0-0, in the 1920 state championship football game, and was declared a co-champion with Cleburne. This is the first state football championship game recognized by Dave Campbell's Texas Football.

The Houston Heights High School, as it is known today, opened in 1904. In the fall of 1919 it was moved to the site that became Hamilton Junior High School because the original high school burned down over the summer. In 1925 the campus became Alexander Hamilton Junior High School. John H Reagan High School opened in 1925 and Hamilton was the junior high school. The campus was designed by John Staub and William Ward Watkin, who were designers of the original campus of Rice University. Reagan was first established as an all-white high school. Reagan was relieved by Waltrip High School when Waltrip opened in 1959.

Reagan was desegregated by 1970 and its student body started to become increasingly Hispanic; by 1988 Reagan was mostly Hispanic.^{[citation needed]} In 1997 a portion of the Reagan boundary was rezoned to Waltrip.

In 2006 Reagan began to a renovation. Set to end in the summer of 2007, the renovations to Reagan included the building of a new cafeteria, a new gymnasium complex, an additional academic building, a new vocational building, and a library.

In 2009 Connie Berger, principal of Reagan High School, expected around 100 former private school students to enroll because the economic conditions persuaded families to send their children to public school instead of private school.

Around 2012, each year a total of 400 students transfer from Booker T. Washington High School to Reagan and Waltrip High School.

School song

JH Reagan School Song

Hail to Thee, we sing together HAIL TO REAGAN HIGH!
Strong in strength of truest honor,
Thee we glorify!
Bravely meeting every challenge with a lusty cry.
Keep us loyal lead us onward, HAIL TO REAGAN HIGH.

Reagan days are swiftly fleeting,
Soon we’ll leave these halls.
Ne’er to join another meeting,
Neath these hallowed walls.
Lift the chorus,
speed it onward loud our praises cry.
Hail to Thee, our Alma Mater HAIL TO REAGAN HIGH

Notable alumni

• Red Adair, notable oil well firefighter who extinguished the "The Devil's Cigarette Lighter")
• Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics
• Tommy Castro, Corporal, USMCR, wounded at Chosin 1950; received the Purple Heart.
• A. J. Foyt, Sr., father of A. J. Foyt, Jr.
• José Guajardo, Doctor and Business owner of the Guajardo Clinic in Houston, Texas.
• Richard "Racehorse" Haynes, criminal defense attorney
• Larry Hovis, actor
• Harold Icett Jr, Corporal, USMCR, KIA 1951, Korea; received the Silver Star for gallantry.
• Raymond Knight, U.S. Army Air Corps
• Everett Augustus "Squatty" Lyons, retired Harris County Commissioner for Precinct 4
• Patrick Lyons, Corporal, USMCR, KIA 1951, Korea
• Dan Rather, journalist
• Craig Reynolds, professional baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners, and Houston Astros
• Martha Wong, former Texas state representative
• Gwendolyn Zepeda, author

Demographics

As of the 2006-2007 school year, Reagan High School had an enrollment of 1,707 students. Racial breakdown was as follows:

• 88%—Hispanic American
• 7%—African-American
• 4%—White
• 1%—Asian American
• 0%—Native Americans

73% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch.

Neighborhoods served by Reagan

Reagan takes students from most of the Houston Heights neighborhood, a small portion of Downtown Houston, the Fourth Ward, East Norhill, Woodland Heights, Brooksmith, Magnolia Grove, Stude, Proctor Plaza [1], the Old Sixth Ward, and a small portion of Midtown. Other parts of Houston northwest of downtown within the 610 Loop are zoned to Reagan as well. Originally, all of the Houston Heights was zoned to Reagan. In 1997, a small portion was rezoned to Waltrip.

Feeder patterns

Middle schools feeding into Reagan include Gregory-Lincoln Education Center, Alexander Hamilton, and Hogg,

Elementary schools that feed indirectly into Reagan through the above middle schools include Browning Field Harvard (partial) Crockett Gregory-Lincoln Education Center Helms Jefferson Ketelsen (partial) Love Memorial (partial), and Travis (partial).

School uniforms

As of 2010, Reagan students are required to wear school uniforms. Uniforms consist of a school shirt either Maroon, White or Grey and allows T-shirts or Polos. The Bottoms can be jeans, shorts or pants, and black or khaki pants.

The Texas Education Agency specifies that the parents and/or guardians of students zoned to a school with uniforms may apply for a waiver to opt out of the uniform policy so their children do not have to wear the uniform; parents must specify "bona fide" reasons, such as religious reasons or philosophical objections.

External links

• Reagan High School