Stratford High School (Houston)
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2009) |
| Stratford High School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
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14555 Fern Houston, TX 77079 | |
| Coordinates | 29°46′29″N 95°36′15″W / 29.77472°N 95.60417°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Motto | "Committed to excellence" |
| Established | 1974 |
| School district | Spring Branch Independent School District |
| Principal | Christopher Juntti |
| Staff | 130 (2009—2010)[1] |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Number of students | 1,940 (2009—2010)[1] |
| Color(s) | green, white[1] |
| Athletics | baseball, basketball, cross country running, diving, American football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track & field, volleyball[1] |
| Mascot | Spartan[1] |
| Website | http://ssh.springbranchisd.com/ |
Stratford High School is a secondary school in Houston, Texas, United States. The school is one of four in the Spring Branch Independent School District, the district's westernmost secondary school (serving grades 9 through 12). It is considered part of the Memorial district of the city.
Stratford High School serves several neighborhoods, including Westchester, Sherwood Oaks, Nottingham Forest, Nottingham West, Wilchester, Gaywood, Wilchester West, Yorkshire, Memorial Townhomes, Village on Memorial Townhomes, Memorial Way, Rustling Pines, Memorial Plaza, and the SBISD portions of Thornwood and Ashford Forest. In addition, several students from the surrounding area opt to transfer in to Stratford from the areas surrounding Fleetwood and the Parkway neighborhoods along local arterial road Eldridge Parkway. In 2005, Newsweek named Stratford one of the highest-ranked schools in the United States. In 2006, the school was ranked as 187th in the U.S. by Newsweek.[2]
Stratford provides courses in the traditional academic subjects, as well as several foreign languages, technology, vocational education, athletics, and fine arts. Several different Advanced Placement (AP) courses are offered at Stratford.
In keeping with the theme of its mascot, Stratford's student newspaper is The Oracle while its yearbook is Mnemosyne.
Feeder patterns
Elementary schools that feed into Stratford include[3]:
- Meadow Wood
- Nottingham
- Thornwood
- Wilchester
- Rummel Creek (partial)
- Sherwood (partial)
- Spring Woods
Middle schools that feed into Stratford include:
Feeding from private schools
Students of some private schools, such as John Paul II School, continue to Stratford.[4]
History
Stratford first opened in the 1974-1975 school year to relieve the overflow of students at the nearby Westchester High School. The overflow had been caused by of the rapid development of subdivisions like Yorkshire, Wilchester, and Nottingham. The school district quickly decided to open a new school when the student population at Westchester nearly tripled to 4,000. Prior to the opening of the Stratford facility, Stratford's students were housed in temporary buildings on the Westchester campus. The opening of Stratford was not completed on schedule due to construction delays, causing students to continue to languish in cramped quarters.
In the 1980s, the population of Spring Branch Independent School District fell drastically. This was attributed to jobs lost to the oil bust that affected the Houston area. Many Houston residents left, causing an underutilization of campus space. The school district voted to close four schools: Westchester High School, Spring Branch High School, Northbrook Junior High (later reopened in 1991), and Westchester Junior High. Many students from Westchester High School were sent to Stratford, and Stratford, for many years, had a permanent display case dedicated to memorabilia from Westchester High School. In recent history, Stratford has maintained its enrollment at around 2000 students. Stratford also has improved its athletics programs recently, including a number of teams that are ranked at the state level and regularly advance to playoff rounds.
Stratford was named a 1983-84 National Blue Ribbon School.[5]
In 2004, the building which housed Stratford was found to have massive structural problems which required immediate attention. The Stratford campus was closed, and the students were moved to the Westchester Academy for International Studies while repairs went on at the Stratford campus. This move posed a challenge because the Westchester facility could no longer handle a student body as large as Stratford's. Many noted the irony of the temporary move, noting that when Westchester was closed, many Westchester students were sent to Stratford, and now the situation had reversed itself. Stratford moved back into its regular facility in 2005.
In the 2006-2007 football season, the Spartans won the district title. [6]
In February 2008 the UIL announced that Stratford would be realigned to Class 4A, District 23 effective in the 2008-2009 school year. The new alignment would affect not only football, but all UIL activities. The schools in the new district stretched from Richmond to Bay City and El Campo. Spring Branch ISD appealed the realignment, citing outrage at the loss of a 34-year long rivalry with Memorial High School, as well as concern that Stratford would have the most travel of any Houston-area school. In the appeal hearing, the UIL ruled that Stratford would be allowed to remain in Class 5A, and the Spartans were assigned to District 18, where they will face the three other SBISD schools (including Memorial), three high schools from Alief ISD, and private school Strake Jesuit.
Athletics
Stratford competes athletically with other schools in the sports of baseball, basketball, cross country running, diving, American football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track & field and volleyball.[1] Stratford has a long-standing rivalry with fellow SBISD high school Memorial High School.[7]
In 1978, the Statford Spartans won the 4-A Texas State Championship with a perfect record of 15-0. They also were named the High School National Champion by many publications.
Realignment
The University Interscholastic League’s biennial reclassification and realignment was unveiled on Monday February 1, 2010. As part of the realignment, Stratford will move to a 4A classification along with two other SBISD schools, Northbrook and Spring Woods.
Northbrook, Spring Woods and Stratford will join 17-4A with Brenham, Magnolia, Magnolia West, Montgomery and Waller. All changes will take effect starting in the 2010 football season.
Notable alumni
Famous stand-up comedian Bill Hicks attended Stratford.[8] Craig James NFL Player and current College Football announcer wiki bio Chris James former MLB player brother of Craig James. Chris Monteverde, member of Jabberwalkie and Lies a Bloom. Marcelo Fallick President of BadApp, Inc.And Stanford Andrew Luck.
References
- ^ a b c d e f Stratford High School — About
- ^ MSNBC Newsweek
- ^ "Schools by Feeder Pattern." Spring Branch Independent School District.
- ^ "Middle School Overview." John Paul II School.
- ^ Blue Ribbon School List
- ^ Stratford High School Public Review
- ^ Connelly, Richard. "Memorial High: Staying Classy As Ever With The Stratford Rivalry." Houston Press. Tuesday October 6, 2009. Retrieved on October 7, 2009.
- ^ Barnes, Michael. "[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AASB&p_theme=aasb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAD8B8D701AD516&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM Hicks packs lethal punch Comic guns for big guys]." Austin American-Statesman. August 31, 1990. Page 19. Retrieved on September 25, 2009.