Furr High School

Ebbert L. Furr High School
Address
Ebbert L. Furr High School
Ebbert L. Furr High School
520 Mercury Dr.
Houston, Texas 77013
United States
Coordinates Coordinates: 29°46′46″N 95°14′54″W / 29.77944°N 95.24833°W / 29.77944; -95.24833
Information
Type Public
School district Houston Independent School District
Principal Bertie Simmons
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 1,013[1] (2014-15)
Color(s)               
Mascot Brahman
Information (713) 675-1118
Website Furr High School

Ebbert L. Furr High School is a secondary school located in Houston, Texas, United States. Furr, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Houston Independent School District.

Furr is adjacent to Hermann Brown Park and the Songwood subdivision.[2]

Furr is home to the META (Mindful Exploration of Technology and the Arts) Magnet Program; prior to 2007 Furr hosted an international studies magnet program.

The HISD charter school REACH Charter is located at Furr.[3]

History

The district broke ground for the Furr building in 1960; the campus opened in fall 1961.[4] The school was named after Ebbert L. Furr, a landholder who owned the land that Furr High School is located on.[5]

Prior to 1997 residents zoned to Furr also had the option to attend Austin and Milby high schools; in 1997 the school district canceled the option.[6] Before 2000, Furr High School had a larger attendance boundary than it does as of 2010.[7] After the 2000 opening of Chávez High School, portions of the former Furr boundary were reassigned to Austin and Milby high schools.[8][9]

After 2002, the Furr high school yearbook was discontinued. The final printing had a financial loss of around $3,000 ($4081.78 inflation-adjusted).[10]

Bertie Simmons began her term as principal in 2000.[11] She had retired from teaching, but decided to become a principal after her granddaughter died in a skiing accident.[12] In 2003 a riot occurred at Furr. While many assistant principals wanted to send the 42 involved children to CEP, a disciplinary school, Simmons called them into her office to have a discussion. The students said that they did not believe that the September 11 attacks occurred, and that they believed the authorities were trying to deceive them. Simmons told them that she would take them to New York City in the June following that school year if the school remained at peace. After the school term completed, the students traveled to New York City.[13] In 2010 Simmons was ranked as the 2010 Houston Press best school principal.[14]

Around 2010 several students who originated from Honduras and newly enrolled at Furr were M13 gang members. In 2016 Margaret Downing of the Houston Press wrote that by 2016 "they were handled and are long gone".[11]

In October 2017 the HISD administration suspended Simmons, accusing her of disobeying a district directive to suspend school uniforms in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and threatening to issue tickets for non-compliance, as well as threatening students with a baseball bat. According to Simmons, she had the right to set a dress code, and that the bat statements were commonly understood as jokes.[15] On a previous occasion students gave Simmons an engraved bat as a gift in light of the jokes.[16] Simmon's lawyer, Scott Newar, filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice.[17] He accused the HISD administration of attempting to remove Simmons in favor of a non-Hispanic white principals and of trying to seize and redistribute grant money from Laurene Powell Jobs's The Super School Project worth $10 million.[18] Simmons stated that the project organizers only intended for the grant to go to Furr and that it would not be given if the money did not arrive at the intended destination, but that HISD administrators wanted the grant money used in multiple locations in the district.[19] Students staged a school walk-out in favor of Simmons.[20] In May 2018 HISD announced that an investigation conducted by lawyers concluded that some administrators inappropriately altered grades. HISD officials did not clarify whether Simmons will still be employed by HISD. Jacob Carpenter of the Houston Chronicle stated "Although HISD officials did not implicate Simmons on Tuesday, the findings appear to spell an ignominious end to her five-decade career in HISD."[21] The HISD board terminated her after a 5-1 vote in June 2018. Simmons sued the district, stating that it discriminated against her being white and against her age. She also filed an appeal with the Texas Education Agency (TEA), although the agency hearing examiner's recommendations are not binding on HISD.[22]

Academics

Because many students take the school bus to Furr, tutorials are held during the school day instead of after school.[23]

Student body

In 2003 Furr had 1,400 students. As of 2015, most of the students who attend Furr live in the surrounding zoned neighborhood.[24]

School uniforms

At one time Furr required its students to wear school uniforms. Bertie Simmons, the principal, said that the school adopted uniforms because the school had fifteen known gangs that had a presence there.[13] By 2017 the HISD administration suspended uniforms in the wake of Hurricane Harvey,[15] but Simmons was trying to reintroduce them to combat gang issues; according to a friend of Simmons quoted in the Houston Press, HISD administrators were uninterested in allowing more high schools to have uniforms.[19]

Neighborhoods served by Furr

Furr serves[25] several Houston neighborhoods in eastern Houston inside and outside the 610 Loop, including Clinton Park, Pleasantville, Port Houston, Songwood Homes,[5] Oates Prairie and Northshore-area neighborhoods north of Market Street and west of the Greens Bayou. The school also serves the Houston ISD portion of Jacinto City.[26]

Prior to 2000 Furr served portions of the East End, including much of Magnolia Park.[7]

Feeder patterns

The following elementary schools feed into Furr:[25]

One middle school, Holland Middle School, feeds into Furr.[33]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ "FURR H S". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
  2. ↑ Russell, Rucks. "East Houston residents blame park, truant students for rash of burglaries." KHOU-TV. Thursday May 1, 2008. Retrieved on November 14, 2011.
  3. ↑ Downing, Margaret. "Homeless High." Houston Press. Wednesday June 2, 2010. 1. Retrieved on December 7, 2011.
  4. ↑ "History Archived 2008-09-18 at the Wayback Machine.." Furr High School. Accessed October 11, 2008.
  5. 1 2 "School Histories: the Stories Behind the Names Archived July 10, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.." Houston Independent School District. Accessed September 24, 2008.
  6. ↑ "1996-1997 HISD ATTENDANCE BOUNDARIES," Houston Independent School District. June 30, 1997. Retrieved on December 13, 2010. "CANCEL the options for students in the East End to attend Austin or Milby from Furr"
  7. 1 2 "High Schools." Houston Independent School District. April 13, 2002. Retrieved on May 6, 2009.
  8. ↑ "Austin High School Attendance Zone Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on December 13, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Milby High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on December 13, 2010.
  10. ↑ Viren, Sarah. "Yearbooks vanish from Houston schools in Facebook era." Houston Chronicle. Tuesday May 13, 2008. Retrieved on October 25, 2011.
  11. 1 2 Downing, Margaret (2016-12-20). "Kashmere High Struggles to Survive, but Don't Count It Out Yet". Houston Press. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  12. ↑ "Former Teacher Comes Out Of Retirement To Be School's Principal". National Public Radio. 2015-12-24. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  13. 1 2 Downing, Margaret. "Homeless High." Houston Press. Wednesday June 2, 2010. 2. Retrieved on December 7, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Best Principal - 2010 Bertie Simmons." Houston Press. Retrieved on December 13, 2010.
  15. 1 2 Carpenter, Jacob (2017-10-11). "Houston ISD investigating new allegations against Furr principal". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2017-10-14.
  16. ↑ Isensee, Laura (2017-10-12). "Without Its Storied Principal, What's The Future Of Furr High?". Retrieved 2017-10-14.
  17. ↑ Flynn, Meagan (2017-10-10). "Principal Bertie Simmons Files Complaint With Feds After HISD Sends Her Home". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2017-10-14.
  18. ↑ Flynn, Meagan (2017-10-13). "Supporters of Bertie Simmons Protest Second Probe Launched by HISD". Houston Press. Retrieved 2017-10-14.
  19. 1 2 Downing, Margaret (2017-10-04). "Are Uniforms and a Bat Joke Really the Basis for Sending Principal Bertie Simmons Home, HISD? [UPDATED]". Houston Press. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
  20. ↑ Feldstein, Tammy (2017-08-18). "Furr High School students stage walk-out to protest suspension of 83-year-old principal". CW 39. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  21. ↑ Carpenter, Jacob (2018-05-22). "Bertie Simmons to lose principal job at Furr HS, where HISD says it found grade manipulation". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
  22. ↑ Carpenter, Jacob (2018-09-06). "Fired Furr H.S. principal Bertie Simmons fighting termination". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  23. ↑ Downing, Margaret. "Homeless High." Houston Press. Wednesday June 2, 2010. 4. Retrieved on December 7, 2011.
  24. ↑ http://www.houstonisd.org/Page/110554
  25. 1 2 "HS.pdf Furr High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on January 12, 2017.
  26. ↑ Jacinto City map. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on January 12, 2017.
  27. ↑ "Port Houston Elementary Attendance Zone Archived 2012-03-10 at the Wayback Machine.," Houston Independent School District. Accessed October 11, 2008.
  28. ↑ "R. P. Harris Elementary Attendance Zone Archived 2007-02-06 at the Wayback Machine.," Houston Independent School District. Accessed October 11, 2008.
  29. ↑ "Oates Elementary Attendance Zone Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine.," Houston Independent School District. Accessed October 11, 2008.
  30. ↑ "Pleasantville Elementary Attendance Zone Archived 2006-05-16 at the Wayback Machine.," Houston Independent School District. Accessed October 11, 2008.
  31. ↑ "Robinson Elementary Attendance Zone," Houston Independent School District. Accessed October 11, 2008.
  32. ↑ "Whittier Elementary Attendance Zone Archived 2008-04-11 at the Wayback Machine.," Houston Independent School District. Accessed October 11, 2008.
  33. ↑ "Holland Middle Attendance Zone Archived 2008-04-11 at the Wayback Machine.." Houston Independent School District. Accessed October 11, 2008.
  34. ↑ "Distinguished HISD Alumni Archived May 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.," Houston Independent School District
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