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Gregory-Lincoln Education Center

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Edgar Gregory-Abraham Lincoln Education Center[2] (GLEC) is a K-8 school located at 1101 Taft in the Fourth Ward area of Houston, Texas, United States.[3] Gregory-Lincoln is a part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and has a fine arts magnet program that takes students in both the elementary and middle school levels. Originally built in 1966 as Lincoln Junior and Senior High School, it later operated as Lincoln Junior High School until Gregory Elementary School merged into it in 1980, forming Gregory-Lincoln. The school moved into its current building in 2008; the rebuilding was delayed due to concerns that U.S. Civil War-era graveyards would be disturbed by the rebuilding process.

Gregory-Lincoln Education Center
Location
Map
1101 Taft Houston, TX 77019

United States
Coordinates29°45′22″N 95°23′06″W / 29.7562492°N 95.385022899°W / 29.7562492; -95.385022899
Information
TypeK-8 school
School districtHouston Independent School District
Superintendent.
Faculty46.39 (FTE)[1]
GradesK-8
Enrollment726 (2017-18)[1]
Student to teacher ratio15.65[1]
Communities servedFourth Ward, Montrose, Midtown, Downtown
Websitehoustonisd.org/glec

One namesake is Edgar M. Gregory, an officer in the Union army in the U.S. Civil War and the assistant commissioner of the Texas area's Freedmen's Bureau.[4] The other is Abraham Lincoln.[5]

History

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The former Gregory-Lincoln Education Center campus, built in 1966
 
Gregory-Lincoln Education Center under construction
 
Gregory-Lincoln Education Center after completed construction

The first campus for the Lincoln Junior-Senior School was built in 1966.[6] The original campus was a three-story brick building.[7] It served as a neighborhood secondary school for a section of Montrose. The school opened just as schools were no longer legally segregated by race in the U.S. as the result of the Civil Rights Movement. Thorne Dreyer and Al Reinert of Texas Monthly wrote that HISD officials at the time called it "the most successfully integrated school in the city."[8] However some white families assigned to Lincoln avoided the school by way of private school, moving to another school zone, or renting an apartment in another school zone. A parent-teacher organization was formed despite the disadvantaged backgrounds of some families. Beginning in 1969, a desegregation program, initially funded by parishioners of the First Presbyterian Church and operated by the Emergency School Assistance Programs, a federal government initiative to support schools that racially integrated, began. The church funding paid for the first year.[9]

It was initially both a junior and senior high school,[10] and also became the campus of Houston Community High School, an HISD magnet school.[citation needed] At a later point it was solely Lincoln Junior High School. In 1980 the district closed the Gregory School (now used as the African American Library at the Gregory School) and consolidated its students, including elementary ones, into Lincoln.[11] A document quoted in a U.S. Congressional report stated that area residents perceived the move as trying to destabilize the Fourth Ward and "The closing of Gregory and the shifting of its students to Lincoln was met with intense opposition from Fourth Ward residents."[12]

In 2000,[7] the district announced that the Gregory-Lincoln would receive a new campus that would be on the site of the old campus. Initially HISD planned to locate the a new campus for the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) on the same site. In 2002 the Texas Historical Commission (THC) told HISD that there were properties eligible to the placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in the area which HISD wished to demolish houses for the new Gregory-Lincoln campus: Genesee Street to the north, Taft Street to the West, West Gray Street to the south, and Andrews street to the east. HISD began demolishing houses anyway.[13] The development attracted controversy since it used eminent domain to seize property owned by existing residents, even though some residents expressed a reluctance to have their property seized. Betty L. Martin of the Houston Chronicle said that some of the properties were "reputed to be of historical significance."[7]

A homeowner named Anthony Pizzitola, who was resident in the Braeswood area, unsuccessfully sued HISD to stop the demolition of his house and asked historian Janet Wagner to determine the probability of historic artifacts at Gregory-Lincoln because there were rumors that there was a grave site from the American Reconstruction era. These rumors of prevented any development for several years.[13] In 2006 Houston ISD did not find any new grave sites and started development of Gregory-Lincoln.[14] The new Gregory-Lincoln campus was scheduled to be completed by 2008.[6]

The current $13.5 million, 114,000-square-foot (10,600 m2) school building was financed by the $808.6 million 2002 Rebuild HISD bond. On Monday, December 31, 2007, the two story current Gregory Lincoln building opened. As of January 2008 it has about 500 students. The demolition of the original campus was scheduled to begin in January 2008. The district planned to grade the land and place an athletic field for middle school students and a playground for elementary school students. The new school building includes digital ceiling-mounted projectors in the classrooms.[7]

As a result of the May 2009 closing of J. Will Jones Elementary School,[15] Gregory-Lincoln's elementary boundary had an increase in territory in Midtown.[16][17]

As the result of the 2011 closing of E.O. Smith Education Center, Gregory-Lincoln's middle school boundary had an increase in territory in Downtown Houston.[18][19] As part of rezoning for the 2014–2015 school year, all portions of Midtown previously zoned to Blackshear Elementary School and all portions of Downtown previously zoned to Blackshear as well as many portions previously zoned to Bruce Elementary School were rezoned to Gregory-Lincoln for elementary school.[20]

From 2009 to 2019 each Gregory-Lincoln principal had a term of two years or fewer. Jacob Carpenter of the Houston Chronicle used the school as an example of a low income urban school plagued by constant staff turnover, as in addition four tenths of the teachers from each school year are not present in the following one.[21]

Student body

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In 1972, there were 1,336 students attending Lincoln Junior-Senior High. Black students made up 63%, Mexican-origin students made up 20%, and 17% were Anglo White.[9]

As of the 1982–1983 school year the school had 836 elementary students,[11] with 382 (45.7%) being black, 181 (33.8%) being Asian, 164 (19.6%) being Hispanic, and eight (0.9%) being white.[12]

In the school's history it received enrollment decreases, particularly when the population decreased,[7] from 906 students in the 2000-2001 period,[22] to about 700 students in the 2004-2005 period.[7] Gentrification of the areas within the elementary and middle school attendance boundaries has caused enrollment to drop.[22]

As of 2008 it had 546 students.[23]

School uniforms

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Gregory-Lincoln requires school uniforms.[24][25]

All students must wear red, grey, or black polo shirts. Students must wear khaki trousers, shorts, or skirts.

The Texas Education Agency specified 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;[26] parents must specify "bona fide" reasons, such as religious reasons or philosophical objections.

Neighborhoods served

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The elementary attendance boundary includes the Fourth Ward, almost all of Midtown (all of the super neighborhood and the portion of the management district north of U.S. Highway 59),[27] and most of Downtown.[28] Small sections of the Neartown area, including parts of Avondale and East Montrose, are zoned to Gregory-Lincoln Elementary.[29]

The middle school attendance boundary includes:[28] the Fourth Ward, most of Downtown, most of Midtown, and portions of Neartown Houston east of Montrose Boulevard (including Avondale,[29] Courtlandt Place,[30] East Montrose, First Montrose Commons, Roseland Estates,[29] and Westmoreland,[31] and parts of Hyde Park,[32] and North Montrose).[29]

Four Seasons Hotel Houston residences,[33] Houston House Apartments,[34] One Park Place,[35] and Sheridan Apartments are zoned to Gregory-Lincoln for grades K-8.[36] Isabella Court,[37] and The Rice are zoned to Gregory-Lincoln for grades 6-8.[38]

Feeder patterns

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All of the areas zoned to Gregory-Lincoln for elementary school continue on to Gregory-Lincoln Middle School.[28]

Elementary schools that feed into Gregory-Lincoln for middle school include:

Students within the elementary school attendance zone and students within the middle school attendance zone are zoned to either Northside High School (formerly Davis High School) for the Downtown portion,[43] Lamar High School for the Neartown/Montrose portion and most of Midtown,[44] or Heights High School (formerly Reagan High School) for the Fourth Ward and small portions of Midtown.[43]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "GREGORY-LINCOLN ED CTR". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  2. ^ "State of the Schools Annual Report 2007." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on April 18, 2018. p. 25/27.
  3. ^ "About". Gregory-Lincoln Education Center. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  4. ^ "History of the Gregory School and Freedmen's Town." African American Library at the Gregory School. Retrieved on December 11, 2009.
  5. ^ "School Histories Elementary/Middle School Combinations". Houston Independent School District. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  6. ^ a b "School Histories Archived July 10, 2011, at the Wayback Machine." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on April 1, 2010.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Martin, Betty L. "Gregory-Lincoln replacement facility opens." Houston Chronicle. Wednesday January 2, 2008. Retrieved on October 20, 2011.
  8. ^ Dreyer, Thorne and Al Reinert. "Montrose Lives!" Texas Monthly. April 1973. ISSN 0148-7736. Start: Page 56. Cited: Page 60. Retrieved from Google Books on April 2, 2010.
  9. ^ a b "$ 1-Million Experiment at School in Houston, With Communication the Key, Aims at Making Integration Work". The New York Times. 1971-01-24. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  10. ^ Public housing needs and conditions in Houston: hearings before the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development of the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, first session, Part 1. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1986. p. 274. The resident children of APV attend the Gregory Elementary School or the Lincoln Junior-Senior High School. The Gregory School accommodates from kindergarten through the eighth grade. Approximately 512 students within this school[...] - The page is from p. 212 a United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) report embedded in the record.
  11. ^ a b Public housing needs and conditions in Houston: hearings before the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development of the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, first session, Part 1. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1986. p. 511. The Houston Independent School District (HISD) operated two schools in the Fourth Ward in the 1979-1980 school year: Gregory Elementary and Lincoln Junior High School. HISD closed Gregory Elementary School at the end of the 1979-80[...] - - From page III-2 of a report - Also seen in search result
  12. ^ a b Public housing needs and conditions in Houston: hearings before the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development of the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, first session, Part 1. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1986. p. 512. - From page III-3 of a report
  13. ^ a b Plocek, Keith (2004-12-30). "On Shaky Grounds". Houston Press. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
  14. ^ http://www.houstonisd.org/HISD/portal/article/front/0,2731,20856_142973398_154221786,00.html[dead link‍]
  15. ^ "Elementary Schools (A-J)." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on April 24, 2018.
  16. ^ "GREGORY LINCOLN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE BOUNDARY." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on December 19, 2016.
  17. ^ "J. Will Jones Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on August 19, 2009.
  18. ^ "E.O. Smith Middle Attendance Zone Archived February 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on January 21, 2009.
  19. ^ "Gregory-Lincoln Middle School Attendance Zone Archived 2009-02-27 at the Wayback Machine." Houston Independent School District.
  20. ^ "AGENDA Board of Education Meeting March 13, 2014." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on March 15, 2014. "Current Attendance Boundaries" New 03/06/04 Attachment F-2 March 2014 p. 31/119. and "Proposed Attendance Boundaries" New 03/06/04 Attachment F-2 March 2014 p. 32/119.
  21. ^ Carpenter, Jacob (2019-08-05). "Revolving door: Teachers, principals churn through HISD's lowest-performing schools". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  22. ^ a b "HISD's role in urban renewal. Story by Renee Feltz". Archived from the original on 2003-02-18. Retrieved 2006-06-04.
  23. ^ Friedberg, Jennifer (2008-06-25). "Neartown group throws its support for Wharton school". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  24. ^ "2007-08 Dress Code". Archived from the original on 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
  25. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2008-09-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) (PDF file)
  26. ^ "School Uniforms". Archived from the original on 2006-09-08. Retrieved 2006-08-22.
  27. ^ There are separate boundaries for the Midtown Super Neighborhood and the Midtown Management District. See City of Houston maps: Midtown Super Neighborhood and Management district map. Retrieved on June 4, 2019. - Also see: 2006 Midtown Management District Land Use Map and "SERVICE AND IMPROVEMENT PLAN AND ASSESSMENT PLAN FOR FISCAL YEARS 2015-2024." Midtown Houston Management District. Retrieved on April 4, 2009. Map on page 25/25 of the PDF.
  28. ^ a b c "Gregory-Lincoln School Attendance Zones" (PDF). Houston Independent School District. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  29. ^ a b c d "Our Boundaries." Neartown Association. Retrieved on March 23, 2019. PDF version with detail - Individual subdivisions are noted
  30. ^ Davis, Jeanne Lyons (2016-10-24). "Courtland Place: Going Behind the Gates". Houstonia. Retrieved 2018-12-31. See map in article.
  31. ^ "Westmoreland Historic District Archived 2010-05-30 at the Wayback Machine." City of Houston. Retrieved on May 26, 2010.
  32. ^ "Hyde Park Civic Association Boundaries." Hyde Park Civic Association. Retrieved on December 19, 2016.
  33. ^ "Private Residences Houston". Four Seasons Hotels. Retrieved 2022-10-14. - This source establishes that the Four Seasons has permanent residences. Address is established here: "1300 Lamar Street, Houston, Texas 77010-3017, USA" - Compare the address to the school district boundary maps.
  34. ^ "Home". Houston House Apartments. Retrieved 2022-10-14. 1617 Fannin Houston, TX 77002
  35. ^ "Home". One Park Place. Retrieved 2022-10-14. 1400 McKinney Street HOUSTON, TX 77010
  36. ^ "Sheridan Apartments". GG Properties. Retrieved 2022-10-14. 2603 Milam St. Houston, TX - Compare this address to the school boundary maps.
  37. ^ Gilthorpe, Darla Guillen (2020-04-30). "Houston's eclectic Isabella Court nominated for protected landmark status". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-10-14. 3913 Main Street
  38. ^ "Residents". The Rice. Retrieved 2022-10-15. 909 Texas Avenue Houston, TX 77002
  39. ^ "Wharton K-8 School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  40. ^ "Wilson K-8 School Attendance Zone Archived 2017-05-10 at the Wayback Machine." Houston Independent School District.
  41. ^ "Crockett Elementary School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  42. ^ "MacGregor Elementary School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  43. ^ a b "Northside High School Attendance Boundary," Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on March 9, 2017.
  44. ^ "Lamar High School Attendance Boundary Archived 2015-05-13 at the Wayback Machine," Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on December 19, 2016.

Further reading

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  Media related to Gregory-Lincoln Education Center at Wikimedia Commons

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