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Pershing Middle School
Address
3838 Bluebonnet

,
77025

United States
Information
TypePublic
Established1928
PrincipalKim Heckman
Grades6-8
Enrollment1,816[1] (2011-2012)
Color(s)Red, black, and white
MascotPanda[2]
MagnetFine arts
WebsitePershing Middle School

John J. Pershing Middle School is a middle school in Houston, Texas, United States. It is located in the Braeswood Place neighborhood, near to the Texas Medical Center.[3]

The school, that serves over 1,800 students in grades 6 through 8, is managed by the Houston Independent School District. Pershing has a neighborhood program, a Pre-AP Gifted and Talented program, and is a fine arts magnet school.

History

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West University Place Pershing Junior High School, which was named after John J. Pershing, was established in 1928. Pershing originally was connected to West University Elementary School (which was located in the city of West University Place after the city incorporated in 1938); the school moved to its own campus at 7000 Braes Boulevard in Houston in 1949.[4] The campus was worth $2 million. This relieved West University Elementary. An arson incident occurred in August 1958.[5]

In September 1991 Pershing 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.[6] The school had, in March 2002, a waiting list of 1,000 students for 120 places.[7]

Originally, Houston ISD planned to remodel Pershing's 1949 campus. When HISD found that building a new campus from scratch would be more cost-effective, HISD decided to pursue that goal.[4] Construction started on Pershing's brand new two-story 216,000-square-foot (20,100 m2) campus at 3838 Bluebonnet (on the same site as the old campus) during the summer of 2005. Construction was expected to end in Summer 2007, and the new campus was originally expected to open in Fall 2007 [1]. The lead architect for the campus was PGAL, with Gilbane as the lead project manager. The original budget was $16,900,000 United States dollars. The construction costs totaled $24.4 million, and the final costs, including books, computers, and architect engineers, totaled $31 million.

The new building opened on Thursday, January 18, 2007; originally the building was slated to open the previous day, but weather conditions lead to the temporary closing of all HISD schools for January 17.[4]

Pershing Middle School's campus prior to the addition of lettering

Portions of the former Pershing building remain because many chimney swift birds appeared in the chimney. The Migratory Bird Act makes the act of tearing down the Pershing chimney illegal.[8]

Campus as seen from Stella Link
Rear of the campus

Neighborhoods served by Pershing

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Pershing, which is located in the Braeswood Place neighborhood, serves several areas of Houston that are in and out of the 610 Loop,[9] including Braeswood Place, Linkwood, Knollwood Village, Woodshire, Woodside, Westridge, Southgate, Old Braeswood, Morningside Place, Westwood, Link Valley, a portion of Meyerland,[10] a portion of Maplewood, and Sunset Terrace/Montclair.[11] In addition to portions of Houston, Pershing also serves the cities of Bellaire,[12] Southside Place,[13] and West University Place.[14]

Rice Village Apartments and Morningside Square, two Rice University graduate housing complexes that admit families, are zoned to this school.[15]

Academics

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The school specializes in music.[7] It is a fine arts magnet school.[16] The school clusters students into groups of 150. Each grade level has a number of clusters of students. One team of teachers is assigned to each cluster and this group of teachers is asked to know the students and their families.[3] The racial demographics of each cluster are engineered to match that of the entire school.[17] William G. Ouchi, author of Making Schools Work: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Your Children the Education They Need, wrote that this "achieves an intimate scale" for the students.[3]

In 2008, 93% of students passed state tests, with 84% of black students passing and 79% of Hispanic students passing. Seven years earlier, 67% of students passed state tests, with 47% of black students passing and 37% of Hispanic students passing.[18]

As of 2010, teacher Charles Coursey requires students to do gardening before their instructional time and during afternoons. During class he allows students to eat portions of the vegetables that were harvested in the garden. On Saturdays the organizers sell the rest of the produce at the Rice University farmers' market. The proceeds go to purchasing supplies for the gardening program.[19]

Athletics

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Teams are known as the 'Pandas'. Sports teams include baseball, basketball and lacrosse for boys and lacrosse and softball for girls.[2]

Student body

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During the 2011-2012 school year, Pershing had 1,816 students.[1]

Approximately 36% of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch.

In 2008 William G. Ouchi, author of Making Schools Work: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Your Children the Education They Need, described Pershing as a racially and socioeconomically diverse school.[17] That year, Pershing had a large number of immigrant students.[20] As of 2008, of the 1,903 students at the school, 405 were in the fine arts program. There were 1,610 students that attended the school five years earlier. In 2008, there were 150 slots for new entrants into the magnet program and there were 1,100 applicants.[18]

Feeder patterns

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Many students at Pershing move on to Bellaire High School and Lamar High School, two public high schools considered to be elite.[18]

Elementary schools that feed into Pershing[9] include:

(partial)

High schools which have attendance zones coinciding with Pershing include Bellaire High School,[30] Lamar High School,[31] Madison High School,[32] Westbury High School,[33] and Lee High School[34] All pupils zoned to Lee may also choose to go to Lamar or Westside High School.[35]

All students zoned to Pershing have the option to attend Pin Oak Middle School.[36]

Notable alumni

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References

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  • Ouchi, William G. Making Schools Work: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Your Children the Education They Need. Simon and Schuster, June 24, 2008. ISBN 1439108102, 9781439108109.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b "Pershing Middle". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Pershing Middle School". USA Today. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Ouchi, p. 149.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Viren, Sarah. "It won't be strictly `old school' at Pershing now / Emotions mixed as students leave vintage campus for all-new digs." Houston Chronicle. Sunday January 14, 2007. B1 MetFront. Retrieved on November 14, 2011.
  5. ^ Gonzales, J.R. "John J. Pershing Middle School." Houston Chronicle. March 4, 2010. Retrieved on November 14, 2011.
  6. ^ Markley, Melanie. "32 schools hit enrollment cap." Houston Chronicle. Thursday September 26, 1991. A17. Retrieved on April 24, 2009.
  7. ^ a b Toppo, Greg (2 March 2002). "Parents line up to get children into choice schools". The Daily Gazette. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  8. ^ "Flight of the chimney swifts." West University Examiner, July 17, 2007
  9. ^ a b "Pershing Middle Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District
  10. ^ "Map of Meyerland Sections." Meyerland. Retrieved on December 15, 2009.
  11. ^ "Block Book Map Search." Harris County Tax Office. Retrieved on February 27, 2009.
  12. ^ "Bellaire City." United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on February 27, 2009.
  13. ^ "Southside Place City." United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on February 27, 2009.
  14. ^ "City Map." City of West University Place. Retrieved on February 27, 2009.
  15. ^ "Property Comparison." Rice University Graduate Housing. Retrieved on October 2, 2011. "Morningside Square Apartments Updated Oct 26, 2010 2401 & 2409 Shakespeare St Houston, TX 77030" and " Rice Village Apartments Updated Oct 26, 2010 2410 Shakespeare St Houston, TX 77030"
  16. ^ Foster, Robin (7 October 2010). "Parents start blog supporting option to attend Pershing MS". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  17. ^ a b Ouchi, p. 151.
  18. ^ a b c Ouchi, p. 150.
  19. ^ Johnson, Ruthie. "Local Spotlight: Pershing Middle School." Houston Press. Wednesday September 1, 2010, Retrieved on December 7, 2011.
  20. ^ Garza, Cynthia Leonor. "School a haven for new arrivals / Leader helps his immigrant HISD students feel at home at charter campus." Houston Chronicle. Saturday October 1, 2008. B1 MetFront. Retrieved on December 13, 2008.
  21. ^ "Condit Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  22. ^ "Twain Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  23. ^ "West University Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  24. ^ "Horn Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  25. ^ "Longfellow Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  26. ^ "Lovett Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  27. ^ "Red Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  28. ^ "Roberts Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  29. ^ "Shearn Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  30. ^ "Bellaire High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  31. ^ "Lamar High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  32. ^ "Madison High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  33. ^ "Westbury High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  34. ^ "Lee High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  35. ^ Home Page as of May 9, 2005. Lee High School.
  36. ^ "Pin Oak Middle School." The Southwest District. Houston Independent School District.
  37. ^ a b "Distinguished HISD Alumni," Houston Independent School District
[edit]
Preceded by
Condit, Mark Twain, West University, Horn, Longfellow, Lovett, Red, Roberts, Shearn
Houston Independent School District
Grades 6-8
Succeeded by

Category:Houston Independent School District Category:Magnet schools in Texas Category:Public middle schools in Texas Category:Educational institutions established in 1928Category:1928 establishments in Texas