Sidney Lanier Middle School is a middle school located at 2600 Woodhead Street in Houston, Texas, United States, with a ZIP code of 77098. Lanier, which is a school of the Houston Independent School District, handles grades 6 through 8.
| Lanier Middle School | |
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| Location | |
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| Information | |
| Type | Public School (US) |
| Motto | Achievement with Honor |
| Established | 1926 |
| School district | HISD - Central Region |
| Principal | Lauren Askew |
| Grades | 6-8 |
| Age range | 11-14 |
| Number of students | 1,284 (2007-2008) |
| Color(s) | Purple, White, and Red |
| Mascot | The Purple Pups |
| Teams | The Mighty Pups |
| Newspaper | The Purple Page |
| TEA Rating | Recognized (2006-2007) |
| Magnet | Partial: Vanguard/IBMYP |
| PTO | |
| Website | www.lanierms.uni.cc |
Lanier Middle School is located in Neartown and near Montrose and has both neighborhood non-magnet and Vanguard/IBMYP (of the International Baccalaureate) gifted/talented programs.
Lanier's speech and debate team won five consecutive national titles, one of which being at the 2004 National Junior Forensic League Speech and Debate Championships. The team obtained its most recent (as of 2007) title at the newly formed Middle School Forensic League's national tournament [1]. Jim Henley, a former Lanier debate teacher, unsuccessfully ran for the United States Congress against John Culberson. Henley retired after the 2006-2007 school year. [2]
Lanier is also notable for offering high school-level classes to eighth graders in the Vanguard program, including Algebra 1, IPC, and Foreign Languages, consisting of Spanish, French, or German. The Lanier German team recently won third place in the Small School division at the Texas State German Contest, which was mostly against high school students. Unfortunately, next year, due to some new HISD regulations, Lanier will be unable to offer these classes, except for the foreign languages, but they will not count for any credit.
History
Lanier opened in 1926 as one of HISD's first junior high schools. This school was named for a well-known Southern poet, Sidney Lanier. In 1926, the Purple Pup was adopted as Lanier's mascot.
In 1935 students from Lanier created a petition to rename Woodhead Street, named after John Woodhead, to Higginbotham Street, after the principal, Blanch Bigginbotham. According to the article "Historic Houston Streets: The Stories Behind the Name," students at other schools used "Wood head" as a derogatory label for Lanier students, implying that they lacked intelligence. After hearing a testimony about Woodhead's character, the Houston City Council decided to keep the previous street name. The students apologized to E. S. Woodhead, John Woodhead's brother and a Houstonian. [3]
In the early 1980s, Lanier was converted into a middle school. In 1998, Lanier's first floor flooded due to Tropical Storm Frances. In 2001, Lanier was renovated, with the additions of a false ceiling and upgraded air conditioning. Recently, Barack Obama campaign stickers have been distributed and worn around the school by students.
Lanier is unique in that it has an indoor pool, located in the basement. Students sometimes refer to the basement level of the school as the "Dungeon".
Neighborhoods Served
Several areas of Houston inside the 610 Loop are zoned to Lanier[4], including Afton Oaks, River Oaks, Boulevard Oaks, Avalon Place, Southampton Place, Broad Acres, portions of the Neartown area west of Montrose Boulevard (including portions of Montrose west of Montrose Boulevard, Castle Court, Hyde Park, Richwood, Lancaster Place, and Cherryhurst[5]), Weslayan Plaza, Oak Estates, Royden Oaks, Ranch Estates, Highland Village, Lynn Park, West Lane Place, Shadyside, Rice Village, most of Upper Kirby (areas of the district located west of Edloe and north of Westpark, residential areas located east of Edloe, west of Kirby, north of U.S. Route 59, and areas located east of Kirby). The Greenway Condominiums are also zoned to Lanier.
School Uniform
All Lanier students are required to wear school uniforms consisting of monogrammed LMS polo shirts in colors of red, black, white, or purple purchased at the school and pairs of khaki bottoms (trousers, shorts, or skirts) [6]. GSG leaders must wear maroon and green shirts. Students can also wear school club T-shirts during school on days in which they attend the club. This uniform was instituted at the start of the 1997-1998 school year.
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 [7]; parents must specify "bona fide" reasons, such as religious reasons or philosophical objections.
Student Body
During the 2006-2007 school year, Lanier had 1,328 students [8].
- 44% were White
- 31% were Hispanic
- 13% were African-American
- 11% were Asian
- Less than 1% were Native American
30% qualified for free or reduced lunch.
Feeder Patterns
Zoned schools
Elementary schools that feed into Lanier [4] include:
- River Oaks [9]
- Poe (partial) [10]
- Roberts (partial) [11]
- St. George Place (partial) [12]
- Wilson (partial) [13]
All students who are zoned to Lanier are zoned to Lamar High School [14].
Magnet schools
Some Houston-area pupils who attend other schools not in the Lanier feeder pattern (such as West University Elementary School) and/or reside outside of the Lanier attendance boundary choose to go to Lanier.
Some students in the Vanguard program at Lanier apply to gifted and talented and advanced academic programs at other schools such as Bellaire High School [15], HSPVA, Lamar High School, St. Agnes Academy, and Carnegie Vanguard High School.
Location
Lanier is located west of Houston's Neartown neighborhood. Lanier is nearby single family houses and small shops. A convenience store, a hardware store, and a few restaurants are near Lanier Middle School.
The Upper Kirby district, which is near Lanier, plans to establish a "teen center" at Richmond at Wake Forest geared toward students at Lanier, St. John's, Lamar, and other Upper Kirby schools and schools near Upper Kirby. Funding issues have delayed establishment of the center. [16]
Admissions Policy
Students zoned to Lanier automatically are eligible to attend the school, and are automatically able to attend the Vanguard program if they qualify.
For non-zoned students to attend Lanier, parents must submit Vanguard magnet application forms. [17] After submitting the forms, the students are separated into 2 groups, Tier One (the top students), and Lottery (everyone else). The Tier One students are automatically admitted to the school, while 275 of the 1000s of Lottery students are randomly drawn to attend Lanier. However, next year, this will change, so that all applying students will be placed in the lottery. All non-zoned students attending Lanier are in the Vanguard program.
Notable Alumni
- Walter Cronkite (Journalist)[18][19]
- Denton Cooley (Heart surgeon)
- George Ducas (Singer)[20]
- Fred Hofheinz (Former Mayor of Houston)
- Mark White (Former Governor of Texas)
- Emeka Okafor (Basketball player)[18]
- Linda Ellerbee (Journalist)[21]
- John Lucas III (Basketball Player)
- Joe Savery (Baseball Player)
References
- ^ abc13.com: Lanier Middle School's speech and debate team wins national competition 7/05/07
- ^ http://www.henleyforcongress.com
- ^ "Historic Houston Streets: The Stories Behind the Name"
- ^ a b "Lanier Middle Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District
- ^ Cherryhurst Civic Association
- ^ "Uniform and Apparel Policy." Lanier Middle School.
- ^ "School Uniforms." Texas Education Agency.
- ^ "Lanier Middle School" Profile. Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "River Oaks Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "Poe Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "Roberts Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "St. George Place Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "Wilson Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "Lamar High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ "2007-2008 Information for 8th Graders." Bellaire High School.
- ^ "Upper Kirby plans flood relief / While residents hope for other projects, funds remain scarce." Houston Chronicle.
- ^ "Magnet English Home." Houston Independent School District.
- ^ a b "Purple Page, November 11, 2005." Lanier Middle School PTO.
- ^ "A Hypertext History of Lanier." Lanier Middle School
- ^ Mitchell, Rick. "On the brink of stardom: There's another George on country's horizon." Houston Chronicle. September 30, 1994.
- ^ "Distinguished HISD Alumni." Houston Independent School District.