Gregory Lincoln Education Center

History

A previous campus for Gregory Lincoln was built in 1966. The original campus was a three story brick building. In the school's history it received enrollment decreases, particularly when the population decreased from 900 students in the 2000-2001 period to about 700 students in the 2004-2005 period. In 1975, the school was known as Abraham Lincoln Junior & Senior High School, and also became the campus of Houston Community High School, an HISD magnet school.

In 2000, the district announced that the Edgar Gregory-Abraham Lincoln Education Center 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. 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."

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. In 2006 Houston ISD did not find any new grave sites and started development of Gregory-Lincoln. The new Gregory-Lincoln campus was scheduled to be completed by 2008.http://www.houstonisd.org/HISDPortal/departments/ContentPage/0,3099,45555309_59997080_64882212,00.html

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.

As a result of the closing of J. Will Jones Elementary School, Gregory-Lincoln's elementary boundary had an increase in territory in Midtown.

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. 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.

Student body

As of 2008 it had 546 students.

During the 2004-2005 school year, Gregory-Lincoln had 770 students. During the 2000-2001 school year the school had 906 students; gentrification of the areas within the elementary and middle school attendance boundaries has caused enrollment to drop.

During the 2004-2005 school year, school was mostly African-American, with 58% of its students being African-American. The school had a large Hispanic minority, which made up 39% of the student body. Non-Hispanic White students and Asian American students each made up 1% of the student body. There were no Native American students enrolled at Gregory-Lincoln.

91% of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch.

School uniforms

Gregory-Lincoln requires school uniforms.

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; parents must specify "bona fide" reasons, such as religious reasons or philosophical objections.

Neighborhoods served by Gregory-Lincoln

The elementary attendance boundary includes the Fourth Ward, a portion of Midtown, and a portion of Downtown.

The middle school attendance boundary includes the Fourth Ward, most of Downtown, almost all of Midtown (the portion north of U.S. Highway 59), and portions of Neartown Houston east of Montrose Boulevard (including Avondale, Westmoreland, and North Montrose).

Feeder patterns

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

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, Lamar High School for the Neartown/Montrose portion and most of Midtown, or Heights High School (formerly Reagan High School) for the Fourth Ward and small portions of Midtown.