Worthing High School (Houston)

History

Worthing Junior-Senior High School was built in 1958, and it opened on January 27, 1958. The students zoned to Worthing previously attended Miller Junior High School and Yates High School. The school is named after Evan Edward Worthing, a Houston real-estate developer who set up a scholarship trust for African-American HISD students. A native of Michigan, he earned a mechanical engineering degree from Texas A&M University, where he was captain of the American football team. His will stated that African-Americans should inherit his wealth; this led to the opening of Worthing. The school originally covered grades 7 through 12. Worthing was originally located at 4330 Bellfort Boulevard; as the first building became overcrowded a new high school campus opened. Worthing moved to 9215 Scott Street at Reed Road, and Attucks Middle School opened at the former location.

In 2000 Worthing had over 1,700 students.

In 2007, prosecutors charged a student for "felony assault of a public servant." According to the charge, on Friday, May 11, 2007, a 15-year-old male student beat home economics Teacher Vanesta Marshall on the left side of her face, from her eyebrow to her chin, in retaliation for sending him to the principal. Marshall said that the other students restrained the attacker.

That same year, a Johns Hopkins University/Associated Press study referred to Worthing as a "dropout factory" where at least 40% of the entering freshman class does not make it to their senior year. Teenage pregnancies also occurred at the school.

In 2011, two persons opened fire during a powder-puff football game at Worthing. One man, an 18-year-old former student named Tremaine De Ante’ Paul, died. Five other people received injuries.

As part of the 2014-2015 rezoning, residents of South Park located west of Martin Luther King Boulevard were rezoned from Jones High School to Worthing. John Modest, the principal, stated that he expected to receive 200 new students.

In the 2013-2014 school year Worthing had 640 students, in 2014-2015 it had 685 students, and as of 2016 it had about 680 students.

Consolidation proposal

In November 2008 Houston ISD proposed to rebuild Carnegie Vanguard High School on a site adjacent to Worthing, rebuild Worthing, and have the two schools share the same cafeteria and other facilities. School board member Larry Marshall, whose jurisdiction at the time included Carnegie and Worthing, expressed support for this proposal or otherwise to house Carnegie and Worthing on the same plot of land.

Parents at Worthing accepted the proposal while parents at Carnegie rejected it and asked for it to be discontinued. The Carnegie parents said that the higher violence levels at Worthing and the parents' fears of backlash against Carnegie students at Worthing cause them to be opposed to HISD's proposal. Peter Brown, the Houston City Council At-Large Position 1, opposed the idea. Brown said that the renovation of Worthing would be less costly than the consolidation. Brown also cited a Gates Foundation study to support his point.

On December 4, 2008 Abelardo Saavedra, the HISD superintendent, said that he would for now shelve plans since they had insufficient support from the board of trustees. School board trustee Paula M. Harris expressed support for the consolidation plan, arguing that magnet schools and small neighborhood schools, many of which were closed by the district, should be treated in the same manner. Margaret Downing of the Houston Press added that Worthing parents did not like how the controversy "denigrated" the school.

New building

On December 11, 2014, the beam-signing ceremony of the new Worthing campus occurred.

On Wednesday March 21, 2012, the school's renovation and expansion groundbreaking ceremony was held. The $805 million bond referendum, approved in elections in 2007, will fund the renovation and expansion. At the ceremony, Licia Green Ellis, the wife of Texas Senate member Rodney Ellis, gave a $10,000 donation to the school. The several design changes and controversies about the construction had delayed the establishment of the wing. It is a part of the 2007 bond program, and as of January 2015 it was one of the few projects from that bond still not completed. Stafford, Texas-based Fort Bend Mechanical was supposed to build the Worthing wing but it got into a legal dispute with HISD. Gil Ramirez, another contractor, accused the owner of Fort Bend Mechanical, David "Pete" Medford, of giving Super Bowl tickets and $25,000 to HISD trustee Larry Marshall in order to get a construction contract with HISD; Ramirez sued HISD and trustee Larry Walker. In addition, the City of Houston Department of Public Works and Engineering approved one set of building plans, but the architectural firm, Molina Walker, then used a different set of plans never approved by the city government to the contractors building the school.

Student body

As of 2016 the school has about 680 students. 86% were African-American, 13% were Hispanic, and the remainder were of other ethnic groups. Over 70% of the students were classified as having low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Neighborhoods served by Worthing

Worthing High School serves Sunnyside, Yellowstone, Cullen Estates, Brookhaven, a portion of South Acres and Crestmont Park, a portion of South Acres Estates, Cloverland, Regal Oaks [1] [2], a portion of Minnetex Place, City Park, Almeda, and Skyview Forest [3] [4]. Hence, Worthing's logo is "Sunnyside Pride." Worthing also serves unincorporated portions of Harris County (such as Brunswick [5] [6] [7], Brunswick Lakes [8], Brunswick Meadows [9], and Morningside Place).

Portions of the city of Pearland are in the Worthing attendance zone.

School uniforms

Worthing requires school uniforms.

Notable alumni

Feeder patterns

Elementary schools that feed into Worthing include

Elementary schools that partially feed into Worthing include:

Middle schools that feed into Worthing include Attucks, Lawson (formerly Dowling), Thomas, and Woodson K-8 School's middle school program; No middle schools have all of their attendance boundaries zoned to Worthing.