Pin Oak Middle School

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Pin Oak Middle School
File:Pin oak middle school.jpg
Location
Bellaire, TX
Information
Established 2002
Head of school Rita Graves
Enrollment 1,138 (2007-08)
Mascot Charger
School Colors Royal Blue, Teal, and White
Website http://www.pinoak.us

Pin Oak Middle School is a secondary school that is located in Bellaire, Texas, United States. Pin Oak, which serves grades 6 through 8, is a part of the Houston Independent School District. It is located near the intersection of the 610 Loop and U.S. Route 59 (Southwest Freeway).[1] From 2002 to 2004 Suzanne Sutherland was principal. From 2004 to 2010 Michael McDonough was Principal . From December 2009 to July 2010 Amy Simson was the interim principal. From 2011 to 2015 Susan Monaghan was principal.

Pin Oak Middle School, which was built in 2002 to relieve nearby middle schools, is an "application-only" school that accepts students by application. Anyone living in Houston ISD may apply for the Foreign Languages magnet program, and the pupils who are zoned to Johnston Middle School, Jane Long Middle School, or Pershing middle schools may apply to Pin Oak's regular program.[2] The 174,500-square-foot (16,210 m2) building sits on an 18-acre (73,000 m2) campus.[3]

Pin Oak Middle School has the foreign language magnet program. Languages offered at Pin Oak include Spanish, German, French, Italian, Chinese, and Hebrew.[4] The school was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2008.[5][6] The Bellaire Examiner stated in 2010 "Pin Oak’s innovative magnet and Vanguard programs have earned it honors and many more applicants each year than it can accept."[7] Isaiah Carey of KRIV said that Pin Oak "is seen as one of the best in HISD for learning and education,[...]"[8]

A contest called "Pin Oak Idol", a spinoff of American Idol, is held annually at Pin Oak Middle School.

Pin Oak is across the street from the Houston Community College System's West Loop Center and the Challenge Early College High School (which is located inside HCC's West Loop Center), both of which are located in the city of Houston (Glenmont Street is on the border of Houston and Bellaire).

History

Pin Oak Middle School

Pin Oak opened in August 2002. Pin Oak's campus was designed by PBK [1] and built for 25 million United States dollars. The school was paid for by the $678 million USD bond approved in 1998.

Before Pin Oak was built, the land that has the campus had horse stables; [2].[9] The stables were removed before construction began.

Pin Oak's 8th grade teams have won over $150k in award money over the previous six years through eCybermission [3]. In 2008, two teams were among the 30 semi-finalists for the Christopher Columbus National Awards as presented by Disney. One of the teams was a finalist, and attended Disney with the 5 other National finalists.

In 2005, the United States Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and Governor of Texas Rick Perry visited Pin Oak, since Pin Oak took more than 60 students displaced by Hurricane Katrina [4] [5].

In 2008 Pin Oak was named a National Blue Ribbon School,[10] as well as a TEA Exemplary school.[citation needed] The Anti-Defamation League of Houston awarded Pin Oak the No Place for Hate designation for 2007-08 during the school's May International program. Finally, in November 2008, Pin Oak was honored as a Texas Business Education Coalition (TBEC) school.[citation needed]

In November 2011 HISD opened an internal investigation regarding allegations of financial misappropriation; thousands of dollars disappeared from an activity and student fee fund. A financial clerk was suspended after the principal discovered the theft.[8]

In 2015 Susan Monaghan, the previous Pin Oak principal, became the principal of Westbury High School.[11]

Design and architecture

HISD wanted the architect to make the building to "make a statement at 60 MPH" since it was in proximity to I-610.[12] The architect gave the school a curved façade to satisfy the request. The architect took care in designing all of the sides of the campus since it had no "back" side. The architect placed one point of entry in the campus near the administrative area.[12]

Admissions

Students, regular and magnet, apply to the magnet program or to the neighborhood school. Acceptance is determined by lottery for the neighborhood application process; magnet acceptance is based on the student's academic history.[13]

Neighborhoods served

Several neighborhoods in Houston inside and outside of the 610 Loop (and inside of Beltway 8) are eligible for Pin Oak's regular program, as they are within the Pershing, Johnston, and/or Jane Long zones.[2][14][15][16]

They include Braeswood Place, Gulfton, Knollwood Village, Linkwood, Shenandoah,[17] most of Meyerland,[18] Marilyn Estates, Old Braeswood, Southgate, Morningside Place, a portion of Maplewood, Post Oak Manor, a portion of Maplewood South, Sunset Terrace, parts of Upper Kirby, most of Westbury, Westridge, Westwood, Willowbend, Willow Meadows, Woodshire, Woodside, Flack Estates, and parts of Sharpstown.[19]

In addition anyone living in the cities of Bellaire,[20] Southside Place,[21] and West University Place is eligible to attend Pin Oak Middle School.[22]

Rice Village Apartments and Morningside Square, two Rice University graduate housing complexes that admit families, are zoned to this school.[23]

"House" systems

Pin Oak Middle School is divided into three "house"s that students stay in throughout their years at Pin Oak. Magnet students are placed in House C, while Houses A & B are filled by neighborhood students. All three houses provide Pre-AP and advanced classes, although the House C is all Pre-AP.[24]

Electives

Pin Oak offers many electives that range from Guitar, Choir, Band, Orchestra, Dance, Theatre Arts, and Art, to Break Dance, Home Economics, Creative Writing, Debate, Yearbook and many more.

Languages

Pin Oak is known for its wide range of foreign languages. All 7th and 8th grade students take a foreign language course. The languages are: Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Mandarin Chinese. 6th grade students in C house take all in one year, choosing their favorite language for the last 6 weeks. There is also a native Spanish speakers class.

Sports

Pin Oak offers many sports programs, including football, soccer, basketball, baseball, softball, cheerleading , swimming, and volleyball. The school also includes cross country running, and lacrosse.

Clubs

Pin Oak now has over fifty clubs to choose from, including Duct Tape, Dodgeball, Arts and Crafts, Indoor-Outdoor, Movie Club, Jewelry, Student Council and many more. Many of these clubs are extracurricular; students go to their clubs on Club Days during school.

School uniforms

Pin Oak has a school uniform policy. Students are allowed to wear either plain white, royal blue, or light gray polo shirts or oxford shirts, or monogrammed Pin Oak blue polo shirts. Students are allowed to wear navy blue, blue denim, khaki, or official school tartan bottoms. Sweatshirts may be white, blue or gray. On Fridays students are allowed to wear "Charger Day Shirts" or the regular school uniform shirts.[25]

Student body

During the 2009-2010 school year, Pin Oak had 1,138 students.[26]

About 42% of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch.

In 2006 the Rotarians in the area selected Pin Oak Middle School as that year's school to do its "Success at Work" program, where volunteers teach middle schoolers how to succeed in the job market, due to Pin Oak's ethnic diversity.[27]

Feeder patterns

The following elementary schools feed into Pin Oak Middle School's regular program:[14][15][16]

(partial)

Pin Oak takes students from portions of the attendance boundaries of the following high schools:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "About the PTO." Pin Oak Middle School. Retrieved on October 16, 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Pin Oak Middle School." The Southwest District. Houston Independent School District.
  3. ↑ "Pin Oak Middle School, Bellaire, Texas." American School & University.
  4. ↑ "Foreign Language Magnet Program." Pin Oak Middle School. Retrieved on November 14, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Twenty-six Texas public schools named NCLB- Blue Ribbons Schools." Texas Education Agency. September 9, 2008.
  6. ↑ "Feds award 26 Texas schools with 'blue ribbon'." Houston Chronicle. September 9, 2008.
  7. ↑ "HISD computer hacking originated at Pin Oak MS, district says." Bellaire Examiner. Saturday December 4, 2010. Retrieved on December 11, 2010.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Carey, Isiaha. "Internal Investigation for Theft at Pin Oak Middle School." KRIV. Friday November 4, 2011. Retrieved on November 23, 2011.
  9. ↑ http://www.heritagesociety.org/Hinton-Names%20of%20Houston%20Streets%20071907.pdf
  10. ↑ "2008 No Child Left Behind – Blue Ribbon Schools All Public and Private Schools by State." United States Department of Education. Retrieved on February 27, 2009.
  11. ↑ Mellon, Ericka. "HISD names Yates, Sterling, Westbury High principals" (Archive). Houston Chronicle. June 5, 2015. Retrieved on November 20, 2015.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Security & safety: Pin Oak Middle School.(Impact on Learning)." School Planning and Management. October 1, 2003. Retrieved on November 3, 2013. Available at Highbeam Business. "Because of the facility's proximity to a heavily traveled freeway, the client wanted the building to "make a statement at 60 MPH." Other areas needing to be addressed were safety, aesthetics, functionality and after-school venues. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DESIGN SOLUTION: The building's curved-wall facade creates a stage curtain (as seen from the freeway), turning heads by creating a sense of drama. Since the school has no "back" side, all sides had to address community, aesthetics and functionality. To address the safety issue, a single point of entry is located near the administrative headquarters. The library is[...]"
  13. ↑ "Application Process." Pin Oak Middle School. Accessed November 3, 2008.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Pershing Middle Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Pershing Middle Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Long Middle Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District
  17. ↑ "NeighborhoodWithSubdivisionsMarked.pdf (Composite map). Harris County Appraisal District. Accessed October 6, 2008.
  18. ↑ Meyerland Section Map. Meyerland. Accessed September 20, 2008.
  19. ↑ "Block Book Map Search." Harris County Tax Office. Retrieved on February 27, 2009.
  20. ↑ "Bellaire City." United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on February 27, 2009.
  21. ↑ "Southside Place City." United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on February 27, 2009.
  22. ↑ "City Map." City of West University Place. Retrieved on February 27, 2009.
  23. ↑ "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"
  24. ↑ Magnet Programs." Pin Oak Middle School. Retrieved on March 7, 2009.
  25. ↑ "Dress Code Policy." Pin Oak Middle School. Retrieved on March 6, 2009.
  26. ↑ "Pin Oak Middle School" Profile. Houston Independent School District.
  27. ↑ "Welcome to the Real World." The Rotarian. Rotary International, April 2006. Volume 184, No. 10. p. 14. Retrieved from Google Books on November 3, 2013. ISSN 0035-838X.
  28. ↑ "Benavidez Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  29. ↑ "Braeburn Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  30. ↑ "Cunningham Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  31. ↑ "Condit Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  32. ↑ "Horn Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  33. ↑ "Kolter Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  34. ↑ "Longfellow Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  35. ↑ "Lovett Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  36. ↑ "Red Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  37. ↑ "Rodriguez Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  38. ↑ "Shearn Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  39. ↑ "Sutton Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  40. ↑ "Twain Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  41. ↑ "West University Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  42. ↑ "Anderson Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  43. ↑ "Herod Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  44. ↑ "McNamara Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  45. ↑ "Roberts Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  46. ↑ "Bellaire High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  47. ↑ "Lamar High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  48. ↑ "Lee High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  49. ↑ "Madison High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  50. ↑ "Sharpstown High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  51. ↑ "Westbury High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.

External links

Preceded by
Condit, Mark Twain, West University, Horn, Longfellow, Lovett, Red, Roberts, Shearn, Anderson, Benavidez, Braeburn, Cunningham, Herod, Kolter, Rodriguez, Sutton
 Houston Independent School District
Grades 6-8		 Succeeded by
Bellaire, Lamar, Madison, Sharpstown, Westbury, Lee, Westside

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