A fresh batch of temporary buildings have recently made an appearance in the W. Dallas-adjacent field at the Gregory Lincoln Education Center, a reader notes. The buildings, some 21 in all, are a complete temporary campus set up for use by elementary school Wharton Dual Language Academy, whose own land less than half a mile away at W. Gray and Columbus streets is being turned over to construction crews for a $35.6-million expansion.  A 3-story building will be tacked onto the north side of the existing Wharton structure, closing off a new interior courtyard; below is a look through the renderings and floor plans for the expansion, as well as the layout for the anticipated 2-year-long of Gregory Lincoln squeeze-in:
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The rendered view from a nearby rooftop at W. Gray and Columbus:
Here’s what the expanded ground floor will look like — that’s new dining facilities in green, classrooms in blue, art and music spaces in pink and purple, and administrative stuff in teal:Â
The second floor of the new section will include a 2-story gym:Â
The non-gym sections of the third floor will hold more classrooms and a few teacher’s lounges:Â
A red-yellow-orange-brown stripe motif makes plenty of appearances around the courtyard:
And the language academy’s academic themes show up heavily on the interior walls:
The new space is supposed to open for the 2018 school year; here’s the planned layout of the T-buildings in Gregory Lincoln’s field until then, with a sliver of Carnegie Vanguard’s tennis-court-slash-parking-garage visible on the far right to the south:
- Letter to the Gregory Lincoln Community [Houston ISD]
- Wharton Renovation, Expansion Plans Presented to Community; Construction To Start Soon [HISD Blog]
- Wharton Dual Language Academy (with links to planning documents) [Houston ISD]
- Previously on Swamplot: Wharton Elementary Land Rush: Not Yet
Images: Chris C. (photos), HISD (site plan), Muñoz/AutoArch (renderings and plans for Wharton campus addition)
I think the final design will be scaled back due to budget issues. The kids were supposed to start there on day one, but in July parents received notice that the kids would report to Wharton as usual, and the actual move will happen in October.
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The meetings with the school and city staff at Wharton were interesting. Many people spoke who were pissed because they were going to put in too many parking spaces (aka parking lot), some complained that the new building will obstruct their view of green space. Some asked why a garage could not be built instead (no budget).
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Most of those complaining had no children in the school, they only worried about their views from the condos across from the school, others who purchased houses on Crocker Street. Others complained about the lack of big trees, or the fact that the main entry was going to be moved to Columbus Street, which I agree is going to be tight. Parents were told the city engineering department was working out the traffic situation.
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The temporary campus at Wharton will be self sufficient, everything from the cafeteria to the bathrooms will be in temporary buildings, the kids from Wharton will not cross paths with those of Gregory Lincoln, with the exception of a possible drop off point for parents. Even the buses will have their own lanes for each school.
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There was another meeting held at Gregory Lincoln, and that was also interesting. In this meeting, the people who spoke had more substantial issues to discuss. One woman was heavily involved with preserving Freedmans Town… like it still exists in its former glory, but she did have good points to make. She was doing well until she started complaining about past promises, and it seemed like she just wanted freebies. Perhaps she does not understand that other schools have very active PTAs who raise money for things for their schools. Apparently, the PTA is not doing that well at Gregory Lincoln.
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One parent got up and pointed out what most other parents knew… she asked the Principal of Gregory Lincoln how they were going to make sure the students remain segregated… ‘because Gregory Lincoln was rated an F, and Wharton Elementary was rated an A’. Mrs. Jennifer Day, the Principal of Wharton, rescued her and by answering the question herself, which was that there would be a fence and the children would never come into contact with the Gregory students, unless there was some function where the Wharton kids would use their gymnasium. You could see the anger of the Gregory Lincoln Principal as the question was asked, I felt uncomfortable for her.
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The young mother asking the question had a child at Wharton in the first grade, or kindergarten. I would not have asked it, but I can empathize; she asked the question nicely and was genuinely curious. Interestingly, and what most parents did not know, is that the Principal of Gregory Lincoln has a daughter… and she has her daughter enrolled at Wharton. Ha ha… Gregory Lincoln just got out of some sort of probation, but has been rated an F school for some years, and has gone through more than a few principals in three years. I guess if you are a principal and you know your school is failing, and going to fail again, you don’t want that on your resume, so you flee. At least their current principal seems to want to turn things around.
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One parent asked about the lack of trees for the kids during recess, Principal Day said the Wharton kids may be issued baseball caps. That will surely keep them cool in Houston’s heat. One parent raised the budget issue more than once, and the city officials said they have it covered. That gave us comfort… after the city was planning on spending 1.5 Million to change the names of some schools because “some” children were offended by the Confederate heroes. At least they were considered heroes at one time that schools were named in their honor.
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Such is the life in the Liberal cesspool called Montrose.
If I still lived nearby, I would have loved to send my kids to Wharton.
@MontroseResident – Thank you for the meeting updates.
I have a question about the HISD and school zoneing. I live on Columbus… what are the chances of my future children getting into Wharton? I’m a tad bit confused how the HISD Acadamy\Magnet schools work.
The colors are a bit much. I imagine they are there to make some subconscious psychological point about the harmony of different races.
Thanks for the insight @MontroseResident. I live in Vermont Commons and my child will start school in a couple years. We’re zoned to Wilson and are considering Wharton as well.
Wharton is a very good school actually. I will agree, the HISD admittance rules/requirements are odd, especially if you come from the burbs where every student is admitted if they are zoned to the school. In HISD, the magnet schools are sort of like college, where the students apply and are ‘accepted’. Not the same, but you get the point. Just because you live right next to the school does not mean you will get in.
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However, here is a tip… if your child is not yet of school age, go to the school the previous year, make multiple visits in person to inquire about the Pre-K classes. Once your child gets into that program (free as well), their chances of being accepted to Kinder are about 99%. Starting at Kinder is when you will compete with all the other students. The wait list also can get high, so go early, volunteer, make friends, etc.
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When we first moved to the area, I was surprised to learn that 95% of the students were not even from the area, they were all either bused in, or parent drop-off. A majority of the children come from the Heights.
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Wharton is an International Baccalaureate school, meaning they have an international focused program. Pre-K to 4th is taught 80% in Spanish, 20% English. At the 5th grade, the reverse becomes true, though tests are also administered in Spanish. It is NOT an ESL school. We were quite impressed when we were given a tour… and please, the Politically Correct Police not read this… we were impressed to witness blonde, blue-eyed children, and black children reading and writing 100% in Spanish. A little black girl was in the middle of reading an essay she had written. She was in the third, or fourth grade, I forget, but she spoke in perfect Spanish, no breaks, no stuttering, perfect. I know because my wife and I speak Spanish and that is my wife’s primary language. It was the little girls work, and her handwriting.
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Wharton goes to the 8th grade. 6th, 7th and 8th grade classes are very small. They start out with about 26 students, but by November, the classes are only about 21 students for each grade. They go on many field trips because the student ratio is so low. This will change of course once the new school is built out, they will add more classes, but at least for now, it is great, we love it.
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When the students leave Wharton for high school, they will not only already have high school credits, but they also leave junior high with college credits. By the time the student completes the 4th grade, the level of Spanish they receive is higher than what they will get at the high school.
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There are many disadvantaged children at Wharton, more than half of the students probably. And yet the school retains its A rating. It is a testament to the teachers, and the program they have. They truly don’t leave any student behind, about 80%+ succeed.
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Some students don’t return, or mysteriously disappear. Not in a bad way of course, but their parents cannot cope with the Spanish, so they move their children to other schools. But if your child starts at the Kinder level, they will not have a problem. Children can pick up multiple languages at that age with no effort. The odd thing is, unless your child speaks Spanish at home, the chances of getting in after the Kinder level is slim to none. They were not going to accept our children, but my wife took it up the ladder with HISD and demanded that they give our children the same tests they give the students in the same grade. Our kids did better. Ha! Though our kids writing was questionable, they were able to answer verbally and understood all the questions. To make up, we signed them up with a Spanish tutor for two school years. They made an exception and let them in.
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Good luck, I hope your children get in. Don’t believe the haters who say all of HISD schools are bad, they clearly are not.
@Kokatat,
I also live in the neighborhood (2 blocks away from the school, on Stanford), and my oldest child will start Wharton next year in Kindergarten. Here are some of the things I’ve learned about the HISD system in the last 2 years as I toured and applied at Wharton & Wilson for their PreK programs…
1. There’s such high demand for PreK programs in HISD that getting accepted is very difficult (hundreds of applications are received, and only 40-50 spots are available). My child was #110 on the Wharton waiting list this year and #98 on Wilson’s list. These programs aren’t free, but have a minimal cost (sliding scale depending upon income, but typically around $250/ month… much more affordable than my current daycare, which runs over $1200/ month).
2. If you’re zoned to Wharton, then your child will definitely have a space in the program as long as you apply for the program (before the cutoff for Round 1 applications, in December). Recent stories about zoned children not getting into their local school typically involve parents who moved into the district during the summer and showed up with their children just before school started, after all applicable seats were given out. As long as your child is zoned to the school, HISD should be able to make space for your child (in theory). Although a magnet school, Wilson has become almost exclusively a neighborhood school, since so many locally zoned children are attending, reducing the number of magnet program seats drastically. Wharton is still largely a magnet school, although this may change somewhat over time if more families with school age children settle in the neighborhood and take advantage of the school, as well.
Since the comments seem to have veered off into HISD magnet entry, I will note that there is a good Facebook page “HISD Magnet Families.” It’s part support group, part information dispenser. It was super helpful for us when choosing our child’s school.
@Kokastat – If your house is zoned to Wharton, then your child can attend Wharton. In the first quarter of the new year, all the HISD schools have an enrollment day where you can go to your neighborhood school and enroll your child. They do this so that they know how many slots will be available for the kids who want to attend via the magnet program (i.e. who are not zoned to Wharton). This is how it works at Parker Elementary, our neighborhood school that also a has a popular magnet program for music, and I believe that’s how it works district-wide. As another commenter pointed out, the people who can’t attend their neighborhood school probably didn’t enroll on the neighborhood enrollment day (I know this has been a problem with the elementary schools in Bellaire). BTW, in the fall, HISD has magnet open houses at various schools around the city, usually on weekends. They are great for getting information about how the process works. Check the HISD website for these dates. Good luck to you and your family.