Ebbert L. Furr High School is a secondary school located in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Furr, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...

. Furr is adjacent to Hermann Brown Park and the Songwood subdivision. Furr is home to the META (Mindful Exploration of Technology and the Arts) Magnet Program; prior to 2007 Furr hosted an international studies magnet program. The HISD charter school REACH Charter is located at Furr.Downing, Margaret. "Homeless High." ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely by advertising ...

''. Wednesday June 2, 2010
1
Retrieved on December 7, 2011.

History

The district broke ground for the Furr building in 1960; the campus opened in fall 1961. The school was named after Ebbert L. Furr, a landholder who owned the land that Furr High School is located on.School Histories: the Stories Behind the Names
." ''

''. Accessed September 24, 2008. Prior to 1997 residents zoned to Furr also had the option to attend

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

and

Milby Milby is a hamlet and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated to the immediate north of Boroughbridge. History The Roman road, ''Dere Street'' crossed the River Ure at Milby. Until the mid 19th cent ...

high schools; in 1997 the school district canceled the option. Before 2000, Furr High School had a larger attendance boundary than it does as of 2010.High Schools
" ''

''. April 13, 2002. Retrieved on May 6, 2009. After the 2000 opening of Chávez High School, portions of the former Furr boundary were reassigned to Austin and Milby high schools. After 2002, the Furr

high school yearbook A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually. A yearbook often ...

was discontinued. The final printing had a financial loss of around $3,000 ($ inflation-adjusted).

Principalship of Bertie Simmons

Bertie Simmons (died 2021) began her term as principal in 2000. She had retired from teaching, but decided to become a principal after her granddaughter died in a skiing accident. In 2003 a riot occurred at Furr. While many assistant principals wanted to send the 42 involved children to CEP, a disciplinary school, Simmons called them into her office to have a discussion. The students said that they did not believe that the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

occurred, and that they believed the authorities were trying to deceive them. Simmons told them that she would take them to New York City in the June following that school year if the school remained at peace. After the school term completed, the students traveled to New York City.Downing, Margaret. "Homeless High." ''

''. Wednesday June 2, 2010
2
Retrieved on December 7, 2011. In 2010 Simmons was ranked as the 2010 ''

'' best school principal. Laura Isensee of ''

Houston Public Media KUHT (channel 8) is a PBS member television station in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Owned by the University of Houston System, it is sister station, sister to NPR member station KUHF (88.7 FM). The two stations share studios and offic ...

'' stated in 2017 that Simmons's term was relatively long as many principals of low income urban high schools have relatively short terms. Around 2010 several students who originated from Honduras and newly enrolled at Furr were M13 gang members. In 2016 Margaret Downing of the ''

'' wrote that by 2016 "they were handled and are long gone".

Terry Grier Terence Wyly (Terry) Grier (born 12 August 1936) is a former Canadian politician, lecturer and university administrator. Grier graduated from the University of Trinity College in the University of Toronto in 1958. He served as the New Democ ...

gave Simmons an Excellence in Leadership award in 2015 despite previously having some workplace disagreements with Simmons. In 2016 Furr won the

Super School Super School is a comic strip, which started in November 2008 and is drawn by Lew Stringer. This strip was stated in the book The History of The Beano: The Story So Far as originally having the name ''The Ultras'' in the planning stages, and was ...

competition, organized by

Laurene Powell Jobs Laurene Powell Jobs ( Powell; born November 6, 1963)United States birth records is an American billionaire businesswoman and executive. She is the founder and chair of Emerson Collective and XQ Institute. Powell Jobs resides in Palo Alto, Califo ...

, prevailing over about 700 other schools. The prize was a $10 million grant, awarded by the

XQ Institute XQ Institute is an Oakland, California-based nonprofit organization that develops programs to improve high school education in the United States. The institute began with XQ: The Super School Project, to identify new ideas to reform schools and ...

, and the Furr administration planned to use the money to revitalize the teaching program. - Audio files
12
an
3
/ref> The grant was awarded partly because Simmons had installed a conflict mediation room for students called the "thinkery room". Simmons also intended to have an on-campus community center funded with the grant money. In October 2017 the HISD administration suspended Simmons, accusing her of disobeying a district directive to suspend

school uniforms A school uniform is a uniform worn by students primarily for a school or otherwise an educational institution.They are common in primary and secondary schools in various countries. An example of a uniform would be requiring button-down shirt ...

in the wake of

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest t ...

and threatening to issue tickets for non-compliance, as well as threatening students with a baseball bat. According to Simmons, she had the right to set a dress code, and that the bat statements were commonly understood as jokes. On a previous occasion students gave Simmons an engraved bat as a gift in light of the jokes. Simmon's lawyer, Scott Newar, filed complaints with the

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

and the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

. He accused the HISD administration of attempting to remove Simmons in favor of a non-Hispanic white principals and of trying to seize and redistribute the $10 million Super School grant. Simmons stated that the project organizers only intended for the grant to go to Furr and that it would not be given if the money did not arrive at the intended destination, but that HISD administrators wanted the grant money used in multiple locations in the district. Students staged a school walk-out in favor of Simmons. In May 2018 HISD announced that an investigation conducted by lawyers concluded that some administrators inappropriately altered grades. HISD officials did not clarify whether Simmons will still be employed by HISD. Jacob Carpenter of the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

'' stated "Although HISD officials did not implicate Simmons on Tuesday, the findings appear to spell an ignominious end to her five-decade career in HISD." The HISD board terminated her after a 5-1 vote in June 2018. Simmons sued the district, stating that it discriminated against her being white and against her age. She also filed an appeal with the

Texas Education Agency The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

(TEA), although the agency hearing examiner's recommendations are not binding on HISD. HISD gave Simmons a $100,000 settlement in September 2018. Simmons donated the settlement money and has a memoir ''Whispers of Hope: The Story of My Life'', scheduled to be released on November 2, 2019.

Post-Simmons

Simmons' community center was never implemented and the "thinkery room" was repurposed. Rosa E. Hernandez became interim principal in 2017. Simmons's successor served for one year. The suspension rates increased after Simmons' departure; Simmons stated it was mostly among African-American students.

Operations

By 2017 the school enacted an

escape room An escape room, also known as an escape game, puzzle room, exit game, or riddle room is a game in which a team of players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to accomplish a specific goal in a limite ...

-style interviewing process for potential teachers as a way of discovering possible attributes that would not be apparent in a traditional

job interview A job interview is an interview consisting of a conversation between a job applicant and a representative of an employer which is conducted to assess whether the applicant should be hired. Interviews are one of the most popularly used devices for ...

Academics

In 2017 the school announced that it would establish a separate academic program for 9th grade students. By 2017 the school established "Genius Time", a series of rotating elective classes, not taken for a grade, in which students may explore potential interests. Each class has two periods per week and has a duration of six weeks. Because many students take the

school bus A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus ...

to Furr, tutorials are held during the school day instead of after school.Downing, Margaret. "Homeless High." ''

''. Wednesday June 2, 2010
4
Retrieved on December 7, 2011.

Student body

In 2003 Furr had 1,400 students. As of 2015, most of the students who attend Furr live in the surrounding zoned neighborhood.

School uniforms

At one time Furr required its students to wear

. Bertie Simmons, the principal, said that the school adopted uniforms because the school had fifteen known

gangs A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

that had a presence there. By 2017 the HISD administration suspended uniforms in the wake of

, but Simmons was trying to reintroduce them to combat gang issues; according to a friend of Simmons quoted in the ''

'', HISD administrators were uninterested in allowing more high schools to have uniforms.

Neighborhoods served by Furr

Furr servesFurr High School Attendance Zone
"

. Retrieved on June 2, 2019. several Houston neighborhoods in eastern Houston inside and outside the

610 Loop Interstate 610 (I-610) is a freeway that forms a loop around the inner city sector of the city of Houston, Texas. I-610, colloquially known as The Loop, Loop 610, The Inner Loop, or just 610, traditionally marks the border between the i ...

, including Clinton Park, Pleasantville, Port Houston, Songwood Homes, Oates Prairie and Northshore-area neighborhoods north of Market Street and west of the Greens Bayou. The school also serves the Houston ISD portion of Jacinto City. The

Houston Housing Authority Houston Housing Authority (HHA), formerly Housing Authority of the City of Houston (HACH), is the public housing authority in Houston, Texas. The Mayor of Houston appoints the board of directors of the HHA, but it itself is not a department of th ...

complex Uvalde Ranch Apartments is in the Furr zone. Prior to 2000 Furr served portions of the

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

, including much of Magnolia Park.

Feeder patterns

The following elementary schools feed into Furr: * R. P. Harris * Oates * Pleasantville * Port Houston * Robinson * Whittier One middle school, Holland Middle School, feeds into Furr.Holland Middle Attendance Zone
"

. Retrieved on June 2, 2019.

Notable alumni

* Anthony Young - Professional baseball player who played for the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

and

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

Distinguished HISD Alumni
," ''

''Society for American Baseball Research: Anthony Young

References

External links

Furr High School
** ** {{authority control Houston Independent School District high schools Magnet schools in Houston Public high schools in Houston 1961 establishments in Texas Educational institutions established in 1961