Francis Scott Key Middle School is a public middle school in the

Kashmere Gardens Kashmere Gardens is a historically African-American neighborhood in the northern 610 Loop area in Houston, Texas, United States. A group of single-family houses, many of which have large lots, Kashmere Gardens is between an industrial area and a rai ...

area of

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 ...

. It is within the Houston Independent School District.

History

Kashmere High School Kashmere High School is a secondary school in Houston, Texas that serves grades 9 through 12; it is a part of the Houston Independent School District. It is located in the Trinity Gardens neighborhood, and its namesake is the nearby Kashmere Garde ...

opened in 1957 at 4000 North Kelley Street. In 1968 Kashmere moved to a new campus at 6900 Wileyvale Road and the North Kelley campus became Key Junior High School, which was named for

Francis Scott Key Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet from Frederick, Maryland, who wrote the lyrics for the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner". Key observed the British bombardment ...

.School Histories: the Stories Behind the Names
." '' Houston Independent School District''. Accessed September 24, 2008. In 1991 Key was the first school in HISD to introduce

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 ...

. At the time, they were not required, but encouraged. In 2007 employees, students, and visitors complained of watery eyes, headaches, and other symptoms.Staff.
It's back to school at Key Middle
" ''

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 ...

''. Wednesday March 26, 2008. B4. Retrieved on January 23, 2010. The district closed the school in late September 2007 to test the school for mold;All clear
" ''

''. students attended Fleming Middle School. In September 2007

Sheila Jackson Lee Sheila Jackson Lee (born January 12, 1950) is an American lawyer and politician who is the U.S. representative for , having served since 1995. The district includes most of central Houston. She is a member of the Democratic Party, and served ...

, a U.S. congressperson, had asked the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

(EPA) to visit Key. Afterwards HISD called inspectors from the CDC to inspect Key. On Wednesday, March 26, 2008 the district re-opened Key. Air quality tests performed in weeks around March 2008 revealed limited mold spores. Sheila Jackson Lee said that she felt that the district should not re-open the campus by March 2008. The district spent about

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

3 Million to clean Key. In May 2008

Abelardo Saavedra Abelardo Saavedra is a former school district superintendent. He previously served as the superintendent of the Houston Independent School District (HISD) headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States. In addition he formerly served as superinte ...

, superintendent of the district, said that he considered closing Key; sixth graders would be sent to elementary school campuses while seventh and eighth graders would attend

. Parents and teachers want HISD to instead tear down the campus and rebuild it. In 2010, after reviewing allegations of teacher-led cheating on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test and allegations of property theft, the district reassigned employees and denied Key employees bonus pay. Some of the employees involved were working at

but had previously worked at Key. On Thursday April 8, 2010 the district voted to fire Mable Caleb, who was a principal of Kashmere but had been the principal of Key during the period which had been scrutinized. Five other HISD employees were fired. However an administrative law judge ruled in 2014 that Caleb was not guilty of the charges. Caleb sued HISD, and in 2016 the two parties agreed to a settlement in which she received $550,000. In 2013 the North Forest Independent School District was annexed into HISD. Portions of land, including Settegast, were rezoned from Forest Brook Middle School (the only remaining comprehensive middle school in NFISD) to Key.

Neighborhoods zoned to Key

Residents of the

Houston Gardens Houston/Trinity Gardens is an African-American neighborhood in Houston. History The Subsistence Homesteads Division of the Interior Department, a program of the New Deal, developed Houston Gardens for the purpose of giving poor and landless people ...

, and Settegast areas are zoned to Key.Key Middle School Attendance Zone
" Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on December 27, 2016.

Feeder patterns

Elementary schools feeding into Key include: * Cook *

* McGowen (formerly Houston Gardens) * Paige (formerly Bowie) (partial) * Elmore * Hilliard * Isaacs * RossRoss Elementary School Attendance Zone
" Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on December 27, 2016. Most areas in Key feed into

.Kashmere High School Attendance Zone
" Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on December 27, 2016. Some areas feed into Northside High School (formerly Davis High School).Northside High School Attendance Zone
" Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on December 27, 2016.

References

External links

Key Middle SchoolLet Sleeping Dogs Lie: the Key Middle School Saga Continues...
- '' Houston Press'' - October 10, 2007 *Mellon, Ericka.
TEA confirms cheating allegations in HISD
" ''

''. December 17, 2010.
PDF of TEA docThe Center for School Mold Help
{{coord, 29.811577, -95.330178, type:edu, display=title Houston Independent School District middle schools Public middle schools in Houston

History

Neighborhoods zoned to Key

Feeder patterns

See also

References

External links