North Forest High School (NFHS) is a secondary school located in

Houston, Texas 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 ...

, United States. The school 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 ...

(HISD); it was a part of the

North Forest Independent School District North Forest Independent School District (NFISD) was a school district in northeast Houston, Texas. Established in the early 1920s in a low-income white area, it later became majority-black and black-run. The district had a history of financial ...

(NFISD) until the district closed on July 1, 2013.

History

Founded in 2008 as a consolidation of

Forest Brook High School Forest Brook High School was a high school located at 7525 Tidwell Road in Houston, Texas, United States. Serving grades 9 through 12, Forest Brook was a part of the North Forest Independent School District. It is now the site of Forest Brook Midd ...

at 7525 Tidwell Road and

M. B. Smiley High School M.B. Smiley High School was a public secondary school in Houston, Texas, Houston, Texas, United States. Smiley, which served grades 9 through 12, and was a part of the North Forest Independent School District. M.B. Smiley was featured in the film ...

on Mesa Drive, the school was originally located on the campus of the former Forest Brook High School.Mellon, Ericka.
North Forest picks name for merged school / Forest Brook, Smiley students now North Forest High Bulldogs

Archive
. ''

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 ...

''. Tuesday May 20, 2008. B2. Retrieved August 16, 2009. The Smiley campus was built in 1953, the Oak Village campus was built in 1967, and the Forest Brook campus was built in 1972.Window on State Government--NFISD Texas School Performance Review, Chapter 5
."

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.

. Retrieved November 14, 2011. In September 2008

Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...

hit Houston and Forest Brook was damaged. Therefore, the school was relocated to the former Smiley campus. In the 2010-2011 school year, NFISD opened the Ninth Grade Center at the former Oak Village Middle School campus.2010-2011 District Guide & Back-to-School Handbook

Archive
North Forest Independent School District. p. 20 (21/24). Retrieved November 22, 2011. "The Ninth Grade Center is located at 6202 Winfield at the former Oak Village campus. The North Forest ISD Ninth Grade Center is dedicated to first-time ninth graders. All ninth grade repeaters will attend North Forest High School." It opened under the direction of 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)-appointed manager George McShan.Reeves, Kimberly.
Administrator Not Surprised to See North Forest ISD Shuttered by State
"
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''

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 ...

''. Friday July 15, 2010. Retrieved July 18, 2011. The Ninth Grade Center housed newly arrived ninth graders. People repeating the ninth grade attended the main campus of North Forest High School. The NFHS Class of 2014 (12th graders) had, in their high school careers, a different principal for each grade.　After Pamela "Pam" Farinas took over the position of the school principal in 2013, officials from a university outside of Texas told her that it did not recruit students from North Forest High. The same officials told Farinas that the school should have a new name.Radcliffe, Jennifer (Education Reporter).
North Forest High School measures improvement in baby steps
" ''

''. March 30, 2014. Retrieved May 10, 2016. Around 2014, organizations had declined requests from North Forest High for

field trip A field trip or excursion is a journey by a group of people to a place away from their normal environment. When done for students, as it happens in several school systems, it is also known as school trip in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and ...

s. After assuming control of the campus in 2013, HISD replaced all of the faculty members and spent $1.6 million to improve the campus.Mellon, Ericka.
North Forest High no longer ‘like a party’
" ''

''. March 31, 2014. Retrieved April 29, 2014. None of the pre-HISD teachers returned to North Forest High. Farinas, previously the principal of the

Gregory-Lincoln Education Center Edgar Gregory-Abraham Lincoln Education Center (GLEC) is a K-8 school located at 1101 Taft in the Fourth Ward area of Houston, Texas, United States. Gregory-Lincoln is a part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and has a fine arts ...

in the Fourth Ward, became principal. The metal detectors were removed after the HISD takeover. In 2014 students reported that the school restrooms now had soap, paper towels, and toilet paper. They also stated that students did not illicitly leave class and loiter in the hallways like they previously did. In addition they reported that there were no longer fires set in the restrooms. The head of the school's Parent-Teacher-Student Association, Maceo Dillard Jr., argued that the loss of the previous teaching staff damaged the school. Some of the teachers newly assigned to NFHS by HISD left shortly after beginning their teaching assignments as they were unable to deal with the difficulties. TEA Commissioner Michael Williams stated that the school improved under HISD control. The current North Forest High School facility opened in 2018. The former building, across Mesa Drive, became the Education Learning Center, a

professional development Professional development is learning to earn or maintain professional credentials such as academic degrees to formal coursework, attending conferences, and informal learning Informal learning is characterized "by a low degree of planning and ...

facility.

Campus

North Forest High School consists of the main campus on Mesa Dr. that serves students grades 9-12."Grades Served: 09-12" From Houston Independent District and School Profiles 2014-2015

/ref> The Jones Cowart Stadium is located directly behind the main campus and is operated by the Houston ISD Athletic Department.Houston Independent School District. ''Athletics''. August 2016. Webpage. 15 October 2016. <http://www.houstonisd.org/Page/56847>. After the July 1, 2013 closure of NFISD, on the North Forest High School main campus,

officials found a room with a cabinet with Lenox china, a grandfather clock, furnishings, a green carpet, and flowered wallpaper. Ericka Mellon of the ''

'' said that the room "looked like it belonged in a house, not a public school." The library on the former main campus (now the Education Learning Center), the Carole M. Anderson Library, had 33 magazine titles and over 13,000 books. It was named after Carole Mae Anderson, a Smiley High School English teacher who donated books to the school's previous library facility. The new NFHS campus will be paid for money provided by the state of Texas. With funds from a 2012 Bond, the Houston Independent School District built a brand new, $59.5 million campus that features flexible learning areas, a modern dining commons, and career training spaces, as well as large windows that provide ample natural lighting and open views to the prairie in front of the building and the forest in back. The new North Forest also features a gymnasium, auditorium, dance studio, theater room, and a unique indoor running track – a first of its kind in HISD.

Demographics

In January 2012 the school had 1,285 students.Shauk, Zain.
Teen shot at North Forest High School
" ''

''. January 10, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2013. Even though HISD anticipated having 1,200 students circa 2013, by 2014 the enrollment varied by time between 960 and 1,060; since

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 ...

had more extracurricular programs than North Forest, some students previously at NFHS moved to Kashmere. At the time all of the students were classified as economically disadvantaged. As of March 2014, of the school's students, 30 female students were mothers or were pregnant. Over 100 of the students were under correctional supervision, either

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

. As of 2014, Jennifer Radcliffe of the ''

'' stated that " significant number" have addiction to

kush Kush or Cush may refer to: Bible * Cush (Bible), two people and one or more places in the Hebrew Bible Places * Kush (mountain), a mountain near Kalat, Pakistan Balochistan * Kush (satrapy), a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire * Hindu Kush, a m ...

and other addictions to controlled substances.

Academic performance

In a six-year period until 2011, North Forest High was consistently ranked "academically unacceptable" by 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.

. The dropout rate of the Class of 2011 was slightly above 30 percent.

Athletics

Plez Atkins served as the coach of the NFHS

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team prior to the HISD takeover in 2013. The football team had a regular season in which it was undefeated prior to the HISD takeover. After the takeover the school lost its coaching staff. Jennifer Radcliffe of the ''

'' wrote that the loss of the coaches caused a decline in the American football team.

Attendance zone

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 ...

public housing complex Forest Green Townhomes is zoned to North Forest High.North Forest High School Attendance Zone
"

. Retrieved December 28, 2016.

Extracurricular activities

In 2013, after the HISD takeover, the administration started the support groups for anger management, substance abuse, and defiance.

Dress code

Since 2011, North Forest High has had a

school uniform 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 shir ...

standard dress policy. 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.

specifies that the parents and/or guardians of students zoned to a school with uniforms may apply for a waiver to opt out of the uniform policy so their children do not have to wear the uniform; parents must specify "

bona fide In human interactions, good faith ( la, bona fides) is a sincere intention to be fair, open, and honest, regardless of the outcome of the interaction. Some Latin phrases have lost their literal meaning over centuries, but that is not the case ...

" reasons, such as religious reasons or philosophical objections.

Feeder patterns

Elementary schools feeding into North Forest High: * Fonwood Early Childhood Center North Forest High School Attendance Zone
"

. Retrieved March 9th, 2022. * Hilliard Elementary * Marshall Elementary * Shadydale ElementaryShadydale Elementary School Attendance Zone
"

. Retrieved December 28, 2016. Middle schools feeding into North Forest High: * Forest Brook Middle School.Forest Brook Middle School Attendance Zone
"

. Retrieved December 27, 2016.

Gallery

File:NFHSEngramGym.jpg, T. J. Engram Gymnasium (Smiley campus) File:NFHSAndersonLibrary.jpg, Carole M. Anderson Library (Smiley campus) File:NFHSVocBuild.jpg, Area Vocational Building (Smiley campus) File:Forest Brook High Shool.jpg, The former campus of North Forest High School, formerly

and now Forest Brook Middle School

References

External links

* * under the

{{authority control Educational institutions established in 2008 Houston Independent School District high schools North Forest Independent School District high schools Public high schools in Houston 2008 establishments in Texas