Rufus Cage Elementary School is an elementary school in

Eastwood Eastwood may refer to: Places ;in Australia *Eastwood, New South Wales **Eastwood railway station **Electoral district of Eastwood *Eastwood, South Australia ;in Canada * Eastwood, Ontario *Eastwood, Edmonton, Alberta, a neighborhood ;in the Ph ...

, a neighborhood in 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 ...

district 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 ...

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. It 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 serves a section of Eastwood.Cage Elementary School Attendance Zone
"

. Retrieved on March 5, 2017. Founded as the Kirby School in 1902, it transitioned from a county school to a municipal school. The school, renamed after the death of the benefactor who donated land for the school, occupied a building dedicated in 1910 until its current campus opened in 1983, with the exception of the period 1914–1925, when the building was used as an apartment complex. The 1910 building is now a City of Houston historic landmark and is owned by the city government.

History

It first opened in 1902 as the Kirby School. A man named Rufus Cage donated the land which housed the school. It moved into another building, across from the original, in 1906.Elementary Schools (A-J)
"

. Retrieved on March 5, 2017. In 1910 a new building opened on that site. The building, designed by Jones and Tabor company, was designed more like a school in a city than one in a rural area. The school was originally owned by Harris County, but in 1914 the City of Houston took control. Initially the Houston school district closed Kirby School and redirected all students to Eastwood Elementary (now

Lantrip Elementary School Dora B. Lantrip Elementary School is a primary school at 100 Telephone Road in the Eastwood community in the East End region of Houston, Texas, United States. The school is within the Houston Independent School District (HISD). The school serves ...

), but area parents complained. The Kirby building was repurposed into an apartment complex, and the tenants kept cattle there. The school reopened after 11 years of apartment usage. In 1923 Cage died, and the school, which reopened in 1925, was now Cage Elementary School. Food was cooked using a kerosene stove provided by the Cage Elementary mothers' association since initially the school was not supplied with cooking equipment nor water. A cafeteria and an addition were installed in the 1940s. In the 1950s the school had 251 students. The parents opposed closure requests during that decade; the parent-teacher organization of Cage at the time had 314 persons on its membership roster. Cage was previously reserved for white children (Hispanics being categorized as white prior to 1970Kellar, William Henry. '' Make Haste Slowly: Moderates, Conservatives, and School Desegregation in Houston''.

Texas A&M University Press Texas A&M University Press (also known informally as TAMU Press) is a scholarly publishing house associated with Texas A&M University. It was founded in 1974 and is located in College Station, Texas, in the United States. Overview The Texas A&M ...

, 1999. , 9781603447188. // p
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(Google Books PT14).) but it

desegregated Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

by 1970. The current Cage building on Leeland Street opened in 1983. Circa 1996 Cage Elementary was overcrowded and had several temporary buildings. At that time the alternative middle school Project Chrysalis moved to the Cage campus.Garrett, p. 50 (PDF p. 9/13).

Old Cage building

Prior to 2012 HISD used the former Cage building as storage.Rufus Cage Elementary in East End designated a protected historic landmark
"

KTRK-TV KTRK-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Bissonnet Street ...

. March 7, 2012. Retrieved on March 5, 2017. Around 2005 a historical preservation group stated that repairs costing $400,000 were necessary to put the school in a usable condition. At a later point a storm damaged the roof. In 2011 HISD put Cage up for sale, stating that it needed to ensure its budget would remain balanced. Area residents were concerned that HISD could sell it to a party that would demolish the building. In October 2011 several area residents asked HISD to sell the former Cage school to the City of Houston. The City of Houston offered to buy the old Cage in exchange for a right-of-way purchase credit of $100,000. HISD accepted the offer. In 2012 the City of Houston designated Cage a protected historic landmark. Activist

Lenwood Johnson Lenwood E. Johnson (died May 2018) was an activist who fought for public housing and African-American rights in Houston, Texas. He campaigned to prevent the demolition of Allen Parkway Village (APV), a public housing complex in the Fourth Ward, m ...

, known for his advocacy for the Fourth Ward, criticized

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Annise Parker Annise Danette Parker (born May 17, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 61st Mayor of Houston, Texas, from 2010 until 2016. She also served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council from 1998 to 2003 and city controller fro ...

for seeking to preserve the original Cage Elementary while not doing enough to preserve the Fourth Ward.

Operations

Circa 1996 the school allowed fifth graders with academic success to move on to Jackson Middle School (now Yolanda Navarro Middle School) in the sixth grade, while it had an in-house sixth grade program for students who previously faced academic and/or maturity issues.

Curriculum

By 2005 the school implemented "Reading Buddies", a program in which students of higher grade levels read books to students of lower grade levels. This was implemented to allow students of different education levels and ages to interact with one another.

Feeder patterns

Residents zoned to Cage are also zoned to Yolanda Black Navarro Middle School of Excellence (formerly Jackson Middle School) and Austin High School.Austin High School Attendance Boundary
"

. Retrieved on March 5, 2017.

References

* Garrett, Kelly (co-founder of Project Chrysalis). "Project Chrysalis: The Evolution of a Community School." '' MultiCultural Review: Dedicated to a Better Understanding of Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Diversity'', Volume 5. December 1996. p
33-52
* Jackson, Faith.
What's in It for Me - School Partnerships in Texas: Are We Bribing Our Kids to Perform
" 30 '' Seton Hall Legislative Journal''. Start p. 39 (2005-2006)
See page from

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Reference notes

External links

* * {{coord, 29.73461, -95.33376, type:edu_globe:earth_region:US-TX, display=title Schools in Houston Houston Independent School District elementary schools 1902 establishments in Texas Educational institutions established in 1902 East End, Houston