Liberty High School is an alternative high school on the grounds of the Houston Community College Gulfton Campus in

Gulfton Gulfton is a community in Southwest Houston, Texas, United States that includes a group of apartment complexes that primarily house refugee and immigrant populations. It is located between the 610 Loop and Beltway 8, west of the City of Bellaire ...

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 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. 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 ...

, it is a school catering to recent immigrants. Liberty has intensive English instruction,School for recent immigrants may get new name
" ''

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 i ...

''. Friday June 8, 2007. Retrieved on December 8, 2011. which serves as the school's main focus.Garza, Cynthia Leonor.
School a haven for new arrivals / Leader helps his immigrant HISD students feel at home at charter campus
" ''

''. Saturday October 1, 2008. B1 MetFront. Retrieved on December 13, 2008. It also has flexible scheduling and year-round scheduling. This scenario caters to older students who are recent immigrants. The school's intention is to ensure that students receive high school diplomas. the principal is Mónico Rivas, who has been principal since the school's founding in 2005.

History

The Lee High School (now known as

Wisdom High School Margaret Long Wisdom High School, formerly Robert E. Lee High School, is a publicly funded secondary school located in Southwest Houston, Texas, United States 77057. The Houston Independent School District, the 7th largest school district in the ...

) principal, faculty, and community expressed interest in having a special

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

for recent immigrants opened. In the 2003-2004 school year, of the 2,100 students attending Lee, 205 were recent immigrants who were 17 or older and entering the 9th grade for the first time, making them "overage" in the U.S. educational system. The students had received different types of formal education in their countries of origin. The HISD board approved the formation of the school on September 9, 2004. Steve Amstutz, the Lee principal, was the main figure responsible for the school's creation.Students at HISD’s Newcomer Charter School Make History
.

. September 27, 2006. Retrieved on December 8, 2011. The school, originally on the Lee High School campus, opened on January 10, 2005, with 125 students attending the opening night; the projected enrollment was 75. The school was originally named Newcomer Charter High School (NCHS). School officials placed fliers promoting NCHS in Gulfton-area apartment complexes, churches,

flea market A flea market (or swap meet) is a type of street market that provides space for vendors to sell previously-owned (second-hand) goods. This type of market is often seasonal. However, in recent years there has been the development of 'formal ...

s, and

washateria A self-service laundry, coin laundry, laundromat, or coin wash is a facility where clothes are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, and in the Unit ...

s. In 2006 the school was scheduled to move out of the Lee campus and into its standalone campus. In 2007 community leaders, students, and teachers recommended that the school adopt its current name. In June 2007 the school had 195 students. The school relocated to a new location and adopted its current name in June 2007.School Histories: the Stories Behind the Names
."
Archive

. Retrieved on December 8, 2011. It was now in a shopping center along U.S. Route 59 (Southwest Freeway). In 2007 the school had low

Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) was the fourth Texas state standardized test previously used in grade 3-8 and grade 9-11 to assess students' attainment of reading, writing, math, science, and social studies skills required ...

(TAKS) passing rates. It encouraged all of its students to take the test. In 2008 its immigrant students came from Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Many students recruited relatives and school-aged coworkers by

word of mouth Word of mouth, or ''viva voce'', is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one pe ...

. During that year it had a $1.57 million operating budget. The budget amounted to $6,856 per student. Scarborough High School had a per student cost of $5,442, with 890 students attending the school. By 2015 a day school program was established at Liberty High. In 2016 the Tax day floods caused the campus to have minor issues. Liberty High moved to the campus of Sharpstown International School in Sharpstown, due to the effect 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 ...

on the former campus in 2017. The move is temporary and HISD was to later determine the permanent location. Several Liberty students had their own residences flood during Harvey.

Demographics

the school had about 400 students, with about 28 native languages represented and with virtually all having low English fluency. The student body, almost completely those of recent immigrants, was made up of a majority of those of Central American origin and with others from the continents of Africa and Asia, including those from the Middle East region. The majority lived in Gulfton and Sharpstown in southwest Houston with some from north Houston and southeast Houston. As of September 2015 the school had about 450 students. All of the students were immigrants, and refugees made up about 10% of the student body. In September 2007 the school had almost 200 students. 18 of those students were age 22 through 26. By 2007 Texas state law had changed, funding students up to age 25 (as of September 1 of the school year) to study for a traditional high school diploma; previously the state only paid for students up to age 21 (as of September 1 of the school year), and HISD paid for the education of some students older than 21. In the 2006-2007 school year there were 229 students, with origins from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and with 96% being classified as low income. Most of the students were between the ages of 17 and 21.

Campus

Effective 2022 it occupies its current location, - See the scrolling panels for the address. the Houston Community College (HCC) Gulfton Center Gulfton Campus. It previously occupied space on the grounds of Sharpstown International School in

Sharpstown Sharpstown is a master-planned community in the Southwest Management District (formerly Greater Sharpstown), Southwest Houston, Texas.U.S. Route 59 (Southwest Freeway), in the vicinity of

and

Sharpstown Sharpstown is a master-planned community in the Southwest Management District (formerly Greater Sharpstown), Southwest Houston, Texas.About Liberty HS
" Liberty High School. Retrieved on December 8, 2011.Liberty HS to Use Cameras to Develop Language Skills and Literacy
."

. March 26, 2012. Retrieved on March 28, 2012. and about midway between

Beltway 8 Beltway 8 (BW8), the Sam Houston Parkway, along with the Sam Houston Tollway, is an beltway around the city of Houston, Texas, United States, lying entirely within Harris County. Beltway 8, a state highway maintained by the Texa ...

and 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 ...

. Its former U.S. 59 campus, a leased property, previously served as a restaurant; the restaurant's bar was re-purposed as a cafeteria serving line. Jacob Carpenter of the ''

'' stated that the classrooms were "nondescript". The center of the lot had a group of trees and picnic tables, while a volleyball net was in its periphery. Andrew Kragie of the ''Houston Chronicle'' wrote "Other than a front-door sticker telling visitors to register with the front desk, the building's exterior gives little sign that a school operates here."

School culture

The school has a debate team and participate in school sports activities. At the US 59 campus students used the school's parking lot for pickup soccer. When the school was established, officials believed that the students would be unable to participate in extracurricular programs due to being busy with out-of-school employment and care for family members, but they established extracurricular programs upon discovering student interest.

References

External links

Liberty High School
* {{authority control Houston Independent School District high schools Public high schools in Houston 2005 establishments in Texas Educational institutions established in 2005 Charter schools in Houston