In 1876, after a series of new education laws, Harris County authorized the creation of several school communities. Harris County School Community No. 1, the Westfield School Community, was established by W. L. Higgs, H. Illonefield and James McLeod on September 30, 1876.[4] Harris County School Community No. 13, the Durdin School Community, was established by G. L. Durdin, Pleasant Smith Humble, and H. Smith on December 22, 1876.[5] On November 18, 1881, the trustees of Westfield Community No. 1 (H. Tautenhahn, Redding Jackson and S. Yarborough) were authorized to sell off the old school house and one acre of land to pay for the construction of a new school house.[6] In 1883, 38 students were being educated in the Westfield community, and 20 students in the Higgs community.[7]
On June 18, 1884, the Harris County Commissioners Court consolidated the local school communities (Higgs and Westfield) into one school district: Harris County Common School District 29.[8] A single three-person board directed activities of the district for four decades. On February 19, 1910, a schoolhouse bond of $8,000 (for constructing and equipping a public free school building of wood material) was passed by the citizens.[9] In 1912–1913, District 29 had three intermediate schools (grades 1–7): Aldine, Westfield and Higgs. It also had one high school that educated students in grades 8 and 9: Hartwell.[10] The Westfield school was closed for the 1913–1914 school year.[11]
On June 18, 1932, District 29 residents voted 123-44 for a $40,000 bond to consolidate the four schoolhouses for white students (Aldine, Brubaker, Higgs and Westfield) into one new centralized school.[12] This two-story brick building would contain 12 classrooms and an auditorium.[13] It would house grades 1-7 and allow the district to offer high school classes (grades 8 and 9) for the first time since the Hartwell School had closed.[14] When the 1932–33 school year began, high school students met at Memorial Baptist Church, located at East Montgomery Road (today's Airline Drive) and Gulf Bank.[15] The new, as yet unnamed school opened in February 1933 at the intersection of Aldine-Bender Road and Aldine Westfield and immediately was filled to capacity.[15] District 29 added grades 10 and 11 in 1933–34 to complete what was then considered a full high school program.[16] On May 25, 1934, the now-christened S.M.N. Marrs School graduated its first class, consisting of nine students.[17] S. M. N. Marrs was named for Starlin Marion Newberry Marrs, who served as the state superintendent of public instruction for Texas from 1923 to 1932. Roughly a year later, in the spring of 1935, District 29 absorbed part of Common School District 49, also known as the North Houston District.[18]
Marrs High School in 1940
On May 4, 1935, voters in Common School District 29 approved creation of the Aldine Independent School District (AISD) by a 128 to 28 margin.[18] With the S.M.N. Marrs School filled to capacity, AISD voters approved 57-14 a $25,000 bond for construction of a new 10-classroom junior/senior high school building on September 7, 1935.[19] This new building opened in 1936 next door to the Marrs School on Aldine-Westfield Road.[20] It too was named S.M.N. Marrs. AISD acquired part of Common School District 26, also known as the White Oak District, in 1937.[21] This added portions of Acres Homes to AISD. Included was the White Oak School, which became the district's school for black students. In the spring of 1948, AISD opened another high school located immediately to the north of S.M.N. Marrs High.[22] This school was named Aldine High School, after the nearby community. The former Marrs High School was turned into a junior high school.
On November 24, 1954, the main building of Aldine High School was destroyed by a six-alarm fire.[23] A new high school campus was built in 1956 at 11101 Airline Drive at West Road on the site of the former Gulf Coast Airport.[24] As of January 1, 1956 Aldine ISD still included parts of Oak Forest, the area north of Brickhouse Gully and West of White Oak Bayou,[25] Katherine Smith Elementary was part of Aldine ISD. In 1958 residents in Oak Forest complained to the Harris County School Board that Aldine wasn't doing enough for their area and they wanted out, Houston ISD schools were closer was a reason given. On September 17, 1958, the county school board ruled for the residents and said AISD had to cede 3 square miles of Oak Forest and Langwood to HISD.[26]
Desegregation
In 1964, George Franklin Sampson attempted to enroll his children at Aldine High School. The district denied his request and informed him that his children were required to attend Carver High School, the district's black school. Sampson filed a lawsuit against the district, Sampson and the United States v. Aldine Independent School District, arguing that Aldine ISD's separate schools for black students were illegal. The court ruled in favor of Sampson, requiring the district to integrate its schools.[27]
In 1977, although Aldine ISD was almost 75% white, the district still had several schools which were all black.[28] As a result, the district was placed under a federal court order to redraw attendance zones so that every school in 1978 would have less than 30% black enrollment.[27][28] For each subsequent year, the order required that black enrollment at every school remain within 15% of the district average, and the percentage of black teachers at each school must be within 5% of the district average at primary schools and 10% at secondary schools.[28] The court order was removed on December 5, 2002.[27]
Controversy
The district came under outrage when it was learned that an 11-year-old student had repeatedly sexually assaulted a 6-year-old student on a school bus for months in 2022 news, broke out in 2023.[29][30]
In 2023 the Aldine ISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously to use the power of eminent domain to seize the home of Travis Upchurch, 79 years old and lifelong Aldine resident, to expand their high school football stadium parking lot. The property has been in Upchurch's family since 1916 and has housed five generations, including his great grandfather and his children. After months of his family and the community fighting the district dropped their pursuit, conveninently right before elections where a majority of the board's seats were being contested. This story made national news including the New York Times and the Bobby Bones Show as well as making it in the news in Africa, Australia and Hawaii.
[31]
Recognition
Aldine ISD received the Broad Prize for Urban Education in 2009 and was a finalist for the award in 2004, 2005, and 2008.[32] The district received a Magna Award in 1999 from the American School Board Journal for its "Benchmark Targets for Academic Achievement" program.[33] The school board was listed as the Outstanding School Board by the Texas Association of School Administrators in 1973 and 1998, and was listed as an Honor Board in 2013.[34]
Demographics
For the 2020–2021 school year, AISD had a total enrollment of 63,146 students. 91.6% of students were economically disadvantaged, 39.0% were English Language Learners, and 9.0% received Special Education Services.[35]
For the 2016–2017 school year, the district had $724,918,000 in total revenue, $982,566,000 in total expenditures, and spent $14,083 per student.[2]
Academics
For each school year, the Texas Education Agency rates school district performance based on statistical data. From 1996 to 2011, the agency rated school districts as either Exemplary, Recognized, Academically Acceptable, or Academically Unacceptable.[36] The district was rated Academically Acceptable in 1996 and Recognized from 1997 to 2002.[37] School districts did not receive a rating for the 2002–2003 school year as the agency transitioned from using the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) to the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) standardized test.[38] The district was rated Academically Acceptable every year from 2004 to 2011.[39] School districts did not receive a rating for the 2011–2012 school year as the agency transitioned from using the TAKS to the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) as the basis for their accountability ratings.[38]
From 2013 to 2017, the agency rated school districts as either Met Standard, Met Alternative Standard, or Improvement Required.[40] Aldine ISD received a rating of Met Standard for every year under this system.[41][42][43][44][45]
Beginning in 2017–2018, the agency calculates a score for each district from 0 to 100 which is used to assign a grade from A to F. For the 2017–2018 school year, Aldine ISD received an overall score of 76, but did not receive a rating from the agency due to the impact of Hurricane Harvey.[35][46] The district received a score of 83 and a B grade in 2018–2019. The district did not receive a rating for 2019–2020 or 2020–2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[35]
The current headquarters building is the M.B. Sonny Donaldson Administration Building, a two-story facility in unincorporatedHarris County, Texas, across from Nimitz High School.[49] The school district acquired the facility in spring 2015 from Baker Hughes and opened it on March 21, 2016, with the dedication ceremony on April 19 of that year. The funds to purchase it came from the general operating budget.[50]
The previous headquarters were in East Aldine.[51] After serving as the headquarters for a period of over 50 years, the former headquarters has since been demolished
^"School DirectoryArchived 2014-05-05 at the Wayback Machine." Aldine Independent School District. Retrieved on May 5, 2014. "14910 Aldine Westfield Rd., Houston, TX 77032"
Further reading
Harris County Block Book maps, Aldine ISD Antoine Drive Bus Maintenance Facility (JPG, PDF). Volume 119, page 208.
Cleveland ISD extends into portions of Montgomery and San Jacinto counties, and Tomball ISD extends into portions of Montgomery County. Other districts in those counties are served by Region 6 ESC.
