Public school in Katy, Texas, United States
Seven Lakes High School (SLHS) is a public senior high school located in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, inside the Cinco Ranch area south of the city of Katy.[2] Many communities such as Seven Meadows, Grand Lakes, and Cinco Ranch are zoned to the school. While the school has a Katy address, it is within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston, and is a high school of the Katy Independent School District (KISD).
History
The school was originally planned by Katy ISD to relieve overcrowding at Cinco Ranch High School and Katy High School and to better facilitate the influx of students due to new development planned in the general Katy area. The school plan was the same general design used for two other KISD schools, Morton Ranch High School and Cinco Ranch High School, and was designed by PBK Architects. The school's first year in operation was the 2005–2006 school year and had its first graduating class of 408 students in the 2007–2008 school year.[3] The school was nominated a "National Blue Ribbon School of 2008."[4]
In March 2020, in accordance with the rest of the schools in the Katy Independent School District, classes, campus events, field trips, student trips and competitions were postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas.[5] On April 17th, the school was shut down for the rest of the academic school year in accordance with Gov. Greg Abbott’s orders.[6] Virtual learning was put in place using Canvas, and was extended throughout the 2020-2021 school year during which two options were offered for returning students. The first involved in-person instruction, combining face-to-face teaching with digital learning through Canvas, including daily attendance tracking. The second option, the Katy Virtual Academy (KVA), offered real-time, live instruction via Canvas, allowing students to follow the KISD curriculum and meet Texas graduation requirements. Both in-person and virtual students adhered to the same grading guidelines, but the attendance requirement for the fall 2020 final exam eligibility was waived, allowing high school students to exempt a final exam if they met semester average and behavior requirements.[7]
A temporary closure occurred on October 30, due to 43 students testing positive for coronavirus. Following a Corrective Action Advisement from the Fort Bend County Health and Human Services Department, the closure involved providing intermittent virtual learning for in-person students until November 3, with a planned return to in-person learning for both students and staff on November 4.[8]
Schools were reopened in person for the 2021-2022 school year.[9]
Background
The school is located in the Katy Independent School District, and has the distinction of being the largest high school construction project at one time in the state of Texas.[10] Seven Lakes was designed by PBK Architects, as were many other area schools.[11] It is also the second largest, as well as the most expensive, school in the United States to be built at one time. The total cost of the school came around to $77,424,704 after construction was complete.[11] The name of the school is derived from two major communities that are zoned to it, Seven Meadows and Grand Lakes, taking "Seven" from the name of the Seven Meadows community and "Lakes" from the name of the Grand Lakes community.[12] While the school is meant only for a maximum of 3,000 students, schools in Katy ISD often become overcrowded due to the rapid development in the area as was the case in 2012, when Seven Lakes reached its peak of 3,957 students.
The school maintains a rivalry of sorts with Cinco Ranch High School, another high school also located in the same school district as Seven Lakes (Katy Independent School District) and located 3 miles away.[13] Logically, much of the area now zoned to Seven Lakes was originally zoned to Cinco Ranch High School before Seven Lakes opened, and much of the area zoned to the new Tompkins High School was previously zoned to Seven Lakes.
Demographics
- African American 7.20%[14]
- Asian 29.90%
- Hispanic 24.18%
- Native American 0.17%
- White (non-Hispanic) 35.66%
- Two or More Races 2.74%
Economically Disadvantaged 18.12%
Campus
Gilbane Building Co. built the school and PBK Architects designed the school.[15]
The school has the following facilities:[16]
- 615,000 square feet (57,100 m2)
- Natatorium with diving equipment
- 9 tennis courts
- Weight lifting room
- Aux. Weight Room
- 900 computers
- Wireless technology
- Performing Arts Center
- Black Box Theatre
- 2 dark rooms
- 2 science labs
- 1 science prep area
- 4 art labs with courtyard
- Fine Arts Hallway with art rooms, a band hall, orchestra room and choir room
Academics
Advanced Placement courses
Seven Lakes offers a number of Advanced Placement course options to higher-achieving students, with 28 classroom AP courses being offered during the 2021-2022 School Year in a variety of subject areas.[17]
- Number Taken (2017)= 3,078
2017 college entrance exams
- SAT (SLHS Average vs. National Average)[17]
- Evidence Based Reading & Writing 615 vs. 538
- Math 620 vs. 533
- ACT (SLHS Average vs. National Average)
Seven Lakes High School met state standards and earned distinctions in 6 out of 6 areas that were surveyed by the Texas Education Agency in 2019.[17]
Feeder patterns
The following elementary schools feed into Seven Lakes (non-comprehensive):[26]
- Roosevelt Alexander Elementary
- Bonnie Holland Elementary
- Michael Griffin Elementary (partial)
- Odessa Kilpatrick Elementary (partial)
- Stan C. Stanley Elementary (partial)
- Tom Wilson Elementary (partial)
The following middle schools feed into Seven Lakes High School:
- Beckendorff Junior High School
- Seven Lakes Junior High School (partial)
