Stratford High School (Houston, Texas)

Stratford High School

Principal Administrator	Christopher Juntti
School type	Public school (U.S.)
Religious affiliation	None
Location	Houston, Texas, United States
Enrollment	2,100 students
Campus surroundings	Suburban
Mascot	Spartans
School colors	Green, White

Stratford High School is a secondary school in Houston, Texas.

The school is a part of the Spring Branch Independent School District and serves grades 9-12. It is located in the western portion of Houston, in the region known as the "Memorial area." Stratford High School serves several neighborhoods, including Westchester, Sherwood Oaks, Nottingham Forest VIII, Nottingham West, Wilchester, Gaywood, Wilchester West, Yorkshire, Rustling Pines, Memorial Plaza, the SBISD portion of Thornwood, and the SBISD part of Ashford Forest. In 2005, Newsweek named Stratford one of the highest-ranked schools in the United States. In 2006, the school was ranked as 187th in the U.S. by Newsweek. [ [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12532678/site/newsweek/page/2/ MSNBC Newsweek] ]

Stratford provides courses in the traditional academic subjects, as well as several foreign languages, technology, vocational education, athletics, and fine arts. Several different Advanced Placement (AP) courses are offered at Stratford.

In keeping with the theme of its mascot, Stratford's student newspaper is "The Oracle" while its yearbook is Mnemosyne.

Feeder patterns

Elementary schools that feed into Stratford include [ " [http://www.springbranchisd.com/schools/maps/feederschools.htm Schools by Feeder Pattern] ." "Spring Branch Independent School District".] :
*Meadow Wood
*Nottingham
*Thornwood
*Wilchester
*Rummel Creek (partial)
*Sherwood (partial)

Middle schools that feed into Stratford include:
*Spring Forest
*Memorial Middle School (partial)

Feeding from private schools

Students of some private schools, such as [http://www.jp2.org John Paul II School] , continue to Stratford. [" [http://www.jp2.org/OurPrograms/middleschool-overview.htm Middle School Overview] ." "John Paul II School".]

History

Stratford first opened in the 1974-1975 school year to relieve the overflow of students at the nearby Westchester High School. The overflow had been caused by of the rapid development of subdivisions like Yorkshire, Wilchester, and Nottingham. The school district quickly decided to open a new school when the student population at Westchester nearly tripled to 4,000. Prior to the opening of the Stratford facility, Stratford's students were housed in temporary buildings on the Westchester campus. The opening of Stratford was not completed on schedule due to construction delays, causing students to continue to languish in cramped quarters.

In the 1980s, the population of Spring Branch Independent School District fell drastically. This was attributed to jobs lost to the oil bust that affected the Houston area. Many Houston residents left, causing an underutilization of campus space. The school district voted to close four schools: Westchester High School, Spring Branch High School, Northbrook Junior High (later reopened in 1991), and Westchester Junior High. Many students from Westchester High School were sent to Stratford, and Stratford, for many years, had a permanent display case dedicated to memorabilia from Westchester High School. In recent history, Stratford has maintained its enrollment at around 2000 students. Stratford also has improved its athletics programs recently, including a number of teams that are ranked at the state level and regularly advance to playoff rounds.

Stratford was named a 1983-84 National Blue Ribbon School. [ [http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/list-1982.pdf Blue Ribbon School List] ]

In 2004, the building which housed Stratford was found to have massive structural problems which required immediate attention. The Stratford campus was closed, and the students were moved to the Westchester Academy for International Studies while repairs went on at the Stratford campus. This move posed a challenge because the Westchester facility could no longer handle a student body as large as Stratford's. Many noted the irony of the temporary move, noting that when Westchester was closed, many Westchester students were sent to Stratford, and now the situation had reversed itself. Stratford moved back into its regular facility in 2005.

In the 2006-2007 football season, the Spartans won the district title.

In February 2008 the UIL announced that Stratford would be realigned to Class 4A, District 23 effective in the 2008-2009 school year. The new alignment would affect not only football, but all UIL activities. The schools in the new district stretched from Richmond to Bay City and El Campo. Spring Branch ISD appealed the realignment, citing outrage at the loss of a 34-year long rivalry with Memorial High School, as well as concern that Stratford would have the most travel of any Houston-area school. In the appeal hearing, the UIL ruled that Stratford would be allowed to remain in Class 5A, and the Spartans were assigned to District 18, where they will face the three other SBISD schools (including Memorial), three high schools from Alief ISD, and private school Strake Jesuit.

References

External links

* [http://ssh.springbranchisd.com/ Stratford High School]