Kendleton Independent School District

Powell Point Elementary School

Kendleton Independent School District was a public school district based in Powell Point. unincorporated Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, north of the city of Kendleton.[1] The district served Kendleton and Powell Point.

In 2009, the school district was rated "academically unacceptable" by the Texas Education Agency.[2] The district closed in 2010, and its area was taken by the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District.

Schools

The district had one school, Powell Point Elementary, which served students in grades pre-kindergarten through six. During the district's existence, secondary school students (grades 7-12) from Kendleton attended campuses in the neighboring Lamar Consolidated Independent School District.

History

In 1890 Common School District No. 4 opened on the original land grant of Elizabeth Powell, consisting of three area schools built by local African Methodist Episcopal churches. The district was all African-American. In 1903 Tellie B. Mitchell, a Kendleton native who graduated from Wiley College, returned to Kendleton and opened the Powell Point School, a two-room schoolhouse. In 1923 Mitchell persuaded the Rosenwald Foundation into funding the construction of a new school facility with six classrooms, an auditorium, and a library. Mitchell was the principal of the school until 1954. In 1995 the Texas Historical Commission established a historical marker at the school site. By that year Powell Point School became an elementary school.[3]

In the late 1970s, a Kindergarten teacher was stripped of her license after she beat a student to the point of hospitalization. Not long after that incident, a third grade teacher beat a student from the buttocks down to the ankles with a switch, leaving large, bruised welps. That student was the older sister of the previously mentioned student who was abused.

Academic performance and closure

In the early 1990s the State of Texas forced the members of the school board of Kendleton ISD out of their positions.[4] In 1993 the state warned the district that it could lose its accreditation,[5] and also be merged into another school district, within two years.[6] In 1994, the district was operating by itself and had gained a "favorable" rating from the Texas Education Agency; it had been doing so for the first time in 12 years.[7]

Kendleton ISD received the state's lowest accountability rating of "Academically Unacceptable" in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) warned that significant improvements were required to prevent state intervention and closure of the district.[8]

After receiving an "Academically Unacceptable" rating for a fifth consecutive year in 2009, the TEA announced on March 10, 2010 that it had revoked the accreditation of Kendleton ISD due to continued substandard academic performance. After receiving Justice Department approval in May 2010,[9] the district was annexed into the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District and ceased operations effective July 1, 2010.[10][11][12]

References

  1. "Contact Us." Kendleton Independent School District. Retrieved on July 2, 2010. "2601 FM 2919 Kendleton, TX"
  2. "2009 Accountability Rating System". Texas Education Agency.
  3. "School." (Google Cache) City of Kendleton. Retrieved on July 23, 2011. The text was taken from the State of Texas historical marker at the site. Archived July 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. Mellon, Ericka. "North Forest takeover hits some roadblocks." Houston Chronicle. October 6, 2008. Retrieved on July 2, 2010.
  5. Rugeley, Cindy and Melanie Markley. "Harris schools rank high, low in state's survey." Houston Chronicle. Friday August 13, 1993. A33. Retrieved on July 3, 2010.
  6. Markley, Melanie. "56 schools rated "clearly unacceptable'." Houston Chronicle. Thursday August 12, 1993. A29. Retrieved on 3 July 2010.
  7. Muck, Patti. "Kendleton celebrates favorable accreditation." Houston Chronicle. Thursday August 25, 1994. A23. Retrieved on 3 July 2010.
  8. Mellon, Ericka Sagging test scores may close books on Kendleton ISD: Troubles at lone campus, Powell Point Elementary, have residents worried about community's future, Houston Chronicle, 2008-09-07, accessed 2008-09-07
  9. Pollock, B. J. "School district merger on meeting agenda." Ultimate Fort Bend at Houston Chronicle. June 16, 2010. Retrieved on July 3, 2010.
  10. "TEA revokes accreditation of Kendleton ISD". Ericka Mellon, Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
  11. "TEA Revokes Accreditation Of Troubled Kendleton ISD, School To Close July 1". John Pape, FortBendNow.com. 2010-03-11. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
  12. "Ed commissioner closes Kendleton district". Associated Press. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/20/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.