Robert E. Lee High School At 6529 Beverly Hill Ln.

[icepickphil]

This occured during my senior year at Robt. E. Lee and my memories are a little sketchy. I'd welcome anyone elses memories of this event.

The riots occured in October of '75 in the parking field across from the school on Beverlyhill St.. The field was a drug market where students gathered as early as an hour before school to party. HPD undercover narcotics officers had been "staking out" the field for several weeks since school had started that September. They also placed several undercover (dressed up to look like school students) in the field to purchase drugs--which they did.

Several drug busts were made that October in the field including one bust of a 16 year old boy selling pezz candy LSD. After one of the busts several students began to attack one of the police cars. It had it's windows broken by rocks, etc. Several arrests of students were made.

Ultimately the drug busts succeeded in stopping the drug use and selling in the empty dirt lot parking field. The field is now part of the parking lot for Pappasitos Mexican Restaurant on Richmond.

[paulas]

This occured during my senior year at Robt. E. Lee and my memories are a little sketchy. I'd welcome anyone elses memories of this event.

The riots occured in October of '75 in the parking field across from the school on Beverlyhill St.. The field was a drug market where students gathered as early as an hour before school to party. HPD undercover narcotics officers had been "staking out" the field for several weeks since school had started that September. They also placed several undercover (dressed up to look like school students) in the field to purchase drugs--which they did.

Several drug busts were made that October in the field including one bust of a 16 year old boy selling pezz candy LSD. After one of the busts several students began to attack one of the police cars. It had it's windows broken by rocks, etc. Several arrests of students were made.

Ultimately the drug busts succeeded in stopping the drug use and selling in the empty dirt lot parking field. The field is now part of the parking lot for Pappasitos Mexican Restaurant on Richmond.

Actually the bust and the riot took place in October 1974. The 16 year old was arrested with several other people the week before. The very next week, the police came back and arrested some more people. Right after that is when the other students attacked them.

[VicMan]

I wonder if this riot was one of the factors that caused Lee to go downhill in the 1980's.

I know today almost no Uptown parent would dare send his or her kid to Lee.

[enviromain]

I wonder if this riot was one of the factors that caused Lee to go downhill in the 1980's.

I know today almost no Uptown parent would dare send his or her kid to Lee.

No that riot did not cause Lee to go downhill. It's the surrounding apartments in the Flea Market area that feed into that school. The last time I was there, it was not a good place to be at night!

Did you know that Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) graduated from Lee? Ron Stone, as well.

[nm5k]

No that riot did not cause Lee to go downhill. It's the surrounding apartments in the Flea Market area that feed into that school. The last time I was there, it was not a good place to be at night!

Did you know that Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) graduated from Lee? Ron Stone, as well.

He showed up at his high school reunion..There is a web site somewhere that has a

few pix.. I've got them on one of my drives somewhere.. He was decked out in his african

wig as usual.. I've oft speculated that the main reason he wears that thing is that he's

probably going bald... :/

MK

[enviromain]

I thought Ron Stone was originally from Oklahoma. Do you mean Ron Stone, Jr.?

It might have been. I'm not certain though. They were both newscasters weren't they?

[enviromain]

Yeah, Ron Stone was THE main anchor at channel 2 for years and years. His son was also a reporter (and, apparently, writer and producer) on KPRC for a number of years.

It was most likely Ron Stone, Jr. then. Thanks!

[Ron4tx]

Here's a pic I dug up of Robert E. Lee High School in the early 1980s.

It's all I have:

[bookman]

Here's a pic I dug up of Robert E. Lee High School in the early 1980s.

It's all I have:

Adding a few more from Lee, courtesy of the 1968 yearbook. The first photo shows the field across from the school where the '74 drug bust occurred. Looking toward the upper-right corner is the Hillcroft-Richmond intersection. The landscape has changed! Following this photo are a few of Billy Gibbons, who was a senior that year and had a band called the Moving Sidewalks. Their song 99th Floor, which Gibbons is performing in one of the yearbook photos, was also recorded by the 13th Floor Elevators, one of the first psychedelic rock bands. Later that year, Gibbons and The Moving Sidewalks opened for Jimi Hendrix on the Texas leg of the Hendrix tour that year, and Hendrix began mentioning Gibbons as one of his favorite new guitarists.

For contrast, I added a photo of what Gibbons looks like in more recent years with ZZ Top.

[SpaceAge]

1968- that must have been the year that the first addition was completed because, in the picture above, the lawn on the east front looks newly planted. HISD did a great job matching the new wing with the ugliness of the original building. You can hardly tell the difference. Then they added more on about 15 years later and it too is ugly. That school did not have one interesting feature or pleasant space.

Many of the students took drugs to avoid some of the pain of the living hell that was life at Lee. Was this drug riot when the T. H. Rogers 9th grade student was killed with the baseball bat? His name was Randy Harvey and I think he had gone over to visit Lee when it happened. A terrible, terrible place and time.

[Modernceo]

Wow ! That photo of the empty lot in front of Lee is amazing.

Amazing how much its changed over the years.

I went to Lee between 92-94, CLASS of 94 ! Im glad to be out of there. Its even more amazing to look at the changing demographics of the schools students over the years. I am a white male, and was a minority in the early 90's, I can only imagine what its like there now.

[SunKing]

Adding a few more from Lee, courtesy of the 1968 yearbook. The first photo shows the field across from the school where the '74 drug bust occurred. Looking toward the upper-right corner is the Hillcroft-Richmond intersection. The landscape has changed! Following this photo are a few of Billy Gibbons, who was a senior that year and had a band called the Moving Sidewalks. ...

For contrast, I added a photo of what Gibbons looks like in more recent years with ZZ Top.

Great pics - THANKS!

[H-Town Man]

HISD did a great job matching the new wing with the ugliness of the original building.

Funny.

[icepickphil]

Great pics bookman thanks.

I graduated from both T. H. Rogers and Robert E. Lee ('69-'75) and this is the first I've ever heard of a Randy Harvey getting killed. Anymore details?

And was being a student at Lee in the 70s that bad?..a "living hell"? I had friends when I was in high school that went to Westbury, Milby, and Lamar and from what they told be about their schools it was just like Lee. Sure being in a graduating class of over 600 students sucked. Thanks to Houston's urban sprawl kids from so many neighborhoods/areas went to the school. A kid from Tanglewood had classmates from Dairy Ashford...they might as well have lived in different towns. You NEVER saw them after school around town.

The student body of Lee in the early-mid 1970s was divided into the groups kickers, freaks, jets, and the always present nerds/geeks. Maybe it was a different scene at privates like Kinkaid or St. Johns back then but I'm sure it was the same at all of the west side high schools (Sharpestown, etc.). This was the day when there were much fewer private schools in Houston.

1968- that must have been the year that the first addition was completed because, in the picture above, the lawn on the east front looks newly planted. HISD did a great job matching the new wing with the ugliness of the original building. You can hardly tell the difference. Then they added more on about 15 years later and it too is ugly. That school did not have one interesting feature or pleasant space.

Many of the students took drugs to avoid some of the pain of the living hell that was life at Lee. Was this drug riot when the T. H. Rogers 9th grade student was killed with the baseball bat? His name was Randy Harvey and I think he had gone over to visit Lee when it happened. A terrible, terrible place and time.

[roym]

No that riot did not cause Lee to go downhill. It's the surrounding apartments in the Flea Market area that feed into that school. The last time I was there, it was not a good place to be at night!

Did you know that Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) graduated from Lee? Ron Stone, as well.

I agree 100% - no 200%! It was the demographics that killed it. I attended Lee in 1980-1981. It was rather a rough place already. And it wasn't just the surrounding apartments near the flea market. Lee's boundaries extended all the way down to Bellaire Blvd. North of Bellaire & West of 59 (maybe east of 59 too?) were Lee HS. South of Bellaire was Sharpstown HS.

Yes, it was Ron Stone Jr. that attended. I think he was a Senior when I was a freshman. My wife has a yrbook from that yr. Maybe I can dig up some pics.

[Keyboard]

Wow, this is going back a long time. I graduated in 76 (just attended my 30th reunion but that's another story) and I was there when it happened. I though it was 75 but I could be wrong but I do remember seeing the student bashing out the police car window for which he was eventually arrested for doing. There were a lot of drugs there and a lot of students including myself just left for the rest of the day. The next day my cousin left campus for lunch and was arrested for possesing some pills. These were actually legitimate perscription drugs but he had carried them in a plastic container which wasn't the original one the pills came in. Charges were dropped, the police were just trying to get all of the students attention.

The young man that was killed was from Lee from what I remember and was the older brother of a student at Rogers who had gone there with a bat to confront a student who was bullying his younger brother. The Vice Principle at Rogers was holding him down when the other student grabbed the bat and hit him. Such a tragedy.

I just moved out of the neighborhood next to Lee last year and it definitely was the demographics which changed Lee. I wouldn't let my kids go to Lee so I had them zoned to Westside through the magnet school program.

[classof81]

Randy Harvey was a student at Lee but had come to Rogers after school to avenge a fight his younger brother had gotten into a day or so before. When Randy confronted the kid who had beaten up his brother the principal tackled him from behind and the kid grabbed the baseball bat Randy brought and hit him in the head with it while he was on the ground.

Great pics bookman thanks.

I graduated from both T. H. Rogers and Robert E. Lee ('69-'75) and this is the first I've ever heard of a Randy Harvey getting killed. Anymore details?

And was being a student at Lee in the 70s that bad?..a "living hell"? I had friends when I was in high school that went to Westbury, Milby, and Lamar and from what they told be about their schools it was just like Lee. Sure being in a graduating class of over 600 students sucked. Thanks to Houston's urban sprawl kids from so many neighborhoods/areas went to the school. A kid from Tanglewood had classmates from Dairy Ashford...they might as well have lived in different towns. You NEVER saw them after school around town.

The student body of Lee in the early-mid 1970s was divided into the groups kickers, freaks, jets, and the always present nerds/geeks. Maybe it was a different scene at privates like Kinkaid or St. Johns back then but I'm sure it was the same at all of the west side high schools (Sharpestown, etc.). This was the day when there were much fewer private schools in Houston.

[mrfootball]

Was HISD's neglect of the Robert E. Lee campus purposeful? It's a complete dump. Has it been closed yet? I don't believe there are any plans to renovate, am I correct? One would think this is by no accident. Perhaps if it had a different name, HISD might have put forth more effort to save it.

My mother was one of the first graduates of this HS and named the yearbook.

Edited January 23, 2007 by mrfootball

[nmainguy]

HISD did indeed neglect it on purpose. They gave away the funds to CyFair for a new football palace.

BTW, my mom went to Reagan and they have a fine-ass new addition, parking garage and total restoration of the original structure.

http://hs.houstonisd.org/ReaganHS/images/June2006Gallery.htm

Edited January 23, 2007 by nmainguy

[KatieDidIt]

Yeah, when they rezoned it years ago it basically killed it. It was going down hill for a while, but giving that school to "the hood" was the end of it. Lots of my friends from Tanglewood/Briargrove families went there in the late 80's.

[Pumapayam]

Was HISD's neglect of the Robert E. Lee campus purposeful?

My parent bought a house is SBISD to avoid having to send my brother and I to that school, and I thank them for that. I have heard horrible things about that campus. No one cares about education there and the funding proves it. It is a typical "High Learning, Dangerous Minds, Freedom Writers . . ." type school.

[icepickphil]

Class of '75 Lee grad here...when did it really start to go downhill?...when did they change the name?

Is it now zoned for Gulfton?

[Pumapayam]

Class of '75 Lee grad here...when did it really start to go downhill?...when did they change the name?

Is it now zoned for Gulfton?

I don't think they are planning to change the name, it was just suggested in the thread.

[KinkaidAlum]

Lee started going downhill in the mid to late 1980s. Up until that time, lots of kids from Tanglewood and Briargrove still attended.

My older sister is a 1986 graduate. She was a member of MarsaLee (girls social club) and the Hoffa and MadDogs (boys clubs) were still going strong. However, she told some horrible stories about her senior year. Not sure what exactly happened but the class issues came to a head in that year. Lots of friction between the upper class kids (largely white) and the very poor kids from the Gulfton area. My sister was actually assaulted in the hallway that year and my parents moved her into the "work-study" program. That just meant she skipped school in the morning and then worked at some store in the Galleria for most of her senior year.

The academics had gone WAY down by that point. I was in the 8th grade and my sister and her friends would buy my English papers for the senior class. Funny thing is, they'd get higher grades!

By the mid 1990s, the families from Tanglewood, Briargrove, Briarcroft, and other areas simply stopped sending their kids there. The racial makeup changed so radically and so quickly, that the school was forced to drop football due to a lack of interest among the students. When Westside opened, some families started going there but they were able to petition HISD to allow for an option of attending Westside or Lamar. For many kids, Lamar was a much more convenient option.

[VicMan]

Yes, Gulfton is zoned to Lee High School

Some neighborhoods on the opposite side of Bellaire Boulevard from Sharpstown are zoned to Lee HS. In fact, if people lived in Sharpstown Mall, it would be zoned for Lee HS.

Edited January 24, 2007 by VicMan

[jtr]

I have worked for a local university in the Admissions office for many years, and I can tell you that Lee high has not had a good academic reputation since maybe the 70's. People who say that the opening of West Side High was the cause of the decline of Lee could not be more wrong. Lee High has been bad for quite some time, and West Side is not much better in terms of preparing students for college. West Side looks nice because its new, but the teachers and students are the same people who would have been at Lee High.

[VicMan]

I have worked for a local university in the Admissions office for many years, and I can tell you that Lee high has not had a good academic reputation since maybe the 70's. People who say that the opening of West Side High was the cause of the decline of Lee could not be more wrong. Lee High has been bad for quite some time, and West Side is not much better in terms of preparing students for college. West Side looks nice because its new, but the teachers and students are the same people who would have been at Lee High.

Well, actually Westside has some different types of people. Some wealthier people put their kids in Westside. That's not to say that everyone in Westside is wealthy and in a college prep track, though.

Lee has been in decline since the 1970's, but the opening of Westside lead to some changes. I.E. The American football team left after Westside opened.

[jtr]

The difference may be in income, but in terms of preparation for college, neither Lee nor Westside do a good job. This, of course, is based on historical data at my university. Obviously we have more historical data for Lee, but since Westside has been open the quality of students we have received has been quite low.

[VicMan]

The difference may be in income, but in terms of preparation for college, neither Lee nor Westside do a good job. This, of course, is based on historical data at my university. Obviously we have more historical data for Lee, but since Westside has been open the quality of students we have received has been quite low.

So, which HISD schools do you feel contribute the highest quality students to your university?

[jtr]

In HISD, the schools that send us the best students are Health Professions High School, Lamar, Law Enforcement High school, Waltrip High school, Bellaire High, Reagan, and Davis. Some of these schools may be a surprise to you. We researched our graduates over the last 20 years to see what high schools were sending us students who were graduating from college within 4 years and we found that students from these HISD schools had the highest college graduation rates for our university. All of this research was done to help figure out a way to improve our graduation rates. Believe it or not, the best students in the survey were Home Schooled students. They out perform everyone, even the elite private school students.