Lamar High School At 3325 Westheimer Rd.

[Geoff8201]

On 2/19/2020 at 8:39 PM, st6 said:

Current freshman at Lamar, based on what I’ve heard from teachers and other staff, the older buildings were becoming really rundown and infestated with rats and things of that nature. Was it like this back when you went here? I know the East & West buildings were relatively new at that point (built in the late 1980s if I’m not mistaken).

I don’t remember it being anything like that. The buildings at times felt their age (20, 30 years) with the Natatorium being the newest, but not run down. The school was in pretty decent shape at the turn of the millennium, but I was just a student then, with no idea what was going on behind the scenes, or the eye for details that I have now. Certainly weren't any rats running around the halls. I remember someone did do a bad senior prank and lured a bunch of pigeons into the North building either in 2000 or 01. The blocked North building door from the courtyard with dozens of Christmas trees in 1999 was way better.

 

Today the East building is almost gone. Guess the cafeteria canopy will get pulled down last. They are adding drainage to the new open space and the baseball field, as well as pouring concrete in some dividing wall off the north building.

 

[danielsonr]

22 minutes ago, Geoff8201 said:

I don’t remember it being anything like that. The buildings at times felt their age (20, 30 years) with the Natatorium being the newest, but not run down. The school was in pretty decent shape at the turn of the millennium, but I was just a student then, with no idea what was going on behind the scenes, or the eye for details that I have now. Certainly weren't any rats running around the halls. I remember someone did do a bad senior prank and lured a bunch of pigeons into the North building either in 2000 or 01. The blocked North building door from the courtyard with dozens of Christmas trees in 1999 was way better.

 

Today the East building is almost gone. Guess the cafeteria canopy will get pulled down last. They are adding drainage to the new open space and the baseball field, as well as pouring concrete in some dividing wall off the north building.

 

Is there an available site plan for the completed campus? I could not find one on this thread or HISD's website. There is a lot of open land after all the building demolitions.

[st6]

5 minutes ago, danielsonr said:

Is there an available site plan for the completed campus? I could not find one on this thread or HISD's website. There is a lot of open land after all the building demolitions.

The first picture was hung up around the school, the second I found online. 2.5 fields, a track, baseball field, softball field, and 3 tennis courts. Lamar will be one of, if not the only, HISD school to have this many athletic facilities/fields

[danielsonr]

3 hours ago, st6 said:

The first picture was hung up around the school, the second I found online. 2.5 fields, a track, baseball field, softball field, and 3 tennis courts. Lamar will be one of, if not the only, HISD school to have this many athletic facilities/fields

Thanks so much!

[gene]

dang! congrats to them!!! so happy these kids will have such an amazing new school to attend! i think it is something deserved in this area

[Texasota]

In this area? Do some kids deserve nice facilities more than others?

[gene]

What i mean to say is from what i have heard this school in particular has been very run down and morale was at an all time low...this is what i have heard anyway...so kids actually dreaded going to Lamar and it was hard to get good teachers to stay (*and be happy)...

you read that the way you chose to read it but nope, didn't mean any offence  

so its not that they deserve it more than others, they just deserve a nice school! Like ALL kids do and many have.

I know there are tons more schools that deserve the improvements as well...i think high school is one of the most important times in a kids lifetime...it certainly was for me!

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by gene

[Highrise Tower]

View from HRO.

 

[Geoff8201]

The fields and track are taking shape

[hbcu]

Yates has the same fields. But no lights so it’s basically just for practice

 

Lamar has to keep their campus attractive so they keep getting the folks to attend from out the zone. The excuse was facilities then but not the same anymore as most HISD schools are rebuilt 

[Highrise Tower]

[Geoff8201]

Main field is done

[hbcu]

how they have a turf practice field and a fully functional softball field? yates has a grass fb field and a sb field that has sat unfinished. Was that extra?

 

Is that an indoor facility?

[Houston19514]

14 hours ago, hbcu said:

how they have a turf practice field and a fully functional softball field? yates has a grass fb field and a sb field that has sat unfinished. Was that extra?

 

Is that an indoor facility?

 

The facilities in the foreground of that picture are those of St John's High School, not Lamar. (You can tell by the "Mavericks" name and logo on the building.)

 

Edited July 8, 2020 by Houston19514

[hbcu]

they still have a turf practice field - no other HISD has that which has been rebuilt to my knowledge

[Houston19514]

8 hours ago, hbcu said:

they still have a turf practice field - no other HISD has that which has been rebuilt to my knowledge

 

I think I read somewhere that "Lamar has to keep their campus attractive so they keep getting the folks to attend from out the zone."

 

FWIW, Lamar is not the only high school getting an artificial turf practice field. 

Edited July 9, 2020 by Houston19514

[H-Town Man]

It looks like the new building is designed to keep the kids inside pretty much throughout the day except for athletics/P.E. Whereas before they walked between a few different buildings. I guess this is typical of new school designs in our era of security concerns. I'm also guessing that the windows in the old buildings were operable, but the new ones aren't. This is the type of reconstruction project that you only see in America, where "the kids deserve something new" is reason enough to tear down good buildings. Someone mentioned rats but that sounds more like the usual myths that accompany most teardowns. If they could save and renovate the oldest building, I imagine they could have saved any of the more recent buildings. 

 

[st6]

22 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

If they could save and renovate the oldest building, I imagine they could have saved any of the more recent buildings. 

 

The new education system that comes along with that new building also addressed a lot of behavioral concerns that the older buildings couldn’t.

 

Regardless, a big emphasis of this project was to provide Lamar with athletic facilities comparable to schools out in the suburbs

[monarch]

^^^ is there an on-campus gymnasium?  where do they practice/play basketball etc...?

[Houston19514]

5 hours ago, monarch said:

^^^ is there an on-campus gymnasium?  where do they practice/play basketball etc...?

 

Yes, there is a gymnasium.

[hindesky]

[st6]

13 hours ago, monarch said:

^^^ is there an on-campus gymnasium?  where do they practice/play basketball etc...?

Located in the 2 Story portion of the new building

[Geoff8201]

On 8/6/2019 at 8:06 AM, Geoff8201 said:

 

I posted this last year, it’s a virtual tour of the new portion of the school. The gym and pool are shown towards the end of the video.

[hbcu]

On 7/9/2020 at 11:10 AM, st6 said:

The new education system that comes along with that new building also addressed a lot of behavioral concerns that the older buildings couldn’t.

 

Regardless, a big emphasis of this project was to provide Lamar with athletic facilities comparable to schools out in the suburbs

 

That's where I draw the line. Lamar's success is due to taking kids from other HISD areas. If anything, they could afford the grass field and the upkeep while other HISD schools can take the turf field. HISD has turned a blind eye towards their football tactics as they normally are their only hope in football which isn't surprising since they get to raid the other areas. HISD teams play on turf so why practice all week on grass and then have to shift focus to turf? You can practice on a turf field in a rain and maintain it better than a grass field. 

 

 

On 7/9/2020 at 9:16 AM, Houston19514 said:

 

I think I read somewhere that "Lamar has to keep their campus attractive so they keep getting the folks to attend from out the zone."

 

FWIW, Lamar is not the only high school getting an artificial turf practice field. 

 

who else has it in HISD? The rebuilt schools I've seen have grass fields that look like abandoned houses now cause the upkeep sucks. Grass is hard to maintain - especially if you have no plans on maintaining it due to wear and tear. 

 

I would love to know the bond money disbursement and how some things came about. They rebuilt yates, gave them brand new baseball and softball practice fields and they barely have teams. No team has even practiced on the fields prior to COVID and the fields aren't even completed as there's no fence to separate baseball and softball. The grass has taken over the fields and you have no infields but that was a dumb decision.

 

TSU plays off campus for its softball and baseball teams and HISD could've sold part of that land to TSU and let them decide what to do with that at worst.

 

I tell ya.

 

 

 

 

[hindesky]

[hindesky]