Pro-Vision Academy

Last updated

Pro-Vision Academy, is a state-authorized charter school in the Sunnyside area of Houston, Texas. [1] A co-educational facility, it serves grades 3 through 12. [2] It is one of the components of Pro-Vision, Inc., which also operates an after-school program and an aquaponics facility.

Contents

As of 2009 it was the city's only school catering to students classified as at risk that was headed by a former National Football League player. [3]

History

Roynell Young established the institution in 1990; [1] initially it only admitted male students and was solely an after-school program. [4] It was the first charter middle school only for male students in the city; Young argued that having female students would distract male students. [3] He received inspiration after visiting many predominantly low-income African-American neighborhoods. He began a partnership with the Houston Independent School District (HISD), [5] to establish a district-affiliated charter school for boys, then in the Third Ward. [6] Young acquired the land for a permanent campus in 2008. [5] Donations from private entities provided the funding. The occurrence of Hurricane Ike delayed the move, [6] which occurred in November 2008. [3]

In 2013 Pro-Vision ended its HISD affiliation and became a charter school with direct oversight from the State of Texas. [5] In 2014 the school began admitting female students. [7]

Governance

As of 2017 Jeff Van Gundy is on the board of directors. [7] Young had asked Van Gundy to join the board. [5]

Operations

As of 2009 the school expects its teachers to work, each, for ten months, with sixty hours per week, and also doing extra unpaid volunteer work on weekend and summer periods. Students who perform well in classes may have after-school activities while students with poor grades are required to do extra tutorial hours. [3]

Campus

Its campus has 21 acres (8.5 ha) of land, [7] with a 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) facility. [5] It includes a 2 acres (0.81 ha) aquaponics area meant to generate fresh food for the food desert community around it. [8] Plans call for an extra 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) facility with classrooms and a gymnasium/multi-use facility. [9] The campus also has an amphitheater, an American football field, a garden, a tree farm, and a trail. The National Football League (NFL) sponsored the football field. [6]

The Third Ward facility used prior to the Sunnyside site was in a one-story building at Cullen Boulevard and Balkin Street. The building was made of brick. [6] From 1995 to 2000 it had occupied around five different sites. In a period prior to 1998 it occupied a retail space that previously held a video rental store. [3]

Student body

In 2016 it had 360 students. [9] As of 2017 it had 339 students. The school identified 77% as being "at-risk". According to the school, 95% of the total student body qualified for receiving school lunches without cost or at a lower cost than usual. [7] Circa 2016 it anticipated having, at a later time, an enrollment of 435. [9]

Paul Solotaroff stated in a 2009 article in Men's Journal that "nine out of 10 kids come in sorely behind in most subjects and drag along with them the kinds of chaos that KIPP and YES committees screen out." [3]

Circa 2008 the school had 120 students at the middle school level. The statistics stated that 90% of them were in poverty. [6] By 2009 the middle school enrollment had increased to 160. [3]

Academic performance

Circa 2008 the graduation rate was 81% as per a study commissioned by the school itself. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pershing Middle School (Houston)</span> Middle school in Houston, Texas

John J. Pershing Middle School is a middle school in Houston, Texas, United States. It is located in the Braeswood Place neighborhood, near the Texas Medical Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunnyside, Houston</span>

Sunnyside is a community in southern Houston, Texas, United States, south of Downtown Houston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnegie Vanguard High School</span> Public magnet school in Houston, Texas, United States

Andrew Carnegie Vanguard High School, named after Andrew Carnegie, is located in the Fourth Ward of Houston, Texas near Downtown and was formerly located in Sunnyside. The school serves grades 9-12 and is part of the Houston Independent School District. It is the only High School Vanguard Program in HISD meaning that all students are labelled as gifted and talented by testing and the school has students take all Advanced Placement core classes as part of its curriculum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wheatley High School (Houston)</span> School

Phillis Wheatley High School is a secondary school located at 4801 Providence Street in Houston, Texas, United States with a ZIP code of 77020. Wheatley is a part of the Houston Independent School District. Wheatley, named after Phillis Wheatley, is located inside the 610 Loop in the Fifth Ward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third Ward, Houston</span> Neighborhood in Houston, Texas

Third Ward is an area of Houston, Texas, United States, that evolved from one of the six historic wards of the same name. It is located in the southeast Houston management district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Thomas High School (Houston)</span> Private boys secondary school in Houston, Texas, United States

St. Thomas High School is an all-boys, Catholic college preparatory school in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1900, St. Thomas is the second oldest continuously operating private high school in Houston behind Incarnate Word Academy, which was founded in 1873. The school is operated by the Basilian Fathers in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milby High School</span> Public secondary school in Houston, Texas

Charles H. Milby High School is a public secondary school at 1601 Broadway in the East End, Houston, Texas, United States. It serves grades 9 through 12, and is a part of the Houston Independent School District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worthing High School (Houston)</span> Public high school in Houston, Texas, United States

Evan Edward Worthing Early College High School is a secondary school located in the Sunnyside area of Houston, Texas, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kashmere High School</span> High school in Houston, Texas, United States

Kashmere High School is a secondary school in Houston, Texas that serves grades 9 through 12; it is a part of the Houston Independent School District. It is located in the Trinity Gardens neighborhood, and its namesake is the nearby Kashmere Gardens neighborhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roynell Young</span> American football player (born 1957)

Roynell Young is an American former professional football player who spent his entire career as a safety and cornerback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL) from 1980 to 1988. He played college football for the Alcorn State Braves and was selected by the Eagles in the first round of the 1980 NFL draft. In his rookie year, he played in Super Bowl XV and was selected to the Pro Bowl in his second season. He was one of two players who played in both Super Bowl XV and The Fog Bowl for the Eagles. The other was offensive lineman Ron Baker. Young was inducted to the Alcorn State University Sports Hall of Fame in November 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Forest High School</span> Public school in Texas, United States

North Forest High School (NFHS) is a secondary school located in Houston, Texas, United States. The school is a part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD); it was a part of the North Forest Independent School District (NFISD) until the district closed on July 1, 2013.

Leader's Academy High School for Business and Academic Success, previously the High School for Business and Economic Success (HSBES), was a Grade 7–12 state charter school located on the campus of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Windsor Village, Houston, in the U.S. state of Texas. The school was formerly named Gulf Shores Academy. In 2011 it merged with Benji's Special Educational Academy into Victory Preparatory Academy.

Hiram Clarke is an area in Houston, Texas, United States, southwest of NRG Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberty High School (Houston)</span> Public high school in Houston, Texas, United States

Liberty High School is an alternative high school on the grounds of the Houston Community College Gulfton Campus in Gulfton, Houston, Texas. A part of the Houston Independent School District, it is a school catering to recent immigrants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wharton Dual Language Academy</span> School in Houston, Texas, United States

William H. Wharton K-8 Dual Language Academy, formerly William Wharton Elementary School, is a public school in the Neartown area of Houston, Texas, and part of the Houston Independent School District. Also known as the Wharton Dual Language Academy, the school serves gifted and talented students in the Language Magnet program from Pre-K through 8th grade.

Victory Preparatory Academy or Victory Prep (VPREP) was a charter school in Houston, Texas that had two campuses: one in the city's south, Victory Preparatory Academy South; and a northern campus, Victory Preparatory Academy North. The system all together served grades K-12 and was operated by the nonprofit organization Management Accountability Corp. It closed in 2018.

The Lawson Academy, formerly WALIPP-TSU Preparatory Academy, is a charter middle school in the Third Ward area of Houston, Texas. It was established as waves of single sex public schools opened in American inner city communities circa the 2000s.

KIPP Texas Public Schools, is the branch of the KIPP charter school network in the U.S. state of Texas.

References

  1. 1 2 Pendergast, Sean (2019-08-14). "Texans Donate Over $5 Million To Sunnyside's Pro-Vision Academy". Houston Press . Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  2. ↑ "Pro-Vision Academy". Pro-Vision, Inc. Retrieved 2019-08-28. 4590 Wilmington Street Houston, TX, 77051
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Solotaroff, Paul (2009-09-02). "Making Men". Men's Journal . Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2011-01-26. [...]and certainly the only such academy for at-risk boys being run by a retired Pro Bowler.
  4. ↑ Lewis, Brooke A. (2017-02-04). "Houston-area teenage girls draw inspiration from NFL Women's Summit". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Atkins, Hunter. "Van Gundy's victory". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Goldberg, Ryan (2008-09-16). "Winning Against Hopelessness". The New York Times . Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Young, Matt (2017-05-18). "Jeff Van Gundy making a difference at Pro-Vision Academy". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  8. ↑ Kent, Roy (2019-05-23). "Urban farm program gets boost from McNair Foundation". Houston Chronicle . River Oaks Examiner . Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  9. 1 2 3 Mellon, Ericka; Rebecca Elliot (2016-04-05). "Cash-strapped charter schools vie for federal development funds". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved 2019-08-28.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.