Cinco Ranch High School

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Cinco Ranch High School
The Best High School in America
Front View
School type	Free public
Established	1999
District	Katy Independent School District
Grades	9-12
Principal	Bonnie Brasic
Faculty	179[2]
Students	3,133[1]
Colors	Maroon and white
Mascot	Cougar
Campus	Suburban, 66 acres (0.3 km²)
Location	Katy, Texas United States
Website	[9]

Cinco Ranch High School is a secondary school located in unincorporated Fort Bend County, Texas that serves grades 9 through 12 as part of the Katy Independent School District. It is located off Cinco Ranch Boulevard within the community of Cinco Ranch.

The school was opened in 1999 and has steadily grown to over 3,000 students due to the rapid expansion of the Katy area and graduates approximately 800 students a year. With the highest per capita income of high schools in the Katy area, Cinco Ranch has been given the distinction of the "rich school" with the average family of a student earning 132,297 U.S. dollars per year.^[3] In addition to being "rich", Cinco Ranch also tends to be highly competitive due to the education and income levels of the students' parents.

Contents 1 History 2 "The Best High School In America" 3 Campus 3.1 Pictorial campus tour 4 Academics 5 Extracurricular activities 5.1 Athletics 5.2 Debate 5.3 Theater 5.4 Orchestra 5.5 Journalism 6 Discipline and student culture 7 Controversies 8 Feeder patterns 9 References and footnotes 10 External links

[edit] History

Cinco Ranch High School opened in the fall of 1999 after a 130 million U.S. dollar bond issue was passed in the spring of 1996 and another 324 million dollar bond was passed in the 1999 allowing for funding.^[4] In the initial years, the school played host to displaced students from other Katy ISD schools including 8th graders displaced by overcrowding at Beck Junior High School in the 1999-2000 school year. Other relocations include students from West Memorial Elementary that moved to Cinco Ranch after the elementary encountered mold related issues in 2002.

Upon opening Cinco Ranch also immediately began taking incoming 9th graders from surrounding areas previously zoned to other Katy area high schools. In 2002, the initial freshmen rezoned from surrounding high schools, in particular Katy High School and James E. Taylor High School, became the first to graduate, having spent 3 years at CRHS. It is notable that every successive year the number of graduating seniors has grown by more than 100, to a class of just over 700 in 2004. The class of 2004 was the only "5 year class," many of them having been among the Beck students that spent 8th grade at CRHS.

[edit] "The Best High School In America"

A distinctive characteristic of the early years of this school was that between the years 2001 and 2004, and especially 2002 and 2003, the official slogan of the school, as given by the administration, was of Cinco Ranch being the "Best High School in America." Various derivatives were introduced, with announcements both via the public address system and large digitized message board in front of the school at various times announcing Cinco as having the "Best Students in America," "The Best Janitors in America," and so forth.

Critics questioned the lack of empirical data to support these assertions. It has been suggested by some that this motto and its corollaries were intended to be motivating and not taken in a literal sense. Critics replied that this was beyond the bounds of acceptable, literal or not. The issue was resolved in the Spring of 2004 as Mr. Lowell Strike, receiving his Doctorate and moving into the administrative branch of KISD, left the school. He was replaced by Bonnie Brasic, formerly of Mayde Creek Junior High School. She chose not to continue this tradition.

However, a new motto was added to the school. "Shining the Light onto the Future" posters are placed in almost every classroom of the building, and can also be seen in the long hallways. The posters also include an acronym for the word "future".

However, the slogan "best in America" was resurrected for the 2006 Yearbook. The yearbook was developed under a team led by seniors Kasey Leggette and Jessica Moseley; themed after a dictionary, it sported the slogan on the top of the outside cover.

[edit] Campus

The original building, built in 1999, has been expanded. It consisted of a central rotunda, where the cafeteria, offices, and library were (and continue to be) located. Attached to this are 2 long hallways running in opposite directions, which house classrooms. At the end of one of the hallways are the athletic facilities, including a natatorium, workout facility, gymnasiums, fields, and a stadium. At the end of the other hallway, on the opposite end of the school, were the fine arts rehearsal facilities and black box theatre. The original facility was built on a 66 acre site by PBK Architects to support a maximum of 2,800 students.^[5] The school has a net building area of 433,000 Sq. Ft. and cost of $37,507,000 USD.^[6]

The school benefited from the expanding budgets of KISD, which could be attributed to rapid growth in the surrounding areas and the addition of Katy Mills Mall, which, through taxes, gave a large boost to KISD funds. In 2001, many of the KISD high schools received renovations, and all received new performing arts centers (PACs). The KISD high schools also received additions of ninth grade centers, which may be attributed to the belief by the district that younger students benefit from an eased transition into high school. The PAC and 9th Grade Center were added to the fine arts end of the hallway at a cost of 11,356,050 USD.^[7] The addition of the Performing Arts Center has improved the quality of both theatrical and musical productions. The department includes the orchestra, choir, band, visual arts, and theater productions.

The secondary expansion, along with 9th grade gyms and offices, made for a very long and narrow two story building with a total length of one quarter mile. This "tunnel effect" creates a good environment for indoor running in the summer. Another large athletic accoutrement, added in 2004, is a hill more than 30 feet tall with a paved running track paved to facilitate track runner training. However, even with the new addition, the growing enrollment has caused a steadily increasing number of portable classrooms to be added to the outside of the school.

[edit] Pictorial campus tour

Cinco Ranch PAC and Ninth Grade Center	Main Entrance to the School	One of the two teaching wings of the school. Both parts are identical	The tunnel effect created by the school's layout. Note the golf carts, the Cinco Ranch Staff uses them to get around the inside of the building
The main cafeteria where grades 10, 11, and 12 eat lunch	The athletic hill behind the school	Statue donated by class of 2005	Newer version speed bumps

[edit] Academics

Classes range in size from just 10 in very specialized classes to over 30 (though rarely over 35) in some of the core subjects with an average of 18.4 students per class.^[8] A student can expect a class size around 26-30, generally with less in advanced courses (PreAP, AP, and GT [gifted and talented]) and more in Academic ("normal level") courses. Although the recent foreign language classes offered on campus during school hours, (particularly the East Asian languages such and Japanese and Chinese), have been reported to average about 6 students to a classroom during the 2006-2007 school year. The school is noted by administrators and students for being highly competitive, especially with efforts to rank in the top ten percent of graduating classes, which guarantees admission to Texas public universities. The school is amongst the top 20 most academically rigorous in the state. Instruction is seen as being very rigorous in a district noted for its high quality programs across the board. To empirically quantify the rigorous nature of Cinco Ranch High School the following facts are presented for the 2005 school year:^[9]

• 508 of the school's 3,314 students took an Advanced Placement test with 89% of them passing and 30% receiving a perfect score.
• The composite ACT score was 24.3 which is noticeably higher than the national average of 20.9.
• A GPA of 3.8750 was required to enter the top quarter of the high school class.
• The average SAT score was 1141 which is 113 points above the national average of 1028.

[edit] Extracurricular activities

[edit] Athletics

The school opened with only two classes, and as a result the American football team could not compete at the varsity level until the fall of 2000. The first several varsity teams were largely unsuccessful, but beginning in 2002, football began to assert itself, missing the playoffs by a game in 2002 and making the playoffs for the first time in 2004. The school competes at the varsity level in a great variety of sports, with a particularly well-known track-and-field program, which won state titles in 2004 and 2005. In March 2005, the school had 27 athletes competing in the Nike Indoor Nationals at the PG County Sportsplex in Landover, Maryland.^[10] Also its boys wrestling program has won districts for five years straight now.

While Cinco Ranch's football tends to gather the most attention from students and teachers alike, the wrestling team, has won districts five times starting in the 2000/2001 school year. Though the team itself has never won a state championship, the team has produced over six state champions. The team is coached by Bill Dushane who has a very involved coaching style on the mat. This year Cinco Ranch High School Wrestling is currently ranked 2nd in the state, and has three varsity wrestlers ranked in the state and many others expected to qualify. In 2007, the Cinco Ranch Wrestling team won the Texas State Championships for high school wrestling, with Matt Harris, Courtney Lindley, and Jamie Sheets claiming their own state titles.

Swimming has also become a strongpoint of CRHS athletics. The girls have won districts every year since 2001, whilst the boys consistently achieve 2nd to Katy Taylor. On the regional level, the girls often second themselves to Kingwood; the boys usually attain third to fifth place.

[edit] Debate

The Cinco Ranch Speech & Debate team has been successful over the past few years. Since 2003, the Debate Team has four qualifications to the NFL National Tournament in Student Congress and two qualifications to Nationals in Lincoln-Douglas debate. Additionally, the Debate Team had a student win the 2006 5A UIL State Championship in Lincoln-Douglas debate.^[11]

[edit] Theater

The Cinco Ranch Theatre Company has been a regional qualifier for the past three years, and one time state champion in OAP. (OAP is a competition play that eliminates all but two schools at every level). The Company, formally known as Cinco Del Arte, qualified for the State UIL (University Interscholastic League) competition for the first time in 2005.^[12] Many Cinco Ranch Theatre Company graduates have gone on to pursue the arts in college. Alumni are enrolled in the musical theatre, technical theatre, and theatre programs at University of Oklahoma, North Carolina School of the Arts, New York University, Texas State University, North Texas, Sam Houston, and Webster University.

[edit] Orchestra

Cinco's orchestra has ranked in the top five orchestras in Texas since the school opened in 1999, and placed fourth in the 2005-2006 school year. Cinco Ranch was the #1 school in the region in 2006-2007, taking 27 of the 136 slots available in the Region Orchestras. It has performed around Texas and Louisiana and was invited to play in Carnegie Hall in the 2005-2006 school year.

Since opening, the orchesta has been conducted by Mr. Nelsen.

[edit] Journalism

In the 2005-2006 school year, the newspaper County Line received the Silver Star award from the University Interscholastic League. Both the yearbook Panorama and County Line were also awarded with ratings of Distinguished Merit.^[10]

[edit] Discipline and student culture

Katy Independent School District has been noted in the press, including the Houston Chronicle, as running "a very tight ship" with regards to disciplinary matters. The district has a stated mission of maintaining high academic and disciplinary standards. The district has been criticized in the press, including the Houston Chronicle, as including rules which are expansive to the very edges of what is legal. A general feeling exists among the student body that if a student do something "wrong," as the administration may deem it, whether a rule exists on the matter or not, the student will be dealt with harshly. According to material published in the school paper, this creates a feeling of a very secure environment.^[13]

Data in regards to both acts and punishments is hard to come by, as KISD maintains a policy of not detailing incidents unless questioned. Cinco Ranch has a discipline referral rate of 7.4%, on par with the district's rate of 7.5%, with both notably exceeding the state average of 2.3% by a non-negligible margin.^[14]

[edit] Controversies

Main article: Cinco Ranch High School controversies

Cinco Ranch High School has been the site of numerous controversies despite its short lifespan, including participation in the district-wide blocking of Wikipedia. There have been controversial events, such as the censorship and reprinting of the 2001-2002 yearbook (which included the removal of a homosexual student's story of coming out to his parents), sexually explicit conduct on campus, the institution of drug testing, the suppression of a student newspaper and suspension of its editors, and the conduct of teachers, one who was charged on peeping-tom charges, and the other arrested for possession of child pornography, in the span of a year. Other controversies have sorrounded the school's official self proclaimed status as "The Best High School In America," the socio-economic disparity between the school and other schools in the region, and the presence of ethnic clubs, including a "majority heritage club," on campus.

[edit] Feeder patterns

The following elementary schools feed into Cinco Ranch High School:^[15]

• Exley Elementary School
• Fielder Elementary School
• Griffin Elementary School
• Hayes Elementary School
• Rylander Elementary School
• Williams Elementary School

The following junior high schools feed into Cinco Ranch High School:

• Beck Junior High School
• Cinco Ranch Junior High School
• Garland McMeans Junior High School

[edit] References and footnotes

[edit] External links

• CRHS home page
• The CRHS Cougar Band

• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 29.745491° -95.779613°
  • Satellite image from WikiMapia, Google Maps or Windows Live Local
  • Street map from MapQuest or Google Maps
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image from TerraServer-USA

	v • d • e Katy Independent School District
High schools	Cinco Ranch High School | Katy High School | James E. Taylor High School | Mayde Creek High School | Morton Ranch High School | Seven Lakes High School
Other	Arthur Miller Career Center | Cinco Ranch High School Controversies | Opportunity Awareness Center

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