R.E. Lee is recommeded to have the 11th-12th grades. Sterling recommedned to have 9th and 10th grades.
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High school panel votes on campus split
By Allyson Gonzalez
The Baytown Sun
Published February 12, 2003
BAYTOWN — The Goose Creek High School Rezoning Committee voted 16-0 in favor of a freshman and sophomore campus at Ross S. Sterling High School and a junior and senior campus at Robert E. Lee High School.
The board will recommend the plan to the school board on either Feb. 25 or March 3, after meeting Tuesday to finalize recommendation details. If approved by the board, the changes could be implemented by 2006-2007.
The 16-0 vote had two abstentions and is the culmination of nine months of committee meetings. The group hopes to respond to a projected student growth that could exceed the 5,184-seat instructional capacity at the two high schools by more than 12 percent come 2011. No changes to school names or mascots were discussed during Tuesday’s meeting.
“This will encourage study skills and getting grounded in the seriousness of academics and its impact on their future,” said committee member Pat Cauley, a former teacher.
Cauley lobbied for a freshman-sophomore campus and convinced many of those interested in a ninth grade center that the dual grade approach catered to the specific needs of both classes. It would also provide similar benefits at the senior campus, she said.
The vote comes one week after the committee nixed a proposed plan that would have entirely rezoned the district, though maintaining the two high school structure.
“We still get some of the positives that modeled the ninth grade stand alone and the positive effects,” said committee member Alfred Lopez.
Benefits of the dual class arrangement included expanded advanced placement offerings and career technology course, and maximum course offerings. Supporters also said it would encourage student development and varsity and subvarsity experience.
The decision follows the committee’s ranking of criteria to be considered during the proposal process. Topping the committee’s list, in order of importance, was academics, campus capacity, special programs and extracurricular activities. Projected student growth and diversity followed, along with safety and rezoning impact.
“I think this is best for the kids,” said Gary Spence, who serves on the committee. Spence said he preferred the option based on the promise of increased academic offerings. Spence’s son, a senior at Lee, had to work this year as an office assistant because there were no other advanced courses for him to take, Spence said.
If approved by the school board, the cost of the committee’s recommendation is estimated at a maximum $14.2 million plus $1.1 million in operations. It was the least expensive of all the options, and far less than other choices reviewed by the committee, some of which hovered at $21 million.
A “do nothing” model would have also cost the district. At an industry estimate of $17,500 per student for construction costs, the cost needed to address projected 2011 student growth would total $12.6 million, according to Paul McLarty, the district’s assistant superintendent for business services.
A recommendation to split the campus with a freshman-sophomore campus at Lee and junior-senior campus at Sterling, would have cost a maximum $21 million, and an additional $1.3 million for operations.
“This is after gathering all the facts and the data,” said committee facilitator Mike Shields. “They’ve not left one stone unturned.”
Despite the committee’s overwhelming vote for a single high school with dual classes at each school, not all were satisfied by the choice.
“The school board said ‘Don’t spend any money,’” said member Gloria Skelton, who questioned if the money would be available. Skelton also doubted the projected numbers of the demographers who had erred for this year’s projections at both Lee and Sterling.
“I think the demographers were wrong,” she said.
The committee will spend next week preparing and finalizing its recommendation to the school board. Based on suggestions by assistant superintendent for personnel and student services Toby York, the committee will attempt to show how the proposal best benefits the students in the district and will create a list of positives and negatives surrounding the choice.
York suggested the committee bring more than one option for rezoning to the board, based on an earlier presentation to the school board by the junior school rezoning committee.
The case must be built for a bond referendum, York said.
“Giving (the board) some flexibility is not a bad idea,” he said.
The committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the E.F. Green Center, 607 W. Baker Road.
Brought to our attention by David Womack
Tradition eliminated from Goose Creek priorities
Attention all Lee Gander students, teachers, graduates, sports fans, friends and traditionalists. A major change is coming!
In 8 weeks, near the end of football season, the redistricting committee will probably recommend the formation of a new split-campus super school to be formed within 1 to 5 years.
These plans would effectively eliminate Robert E. Lee as a viable, independent, 5A, Division II, perennial championship high school. Tradition has been completely eliminated from the committee’s list of priorities that will be the basis for the recommendation of a new super school.
A minimal survey was circulated in early August. Six were reported. Four were for Sterling to-be designated as the “lead” school and none were for Lee. In a non-Lakewood survey, two were for Sterling and none for Lee.
The redistricting committee has relied heavily on these questionable survey results, taken during the slowest summer month, to justify the elimination of Lee High School as the choice for the 10th, 11th and 12th grades in a new super school.
Arise Ganders! Tradition is “key”to the designation of any new super school. The name Robert E. Lee and the Gander mascot should be retained. Lee has earned that level of recognition with a 76-year record of championship performance, both academically and athletically. With the power of the new consolidation, the school will attract the best educators and will win championships in all areas of student participation.
Sherwood Hensley
Co-captain 1950 Ganders
R.E.L Class of 1951
Pete Sultis remembers the 1952 Ganders.
Part of a Baytown Sun Newspaper article by
By Mike Finley Published December 23, 2002
Do you remember where you were Dec. 16, 1952?
Pete Sultis remembers. And remembers well.
On Dec. 16, 1952, Sultis, 29 at the time, was an assistant at Robert E. Lee as the Ganders went against Lubbock for the state championship for the second year in a row and lost, 12-7.
Sultis, who would go on to become head coach of the Ganders and end his career as athletic director of Goose Creek schools and whose daughter, Barbara, would later grow up to be superintendent, is now 79 and the lone survivor of a coaching staff that starred Dan Stallworth.
“There was nothing complicated about our schemes,” Sultis said, laughing. “We only had six running plays and three pass plays.”
The Ganders reached the title game with a classic 14-7 victory over Corpus Christi Ray at Memorial Stadium, now named in Sultis’ honor. “Ray had a fourth-and-2 from its 20 and gambled when it was 7-7 in the fourth quarter. They didn’t make it, and we ended up scoring the winning touchdown.”
Lee had only one loss in the regular season, 20-13, to Temple. The Ganders rolled through the district season by beating Beaumont High, 41-0, Orange, 47-12, Galveston Ball, 35-0, and Pasadena High, 49-0. Then it was on to the playoffs as the Ganders beat Port Arthur, 13-7, and Houston Reagan, 26-0, before the Ray game.
“We had a great season,” Sultis said. “I don’t think we were as good in 1952 as we were in 1951. I thought Ray was the best team we played, and Ray, I thought, should have won the state championship. We were expected to go to the state playoffs, but Ray was supposed to win the state championship.”
Looking back, Pete said, “We lost to Lubbock, and I hate to admit it, but they may have been better. But two good football teams played that day. There’s no question about that. We just came up a little short.”
Players like Gerald Orton, Fred Ernst, Jimmy Morris, Joe Schiraldi, Mike Hensley, Kenneth Daw, Dick Cooke, Norman Adams (“He was a great football player,” Sultis said), Robert Lopez, Tom Gentry, Eddie Gray, James Hollister, L.A. Bergeron, Chester Burchette and Louis Del Homme were some who made that 1952 team click.
“They were a great group,” Sultis said. “A real pleasure to coach.”