Arlington Heights High School - History

History

Arlington Heights High School was established in 1922 and hosted 715 students in its inaugural year. The current building was built in 1937. Originally, students from this area attended Stripling High School in the 1920s, which is now a feeder middle school.

At that time, students at Heights were referred to as 'teasippers', a nickname Texas A&M Aggies used to call Texas Longhorns because UT students were more likely to be doctors and lawyers, while Aggies were more likely to go into ranching and related fields. Heights was generally wealthy and white until the late 1960s, hosting many children of notable Fort Worthians such as the Belknaps and Dickeys, as well as Governor Connally's children. Other notables such as John Denver, Betty Buckley, Delbert McClinton, Lee Harvey Oswald, Cairol Aitken Dawson, Turner Gill and more recently Blake Brokermeyer, James Rowland Murphy, III, ("Jim") as well as former Steeplechase President William Ratliff also attended Arlington Heights. African American students attended Como High School, which no longer exists and was merged with Arlington Heights at its closing. Students at Arlington Heights referred to their school as 'the hill' because it sat up higher than the surrounding area at the time.

Arlington Heights has had a rich tradition throughout the years. By the 1950s, the Allied Youth Club was the largest chapter in the world with a membership of over 800. This club was intended to teach the facts about alcohol and making wise decisions about its consumption.

Despite the school's reputation as an academically solid school, in 1995 the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) standardized test mathematics scores among Black and Hispanic students were low. 32% of Hispanic students and 28% of black students passed the mathematics test. 33% of students labeled economically disadvantaged passed. In 1996 the scores among low income students and racial and ethnic minorities were also low, and the school was labeled low performing as a result; state law required a passing rate of 30% in each and every category, or else the school eceived a "low performing" status. In 1996, on the TAKS mathematics portion, 78% of White Anglo students passed, 29% of Hispanic students passed, and 23% of the Black students passed. Of the students labeled economically disadvantaged, 28% passed. In 1996 other scores were above the 30% threshold. In reading, 93% of White Anglos, 48% of Blacks, and 47% of Hispanics passed, and 50% of low income students passed. In writing, 96% of whites passed, 71% of blacks passed, and 57% of Hispanics passed. 64% of low income students passed writing.