M.B. Smiley High School was a public secondary school in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Smiley, which served grades 9 through 12, and was a part of the

North Forest Independent School District North Forest Independent School District (NFISD) was a school district in northeast Houston, Texas. Established in the early 1920s in a low-income white area, it later became majority-black and black-run. The district had a history of financia ...

. M.B. Smiley was featured in the film '' Fighting the Odds: The Marilyn Gambrell Story'', which aired on Lifetime. The campus later was used as the main campus for

North Forest High School North Forest High School (NFHS) is a secondary school located in Houston, 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 ...

.Directory of Schools
" North Forest Independent School District. Retrieved on July 15, 2011.North Forest High School Ninth Grade Center and Main Campus Standard Dress Code
."

. Retrieved on July 15, 2011. "A standard dress code has been approved for North Forest High School. All students North Forest High School attending both the main campus at 10725 Mesa Drive and the Ninth Grade Center at 6602 Winfield Road are required to adhere to the required dress code." it is used as the

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest Public school (government funded), public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the ci ...

Education Learning Center. Marilyn Gambrell, a parole officer who became a teacher, started a program called " No More Victims", which was designed to prevent children of incarcerated individuals from going to prison. The library, the Carole M. Anderson Library, was named after Carole Mae Anderson, a Smiley English teacher who donated books to the school's previous library facility.

History

The original Smiley facility was built in 1953.Window on State Government--NFISD Texas School Performance Review, Chapter 5
."

Texas Education Agency The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

. Retrieved on November 14, 2011. In July 1980, the school's main building was burned to the ground, due to arson. A series of portable buildings was brought in, and the completed new building opened in 1984. Hveem, Todd.
Jaguars could share Elmore's Gym with Smiley
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

''. July 26, 2001. Retrieved on February 19, 2015. In June 2001

Tropical Storm Allison Tropical Storm Allison was a tropical cyclone that devastated southeast Texas in June 2001. An arguable example of the " brown ocean effect", Allison lasted unusually long for a June storm, remaining tropical and subtropical for 16 days, most o ...

damaged

Forest Brook High School Forest Brook High School was a high school located at 7525 Tidwell Road in Houston, Texas, Houston, Texas, United States. Serving grades 9 through 12, Forest Brook was a part of the North Forest Independent School District. It is now the site of ...

and NFISD officials temporarily closed the school. District officials wanted to put the children on the Smiley campus. NFISD residents protested the plan. Some argued that because Forest Brook and Smiley were rivals, putting the students on the same campus would lead to incidents. On July 19, 2001, district officials announced that they would move Forest Brook students to B. C. Elmore Middle School until Forest Brook was repaired. During the 2001–2002 school year, Smiley had 1,631 students. It had a capacity of 3,125 students. This gave the school a 52% classroom usage rate.Chapter 5 FACILITIES USE AND MANAGEMENT NORTH FOREST INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
."

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is an executive branch position created by the Texas Constitution. The comptroller is popularly elected every four years, and is primarily tasked with collecting all state tax revenue and estimating the a ...

. Retrieved on November 21, 2011. On July 20, 2007, some teenagers vandalized Forest Brook High with a water hose. After the vandalism of Forest Brook High School, North Forest ISD decided to merge Forest Brook's population into Smiley until Forest Brook was repaired. Some parents and observers criticized the decision, fearing territorial rivalries would cause tension between Forest Brook and Smiley students. School officials states that the repair would take at least four months. Forest Brook re-opened in the spring. In 2007

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

referred to Smiley as a "dropout factory" where at least 40 percent of the entering freshman class did not make it to their senior year. In March 2008 North Forest ISD announced that it would consolidate its two high schools. The new school, initially located in the Forest Brook building, was named

.Mellon, Ericka.
North Forest picks name for merged school / Forest Brook, Smiley students now North Forest High Bulldogs
" ''

''. Tuesday May 20, 2008. B2. Retrieved on August 16, 2009. However, after

Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...

North Forest High moved to the Smiley location.Home page
''North Forest High School''. Retrieved November 22, 2008. "High school students will report to the M.B. Smiley High School campus School will resume for high school students on Wednesday, Oct. 1. Because of extensive damage to the North Forest High School campus, all North Forest High School students will report to the M.B. Smiley campus for school." North Forest High used the Smiley building until 2018, when the

(which absorbed North Forest ISD) opened a new North Forest High across Mesa Drive and converted the former Smiley building into the Education Learning Center, a

professional development Professional development, also known as professional education, is learning that leads to or emphasizes education in a specific professional career field or builds practical job applicable skills emphasizing Praxis (process), praxis in addition t ...

facility.

Notable alumni

* Keith Baldwin former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

defensive end,

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

and other teams * Malik Boyd

, executive

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

; former

player,

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

* William Harris former

tight end,

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

and other teams *

Jonathon Simmons Jonathon Calvin Simmons (born September 14, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for Al Riyadi of the Lebanese Basketball League. He played one season of Division I college basketball for the University of Houston before a s ...

professional basketball player

References

External links

M.B. Smiley High School
(2005–2008)
M.B. Smiley High School
(2004) {{DEFAULTSORT:Smiley, M. B. High School Former high schools in Houston Educational institutions disestablished in 2008 2008 disestablishments in Texas North Forest Independent School District high schools Public high schools in Houston