Alief Elsik High School

Elsik opened in 1975 on the same campus as Hastings High School, as what is now known as Hastings South. The first year Elsik only enrolled freshmen, and added classes every year thereafter, until it had all four grades, with the first freshman class from 1975-76 graduating in 1979. While the two schools were divided by a large courtyard and bus run, there was frequent contact with students from the other campus, which made for interesting times during sporting events between the two schools. Certain classes were shared by both Hastings and Elsik, such as machine shop, art, and Accelerated Learning or "Honor Roll" classes.

A separate school building partially opened in January, 1982 one block away from Hastings. The original portions were known at the time as the North House and the C Building. The remainder of the building, known as the South House, opened in January, 1983. During the construction of the South House, temporary walls existed in the South Cafeteria and classroom wing, dividing the completed portion of the building from that portion still under construction. Even after the new building was complete, certain classes and sporting facilities were shared between the two schools.

In the late 1980s, a separate building was built bridging the two schools on land formerly used for physical education. This new building was almost like a separate school and included its own cafeteria. It mainly filled the need for shared classes in one centralized, easily accessible location for students. It is known as the Annex. Elsik High School is one of the largest high schools in the state.

For the 2018-2019 school year, the school received a C grade from the Texas Education Agency, with an overall score of 79 out of 100. The school received a C grade in two domains, Student Achievement (score of 76) and Closing the Gaps (score of 75), and a B grade in School Progress (score of 81). The school did not receive any of the seven possible distinction designations.[3]

In the 2021–2022 school year, there were 4,123 students. 0.5% were American Indian/Alaska Native, 26.2% were African American, 8.9% were Asian, 60.8% were Hispanic, 0.2% were Pacific Islander, 3.0% were White, and 0.4% were two or more races. 77.2% of students were eligible for free or reduced price lunch, and the school was eligible to receive Title I funding.[1]

All Alief ISD elementary, intermediate, and middle schools feed into Elsik, as high school placement in Alief ISD is determined by a lottery: the lottery can result in either Elsik, Hastings, or Taylor.[4] If a student was selected by lottery to attend a high school different from the high school of a relative currently attending or graduated from, the student may opt to transfer to that respective school. Students may also complete an application for the district's magnet high school, Kerr.

The lottery system was originally developed to create balanced demographics in Alief's high schools when it was found that there was no simple geographic method of dividing the school district that would be fair and equitable. As a result of the lottery, the demographics of Alief's high schools are virtually identical. However, it is common that neighbors who had attended the same elementary and middle schools must instead go to different high schools. Alief's relatively small geographic area permits the lottery in that anyone in the school district has reasonable access to the high schools. A similar lottery in a larger school districts would result in placing a much larger burden on students as they would have to travel farther.

Neighborhoods served by AISD include Alief, most of the New Chinatown, most of Westchase, Bellaire West, and most of Leawood and the Alief community center.

• Christopher Ayres, voice actor[5]
• Beyoncé, singer[6]
• Carmen Cusack, actress[7]
• Adaora Elonu, professional basketball player[8]
• Chinemelu Elonu, professional basketball player[9]
• Donovan Greer, professional football player[10]
• Jennifer Haley, playwright[11]
• Warrick Holdman, professional football player[12]
• Rashard Lewis, professional basketball player[13]
• Lizzo, singer[14]
• Rasika Mathur, comedian[15]
• Janine Nabers, playwright
• Tobe Nwigwe, musician
• Elliot Segal, disc jockey

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alief Elsik High School.

• Official website
• Alief Elsik High School at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
• Handbook of Alief Schools