Segregation , formerly
Ryan Middle School, exists at the first location of Yates Colored High School Yates was established on February 8, 1926, as
Yates Colored High School with 17 teachers and 600 students. The school, at 2610 Elgin, was the second
school for African-Americans in
Houston. At the time schools were
segregated on the basis of race. Previously Houston had only one secondary school for black people, Colored High School. In 1925 the school board stated that it would build a new black high school due to the increasing black population. The
Houston Informer stated that the schools need to be named after prominent black people from the city and/or other successful black persons. The new high school was to be named after
Jack Yates, a prominent black Houstonian, and the original colored high school was renamed
Booker T. Washington High School. The original Yates High was built from a $4 million (about $ when accounting for inflation) bond program, which included $500,000 (about $ when accounting for inflation) to renovate 17 existing schools and build new schools. Clifton Richardson, the editor of the
Houston Informer, had felt skepticism towards this proposal but ultimately asked Houston's African-Americans to vote for the bond and endorsed it in the
Informer. In 1925, HISD originally proposed to have the school built for $100,000 (about $ when accounting for inflation), but Richardson opposed this plan, prompting the district to revise the bond. The first principal, James D. Ryan, served from the opening until his death in 1941; In 1927, the Yates building began housing Houston Colored Junior College, later
Houston College for Negroes. By February 1951, Yates had 2,100 students. By that month Jack Yates had an addition that slightly increased student capacity and a remodeling, but the school was still overcrowded as the enlarged facility was designed for 1,600 students. By March 1954 the student body was over 3,000. As a result of the overcrowding the Southern Association of Secondary Schools pulled Yates's accreditation. In 1955, as a new Allen Elementary School opened in a neighborhood far from its original location, the former Allen campus, in what is now
Midtown, became the Yates Annex, a school for black 7th graders. In 1956, the annex was converted into J. Will Jones Elementary School. On January 27, 1958,
Worthing High School opened, relieving Yates. Yates moved to its Sampson Street location in September 1958. Yates's former site became Ryan Colored Junior High School (now
Ryan Middle School), named after the first principal of Yates. Schools in HISD were named after former principals William S. Holland and James E. Codwell. In the 1990s, superintendent
Rod Paige recruited Robert Worthy, who was previously teaching in the
Pasadena Independent School District, to revitalize the school. Worthy removed most of the administrators and 60 teachers, making up about half of the faculty, within a two-year period to remove any pre-existing negative cultural influences from Yates. Worthy also established additional
Advanced Placement courses and removed a Cleaning and Pressing Program. After the 2000 opening of
Chávez High School, portions of the Yates boundary were reassigned to Austin High School. From 1998 through 2002, the school reported that 99% of students graduating from Yates planned to attend colleges and universities. In response a parent and alumnus of Yates quoted in a 2003
The New York Times article, Larry Blackmon, stated that "Absolutely, positively, no way. You'd get more of an accurate count asking elementary kids if they plan to go to college." Around 2003, Yates' principal hired several uncertified teachers and substitute teachers, using them to replace experienced but more highly paid teachers who were fired by the principal. In addition around that time Yates had gone without a school library for over a year. In 2007, a
Johns Hopkins University study commissioned by the
Associated Press cited Yates as a "dropout factory" where at least 40% of the entering freshman class do not make it to their senior year. In 2008 Ouchi stated that Yates had improved during Worthy's term as principal, citing the "pride" present in the school, the students' compliance with the school uniform policy, and hallways that were "clean enough to eat on". In a 2005
Houston Chronicle article Bill Miller, president of the Yates High School Parent-Teacher-Student Association, criticized the decrease in enrollment. Many students in the Yates High School attendance zone instead chose to attend other high schools. Miller proposed having HISD end its open enrollment policies. In an e-mail sent in 2010, HISD board member and former Yates student Paula Harris said that she was responsible for having a principal at Yates removed from the school and for having the new principal installed. In June 2015, Ericka Mellon of the
Houston Chronicle wrote that members of the Third Ward community had "concerns about leadership turnover, weak academic performance and safety problems" and were "vocal with its frustrations at Yates". In May 2015, Donetrus Hill, then the principal of Yates, resigned and took a settlement agreement. Kenneth Davis, who previously served as the principal of Dowling Middle School (now Lawson Middle School) and as a supervisor of HISD middle school principals, became the principal of Yates at that time. In December 2022 HISD administrators placed her on leave. The district leadership did not publicly state why the leave had occurred. Residents in the area stated opposition against a proposal to remove Guillory, and the HISD board of trustees decided to retain her as principal. In 2023, Stephanie Square became principal. ==Served neighborhoods==