School’s starts today for a new class of students entering the renovated and expanded Yellowstone Schools, a unique Third Ward education concept that combines a private Christian school for pre-kindergarten to fifth grade and a public, college-prep charter school for sixth grade and up.
M2L Associates was the landscape architect for the $30 million expansion, first unveiled last spring, that added more than 50 classrooms, learning centers, two gymnasiums/multipurpose centers, a library, music room, art studio, innovation hub, green spaces, and two age-appropriate playgrounds, one for ages 2–5 and one for age 5 and up. Kirksey Architecture was the architect on the project, and Duplantis Design Group was the civil engineer.
The 120,000-square-foot school sits on 4 acres less than a mile from downtown Houston and includes the historic Frederick Douglass Elementary School, built in 1926. M2L’s involvement in the Yellowstone Schools project continues the firm’s legacy of delivering successful projects in the Third Ward, including nearby Emancipation Park and the redevelopment and historic preservation of Emancipation Avenue.
“We’re thrilled to play a role in the renovation of another historically important Third Ward property,” said M2L Associates Principal Michael Mauer. “The neighborhood is alive with history and heritage that are brought back to life with each renovation. As Yellowstone Schools provides area families with life-changing education and experiences, it can also serve the community as a gathering place that propels the community to a better future.”
Yellowstone Schools was founded in 2002 to address generational poverty and lack of access to quality education, with nearly all students coming from Third Ward low-income homes. Funded through private philanthropy that allows students to attend without paying typical tuition or fees associated with private education.
The expansion allows the charter school to add grades 9–12, beginning with grade 9 this year. The school hopes to grow the enrollment from 500 to 800 by 2026 with the additional high school grades. Yellowstone administrators say its life-changing methods are working: 92% of its former eighth graders graduate from high school and 80% go on to college.
Importantly, the location will also serve as a community gathering place thanks to a private-public agreement the school and the City of Houston signed last spring to make the location available for events like community meetings, recreational programs, job fairs, and senior or youth activities.
More about the partnership with the City of Houston
More about Yellowstone Schools