On Thursday, November 14, 2014, the HISD Board of Education approved the establishment of the school.[3] The board approval was unanimous, and at the time there were no protesters. In May 2015 around 12 people complained about the future school to the HISD board.[4]
Its initial campus, in Block 21 of the
Houston Heights,[5] previously housed Holden Elementary School and the
Energy Institute High School.[1] The district planned to upgrade the heating and cooling systems, restrooms, lighting, and technology of the former Holden building.[6]
A total of 490 applications for 132 slots for students were submitted.[4] The school opened on Monday August 24, 2015 with 130 students,[7] all in preschool and kindergarten.[8] The school has plans to create one new grade level each year.[9] The school ultimately plans to have the eighth grade as the highest level.[6]
On the opening day a group of about 30 protesters gathered around the school,[7] accusing it of being anti-American and hindering assimilation.[4]
In 2015 each student spent half of their day learning in English and the other half learning in Arabic. The school focused on
Modern Standard Arabic after an HISD cross-functional team deemed that it should do so.[8]
However, the school has now changed tack and has applied for IB (International Baccalaureate) status,[12] causing for a rewrite of the school's curriculum. The IB authorization process takes two to three years,[13] and it is expected that a new curriculum will have been developed by that time.
^Harris County Block Book Maps. Volume 20: Houston Heights Index Map. Version 1 (
PDF and
JPG) and Version 2 (
PDF and
JPG). Also Volume 20, Page 17: Houston Heights Block 21 (
PDF and
JPG) which is marked for the Houston Independent School District.
^Lockard Connor and Barziza Addition, Blocks 12 and 13. Harris County Assessor's Block Book. Volume 23, Page 68 (
PDF and
JPG) and 69 (
PDF and
JPG). They indicate the Montrose School, which HSPVA was built upon and where AIMS moved to.