page_title: Yellowstone Academy
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Yellowstone Academy / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The former Frederick Douglass Elementary School, now Yellowstone Academy - 3000 Trulley Street, Houston, TX 77004 Español: Yellowstone Academy - Antiguo edificio de la Escuela Primaria Frederick Douglass - 3000 Trulley Street, Houston, TX 77004 Tiếng Việt: Yellowstone Academy - Trước đây: Tiểu Học Frederick Douglass - 3000 Trulley Street, Houston, TX 77004
context_page_description: Yellowstone Academy is a non-profit, non-denominational Christian, private school in the Third Ward, Houston, Texas. Serving pre-kindergarten to grade 4, it was established to educate low-income African-American children in the Third Ward area, and it is one of three Houston area private schools aimed at low income families. It occupies several buildings, including the former Frederick Douglass Elementary School. It previously served middle school students, but is now co-located with Yellowstone College Prep.
context_section_description: David and Kristi Lumpkins co-founded Yellowstone Academy. The non-profit organization Yellowstone Academy opened in July 2001. After the board of directors was established, the board hired Kim Hansen as the executive director. The board asked her to travel to twelve inner city private schools across the United States to observe their practices. The school opened in August 2002, within leased facilities in the Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church. The school had an initial enrollment of 64 students, all three- and four-year-olds who lived in the Third Ward.
  In August 2003, the school moved into the City of Refuge Church. Rufus and Jacqueline Smith, the pastor and his wife, assisted in recruiting students. The school did not conduct a lot of advertising or recruiting, but the school became popular. As of 2006, it had a waiting list of over 300 students, and it intended to have a maximum capacity of 352 students in grades kindergarten through 8. In 2006 it agreed to purchase the Douglass Elementary School building, a former public school facility, from the Houston Independent School District. The school's bid on the building for $1.9 million ($2361356.88 when adjusted for inflation) was above bids from other groups, such as KIPP.
  The school opened a capital campaign so it does not have to take out loans to purchase the building. The school had a goal of $11.5 million ($14292423.24 when adjusted for inflation). It received $1 million ($1242819.41 when adjusted for inflation) from Jack S. Blanton and the Brown Foundation. Robert Rowling, an entrepreneur from Dallas, gave another $1 million to the school. With 85% of the targeted level of funds, the school acquired Douglass and a .7-acre (0.28 ha) plot of land at 2813 Sauer Street, adjacent to Douglass. On the Sauer property it constructed the Jack Blanton Community Center. The school took possession of the Douglass property in June 2006. Ultimately the capital campaign netted $12 million ($14913832.95 when adjusted for inflation), and it was able to acquire land for ball fields.
  In 2009, the school had about 256 students. In 2010 it had about 320 students. In 2011 Hansen received the AdvancED Texas Excellence in Education Award. In 2011 the school added the eighth grade, finishing its expansion.
  Circa 2018 the former middle school division was to be given to a new charter secondary school, Yellowstone College Prep.
caption: The campus Yellowstone currently occupies was formerly Douglass Elementary School
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "FE100,X710", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "314", "Image YResolution": "314", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "1.2", "Image DateTime": "2009:07:16 16:13:18", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "840", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3556", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5034", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "3", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:07:16 16:13:18", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:07:16 16:13:18", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "317/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "31/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2272", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1704", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3432", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}