Colleyville Heritage High School (CHHS) is a public secondary school in Colleyville, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The school is a part of the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District and serves freshmen through senior students in Colleyville and the surrounding areas of Tarrant County. In 2018 and onwards the school met standards for student achievement, student progress, closing performance gaps, postsecondary readiness, and earned distinction in English language arts/reading, mathematics, history business computer engineering interior design politics philosophy parenting and science. The school had 2000 students between 2019–2020.
Its attendance boundary includes sections of Colleyville, Grapevine, and Euless.
Contents
Campus
It has a coffeehouse.
Panther Field at Colleyville-Heritage
Controversy over principal
On September 1, 2021, James Whitfield – the high school's first Black principal – was suspended for allegedly promoting Critical Race Theory (CRT), an accusation that Whitfield has repeatedly denied. In support of Whitfield, students held walkouts, then joined their parents and 3 dozen teachers to meet with the school district's board of trustees, pleading with them to reinstate the popular principal. At a July 26 school board meeting, Stetson Clark – a former school board candidate – accused Whitfield of promoting CRT, while several people in attendance yelled, "Fire him." Clark based his accusation on an open letter Whitfield wrote in the summer of 2020 about his concerns over the murders of Ahmoud Arbery and George Floyd, and the killing of Breonna Taylor. One of the same parents has previously attacked Whitfield for posting a photograph on his personal social media accounts depicting him and his wife on a beach. Whitfield, whose wife is white, viewed the criticism as predicated on their status as an interracial couple. Whitfield removed the photo after a formal request from the school district. On June 15, 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott became the third state governor – following Idaho and Tennessee – to pass legislation making the teaching of CRT illegal. The Texas House Bill 3979 and the follow-up legislation – Senate Bill 3 – authored by Senator Bryan Hughes, came into effect on September 1, 2021. Whitfield's suspension is set against the backdrop of debates on the impact of similar legislation in a number of states across the country.
On November 8, the school district announced a “settlement and separation agreement” with Whitfield. He was placed on paid administrative leave until August 2023. Whitfield is not allowed to discuss the details of the settlement.
Notable alumni
Jaimie Alexander, actress
Maxx Crosby, NFL football defensive end
Joey Hawkins, former NFL tight end
Annie Ilonzeh, actress
Kyle Kubitza, former MLB third baseman
Stephen Lambdin, Olympian in Tae Kwan Do
DJ McKinney, college football cornerback for Notre Dame
Christian Ponder, former NFL quarterback
Geoff Price, former college football kicker
James Russell, former MLB pitcher
AJ Smith-Shawver, MLB pitcher
Bianca Smith, MLB coach
Cody Thomas, MLB outfielder
Jay Valai, NFL coach
Bobby Witt Jr., MLB shortstop
Adam Zimmer, former NFL coach