An elementary school for black children, which became Eighth Avenue Elementary, opened in 1911 and received its current name and final campus in 1913. The campus on Heights block 267, in 2003 served the southwest portion of the Houston Heights. It became a district-run charter school, a status sought by principal Teresa Lenoir, because the State of Texas did not grant the school permission to have early Friday dismissal to allow for teacher training, while the school had the right to unilaterally do so with charter status.