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The Westchester Academy for International Studies (WAIS) is a public charter school in the Spring...

The Westchester Academy for International Studies (WAIS) is a public charter school in the Spring Branch Independent School District in Houston, Texas. It serves grades 6-12 and is a part of the International Baccalaureate program. The principal (called the "director") of WAIS is Dr. Natalie Blasingame, and the assistant principals are Kathy Menotti and Richard Gonzales. Due to the expanding enrollment of Memorial High School the school district built Westchester High School in 1967. The school opened with an enrollment of one thousand eight hundred students. After seven years the school had increased to nearly four thousand students. The campus could not support the numbers, and as such Stratford High School was built in close proximity to Westchester, opening in 1974. Due to the oil bust in the early '80s, the destruction of nearby apartment complexes, and many original home owners keeping their homes after their children had grown, enrollment in all SBISD high schools dropped dramatically. By 1985, the resulting decreases in enrollment forced the school board to close Westchester and relocate its former students to Memorial and Stratford High Schools. Most Westchester students