Barbers Hill High School is a 5A school based in Mont Belvieu, Texas. It is part of the Barbers Hill Independent School District located in western Chambers County. In 2015, the school was rated "Met Standard" by the Texas Education Agency.
Athletics
The Barbers Hill Eagles compete in the following sports:
Baseball
Basketball
Cross Country
Football
Golf
Soccer
Softball
Swimming and Diving
Tennis
Track and Field
Volleyball
State Champions
Baseball
2021(5A) Softball 2021(5A) Football 1971(1A)^ 1976(1A) ^Co-Champion with Sonora Girls Basketball 1982(3A), 1983(3A), 1997(3A) Boys Track 1935(All), 1956(B) Individual 2014 World Association of Bencher and Deadlifters
Music
Barbers Hill High School is the home of the award-winning Soaring Eagle Marching Band. In the 2010 and 2011 marching seasons, the band received straight 1's for a first division rating at the UIL Region Marching Band Competition. The Soaring Eagle Marching Band was one of only 2 bands (the other being the Galena Park High School marching band) to receive this rating at the contest. In 2011 the Soaring Eagle Marching Band went on to the regional marching contest. In 2013, the Soaring Eagle Marching Band and 3 other schools in Area 4A went on to play at state in San Antonio. In the spring, the SEMB divides into 3 concert bands, the Barbers Hill High School Wind Ensemble (the premier performing group in the district), the BHHS Symphonic Band (middle performing group), and the BHHS Concert Band.
State Champions
State Wind Ensemble: 1991(3A)
Drama & Theatre
State Champions
One Act Play
1996 (3A) "Strider" 1999 (3A) "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" 2003 (3A) "Strider" 2010 (4A) "The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail"
Controversy
In January 2020, a student DeAndre Arnold was suspended and informed that he would be forbidden from attending graduation due to the length of his dreadlocks. However, Arnold's family and political activists have asserted that the action taken against him was discriminatory. Other students of the high school also spoke out against the policy, describing it as gender discrimination, since girls are allowed to have long hair, while boys are not. A Federal judge ruled that the district’s hair policy was discriminatory.
On 31 August, 2023, another student was suspended over his dreadlocks. His family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state’s governor and attorney general, alleging they failed to enforce a new law outlawing discrimination based on hairstyles. Texas passed the CROWN Act on May 27, 2023, and the law took effect on 1 September, 2023.