Good evening,
There are a few topics I want to touch on today: traffic and safety procedures, schedules, TX House Bill (HB) 4545, curriculum updates, parent forms, and more.
Traffic & Safety Procedures:
Our students must be safe in the parking lot as well as the classroom. We need your help in improving the safety of our students as they arrive in the morning and leave in the afternoon.
Please read the following guidelines and make every effort to drive safely. You must comply with HISD Police and Crossing Guards.
- Students should not be dropped off before 7:45 a.m. or picked up after 4:30 p.m. Students are not supervised prior to or after these times.
- Coming from 610, form one line on Glenmont. Please turn right into the circle drive and stay in the carpool line. Do not drop off or pick up your child(ren) off Glenmont. This may be a time-saver for you, but it is NOT SAFE.
- As you enter the circle drive, please pull up as far as you can. When the car ahead of you leaves, please pull up. If your child is not ready, you will be asked to exit the lane and park in the front parking lot. Do not stop your car on the crosswalk.
- Place your car in park and allow your child(ren) to exit the vehicle on the curb side. It is dangerous to exit from the driver side of the vehicle.
- Wait patiently for cars ahead of you to unload. Do not attempt to pass vehicles in the drop-off lane.
- When exiting the school driveway, you must turn right from 8:00 a.m. - 8:45 a.m. and from 3:50 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.
- Please NEVER leave your car unattended. If you need to enter the school building, please park your car in the parking spaces in the front lot.
- If your child walks or rides a bike to school, please remind them to be very careful. The students must always obey the traffic signals and cross with the light in the crosswalk.
- Students and parents are not allowed to cross in the middle of the street instead of crossing at the cross walk.
Reminders:
- DO NOT U-turn on Glenmont.
- DO NOT pick up or drop off in the teacher/staff parking lot at the back of the school.
- Avenue B is NOT a sanctioned pick up or drop off location and DO NOT block driveways. Bellaire police are giving tickets to those who are parked illegally.
- The HCC Parking Lot is NOT available for parking. You will be towed.
Lastly, we are all responsible for the safety of our students. Treat every student you see as if they were your own. Please try not to be in a hurry during drop-off and pick-up. Let's try to remember that everyone has returned to work, all students (100%) have returned to in-person learning and over 82% of Pin Oak students are car-riders (1,005+). Change is hard for everyone, but I'm confident that if we work together and support one another, we will ensure that all students start and end each day safely.
Schedule Changes
Assistant Principals are continuing to work on schedule changes and leveling classes. I wanted to share with you the "behind the scenes" look at this process. We enter course requests in the spring and summer and then use that information to determine the number of class sections we need for each course. After building the master schedule with all courses and class sections, we use an automated system to put students in classes. We set capacity over the number we will ideally want to get students into as many classes as we can automatically.
Once that is done, we start working on manually making changes for students who have course requests that were not filled automatically. We then ask students to review their schedules and tell us if there are any mistakes or if they need any changes. We work those first because it allows us to start the process of leveling class sizes with students who need a change already.
Students may no longer request schedule changes at this time. We are just about through processing the requests and now we go to work shifting students around for class sections that are still too full. For instance, one section of Texas History may have 36 students while another only has 23. We look for students in the class with 36 who can make an easy switch to move to the class with 23.
Over the next week, we will be leveling classes with the hope that we can reduce class size in all of our overcrowded sections. Please be patient with us. We are working to make the environment the best for our students.
HB 4545 FAQs
- Where and when can I learn more about HB 4545?
- Principal Vela will host a Teams meeting this Wednesday, September 8, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. The link will be posted on the POMS website for anyone wanting to learn more.
- I thought we had the option not to take the STAAR tests in 5th-7th grades. What happened?
- You did. However, the State of Texas recently passed legislation (HB 4545) that is meant to quickly combat learning loss and requires that any student who did not take STAAR tests last year participate in a Beginning of the Year (BOY) STAAR Assessment. If the student passes the BOY, nothing additional is required. If the student does not pass the BOY, they are required to attend 30-hours of Accelerated Instruction.
- When will I find out if my child is required to participate in HB 4545?
- Any student who did not take one or more of the grade level STAAR assessments will receive a letter from their House Administrator on Tuesday afternoon. In addition, all parents and guardians will receive an email Tuesday afternoon explainingHB 4545 requirements.
- What if my child failed the STAAR exam last year?
- All students who did not earn a passing score are required to participate in the 30-hours ofAccelerated Instruction.
- What is Accelerated Instruction?
- I expect that we will start in late October. Students will be able to choose from before school, after school, and on Saturdays. 8th grade students who did not take the Algebra STAAR End of Course (EOC) Exam will test in December.
- What if my child did not attend a Texas Public School last year?
- This only applies to students who were enrolled in a Texas Public School last year.
Curriculum & Instruction Updates
Geometry Update:
Students are receiving instruction by watching Dr. Hamilton's prerecorded videos through the links on theHISD HUB. The content is also in the textbook under the same section number and daily assignments are similarly coded. Beginning Tuesday, all geometry students have the option to attend tutorials following the schedule below:
| Monday & Tuesday | 7:45 a.m. - 8:15 a.m. | Mr. Redstone | Room A-129 |
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| Wednesday & Thursday | 4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. | Ms. Hsu | Room C-110 |
Spanish Update:
Great news! We hired a NEW Spanish teacher who will join us within the next few weeks. Please be patient as HISD HR department works to complete the onboarding process.
Progress Reports:
The Progress Report (PR1) window will close this Wednesday. Teachers are updating grades as quickly as they can. Please contact your student's teachers if you have any questions or concerns.
Get a detailed look at what your child will be learning and achieving in each grade level. Follow theParent Guideand select the appropriate grade level.
