11/4 Town Hall #2 Notes

Whether you were able to make it to the meeting or not, here’s what we went over! These are general paraphrased
notes, not a verbatim transcript. There is also a ​meeting recording available ​If you have any questions about the
Town Hall you can email StuCo at ​hspvastudentcouncil@gmail.com​. If you have questions for administration you
can email Dr. Allen at ​RALLEN4@houstonisd.org,​ Mr. Tellez at ​STELLEZ1@houstonisd.org,​ and Ms. Williams at
awilli67@houstonisd.org​.

Find the meeting recording here:

https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/73c95dd8-78a5-4211-917c-beeba29f6446

TABLE OF CONTENTS - TOPICS

Workload & deadlines
Issues with teachers
Internet connections
COVID policy-related

Workload & deadlines

Students:
● There’s a lot of workload that doesn’t seem considerate of not just the current climate but about
seniors and what they’re going through with online teacher applications.
● Standardized testing week- there wasn’t a reason for teachers to assign such heavy work during
the week of the SAT and PSAT, especially because it wasn’t end of cycle or finals week
● Students with jobs have trouble doing assignments due early in the evening or afternoon, or in
the middle of the day Saturday
● Too many classes have different submission timings that range from 5pm to 11:59pm, and is too
all over the place. additionally, especially at the times of 5pm through 8pm is when students have
extracurricular activities and work- not to mention some must support their families. this timing
creates much conflict that the student cannot control. ​Can more unified time deadlines be set?
Tellez: ​We can and will look into ways such as this to create more consistency across the courses.

Issues with teachers

Student: ​Teachers go weeks or a month without putting in grades, not communicating about
assignments or replying to emails. ​What should we do?
Admin: ​Talk to the teachers about it after class and email, if it doesn’t work you can email one of the
APs. They have requirements too, and it’s not acceptable to ignore those.

Student​: some teachers don't properly utilize the week at a glance. whether it be that they don't use a
helpful chart, don't input exact time/date for each assignment, or updates at a much later time, this is a
problem because the WAAG is one of the sole methods that students can use to keep up with their work
and stay on task. ​Can administration encourage all teachers to use WAAG charts, update before
Monday, and input each due date time for assignments?
Tellez:​ We continue to work with teachers on keeping WAAG and their Gradebooks up to date weekly.
This is not only an expectation but requirement. We will continue to work on this and please let us know if
there is still issues.

Internet connections
Student: ​What do I do if my internet is bad to the point of affecting my classes?
Tellez: ​Email one of the AP’s and Ms. Patel. You can get a free hotspot. Also, if your connection affects
class attendance, email your teacher about it so they know to expect it.

COVID policy-related
Student: ​When will we be allowed to use lockers again?
Tellez: ​We don’t know for sure but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s no lockers for the rest of the year.

Student: ​At any point will coming back in-person be mandatory?

Tellez: ​No, you will be asked each cycle and could be online for the entire year if you chose.

Student: ​When can wind instruments play without covers/bags? ​They are difficult to play with (they take
the joy out of our sound), there is research suggesting their effects are limited, and many other schools
have not been using bags for their woodwind instruments without significant effects.
Tellez: ​We need to adhere to safety guidelines. The push came from it being at other schools. If that’s
successful there may be gradual decreasing. We’ll even look at options for outdoors. Safety policy is our
main priority though.

Student: ​Would it be possible to assign a practice room to each wind instrument player so that we may
practice at school again? ​Other instruments are allowed to practice, and we are put at a serious
disadvantage. If each player has their own practice room, then we can be responsible for the sanitation,
and we don't have to worry about cross-contamination between players if we have designated spaces.
Tellez: ​It’s possible yes but the driving force is the music teachers and their comfort level. We’ve talked
to them about this before. We’re not saying practice rooms will be down for the whole year but it will be a
process.

Student:​ ​What has changed since the COVID case?

Tellez: ​It’s the same except for we’re doing a fog down that more thoroughly clears the room. Cleaning
has intensified, and there’s people that are there all day purely to sanitize. The nurse keeps track of
contacts and does contact tracing, so if a second person is positive all of their contacts would be notified.

Scheduling
Students: ​rainbow days were an excellent time for students to finally recover from sleep deprivement
and have the chance to check back in on every single class. while it is understandable it was removed
due to concerns over capacity with COVID-19, it would be incredibly beneficial for students both
academically, mentally, and physically for this day to come back when it is safe to do so.
almost every student has expressed they found rainbow days helpful in their activities as a student.
Can we bring back rainbow days- when it is safe enough to do so- or at least in some sort of format?

Tellez: ​Due to state mandated time requirements for particular budgets and funding, we are unable to
alter the current schedule while we have any number of students attending in person.