Boxer Bulletin
Eastwood Academy HS Newsletter - Back to School Edition
**I know this is a lengthy one, but please know it has all the information you need to be ready for the first day of school!**
Dear Eastwood Families,
I am including the link to our official Virtual Learning site, Eastwood@Home. This website will be 100% updated on September 4, but I wanted to make sure you all have the link available and saved for reference. This is the place we will archive all Daily Announcements, links to Boxer Bulletins like this one as they are published, and it will be the place where families can go to access teacher contact information. Basically, all information related to Virtual School will be housed on this Eastwood@Home site. You can access the site by clicking the button below this section, but remember it will not be fully updated until September 4, 2020.
Please be sure to read each component thoroughly. We get a lot of phone calls and emails about information and details that were included in newsletters prior, so it is important to stay up to date. Of course, we will do our part to ensure we are sending frequent reminders as well.
Sincerely,
Principal Lira
Incoming Students!
Placement exams help us to diagnose your child's prior knowledge and skills in Reading and Math so that we can place them in the proper class for optimal academic growth. Encourage your child to do their very best. While a grade will be not be taken in a gradebook, the results will determine what level of a course they are scheduled into.
This year, the placement exams will be administered online on September 1, 2020. I am including the instructions sent by Mrs. Vestal and Mr. Diehl. If your child is not able to log in on the day of the placement exam, please email Mr. Diehl ASAP to make arrangements: donald.diehl@houstonisd.org.
Instructions - READ CAREFULLY
- Students should “arrive” online at 2:00 in Teams using this join code: g5qwpjs.
- Open Teams on HISD laptop by typing Teams into the search bar in the far left hand corner of the desktop.
- Once Teams is open, students should click on teams at the far left of the screen.
- Students should click on “Join or create a team” below the list of teams in the white column.
- Enter the code provided under “Join a team with a code” where it says “Enter code.”
- Mrs. Vestal & Mr. Diehl will begin a Teams meeting and explain the rationale for placement exams - what they can expect and what is expected of them: mute, camera on, no phones, no dictionaries, no outside help, no googling, etc.
- Students will first fill out a form for the teachers so that they can gather some basic information about technology access, gender pronouns, etc. for the 9th grade team. This will also serve as a practice for the actual placement exams.
- Students will have a 5 minute bathroom break at approximately 2:10 because they will not be able to take a break until they finish the first placement exam.
- At 2:15, teachers will give students access to the English exam. This exam will have two passages, one reading and one editing. It will be 20 questions long. Students will have 45 minutes to take the exam. As students finish, students should raise their hand so we can check for their submitted results. They must stay on camera until the end of the exam.
- At 3, students will have a 5 minute break.
- The math exam will begin at 3:05. Same expectations. When students have finished the exam, they should raise their hand so we can check for their submitted results. They must stay on camera until 4:00 or until all students finish.
- At 4:00, teachers will thank all students and remind them about summer homework.
- Front Office staff will call homes after results are determined (this could take 1-2 days).
If you encounter any issues with placement exams or have any questions about these exams, please email Mrs. Vestal or Mr. Diehl: rebecca.vestal@houstonisd.org or donald.diehl@houstonisd.org
All Students
Virtual Bell Schedule
When a child is absent more than 3 days in any one course, they will not receive credit for the course and will need to submit an attendance appeal. We will speak in detail about our virtual bell schedule and attendance requirements during our Back to School meeting on September 4. Be sure to RSVP!
Remind Application
I encourage every single one of our parents and students to join the Eastwood Academy Remind class by completing the following task:
- Text the message "@fgkf28" to the "phone number" 81010 then follow the prompts.
You can also join by clicking the button below, but please enter your cell phone number when asked to enter either a phone number or email address. This way, the reminders go to your phone.
Please make sure you download the Remind app to your cell phone so that you can send direct messages to me and to teachers who are part of the app as well.
First Day Packets - REQUIRED
We understand not everyone has a printer in their home, so we have done the work of making all of the forms fillable; meaning you can type into the text boxes. Please note, however, that most forms will require a parent signature. We cannot accept forms that do not have a signature (cursive writing of a name or a digitally produced official signature).
When you get to a signature box, you'll need to follow these instructions:
- Click the little icon at the top of the screen that looks like a pen (I have included images below for illustration).
- Select "Add Signature" and a small window will open for a signature.
- Click "Draw," which is the middle icon then use your mouse or place your finger to the screen (if using your child's HISD laptop) to sign the document.
- Click "Apply" and the window will close.
- You will then use your mouse to place the signature on the appropriate line.
Once all of your forms have been filled out and signed, please save them as the student's first and last name like this example: ApolloLira_Enrollment Packet.
You will then email the completed forms to this email address. Please keep in mind this email address is exclusively for receiving enrollment forms, so it will not be monitored for any other email types.
This is the icon to choose when attempting to sign the documents.
Power Up Laptops
Should you start to experience technology issues with your HISD laptop during the school year, please be sure to submit a ticket to Ms. Guajardo immediately. Based on the information you enter, Ms. Guajardo will either call you to troubleshoot the issue or recommend that you come by the campus to exchange your device for another one.
You can access the ticket request form by clicking the service button below. I also recommend saving the link in your bookmarks.
Back to School Community Meeting
To join the live meeting, click the following link at the time of the meeting: https://bit.ly/3gBjnKV
Friday, Sep 4, 2020, 05:30 PM
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RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Daily Announcements
There are ten minutes built into our Virtual Bell Schedule so that students (and staff) can have an uninterrupted time at the beginning of the day to watch the Daily Announcements. Please be sure to subscribe to the Eastwood Academy YouTube channel so that you are up to date with all announcements. Click the button below to be directed to our channel.
Stay Connected!
Principal Lira's Email: blira2@houstonisd.org
Schedules for Last Names A-L: despinal@houstonisd.org
Schedules for Last Names M-Z: cvarela1@houstonisd.org
Email: eastwoodacademyhighschool@gmail.com
Website: eastwoodacademy.org
Location: 1315 Dumble Street, Houston, TX, USA
Phone: (713) 924-1697
Facebook: facebook.com/eastwoodacademyhighschool
Twitter: @EastwoodBoxers