Important Update from Mr. McDonough
The last several days have found us managing an anonymous online threat, navigating a shelter-in-place setting, and recovering from the winds and rain that Nicholas brought our way. Add in a planned school holiday and a Friday of professional development for teachers, and this week has certainly been disrupted. And while I hope that each of you is safe, dry, and with power, I did want to offer a bit more detail regarding the last weekend and this past Monday.  

As I shared Sunday evening, we became aware of an anonymously posted online threat that involved both Bellaire and another local high school. While we did not feel the threat was credible, we worked with our HISD police to ensure that an additional police presence was on campus for Monday, September 13. Below is a quick timeline of what happened Monday and our response.

  • The approach of Tropical Storm Nicholas led to us beginning to consider placing Bellaire into a Shelter-in-Place through Cardinal Hour so as to keep all students safely inside the building.  
  • Approximately 11:15 am: A sophomore approached his teacher to share a text strand he was a part of that was alarming as it referenced something happening during lunch on the main hallway. Roughly the same time, we began to receive anonymous reports through our online tool that referenced the same information.  
  • From 11:30 am - Noon: We spoke with multiple students from the text strand to try and determine where the threat may have originated. We learned from the students that it was all through conversation and that no one was aware of how/where it started other than an early morning conversation about the already shared online threat.  
  • At 12:23 pm: I came on the PA system and notified everyone that we were moving to Shelter-in-Place and that this was due to the weather and a few other things we were working on.  
  • 12:23 pm - 2:30 pm: While we stayed in Shelter-in-Place, our cafeteria staff prepared and delivered sack lunches to any students in need. At the same time, we had parents arrive on campus to pick up their children. We utilized our process for these situations and calmly & efficiently delivered students to their families.  
  • 2:45 pm: We determined that there was not a threat on campus and that the two related incidents (Sunday & Monday) were not credible threats.  
  • 3:15 pm - 3:30 pm: We began to notify students, staff & families that everyone was safe and that we would remain in Shelter-in-Place until our normal dismissal time of 4:10 pm. Staying put was the best option in terms of maintaining a calm and safe environment.  

Important takeaways:  
  • The Sunday and Monday events were related and, after working further with the other high school and our HISD police, we believe we have identified the involved student. The HISD Code of Student Conduct is clear when it comes to threats made against a school and we will fully administer the Code of Student Conduct as appropriate.  
  • The process worked. Students saw something and they said something. Some came to their teachers and/or coaches while others submitted through the anonymous reporting tool. The relationships we have on campus will always be our greatest asset and we have built strong processes behind that. We have an attentive, prepared, and resilient staff, and we should all derive a great deal of confidence from them.

Please feel free to reach out to myself or any members of my team with additional questions or concerns. I look forward to greeting everyone back to campus this Monday, September 20. 

Thanks,
Michael 
2022 National Merit Semifinalists
Bellaire HS is honored to recognize our 21 National Merit Semifinalists from the Class of 2022. Congratulations to James D Ballard, Elise R Bartlett, Hong-En Chen, Katherine Chen, Scott M Cricks, Collin Crockett, Amelia Y Ding, Leah M Guttentag, Anh Ho, Ava N Jiang, Zoe E Kass, Catherine H Li, Maggie Y Lin, Richard Lin, Eric C Liu, Milan Narayan, Christian E Olguin, Kavi J Shah, Alex L Xu, Jason R Yao, Albert S Zhu.

The performance of these students on their 11th grade PSAT has qualified them for further consideration within the National Merit Scholarship Program. Including both public and private schools within the Greater Houston area, Bellaire has the 3rd most Semifinalists (and 11th most in the entire state of TX). Congrats and good luck to these students. #CardinalProud

Cycle 1 Progress Reports
Cycle 1 Progress Reports are being sent tonight to students via their HISD email addresses.
NHS Tutoring (In Person)
NHS Tutoring will resume on Tuesday (9/7). ALL tutoring sessions will be held in Ms. Kuhleman's room (Room 2707) unless directed differently by the teacher.

Students can sign up here.
PTO Meeting
The first PTO meeting of the year will be next Thursday, September 23 at 6:00pm via Zoom. The PTO will share a link to the meeting on their website www.bellairepto.org.
9 - 11 Grade Pictures
Freshmen, sophomores and juniors will take their yearbook pictures on campus Sept. 22-23 during English classes. If you are interested in ordering your child’s photo, go online to order. Families who prepay have the option to ship their order to the school or to the home. Photo Texas will take prepay orders up to one week after picture day. After that, orders will be considered late and will be shipped home. Online orders are the only purchase method this year.
TEA BOY Assessments
For any student who did not take their STAAR EOC Test(s) last school year, they are required to take a TEA Beginning-of-Year (BOY) Assessment this month. The TEA BOY Assessments continue next week during 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th periods. 
 
Students should check their email for a testing notice sent from Miriam Mulet, [email protected]
Ninth Grade Parent Meeting Grows
Realizing that so many of the freshmen from last year remained virtual throughout the entire 2020-21 school year, we have decided to expand our 9th Grade parent meeting to also include our 10th Graders as well. Please add to your calendar this virtual event that will be hosted via TEAMS Tuesday, October 5 at 6:30 pm. 
Have You Submitted this Form?
Socioeconomic Form
All of our forms are important, but this one impacts our funding! Please make sure that this form is updated or completed for the 2021-2022 school year.

It is very important that we receive this form from everyone. Please email Ms. Mulet if you have questions or need a paper form.
Listen and Learn Series
We are excited to host Houston ISD Superintendent Millard House II as he conducts his district-wide "Listen and Learn Tour." This event will be held Thursday, September 30 at 5:30 pm in our auditorium. We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity for him to learn more about what makes our school community special. We'll see you there.
COVID-19 Notification Changes
We wanted to update you regarding the manner in which we will share notifications with families and the larger community. We will continue to follow the protocols shared in the Houston ISD Ready, Set, Go plan when a student is in close contact with a confirmed and/or presumed positive case. However, the district has shared that we should no longer share the general announcement with the entire school community, and instead only communicate with those directly impacted. The Houston ISD COVID-19 Dashboard remains updated on a regular basis and can be accessed at this link. Finally, in an effort to remain transparent so that we do not lose sight of the safe practices that we should all align with, we will share a summary of the active cases within our Cardinal eNews each week. We believe this will allow for everyone to remain informed while ensuring that we remain active to protect ourselves and our school community.  

For the week of September 7-10, Bellaire HS had 8 confirmed positive cases and we have 15 overall active cases at this time.  
Calendar Clarifications
We wanted to offer some clarifying information regarding the calendar over the next few weeks. Please see above and note the Bellaire-specific situation we have the first days of October. 
College Center Announcements

Upcoming Events
Virtual Parent College Affordability Meeting- Wednesday, September 22nd @ 6:30 PM
In partnership with Zena Taylor of College Select and Valerie Blaire, we will be discussing what all makes up the cost of attendance at colleges, how to research affordable colleges, and the financial aid application all in anticipation for the opening of the 2022-2023 FAFSA, TASFA, and CSS Profile. We will also have time for questions and answers at the conclusion of this presentation. Please come prepared to engage, take notes, and ask questions. CLICK THIS LINK TO JOIN THE EVENT

Click here to see the Week at a Glance of Visits in the College Center!
 
Helpful Links
 
Daily Announcement Board
Clubs and organizations can post announcements to our community board directly from their laptops. We will approve the message and make them visible to all students. Students are encouraged to check the board daily to find club meetings that they may want to attend. Getting connected and involved is the best thing a student can do right now!

In the coming weeks, an updated Clubs Catalog will be available for students. Our 2021-Catalog can be viewed here.
Level Change Requests
Students, the level change window officially opens on Monday, September 13. If you are in HADV classes and you want to do a level change to College Prep or Academic, please pick up a level change form from the Counselors offices for each class you want a level change in. A Level Change Form can also be downloaded here. The form will need to be signed by your parent and teacher and turned in to your Counselor. No forms will be processed without all signatures

The Counselors’ offices are located in 1720, 2723, and 3723.
 
The level change window is open from September 13-October 1.
Please Update Your Calendars
The date of our Open House has changed to Thursday, October 7. More information to come.
Class of 2022 Yard Signs and #CardinalProud Spirit Signs Available
The Bellaire PTO has signs available for purchase. Please email [email protected]
VIPS (Volunteers in Public Schools) Registration Open Now!
All volunteers in @HoustonISD must register to be VIPS approved.


Musical Auditions - Everyone Welcome
The Bellaire High School Fine Arts Department is excited to announce the title for the 2021-22 All-School Musical: Disney’s High School Musical! Check the morning announcements once school starts for more information about auditions! If you would also like to receive an email when audition information is available, please fill out the interest form here.
Looking Ahead!
Please mark the following dates on your calendar.
  • Sept. 30 - Listen and Learn with HISD Superintendent House.
  • Oct. 1 - Teacher Inservice Day (Please note that this date is unique to Bellaire)
  • Oct. 4 - Bellaire students will have school even though the rest of the HISD does not.
  • Oct. 5 - 9th and 10th Grade Parent Meeting 6:30 pm via Microsoft Teams
  • Oct. 7 - Open House 6:00 pm
  • Oct. 15 - Homecoming Dance 8:00 pm
Remind Messaging App
All parents and students are encouraged to join their BHS Class Remind Group. Remind is a communication tool that will deliver important communications through text message or email. You can download Remind for IOS here and Android here. Once you download the app, simply text the class code you belong to above to the number 81010.

Remind can also be accessed by clicking on the links below to join a group.





In addition to the class codes above, students will have the opportunity to receive communication and correspond with their teachers through the Remind App.
It Takes A Village...
"Bellaire Share" is new this year. Please help us collect important information and get student and staff accomplishments out to our school community. Share with us Bellaire HS activities and student achievements. You can upload your pictures of any event easily. Together we can accomplish a lot. You can submit information anytime on the homepage on the right side of the page or bookmark this link.
Join the PTO
Please consider joining the Bellaire PTO. The PTO's Commitment to Learn Campaign is about to launch. Funds donated to the PTO go directly to support students and learning at Bellaire High School. There is no doubt that family involvement at Bellaire makes us a stronger school.  Join the PTO online here!