The stairs are the least of the problems of crowding, if at all. There are two sets of stairs on each side of the building - four in all. One set is closed to student traffic, but the other set has enough room to accommodate an entire city. Better yet, both of the stairways open to student traffic face huge windows which provide a wonderful view of the traffic congestion outside.

VBB.

I agree with you 100%.

being on time is a very, very important lesson to learn, keep handing out tardies and iss, sooner or later they'll learn to be on time.

Kids dropping out due to no reliable transportation is a cop out as they have the option of riding the bus. Detention & ISS for 1st & 2nd tardy offenses is stupid & will increase the drop out rate...who decided this was a good idea? Usually the first week or so of school tardies are waived until things calm down.

Okay, I drove my child 20 minutes to Stroman every day last year. Not one tardy. The campus was spread out all over the place...not one tardy. It can be done, you just have to adjust your schedule and make it a priority. Same thing as not being late for your job.

I have spent a lot of time on the West Campus, the stairs are never so crowded that it would make you 2 minutes late. Passing periods are very well controlled. I would really question my child about that.

The A/B day mistakes will happen. Remind your daughter that the marque outside reminds students which day it is.

I hate that your daughter dropped out of her AP classes. Were you aware that she is allowed the same number of days that she misses to make up her work. Example: if she misses 3 days, she has three days to complete the work.

Every AP and the principal have certain areas they cover after school. Mrs. Rigamonti, Mr. Hinton and Mrs. Alvarado are great assets to the West Campus. It takes Mrs. Crick and 3 AP's to run a tight ship. When you are a principal there is a lot to take care of, not just commenting on Advocate stories. There are many times they are taken off campus to attend meetings at the Administration Office. Mrs. Rigamonti is usually the second go to person.

BTW Mr. Moore sent out an email to VISD staff today claiming the problem solved. Apparently it took him 6 minutes to go through the West High School parking lot this morning and this means we are all complaining about nothing. Apparently we just like to complain and by doing nothing it will get even better. lol

I've never complained about the drop-off, it's the picking up thats insane. These people that designed and signed off on this design never took into account that some high school kids are picked up by their parents. Show me the design in the West engineering that is made for a pick up drive by parents? It's not there. Same goes for Cade. They are having to use the pick up/drop-off area meant for the buses to even get it remotely under control.

And the worst is the idiot parents and students that cut in line. Come on people. What makes you so special? Wait in line like everyone else!!!

Ron Leech is a waste of a resource at VISD. Hang it up Ron, time is passing you by and its time for retirement.

For those parent complaining @ West. Leave your house just a few minutes earlier. I have two children that attend this campus. One of which has class on another campus everyother day. The only day I have encountered a time issue was the first day. To the parent complaining about the 'rain time' this is a given on added time. Check every campus. Dress code is checked as your student climbs out of vehicle. If you doubt will pass - then don't wear it.

Embrace the change and just quit complaining!

VISD seems to have the idea that if they just sit tight all the issues will go away. Regarding the single stairway. If this is true and can be varified the Health and Safety Code should be reviewed. God forbid there is a real emergency! The lawers will add to the traffic congestion.

if hating visd was a sport, the victoria would be state champs !

Wait a minute. The schools have only one set of stairs open? Can this be right? I went to the open house prior to the school year starting to see how my tax dollars had been spent and there were several sets of stairs AND and elevator -- at least at East HS. Why would they block the stairs? Stairs are like a funnel; you can only put so much through them at a time. When they back up, they overflow and make a mess. Ahhhh, no. this can't be right -- can it?

Scout,
Ms. Crick can't speak because Ms. Rigamonti is ALWAYS speaking....
Moore had Rig run Stroman when LaFavers was there... why wasn't she named Principal of West? She seems to be in charge everywhere she goes. 30 minutes to clear a parking lot... but the question is how long to get "into" the parking lot??

"GridironJS"...I understand, but it's having an opposite effect. When kids are running late, instead of taking the ISS they are skipping. This is leading to missed instruction, failing grades and in the end....dropping out. VISD is creating the problem.

They need to be a little more lenient on tardies. Especially with the traffic issues. If a child is within a minute or so, it should be overlooked. If a child is continually late or very late...that's different. As it is right now tardies are being given if you are not sitting in your chair when the bell rings.

oooh the stairs! open the second set of stairs. Everyone going up and down at the same time and using the one set of stairs is poor traffic flow. why not open the 2nd stairs up? To only use 1 set of stairs?? anyone know?

Yes, the traffic is a nightmare, and as long as the city and VISD bicker back and forth behind closed doors (like they have been doing) then there will be no quick solution. Someone pay for it, and BUILD A 2ND ENTRANCE!. VISD and the city are now grossly liable for anyone who needs medical attention and is prevented from receiving such care when ambulances and medical personnel cannot get to them because they are backed up in a single lane of traffic. Fire and Police access is also extremely limited. It's on VISD at this point.

"reecey" the reason they are really hammering down on the tardiness, is because VISD is extremely worried about the drop out rate this year. Because of the distances these kids have to travel to West, they anticipate, and have anticipated the drop out levels this year to be obsurd. West and VISD administration is really worried that a large portion of the kids that attend West are not going to want to walk when they get suspended/expelled, or are a little late for school. That's just the price they will pay because of these long distances these kids must now travel. VISD doesn't subscribe to the idea of building convenient "neighborhood schools" like the rest of the state does. Many of which who have families with no real reliable means of transportation. Also this eliminates the possibility of these kids participating in any extracurricular events that require after school participation. West and VISD are really nervous bout this situation. It's just not public yet.

receey -- My son has had the same problem. Last year their brilliant procedure of pulling a kid out of classroom instruction for being tardy and sticking them in ISS caused my son to fail one of his classes. Once he got behind he couldn't seem to get caught up. Now this year, he's already had 1 tardy to Geometry because the stairs are so crowded he just couldn't get there on time. Then once he got into the class....about 2 minutes late....he was brilliantly sent down to the office for a tardy slip where he had to wait in line, go back upstairs to class, and ended up missing about 30 minutes of instruction. This already left him having to catch up and not understanding the material. Does that make any sense at all?! Okay. He's 2 minutes late. Note it on his gradebook or whatever and move on! Class had not started yet. Why make him miss classroom instruction?! I think they need to take a look at some of these processes and consider other ways to handle these issues.

Anyone else wondering why they spent all this money on building two new schools, but the schools are still overcrowded? At least from what I've been told. The stairs are too crowded. The cafeteria is so crowded that some students have to stand to eat lunch? Why weren't the schools built bigger?

Last week on the first morning of the heavy rain....it took me 34 minutes to move from roughly 1/4 mile from the light on 87 (southbound) past the 87/463 interchange. Traffic was bumper to bumper at all times. In total I sat through five light cycles where I was unable to move more than a cars length. Traffic into the school was bumper to bumper as was that on 87 south and northbound. Drivers would either become impatient or misjudge distances when their light was about to turn red and would go ahead and pull forward only to find themselves stuck in the intersection...thereby blocking cross traffic. A complete and utter mess! The state, county, city, VISD or all of the above, need to address the matter soon before someone is badly injured or killed.

VISD has to be the laughing stock of the entire state. The entire district seems to have it's collective heads in the sand. But that's okay, we'll just waste more gasoline by letting all the cars idle because of the stupid congestion. Kudos to VISD for another SNAFU!

Ah, heck---let's all take the bus!

---------oh well, just mt two cents-----------------------------------------

The traffic is still a major issue, but other issues the traffic is causing is going unnoticed. The quality of education this year is lacking. They are so concerned with tardies and dresscode that kids are being pulled out of their classes to serve ISS. First tardy is detention...second ISS. The traffic and block schedule has lead to many tardies. Today they are doing dresscode check at West ...how many will be pulled from their classes to get
disciplined for that. I'm speaking from experience this year. My daughter is a good student with no discipline problems. She was absent last week and she was having to serve a lunch detention for being tardy. On top of the traffic making her late.. she went to her B day first period and it was A day. When she went back to school she was pulled from her AP class (very hard... missing instruction after being absent was already hard) and put in ISS for not showing up for tardy detention. I'm frustrated this year. She's so unhappy at West and before this year she loved school...What's going on?

Does Ms Crick not speak for her campus? She there?

visd mom The no matter where you live applies only to the west campus.

There is a lot of miscommunication out there about buses and the distance a student lives from the school. VISD put out information earlier this year that (at least for high school students) they would dismiss? disregard? whatever...that requirement because of the location of the schools, and that regardless of where the student lived, they could ride the bus. Did they change their mind? Did they just not send out that information to parents (this is the correct answer).

VISD needs to correct the way they notify parents of important items. I have called regarding new student orientation, registration, etc. and been told to check the VISD website and watch the news and read the Advocate. Seems like they are assuming an awful lot. Last time I checked, the entire population of the city did not have access to computers, not everyone subscribes to the paper, and not everyone watches the local news (or even watches television). VISD needs to get their act together on communicating with parents.

Why does the map show Profit High School when the article is about East and West High School traffic?