Adrienne Vanderbloemen and Christi Young recently started a blog called “West U Middle School” in an effort to get more students to attend Pershing. It recently reached 2,800 hits. About 100 people gathered at Vanderbloemen’s Judson home this morning to take part in the discussion.
Pershing Principal Robin Lowe, HISD Trustee Mike Lunceford and former West U Mayor Burt Ballanfant were in attendance and discussed the benefits of attending Pershing.
“I hope that you choose your neighborhood school,” said Lunceford, who was surprised that such a small contingency of West U students attend Pershing.
Pershing has 1,810 students and of those students, 1,136 are zoned to the school. The other 674 students come from areas zoned for other middle schools in HISD.
“There’s plenty of room for everyone,” said Lowe, who’s been the principal at Pershing for three years. “We always have room for one more and I truly believe that.”
Lowe said that parents don’t commit early enough for sixth grade, so they don’t know how many students they have until they show up.
One of the things parents always want to know about it safety, she said. Pershing has cameras and a police officer on campus. The students wear ID cards and each grade wears a different colored shirt so faculty and staff know where everyone should be.
Lowe said her goal for the year is to be an exemplary school. Teachers are working on rigor, relevance and relationships so that students trust them and want to learn from them.
One of the things the school focuses on is social and emotional well being as well as academic well being.
As much as we would like to say that school is a time for math and science, “middle school is a time to socialize,” Lowe said.
One parent said she had concerns about the school’s disciplinary action rate.
Lowe said minor things should be handled by teachers and clusters, but everything that happens is documented and goes into the computer. She said her goal is to decrease its disciplinary rate by 20 percent every year.
Another parent wanted to know what the school can do about kids that hang out on the grounds after school.
“It’s the kids outside on campus that are scaring the parents away,” the parent said.
Lowe said she wishes she could tell parents to pick up their kids at a certain time, but she can’t legally do that.
A woman who attended the meeting said the school should utilize the parents to do after school activities and clubs in an effort to keep kids from hanging out on school grounds.
“You have a gem in your neighborhood that you need to look at before you go look at other programs,” Lunceford said.
Some of the parents said they are going to sign a pledge that says they will send their children to Pershing. Vanderbloemen and Young said they are going to continue to update their Facebook page and the West U Middle School blog and talk with parents.
Pershing will have an open house for zoned elementary school parents on Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. Parents will to able to tour the school, talk with the administration and meet with teachers.
“The community needs to embrace the school it’s zoned to,” Ballanfant said. “What you treasure so much about West U is what you’ll find at Pershing.”
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