The TEA Takeover of HISD on June 1 opened doors for sweeping policies that have impacted freshmen GPAs.

Although the exact reasoning for the implementation of the new policies has not been widely publicized, the administration has trickled down district-wide reforms that have overturned two long-standing Bellaire procedures.

These updates have already impacted all current and future freshmen, making a perfect 5.0 GPA impossible:

Effective this school year, Health and P.E. summer classes will not be offered to incoming freshmen, and any classes taken in the summer before freshman year will now be counted in GPAs.

Effective this school year, the first two levels of art classes will not have 5.0 options. HADV Art 1, HADV Photography, HADV Art 2, HADV Art 2 Jewelry, HADV Art 2 Sculpture, HADV Art 2 Drawing, HADV Art 2 Painting, HADV Art 2 Photo and HADV Digital Art & Media have all been changed to 4.0 classes.

Policy One: Incoming freshman summer classes count in GPA

P.E. and Health are courses required to graduate. Every year, 200 to 300 students take the two courses early in the summer.

“What was different about what we were doing basically was [that we were] offering classes for original credit,” counselor Charles Lawler said. “That’s what Health and P.E. were about. It would open up opportunities for kids to take other classes, another math [or] science, possibly something else down the line. That’s encouraging that kind of achievement. It’s a good idea if kids take advantage of it and maximize what they can do at Bellaire.”

But starting this summer, the two courses will no longer be offered on-campus for incoming freshmen, and all incoming freshman summer classes will no longer be exempt from GPA calculations.

As displayed on the Bellaire website, “The HISD High School Office has now mandated that incoming ninth graders are not allowed to take Health or P.E. during the summer.”

This new rule was relayed to all summer school coordinators in May over an online meeting. Later in the year, academic memos, which often include new regulations, information and dates, were sent to Bellaire administrators about the changes.

Prior to this announcement, freshmen entering Bellaire could take required original credit courses like Health and P.E. in the summer. They would receive the credit for passing while exempting the course grade from their GPA because the credit was earned before officially starting high school.

For many high-achieving students, this was ideal because as a route to achieve the coveted 5.0 GPA without required 4.0 classes working against them.

“I was pretty disgruntled over that for a few weeks,” freshman Katherine Huang said. “I was pretty annoyed. Like ‘Wow. I’m going to work really hard and try to get As for all my classes, but at the very end it’s still going to be something [that is] not a perfect 5.0.’”

Huang is not alone. According to a poll conducted on the Three Penny Press Instagram, 51 out of 110 students report being affected or knowing someone affected by this change.

As a result, an increased number of freshmen have opted to take a 5.0 zero period class in order to boost their average.

“But now it’s like a different game,” Huang said. “The stakes have changed. People are stressing like, ‘Oh, now I have to take a zero period too.’ People have pretty bad sleep schedules in general for high school, so that also might worsen sleep schedules.”

Some speculate the change was the outcome of the new school board’s effort to standardize schools within the district.

“Bellaire had one policy,” Lawler said. “Lamar [High School] had another. Kids would be going back and forth, and it’d be affecting their GPA because Bellaire would exempt [the summer classes], and Lamar counted everything before high school. So you had different standards within the district, and I think [the school board] standardize[d] the whole district, saying, ‘This is what it is rather than having one school doing one thing and another school doing another.’”

For those who are worried by the new policy, the good news is the Health course is also available online every summer at other credit providers like Texas Tech, which offers high school courses that have credits transferable at the discretion of your counselor. This route allows GPA-driven students to take one more 5.0 classes in the regular school year. However, the 4.0 Health grade point will still transfer into your GPA. At most, it would boost GPA minimally for a $300 price tag.

Currently, students can still take P.E. and Health in the summer after freshman year too, but as with all summer classes now, the course grade would be counted in GPA calculations. These summer class offerings are also subject to change based on future district decisions.

Policy Two: Art classes level change

One of the 26 credits required for graduation is a fine arts credit. Typically, fine arts credits are earned in freshman year. Students may choose to take a level of Art 1 or any other classes that supply fine arts credits, such as orchestra or technical theater, to satisfy this requirement.

Before, Art 1 and 2 classes had three placement levels: Academic, Pre-IB and HADV. Until this year, HADV was the only 5.0 option. Now, there are none.

Again, it comes back to administrative efforts to standardize the district. Although never formally broadcasted, a general consensus seems to be that the policy stemmed from the inconsistency in fine arts class levels. While Band 1 and 2, Dance 1 and 2 and other fine arts were 4.0 classes, HADV Art and HADV Photography boasted a 5.0 level.

“I believe they were trying to standardize within the Fine Arts Department,” Lawler said. “What was going on [was] you didn’t have any option for honors level in other fine arts, so art shouldn’t have it [either].”

Art teacher Meredith Donahoe said that although the district’s efforts were justified, there are issues with the approach.

“In HISD, I think they want a feeling of fairness about GPA across the board,” said Donahoe. “I would rather offer Pre-AP to more people across other places. I’d rather that we were increasing rigor—moving everyone up rather than taking out more rigorous classes.”

The broad decision to lower the art level disregards how art courses have an AP test attached to them, unlike all other fine arts.

“I personally think there’s a justification there for having honors art,” Lawler said. “Because what a [HADV] course is supposed to do is prepare you for the AP or IB exams [that] follow on later. The regular art content isn’t designed to do that, generally speaking.”

Indeed, art teachers are also adapting to the level change, navigating how to adequately prepare students for the AP course without the matching AP-level course load.

“There had been [HADV Art] 2, and it’s at that level that we are really starting to prepare people to take the AP,” said Donahoe. “It’s a hugely important skill-building year. To not allow students who are doing work that will prepare them for the AP or IB [to earn] the credit for doing that—I think [it] is not really ideal.”

This new change has already deterred incoming freshman and second-year art students alike from taking art.

According to a poll conducted Dec. 4 on the Three Penny Press Instagram, 54 out of 110 students report being affected or knowing someone affected by this change.

“A lot of my sophomore classmates talked about how they don’t even draw that much, but they chose to do art because [it] was fun,” freshman Josephine Eltzschig said. “They’re probably not going to do it next year because it takes away from [their GPA], but art is so nice, and it’s just sad.”

Donahoe said that she wrote to HISD about the changes.

“I know that some of the people in fine arts above me also made their feelings known about this change to people in HISD,” Donahoe said. “We were not consulted at all.”
The rule is just starting to take effect, but future long-term consequences may soon materialize.

“My greater concern is for the art classes, the sustainability of the classes and numbers needed to run the programs,” Lawler said. “I think getting the [HADV] designation was a motivation for a lot of kids to take the classes, and I don’t want to see a decrease in the program because of that.”

For GPA-driven freshmen, the only remaining 5.0 fine arts course is AP Music Theory.

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Despite the new changes, teachers and administration still remain optimistic.

“I hope that kids come and take art [and] are excited to make really nice things,” Donahoe said. “That’s what art is about: being happy makers. We do want to accommodate people’s GPA concerns, but a lot of that is not up to me in this room. We’re just gonna roll with what happens and make the best of it and continue to make good, nice things with my students in [this] room.”
However, for students like Huang, the two newly introduced GPA obstacles have already impacted their schedules.

“I did choir [in] middle school and I’m pretty passionate about it, but now it’s like, ‘Oh, I already have like this 4.0, which is my P.E., so I can’t do it anymore,’” Huang said. “I have to [take] music theory instead of something that I was really passionate about and really wanting to do, so that’s kind of a downer for me.”

Looking toward the future, Dean of Instruction Debbie Campbell said that even more changes should be expected.

“I would anticipate additional changes as [the district goes] through our policies and procedures and seek to make improvements,” Campbell said. “I’m on the receiving end of all of it. I’m not involved in any of the decision-making.”

Regardless of any future decisions, Lawler said that the specific nuances of these policies will not change how Bellaire fundamentally operates.

“There are amazing classes here and amazing teachers, and if students can take advantage of it, I think it’s a beautiful thing,” Lawler said.