Counselor's Corner

We're looking forward to a great 2025-2026 school year! We hope you all had an wonderful break full of adventure, rest, and relaxation. We are excited to be back with our incredible Wolf Pups and have much anticipation for everything the year will hold. As always, we are here to help!

All students should have joined the grade-appropriate Counseling Schoology group in their Advisory class. This a place where we share important lessons, links, and resources for students throughout the year.

7th Grade Group Code: 4FC5-7FCS-55HPF

8th Grade Group Code: XNMJ-6D5K-R3FHW

Over the coming weeks, the counselors will be holding Minute Meetings with each 7th and 8th grade student. These are very brief one on one meetings to introduce ourselves and get to know your student a bit. This is something we look forward to at the beginning of the year and hope your student does too!

If you're student needs to see a counselor, they are expected to fill out the Counselor Request Form. We are notified immediately when this form has been completed, and we call them down as soon as we are available. Unless it's an emergency, students are not allowed to come to the Counseling Office without filling out the form and waiting to be called down.

Hopefully by now everyone has settled into their routines. We want to remind you that we are unable to change electives at this time. Teachers were hired and class allocations were made based on the requests made in the spring.

Thank you for your patience as we have been working to balance classes in order to improve student to teacher ratio, as smaller class sizes are beneficial to everyone. While we make every effort not to disrupt a student's entire schedule, your student's schedule could change some. If it does, they will be notified, and all students can log into their Focus account to see their schedules at anytime. We appreciate your support as we work to create the best learning environment for everyone.

Advanced courses allow our students to be part of a learning environment with increased rigor to help prepare them for college level courses in high school through opportunities such as University of Texas OnRamps, Dallas College Dual Credit, or College Board Advanced Placement (AP) classes.

Advanced courses offer grade level instruction for every student. Research shows that even students who start the school year below grade level can reduce the gap and benefit from their learning experiences in these classes. Students in Advanced courses are not yet earning college credit but are enrolled in courses that provide them with the skills to be successful in University of Texas OnRamps, Dallas College Dual Credit or College Board Advanced Placement (AP) classes when they enroll in them.

Per RISD policy, students must remain in Advanced courses for three weeks. The official window for dropping these courses is Tuesday, September 2 through Friday, September 5. Students will be alerted of this beginning Tuesday. Drop forms will be available outside the Counselor's Office once the window opens and the students will be notified when forms are available. Students will not be allowed to drop Advanced courses after the window closes until second semester.

Student Receives Drop Form from Counseling Office

• Complete the name of course to drop, period, and course to add
• Provide reason for wanting to drop course
• Parent and student sign the form and take it to the teacher
• Teacher signs the form and student takes it to their AP
• AP must sign form before student returns it to the Counseling Office

Course Teacher will Complete

• Dates students attended tutorials
• Date they conferenced with parent and student
• Teacher comments
• Sign the form and have student take to AVID teacher (if taking AVID) or campus administrator

AVID Teacher Completes

• As part of the AVID program, students are expected to push themselves in more challenging courses
• AVID teacher conferences with student and parents to discuss reasons for dropping a course, as well as the supports in place for them to remain and be successful
• Sign the form and have student take to campus administrator

Campus Admin Completes

• Principal or Assistant Principal reviews information provided, speaks with student and the parent in many cases to determine if course drop should be approved or denied
• Sign the form and have student take to counselor

Counselor is the Last to Receive the Form

• Counselor makes schedule change based on approval from campus administrator
• Sign the form and keep for student records

• Computer Science
• Magnet Communications
• Law
• Robotics
• Culinary Arts
• Manufacturing
• Theatre Performance
• Tech Theatre
• Photography
• Science
• Cybersecurity
• Visual Arts

Even though RHS magnet applications do not become available until January, there is important qualification information to know now.

Each magnet program is based on an application process specific to each magnet area. More information will be shared later this semester but, as we shared at the end of last school year, the following requirements must be met to be eligible to apply:

• Must be passing all classes.
• Have a minimum combined average of 80 in English, Math, Science & Social Studies.
• Semester one grades are used to meet guidelines.

Find more information within the links below.

As you all know with the school year starting, it can be difficult to get our students back into a routine. Here are some great ways you can help prepare your child to be ready. If you have any questions, or we can help in anyway, please let us know!

Please contact us if we can assist you in any way!

Website: https://schools.risd.org/WestwoodJH/
Location: 7630 Arapaho Road, Dallas, TX, USA
Phone: 469-593-3600
Twitter: @WestwoodJH_RISD