Our speaker was unable to attend, but she sent us video, which was so well done, it was almost like she was there! Danielle Trejo is the Counselor at Hart Elementary School, and had a meet the teacher meeting, which prevented her from attending in person. She is in her 3rd year at Hart Elementary and says there is a wonderful environment at the campus. She discussed the history of Hart Elementary and showed us portions of the school website. The school was named after Bernice Hart, who was an advocate for all children and served on the school board. Danielle also showed us some demographics from the Austin ISD website and well as other information about Hart Elementary, which is a mostly Hispanic school . The school has a Facebook page and uses other social media platforms – they are extremely proud of school, which support the whole child. There are 500 students at Hart.
Danielle went on to tell us about how the school was affected by the pandemic. Last Spring when schools closed in-person, the school tried to say in touch with students and families using technology, including setting up hot-spots. They worked hard to support their families, including providing food, and continued to provide resources to families during the summer. For this school year, the school has created safety plans for students and teachers, with school starting on September 8th, with the first four weeks solely on-line.
Danielle told us several ways the club can help --donations for backpacks and school supplies, help with clean up and beautification of the grounds of the school campus, and most importantly, provide some assistance with the EAFK program. Danielle would like some interview videos from Rotarians that set out what the 4-way test means to them and she also wants to have some Rotarians saying the 4-way test in video that can be used in her announcement videos. Wants to start having the EAFK ceremonies virtually. Still will have programs where the students are learning about different virtues. If you have time to a video, please do! You can send Danielle your ideas and questions. She wants to keep the partnership with going with our club. Her email is danielle.trejo@austinisd.org.