Verizon Innovative Learning Schools (VILS)

Six Houston ISD middle schools were originally accepted into the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program for the 2020-21 school year. This is an education initiative of the Verizon Foundation. Twelve additional Houston ISD middle schools were added in 2021-22, and another eight in 2022-23.

Williams Middle School was chosen to join the cohort in 2022=2023 after a rigorous competitive process, Houston ISD was identified by the Verizon Foundation’s non-profit partner, Digital Promise, as meeting all criteria for participation. Each VILS partner school will receive an in-kind award of Chromebooks for all students, teachers, and administrators, professional development, and digital instructional resources. Each Chromebook will be equipped with a data plan that provides “always-available” access outside of the classroom. Funds will be provided for a full-time Campus Instructional Technologist dedicated to providing teachers with the pedagogical support to effectively leverage technology in the classroom. The initial VILS program is for two years, with the possibility of a two-year extension in the second year. Williams MS is now entering its first year as an extension school in this program.

What is required from parents/guardians?

1. All parents/guardians need to complete the required documentation and turn it in to the school.

2. The $25 annual usage fee must be paid on SchoolPay.net for each student.

3. At least one parent/guardian per household needs to complete the online Williams Parent Course.

NEW in 2022-23  - to help protect students the district has updated their password policy. Please click HERE for the details.

Need assistance with your student Chromebook?

If you are having problems with the student Chromebook or charger, please follow these steps:

1. Ask the student to first ask a classmate if they know how to fix the problem. Several students are part of our Gator Tech Team and may be able to help.

2. Ask the student to try asking their teacher for help. Several of our staff know how to do basic troubleshooting.

3. If the student has tried steps 1 and 2, have them take the Chromebook and/or charger with them to our campus technologist. Mr. Villatoro is located on the second floor next door to the 8th grade science classrooms.

4. If your student is at home during school hours due to illness, injury, or other circumstances, and the problem is minor, they can email Mr. Villatoro ( emilio.villatoro@houstonisd.org ) or Mrs. Banks Forte' ( Lbanks3@houstonisd.org ) for assistance.

5. If your student is at home during school hours due to illness, injury, or other circumstances, and the problem is urgent or more serious, please call the school at 713-696-2600 and ask for Mr. V.

Help us help our students take care of their Chromebooks!

If we are not able to treat these devices with care and respect, consequences may result in a student device being taken up by Mr. V and not returned. 

Stickers:

Students need to remove any personal stickers they have placed on their Chromebooks.

The Chromebooks belong to Williams MS, and should only have the stickers that Mr. V has placed on them (example: the Williams crest, the clear pouch containing their green name card, and the inventory tags).

Any official stickers need to stay there and not be removed or drawn on.

General Care:

There has been an increase in Chromebooks being turned in with severely damaged hinges and/or missing keys from the keyboard. 

Students should NOT use tablet mode to help prevent damage to their hinges.

Chromebook keys do not just “fall off” of the keyboard - it takes purposeful force to remove them - and are not covered under the repair agreement we have with Digital Promise because they consider it “intentional” damage.

Chargers:

Students need to charge their Chromebook overnight. We do not have very many replacement chargers as many chargers were not returned last school year. If a student has a charger that no longer works correctly, they should let Mr. V know as soon as possible so that he can determine if it's damaged or has a manufacturing defect for replacement (fees may apply if it is determined to have been damaged).

If a student chooses to bring their charger to school, they need to keep it in their backpack and make sure they get it back should they choose to loan it to a friend during class time.

Students who do not have working chargers can bring their Chromebook to Mr. V and he can charge it for them during the day. It is their responsibility to come get it later in the day.

Data Usage:

Please monitor how much data your student is using at home. The Chromebooks are not meant for personal use, such as watching videos (that are not embedded into a class on the Hub) or playing games.

If your student has one of the Samsung Chromebooks, there is a setting that allows them to toggle between using your home WiFi and the Verizon Data. Please only use Verizon Data if you do not have WiFi available at home.

Do NOT use the Verizon Data as a hotspot for other devices in the home.