| Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful break. Brace yourself. These next few weeks will go fast. Remember to stop, breathe, and take of yourself. Need a three-minute break in the day? Check out our weekly AISD in 3 recap.To the news… |
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| Family Newsletter |
| By Scott Thomas ● Dec 09, 2021
Smart Brevity™ count: 5 mins... 1264 words
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Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful break.
Brace yourself. These next few weeks will go fast. Remember to stop, breathe, and take of yourself.
Need a three-minute break in the day? Check out our weekly AISD in 3 recap.
To the news…
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1 Big Thing: Have it All at our High School Fair
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You’ll get a chance to check out our awesome programs at the High School Fair on Dec. 11.
Why it matters: Did you know that you can get two years of college for free? Apply to one of the best high schools in America? Or earn industry certifications for in-demand, high-tech jobs, all at Austin ISD high schools?
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If you can’t wait, you can learn more about these programs on our Have it All page.
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If you’re ready to apply, fill out our common app. You can apply for all of our programs and schools with this one app.
The details: The event will start at 9 a.m. and run until noon on Saturday, Dec. 11.
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We’ll be at Eastside ECHS and International High School, 900 Thompson Street.
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Enter along Neal Street and parking will be available.
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2. We’re proposing some updates to next year’s calendar
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Your child could have extra holidays, including ACL Fridays and Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta Day, under new calendar updates for the 2022-23 school year.
Why it matters: The school calendar is a key piece to your planning for the year ahead, and we want to keep you in the loop on any proposed updates.
A quick note: These are still proposed changes, so they’re not official.
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The first day of school would still be Aug. 15, 2022, and the last day of school is May 25, 2023.
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Our Board of Trustees approved the 2022-23 calendar in February 2021, so this proposal would update the calendar.
The calendar could now include:
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Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta Day, March 31, is a student and staff holiday, and Juneteenth, June 19, is a staff holiday.
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A minimum of one day off for staff and students per month to prevent burnout.
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Designated parent conference meetings for all levels so you can meet with your child’s teacher after work.
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ACL Fridays will be student holidays, and staff will have the option to take these days off if they get their required training. This is because we’ve seen an increased need for substitutes on those Fridays, yet we continue to have a shortage of subs.
The board discussed these changes in detail at last night’s meeting, you can watch it on our Facebook page starting about 4 hours and 22 minutes in.
What’s next: The Board of Trustees could vote on calendar updates at its Dec. 16 meeting.
Have feedback? Connect with us on Let’s Talk.
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3. Share your thoughts on repurposing closed schools
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You can let us know what should be next for the schools that were closed as part of the School Changes process.
Why it matters: During the process, we promised to engage with the community about how to best use those and other facilities.
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That process was delayed because of COVID, but we’re committed to sticking to our word.
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We’ll also be discussing how to use the old Rosedale site after that school got a new location, as well as some unused sections of the Anita Coy facility
Register here: https://bit.ly/3H5D6kB
Captioning and interpretation into Spanish will be provided.
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4. District looks at leadership changes for Mendez
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Mendez Middle School may soon be under new leadership as Austin ISD explores ending the partnership that manages the school.
Why it matters: If Mendez doesn’t score a C or higher in TEA’s accountability system in the 2022-23 school year, the school or even the district could be taken over by the state.
Our options, if the T-STEM agreement ends, include finding a new partner or bringing the campus back under district control.
Whatever happens, Mendez will still be your neighborhood middle school., this will only affect who’s running the campus.
What’s next: The Austin ISD Board of Trustees also discussed the partnership at their information session Thursday.
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5. Come work at Austin ISD!
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Want to be a part of the team that helps your child and more than 70,000 others learn and grow every day? We’re hiring!
Why it matters: We need to fill some key positions, and we’d love it if our families came to be a part of our team.
Just a few of the positions we need to fill are,
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Classroom teachers and teacher assistants
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Food service production specialists and managers
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Bus drivers, monitors, and mechanics
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Clerical, administrative, and support positions
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Technical and trade positions
Want a position that fits your schedule? We’re hiring substitute classroom teachers and teacher assistants who can support whenever and wherever they have the opportunity.
Who should apply: You! (or your partner, your cousin, your parents… spread the word!)
What’s next: Check out our job openings on our website.
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6. Let’s Talk Question of the Week: Our response to the omicron variant
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Families can ask us anything via Let’s Talk, our two-way question and answer platform. Each week, we highlight some of the questions we get that might help you.
Will Austin ISD continue to mandate masks considering the new omicron variant?
Answer: Yes. We will continue mandating masks as part of our layers of protection until the data support going mask-optional.
Go deeper: We saw a small spike in cases following Halloween, and our health team is anticipating a spike in the next few weeks, as well as the weeks after Winter Break.
What we know: We can protect ourselves against COVID-19 without lockdowns or shutdowns this time.
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We have layers upon layers of protection now, including vaccines, boosters, contact tracing and masks — all of which we didn’t have when COVID first arrived in 2020.
There’s lots of false information flying around about Omicron, arm yourself with facts from the CDC and City of Austin.
Learn more about our response to the omicron variant on the Austin ISD website.
Submit your own questions via Let’s Talk by going to www.austinisd.org/letstalk or texting 512-886-6434.
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To close,
As you may have heard, we had an incident at Akins Early College High School that involved a lockdown for several hours.
This is the type of event you hope you never have to experience as an educator, parent, or student. If you’re an Akins parent, I can only imagine what you were going through.
Thank you to the AISD Police and administrators who responded swiftly. I’m feeling grateful for everyone who works to keep our students safe.
Until next week!
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