Wednesday eFolder – March 25, 2020

HAPPY WEDNESDAY THUNDERBIRDS!
We hope you enjoyed your time off during Spring Break! As of now, classes are canceled from March 23rd through April 13th. These next two weeks will be used to plan for what distance learning will look like for the THES community. The school building is also closed to students, staff, and parents. The safety of our students, parents, and staff are our number one priority!

Please check your ClassDojo for messages, videos, and assignments from your child’s teachers. Teachers are working diligently to make contact with all families. Please make sure to answer your phone if your caller ID says Google caller, it may be us! Staff and Faculty will check emails and school voicemails. We will return calls and emails within 24 hours. Thank you for your patience and continued flexibility. 

Principal Navarro and Assistant Principal De La Torre would like to share a
VIDEO MESSAGE with you! 

We care about the health of our students, staff, and families and we want to keep everyone updated on what we’re doing as a district to combat COVID-19. AISD has created a comprehensive webpage that will be kept up to date with the latest information regarding COVID-19’s effect on Austin ISD.

FREE MEALS FOR AISD FAMILIES

Austin ISD Food Services will prepare and provide curbside meals for children under the age of 19 and their parents or caregivers at 70 locations while school is closed due to COVID-19 precautions.  Please see THIS WEBSITE for more information on pick-up locations and schedules. 

NEW AISD LEARNING-AT-HOME WEBSITE

As the community comes together, we are providing learning activities for you and your students while we are away from the classroom. The district has created a Learning At-Home website, complete with online courses and recommended learning resources for all grade levels. This website is intended for caretakers, students, and teachers to access ideas for learning and enrichment opportunities.

The resources on this site are intended to provide optional enrichment during the current cancellation of classes. They are presented with community and human connection in mind. Resources include a range of ideas for online and offline activities that students can work on at home independently, with family members, or with other adults. Some of these activities may require guidance from an adult to get started.

For the students and families with limited access to devices and the internet, the district has organized activity packets for pick up at meal sites from 11am-2pm on Wednesday for PK-2nd grade and Thursday for 3rd-5th grade. 

INTERNET ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
Charter Communications is offering free Spectrum internet services for the next 60 days for households that have children in Kindergarten through College who may be in need. To enroll in this offer please call 1-844-488-8395 or visit the Spectrum Remote Education webpage. 

STAAR TESTING
Gov. Greg Abbott has waived testing requirements for this year’s STAAR exam, as many schools expect to be closed at least through the April testing window due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

STUDENT HEALTH SERVICES TELEHEALTH

Due to the threat of COVID-19 and the growing need for medical care, Virtual Care for Kids is making every effort to expand care to children across the state to help prevent the spread of the virus. In addition to waiving all copays for telemedicine visits, all self-pay visits will now be discounted to $50. Patients with Medicaid will be offered FREE or low-cost telemedicine visits. The average wait for a virtual provider is currently 2 minutes or less. No need to expose your family to COVID-19. Visits are accessible FROM HOME on any smartphone, tablet, or computer. On-demand telemedicine visits are available from 9am – 9pm every day of the week through Urgent Care for Kids. 

Before they can treat your children, you need you to register them at https://urgentcarekids.com/aisd/. We urge parents and guardians to act now and not wait until you have a medical need. To see a provider visit: https://virtualcarekids.com.

TELETHERAPY & MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
Austin ISD’s school-based mental health partner, Vida Clinic, is offering teletherapy services to the Austin ISD community beginning Wednesday, March 18. These services will allow adults and students to access quality mental health services right from their own homes. To schedule an appointment, visit https://vidaclinic.org/virtualvida/ or contact our Vida Clinic Care Team at 512-518-2209 or by email at vidacare@vidaclinic.org.

STAY AT HOME CARE PACKAGES

During uncertain times it’s normal to feel stressed or anxious! Our THES counselors want to share some ideas that could be helpful to ease strong emotions that your child may be feeling. Listen to music, do some physical activity, read, reach out to loved ones, take an occasional break from the news, and try to keep a bit of a routine. Take some time to check in with yourself and practice self-compassion. School counselors will be reaching out to you with other ideas and SEL lessons for your children so they can continue the learning they were doing with us this year. For now, take a look at the attachment below for some fun indoor games. Take care Thunderbirds!
STAY AT HOME CARE PACKAGE ACTIVITY LIST

MAINTAINING SAFE & CLEAN FACILITIES
Custodial and child nutrition staff will support cleaning and disinfecting our facilities to ensure readiness when students and staff return. This work was initiated during spring break. The custodians will provide a “green product” to foodservice managers to use. Our foodservice grade sanitizer products will also work to clean and disinfect per the EPA standards. 

FACILITIES CONSTRUCTION
Construction will continue this semester and summer as planned district-wide. We expect to continue with construction projects as scheduled and will work with contractors to monitor each site and provide timely guidance as we receive it. We are also asking contractors to make changes to advance projects while adhering to the guidance provided by the city, county, and state. These changes include: Requiring alternating breaks by trade on-site, moving all meetings to video conferencing, prohibiting site tours, adding hand sanitizing and wash stations at each wing of the site and at key points of entry, job hazard analysis and the requirement of written plans submitted to AISD by each general contractor detailing their adopted COVID-19 project site protocols. 

DON’T FORGET! REGISTER FOR THE 2020/21 SCHOOL YEAR

All returning students must REGISTER ONLINE for the upcoming school year. If your child is not registered online, they will not be placed in a classroom for the 2020/2021 school year. We are asking all parents to register their students online at https://my.austinisd.org. It is crucial that we have 100% registration complete by the end of March as it will affect our staffing and funding. 

THES NEEDS PTA LEADERS FOR 2020-2021

We are looking for parents of children in lower grades to start getting more involved in PTA! Have you thought about getting involved but aren’t sure where to start? Now is the time to find out more about all the wonderful ways you can get involved with the school and help shape the future for your children. We are currently recruiting for many different areas, everything from President to Hospitality. Keep an eye out for an upcoming fun opportunity to mingle with current PTA leadership to learn more. You can also check out the website for more information (https://www.travisheightselementary.com/volunteering/) or contact Gretchen Otto (ptapresident@travisheightselementary.com) with questions.

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Thank you!