HAPPY WEDNESDAY THUNDERBIRDS!
January 20, 2021
MLK Day Celebrations
Historically, Austin ISD celebrates the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. by participating in the annual MLK Celebration march, sponsored by the Austin Heritage Council. This year, the march and many other Martin Luther King Jr. Day activities are being modified to keep everyone safe.
AISD encourages students, families and staff to celebrate safely with us at one or more of the free opportunities listed below. Whether you participate in these events or find your own way to honor Martin Luther King Jr., please be sure to use the hashtag #AISDMLK in your social media posts.
- Joint Statement of Austin Association of Public School Administrators, Austin Council of PTAs Executive Council, Austin Independent School District and Education Austin.
- Read Superintendent Elizalde’s statement about recent national events.
- We care about your input! Take the 2020-21 family survey now!
Principal Weekly Update & Coffee Chat
Our amazing leaders, Ms. Navarro & Mrs. De La Torre, are continuing their updates to keep you informed. The next one is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 22, 10-11am. You can ask questions and learn about how things are going at school if you attend, or watch the video later. Here is the Zoom Information to join on the 22nd.
- https://zoom.us/j/96476232276?pwd=d2xsYlhGb3U0NVVXR2hsdXVlWllMQT09
- Meeting ID: 964 7623 2276
- Passcode: joinus
Jan. 19-22
On Thursday, the district asked families to keep their students learning from home, if possible, Jan. 19-22. As we communicated on Wednesday, preliminary results from this week showed that this was successful in limiting attendance and allowing for extensive social distancing by those who are needing to be served on campus.
Because of this, our campuses were able to also reduce the amount of adults supporting each campus in a collective effort to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 during this critical time for our community.
Austin ISD will continue to offer both on-campus and remote instruction for all families for the rest of the school year.
Asynchronous Days Reminder
Please mark your calendars! The following days will be asynchronous, meaning all students will learn in a remote off-campus setting:
- Friday, Jan. 29.
- Friday, Feb. 26.
- Friday, March 5.
- Friday, April 9.
Asynchronous days limit the amount of time spent on campus. To further protect our community, we will use this time to do additional deep cleanings of our campuses. Thank you for your continued support and flexibility.
Better insights, better outcomes–MOY Testing Information
MAP Growth is the most trusted and innovative assessment for measuring achievement and growth in K–12 math, reading, language usage, and science. It provides teachers with accurate, and actionable evidence to help target instruction for each student or groups of students regardless of how far above or below they are from their grade level. It also connects to the largest set of instructional content providers, giving educators flexibility in curriculum choices.
We are currently testing with a second wave of MapGrowth during the month of January. In grades 1-2 we are focusing on evaluating our students’ fluency and performing dyslexia screeners.
The removal of this pop-up window should provide a smoother experience for both the student and the proctor as it removes the need to troubleshoot any possible pop-up related testing issues like:
- Unblocking pop-ups at the student level
- Students losing their test window or accidentally closing the test window going back and forth from Zoom and to the test
- Student’s mistakenly thinking their test crashed when in reality it was most likely buried behind other open windows
The implementation of this new URL will hopefully help students stay more engaged in their assessments and give proctors more time to focus on just proctoring with less troubleshooting.
This new URL is listed below and has been updated in the student Clever portal as the link to the MAP Growth assessment.
No Pop-up URL: https://test.mapnwea.org/#/nopopup
Thunderbirds our MOY testing window opens February 8th-19th.
The data we collect from our MOYs help our teachers to prepare a plan to support our Thunderbirds academically. Please help us by supporting your Thunderbird with a few reminders. The MOY benchmarks will be given in the areas of Math and Reading for grades 3rd-5th. Writing and Science will be given to students in 4th-5th. Below are a few reminders:
- Get a good night’s rest.
- Eat breakfast and prepare for the day.
- Charge your device and have your headphones available.
Get Your Device:
Whether you have access to a personal Chromebook or iPad, ALL students should request an AISD device for 1:1 use. Students submit their needs for Chromebooks, iPads, and Hotspots through the Technology Distribution tile of My.austinisd.org.
If you have reliable access, then a request for a hotspot is not necessary. Hotspots are similar to a cell phone. If you are having trouble accessing the internet with a district hotspot, try repositioning the device to improve reception.
AISD devices automatically receive updates from the district. Each day please power off and power on your device to properly receive and install updates. This will be important for the specialized testing Apps used by the school.
Campus Requests for Student Devices:
To request iPads, Hotspots, or Chromebooks for delivery or assignment at your campus, please follow the instructions in the Austin ISD Staff Guide to Technology Requests and Distribution. Repairs: For repairs, students can return or drop off devices for maintenance at any AISD campus during operating hours. This includes devices through the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program. Students should bring: · the computer · the charger (if they have one) and · a piece of paper with · the student’s full legal name and ID number and · a description of the problem (e.g., “won’t turn on,” “cracked screen”). Each campus has a Let’s Talk curbside text number to allow contactless delivery. The computer being dropped off will not be returned to the student. Replacement devices are available based on supplies each day.
Weekly Technology Visits: After a school receives devices, a technology field technician will visit the campus at least once a week to make repairs or return the devices to the central technology team for hardware repairs.
If you have any questions or trouble, feel free to reach out to our campus Director of Media & Technology, Mr. Hawes at kent.hawes@austinisd.org or contact the district IT Parent support desk from 6:30 am until 5:30 pm at 512-414-9187.
A Cultural Fest During Pandemic Times
To make our Cultural Fest happen this year, we are inviting you to create a short video about your culture to share with our THES community. Our amazing tech teacher is going to use his magic to pull all of the videos into one special THES Cultural Fest video. We are still working out the details, but are so excited about celebrating all of the cultures that make up our THES community. We should have the details all ironed out for next week’s efolder. We can’t wait to see your face in our THES video!
If there are any amazing video experts out there who want to help, please email southaustinteacher@gmail.com. We’d love to use some of these videos to show off our school to prospective parents, too!
Family Survey
The Family Survey is available to guardians from January 5th through March 5th. Please take a moment to complete and share your family’s insights into shaping the future of AISD. The survey can be found by following this link.
Prime Time for Spring
Attached are the Spring Virtual Prime Time Enrichment Classes created for our Thunderbirds. We all are doing our best to adjust to the current changes while continuing to keep healthy socially and physically, we can still bring engaging after-school opportunities to our students.
All the classes will be on AISD Zoom. Registration is easy for parents available in English and Spanish. Parents, please sing up if you are interested.
PTA Meeting for all
Travis Heights Elementary PTA General Meeting is coming up tomorrow. Hope you can join us!
- Thursday 1/21/21 6:30pm
- Zoom Meeting ID: 824 4562 4879
- Passcode: 129762
Transfers and Dual Language Applications
The beginning of the transfer season for 2021-2022 will be delayed. The frozen schools announcement will also be delayed. Please check back on this website for updates as they become available. All deadlines will be pushed back as well. Thank you for your patience.
More Information:
- For the quickest response, you can send us a message at: https://www.austinisd.org/contact-us (Choose Student Transfers).
- Please call if you have questions about transfers for the 2020-2021 school year (512-414-1726).
Applications for enrollment into Dual Language programs for the elementary 2021-22 school year are being accepted NOW through February 26, 2021.
Find more information about the application process on the Dual-Language page
Prospective Parents
If you have a friend or neighbor who is interested in THES for their child, they can join us at the virtual Parent Q&A on Friday, January 22nd at 8:00 with Principal Navarro. Learn more about the school, deadlines for registration, and to visit with administration.
Parent Q & A
Join Zoom Meeting:
- https://zoom.us/j/96476232276?pwd=d2xsYlhGb3U0NVVXR2hsdXVlWllMQT09
- Meeting ID: 964 7623 2276
- Passcode: joinus
District Of Innovation Professional Development Days (No school for students)
Travis ECHS Vertical Team DOI Days: 02/12/2021 and 03/12/2021. These dates are student holidays and staff development days. Please be sure to mark your calendar.
Free PE Equipment for our Super Star students that qualify & learn remotely
The Health and PE department secured funds to purchase PE Equipment Kits for students identified as having specific needs and learning remotely. The student list and equipment list have been emailed to PE teachers.
Ms. Collins will be contacting eligible families by January 27, 2021. For students who are not in this initial distribution of supplies and are still in need of equipment, we have developed a list of alternative/homemade equipment options.
Health Guidelines
Please review the information provided in the links below to learn more about how to respond if you believe your child has a positive COVID case and general guidelines for when to keep your child home from school. If you have any questions, please contact our school health room at 512-414-. Thank you!
When to Keep Your Child Home (English) or (SPANISH))
The Center for Disease control provides guidance for best practices to avoid infection and available resources. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/need-to-know.html
How to Check Status on District Systems
AISD’s technology team has launched a webpage that allows school communities to check the status of district systems such as the cloud and portal, as well as Accelify, School Messenger, and Zoom, at www.austinisd.org/technology/status.
Integral Care Mental Health
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, Integral Care has a 24/7 Crisis Helpline at 512-472-4357 (HELP). You can also Text TX to 741741 to connect to Crisis Text Line. Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 crisis support via text.
Help with food, utilities, rental assistance or other community resources:
Call 211 to speak to someone for assistance, or visit ConnectATX (United Way of Greater Austin)
Austin ISD Parent Engagement Support Office has created a helpful community resource guide that includes information on services for:
- Health and Wellness
- Legal and Immigration
- Housing
- Education
- Austin ISD
- Other Resources
To review the AISD & Community Resource Guide, please click HERE.
AISD Mobile App Information
The app will allow all AISD students, staff and families to receive notifications from the district and campuses for which they wish to subscribe. Other helpful tools include COVID-19 Screen and Go, an efficient self-screening process for users to complete before coming into contact with others or before leaving home for work or school. The screening feature is available to students, staff and visitors. The app also allows for quick access and links to:
- Parent Cloud
- Parent Self Serve
- WheresTheBus
- School Café
- School Directory
FRIENDLY REMINDERS
- Download the AISD App today for iPhone and Android.
- Keep up with what’s happening in the District by watching this week’s AISD in 3.
- Visit Austin ISD’s Community Learning Spaces webpage.
- BLEND is Austin ISD’s online learning platform. Tutorials are available in English and Spanish.
- Austin ISD is now offering free seven day meal packs at curbside sites.
Follow Austin ISD on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.