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Hello Families! ⛅
This week Austin ISD students celebrated Earth 🌎 Week, which is a great way to raise awareness about the environment. ♻🍃
Also this week was the start of STAAR testing 💻 season! Good luck to all Austin ISD students.
In this issue we have an update you can read more about our request for an informal review 📝of the Texas Education Agency's special education conservatorship.
A new partnership to offer discounts and incentives 💲to help teachers and staff battle the high cost of housing. 🏠
…and everyone is invited to join the 2024 💰 community budget conversations. These are happening virtually 💻 on Tuesday, April 25 & Wednesday, April 26 🗓 in English and Spanish.
Now, let’s get started…
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Family Newsletter
By Nayeli Santoyo & Collaborators ● Apr 21, 2023
Smart Brevity® count: 5.5 mins...1484 words
Hello Families! ⛅
This week Austin ISD students celebrated Earth 🌎 Week, which is a great way to raise awareness about the environment. ♻🍃
In this issue we have an update you can read more about our request for an informal review 📝of the Texas Education Agency's special education conservatorship.
…and everyone is invited to join the 2024 💰 community budget conversations. These are happening virtually 💻 on Tuesday, April 25 & Wednesday, April 26 🗓 in English and Spanish.
Now, let’s get started…
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1 Big Thing: Austin ISD requests 📝informal review of TEA Special Education Conservatorship
On Monday, Austin ISD requested an informal review of the Texas Education Agency’s March 31, 2023, Final Report that recommended a conservator to help address special education issues in the district. 🏫
What they’re saying: “We believe that the least disruptive way to build momentum toward sustainable, transformational improvements to special education is to allow our most recent plans and improved systems to fully take hold,” said Superintendent Segura.
Catch up quick: We have been working closely with TEA for more than a year to catch up 📉 on our backlog of Special Education evaluations.
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In early January, we requested that TEA assign a monitor to make recommendations and partner with us in our work around special education evaluations and services. 🎓
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In late March, TEA responded with its intent to assign a team of conservators, which is a level of escalation above a monitor.
The details: We are still learning what a conservatorship could look like but TEA’s report told us that “the duties and powers assigned to the Management Team should be expansive enough to direct all areas affecting, or affected by, special education, even if not made immediately obvious by its name.”
🎒 The bottom line: The district takes full ownership of the problems that have led TEA to issue sanctions. We are focused on resolving the backlog as quickly as possible and making sustainable, transformational improvements to our Special Education program.
Go deeper with our TEA conservator FAQs and Board President Singh’s message to the community.
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2. New website 💻 debuts with apartment discounts 👛 for Austin ISD teachers, staff
A new partnership between Austin ISD and the Austin Apartment Association (AAA) offers discounts 💰 and incentives at apartment complexes around Austin, to help teachers and staff battle the high cost of housing. 🏘
Home sweet cheaper home: Austin ISD staff can now access an interactive apartment directory to find complexes that offer 💵 discounts and incentives for Austin ISD employees.
By the numbers: So far, 37 apartment complexes are offering 👀 special deals for Austin ISD employees, and AAA is working to recruit more complexes for the program.
🎒 Context: The new feature is the result of collaboration between Austin ISD’s Human Capital Employee Experience & Sustainability team and the Austin ISD Real Estate Office.
Go deeper: In a recent employee housing survey, employees noted housing needs and cost of living 🏡 as a significant barrier to recruitment and retention.
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3. An Iraqi 🇮🇶 teacher 🍎 gives families a voice 📣 at Travis Heights Elementary School 🏫
As Austin ISD 🎉celebrates Arab American Heritage Month, we profile Sura Jasim, who works at Travis Heights Elementary School as a Parent Support Specialist, a link between the school district and parents.
Sura Jasim still remembers what it is like to arrive 🛬in this country without knowing anyone, feeling insecure and – perhaps most importantly – not being able to understand the U.S. 🎒educational system. That was Jasim’s experience when she and her family first arrived from 🇮🇶Iraq. But for the past four years she has made it her mission to prevent those same feelings for newcomer families at Travis Heights Elementary.🏫
“We help the parents have a voice 📣 in the school and also direct them where to go when they have an issue,” said Jasim, a Parent Support Specialist (PSS).
📣What’s a PSS? Austin ISD has over 70 PSS’s across the district, primarily in Title I schools. PSS’s work directly with families, campus staff and community members to help families support their children’s educational goals.
🛬 From Baghdad to Austin: Jasim arrived in Austin with her husband and two children in 🗓 2015. Back home 🏠 in Iraq, she had a career as an elementary school science 🔬 teacher. But because of violence and insecurity, Jasim, her husband and their two children left Baghdad to start a new life in Texas. 🤠
🔗Link in the chain: For Jasim, being the communication 🖇link between parents and their children's school 🏫is something she is passionate about and does with a lot of love. She encourages parents to ask for help when they need it.
🏫“Travis Heights is Community:” Although she misses her home country, Jasim feels that Travis Heights Elementary School has become her new 🏡home, a diverse community that helps fill the void left by her homeland. Jasim describes the 🏫 school community as a 🌎 world of different languages and 🌍 cultures together under one roof, where 🎉celebrations of diverse cultures are highly valued and appreciated.
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Jasim loves💛 to teach the students about 🇮🇶Iraqi culture and traditions.
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She is also grateful to 🍎Principal Michelle Amezquita-Navarro, who she says believed in her by giving her the opportunity to be part of the school. 🏫
✈Homecoming: Jasim is 🗓 planning a trip home to 🛫Baghdad this summer, her first in four years. She’ll visit family, friends and above all to relive the memories 💛that she misses so much and carries in her heart.
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4. 🎉More than 120 Austin ISD 🍎parents, guardians graduate 🎓from Maestro en Casa program
Graduates and Parent Support Specialists during Maestro en Casa Graduation Ceremony 2023.
🎉Tears of happiness, harmony and a sense of pride were shared during the Maestro en Casa graduation ceremony on 🗓Saturday, April 15 at the Austin ISD Performing Arts Center.🎭
🎓By the numbers: This year, more than 120 🍎Austin ISD parents and guardians completed the 6-month program. In total, over 900 Austin ISD parents and guardians have graduated🎓 from Maestro en Casa.
“This program has improved me in many ways, it has created confidence that I have the ability to succeed in learning this beautiful language,” said graduate Jose Daniel.
📝Maestro en Casa
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📖Helps parents and guardians of Austin ISD students learn English
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✏Classes are free of charge
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🏫Most classes are taught by Parent Support Specialists, on-campus staff who help families support their children’s educational goals
📔Families who take the classes not only learn basic English, but also learn how to deal with common situations and master vocabulary for important everyday topics.
📣 Go deeper: Learn more about "Maestro en Casa" and how to participate in the program.
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6. Rounding up the news🗞📰
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This weekend, Nayeli plans to go to 🎉Fiesta San Antonio for the first time with her family👦🏻—-weather permitting. ☀🌦☁🌤
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