| 👩🏫 We started the summer with more than 1,000 teacher vacancies, an all-time high. A week ago, that number was 495. As of Friday afternoon, that’s down to 249, and we are onboarding enough to bring us to 95% fully staffed. Still, your child might start the year with a substitute. Want to help out and be a sub? Click here.🎒 13,000 students haven’t registered yet. Is yours one? We now have videos to take you through the process step-by-step.🚌 Need to find your bus? Check out our bus stop finder. Also, there’s a “Where’s the Bus” app to track your child’s bus.💊 New this year, all prescription and over-the-counter medications require a doctor's order in addition to a parent authorization form. The prescription label on the bottle used to serve as an MD order, but now a doctor’s order is required, so call your doctor’s office today! Let’s dive in. |
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| Family Newsletter |
| By Jason Stanford ● Aug 12, 2022
Smart Brevity® count: 5 mins... 1318 words
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👩🏫 We started the summer with more than 1,000 teacher vacancies, an all-time high. A week ago, that number was 495. As of Friday afternoon, that’s down to 249, and we are onboarding enough to bring us to 95% fully staffed. Still, your child might start the year with a substitute. Want to help out and be a sub? Click here.
🎒 13,000 students haven’t registered yet. Is yours one? We now have videos to take you through the process step-by-step.
🚌 Need to find your bus? Check out our bus stop finder. Also, there’s a “Where’s the Bus” app to track your child’s bus.
💊 New this year, all prescription and over-the-counter medications require a doctor's order in addition to a parent authorization form. The prescription label on the bottle used to serve as an MD order, but now a doctor’s order is required, so call your doctor’s office today!
Let’s dive in.
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1 big thing: Trustees unanimously approve 2022 Bond package
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After an 11-month-long, community-driven process centered on equity, the board of trustees approved a $2.44 billion bond that voters will see on the ballot in November.
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Security Upgrades at every Austin ISD school include secure-entry vestibules, fencing, new door locks and lock repairs, and changes to open-concept schools.
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Districtwide improvements include $248.2 million for maintenance of building systems, including HVAC, plumbing and roof repairs
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Every high school gets upgraded athletic facilities, including competition fields
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Every bus without AC will be replaced
Financial impact: We’re paying millions of dollars in repairs out of the same budget we pay staff with. The more things we can fix with a bond, the more money we have available to raise salaries for teachers, librarians, bus drivers, and more.
25 aging facilities would get what are called either “full or phased modernizations,” including eight high schools ($759.8 million), five middle schools ($417.6 million), and 12 elementary schools ($558.7 million).
By the numbers: The proposed bond package is projected to raise the debt service of the Austin ISD tax rate by 1 cent per $100 in value. Property owners would still pay 5.5 cents less per $100 in value than last year in school taxes if voters approve this package.
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Unlike maintenance and operations tax revenue, bond dollars are not subject to recapture by the state, so every cent of every dollar raised would be available for investment in Austin ISD schools and facilities.
Go deeper: For more information on the 2022 Bond proposal, visit www.AISDFuture.com
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2. What we’re doing to keep schools safe
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At Saturday’s Back-to-School BASH, district leaders briefed the community on safety measures they’re taking with students returning to campuses on Monday.
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Kids need to be dropped off and picked up at the school door, and teachers will walk their kids to class.
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During the summer, Austin ISD has been completing the installation bullet-resistant glass and film at entryways and using 2017 bond funds to replace security systems, including security cameras.
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Each campus is conducting a security audit to test every door and holding security briefings for campus staff.
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In July, the district hired longtime AISD PD officer Wayne Sneed as the district’s new police chief.
Why it matters: Safety is always the top priority, and after Uvalde, it’s the top-of-mind concern for most parents.
Level set: AISD PD investigates every online threat and encourages you to call 512-414-1703 if you have a concern or submit an anonymous tip online.
What they're saying: "Our campuses have professional school counselors who are being trained and are ready to accept each and every student to connect with them," said Dr. Twyla Williams, director of counseling crisis and mental health. "We want to see if there are any early warning signs and, more importantly, we want to ensure our students feel safe when they walk through the door."
Get involved: The Safety and Security Committee meets this Friday. Find out what it does and how to apply to be a member here.
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3. Sanitary napkins and dispensers
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Starting this school year, Austin ISD will be providing sanitary napkins and tampons to all students, free of charge.
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Installation of dispensers with the hygiene products in middle and high school restrooms started in July.
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Elementary students will also have access to the products, but there will be no dispensers installed in their schools.
Why it matters: According to State of the Period—a quarter of teens struggle to afford to buy feminine hygiene products, and 4 in 5 teens have missed class because they don’t have access to the products they need.
Credit where credit’s due: Big thanks to Snow White, an Austin ISD parent and an Austin Ed Fund board member, who prompted this change after installing a cabinet in the bathroom at her daughter’s school.
Read more.
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4. Changes to elementary schedules give teachers planning time
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For this school year, elementary school principals have created new schedules tailored to their campuses that provide the following:
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For the first time, 90 minutes each week of collaborative planning time for classroom teachers,
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45 minutes of PE every day with a potential flex day for K-5th,
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At least 180 minutes of music and art every three weeks, and
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Flexibility for special education teachers to have required planning minutes and regularly participate in PLCs.
Dig deeper: Teachers are going to share their schedules with you during back-to-school nights shortly after the start of school, and principals will be communicating the highlights for their specific campuses in their newsletters.
If you have any questions about what your child is likely to experience, please contact your principal or ask your child’s teacher about their schedule.
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📺 Here’s the first episode of the interim superintendent’s show, Ask Dr. Mays Anything.
😲 “'I’m pretty speechless': Austin ISD school board unanimously approves equity-focused bond” (KUT)
🩸 “Getting your period at school is the worst. Austin ISD is trying to make it better.” (KUT)
📺 Campbell Elementary students grilled Austin ISD leaders on the bond. (AISD TV)
🏫 Trustees name future middle school in northeast Austin after former professor of mathematics at Huston-Tillotson University. (Austin ISD)
🍎 “Q&A: Incoming Austin ISD interim superintendent Anthony Mays discusses priorities, issues facing district.” (Statesman)
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7. One Good Thing: Gap for African-American Students Ties Historical Low
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By Paul Stinson
Austin ISD’s federal graduation rates for all students edged higher for the Class of 2021—to 93.0%—and also showed a narrowing of the achievement gap between the graduation levels of African-American and Hispanic students relative to white students.
What they’re saying: "It's great that graduation rates are still rising -- it's even better that the gaps between African-American and Hispanic and white students are closing," said Interim Superintendent Anthony Mays. "This is showing progress in our focus on closing our gaps."
Why it matters: The new data equals a historic-low in the achievement gap between the graduation rates of African American students relative to white students, with that disparity falling to 4.3% in 2021.
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The gap between Hispanic and white graduates also shrank, narrowing from 2020 levels of 4.8% to 4.4% in 2021, marking the tenth time in 12 years that gap has narrowed after 2009 data showed a disparity of 21.4 percentage points.
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📖 Jason is enjoying Crossed Over: A Murder, A Memoir, by his friend Beverly Lowry and is looking forward to reading her new book, Deer Creek Drive: A Reckoning of Memory and Murder in the Mississippi Delta.
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