Stevenson Family Newsletter


Stevenson's Mission	Stevenson's Vision	Stevenson's Core Values

Stevenson's Mission

Stevenson's Vision

Stevenson's Core Values

Friday, December 17th

Tomorrow is the last day of school before Winter Break. To ensure a safe and productive day, please support us with the following:

Students may not bring backpacks on the last day to minimize potential safety concerns
Students may not wear pajamas and must adhere to SMS dress code (below)
Remind your students that this is still a school day and the normal school rules are still in effect

Do Right Rally - Friday, December 17th

All students without discipline infractions are invited to attend the first Stevenson Do Right Rally! During electives, eligible students will be able to participate in the event. Activities will include basketball, soccer, listening to music, karaoke, snacks for purchase, and just hanging out with friends. This is a way to celebrate all of the students who are doing right every day!

Students participating in the Do Right Rally are able to have "free dress" - please make sure your student's clothing is still appropriate and follows the guidelines below:

No ripped clothing
No hoodies
No sweatpants, pajamas, spandex, etc.
Shoes must have toes and heels covered
Shoulders and midriffs must be covered; shorts/skirts/dresses may be no shorter than 2 inches above the knee

If your student is not able to participate this month because of a previous infraction - don't worry! They will have another opportunity next month. Students without any infractions for the month of January will be invited to participate in the January Do Right Rally.

Parents: We Need Your Help with Social Media!

As you may be aware, a number of spam Instagram accounts have been created in recent weeks. Some are harmless, while others are used to bully and harass students and staff members.

Please help us monitor the situation by monitoring your student's Instagram activity. Most of these accounts ask others to submit photos/posts by direct messaging the owner of the account. You can also check your own student's accounts to ensure they do not have one of these hurtful spam accounts (see images/directions below).

We appreciate your support in keeping our school and the social media space safe for all of our school community!

Academics: DLA Testing

Your students worked extremely hard this week! 6th and 7th graders took the Reading and Math DLA assessments and the 8th graders took Reading, Math, Science, and Social Studies DLA assessments! We will be compiling the data and having individual conversations with all students to ensure they know where they are academically and their individual STAAR goal. We are excited to see our students learning and growing every day!

Report Cards and Progress Reports

Stevenson will begin mailing Progress Reports and Report Cards home to ensure that all parents are receiving notification of their student's progress. We will continue to print and send a physical copy home with students as well. Progress Reports will be sent home tomorrow, December 17th.

Don't forget you can also check your student's grades online any time! Here is the link: https://hisdconnect.houstonisd.org/public/

Attendance - It's Important!

Attendance has BIG implications for Stevenson MS:

Accountability – we want all 7 distinctions AND to be an A! Without high attendance, we won't make our goal earning all 7 distinctions from TEA.
Funding - The amount of funding allotted to educate our children is dependent on our attendance rate each year. Help us get the most amount of resources for your students by attending school every day!
Promotion Standards - students must have no more than 10% of unexcused absences to be promoted to the next grade level.
Most Importantly – student learning! Students can't learn and grow if they aren't in the classroom learning from their teachers and peers.

Tutorials

After-School Tutorials are in-person from 4:10 - 5:10 PM Monday through Thursday. See schedule below:

Monday: Math
Tuesday: ELAR
Wednesday: Math & Science
Thursday: ELAR & SS

Saturday Tutorials are in-person from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM each Saturday! Student receive breakfast and lunch - as well as a "ticket" to get a treat from the Treat Trolley on Fridays!

If your student is a close contact to a CONFIRMED POSITIVE case of COVID-19:

If the student is vaccinated, they will not need to quarantine and can stay in class. Please monitor student for symptoms over the following week.
If the student is not vaccinated, the student will be removed from class and will wait for a parent or guardian to pick them up.
Student will be enrolled in Temporary Online Learning. Student will receive a confirmation email with their schedule and instructions to log in.
Specific quarantine instructions will be communicated to parents. Information will include the length of quarantine, earliest date student can test for COVID, and earliest date of return to school.
UPDATE: Students who are close contacts to presumed positive individuals will no longer need to quarantine.
UPDATE: All students who are in class with a confirmed positive individual will be notified - however, the name of the confirmed positive individual will not be released. Please remember that your student only needs to quarantine if they are a close contact to a confirmed positive individual - the school will notify you if this is the case.

COVID Vocabulary:

Presumed Positive: individual is displaying one or more COVID symptoms, but has not tested positive
Confirmed Positive: individual has tested positive for COVID
Close Contact: student was within 6 feet of presumed or confirmed positive individual for 15 minutes or longer within a 24 hour period.

Houston Food Bank School Market

The School Market is back! Stevenson will host the Houston Food Bank for all Stevenson Families on the following dates:

January 12th - 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
January 26th - 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM

The event will be held in the Bus Turnaround in the back of the school. Be sure to bring your ID and some shopping bags to carry all the food!

Dress Code

HISD is reinstating the flexible uniform policy. Students will not receive disciplinary consequences for not wearing the Stevenson uniform. However, Stevenson is continuing to highly encourage students to wear their uniforms and will provide a uniform for all students who are unable to obtain a school uniform.

Students are required to adhere to the Stevenson dress code. Please refer to our school dress code policy on page 20 - 21 in the Student & Parent Handbook.


Christyn McCloskey Principal cmcclosk@houstonisd.org	Huy Bui 7th Grade Administrator hbui@houstonisd.org	Leonard Johnson 6th Grade Administrator ljohns32@houstonisd.org

Christyn McCloskey

Principal

cmcclosk@houstonisd.org

Huy Bui

7th Grade Administrator

hbui@houstonisd.org

Leonard Johnson

6th Grade Administrator

ljohns32@houstonisd.org


Christine Velasquez 8th Grade Administrator christine.velasquez@houstonisd.org	Ama Mpiani Office of School Culture Administrator ampiani@houstonisd.org	Nichole Quinones Magnet Coordinator nquinone@houstonisd.org