Hornet Herald

News and notes for the week of February 14th, 2022

A Week!

Happy Black History Month!

Three African American Contributions

Courtyard Lunch Assignments for the week of 2/14/2022

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KMS Courtyard Diagram

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Principal's Message to Hornet Families for the week of 2/14/2022

Hello families,

We are now in our 7th week of the new semester and with cases going down its starting to feel like normal school again. In response to the 2 days out and the AISD approved holiday on Friday, we made an adjustment to our A/B Calendar to maintain our balance of A & B days. Therefore last week, and this week are A Weeks. The revised schedule is just below this message. Please review this week's events below to see all the great events we have planned this week.

I would like to give a special thank you to our parent community for joining us Thursday morning for the Principal's Coffee and communication this past week. Your involvement, concern, and presence were certainly appreciated. I appreciate those who brought forward concerns and those who expressed support. Both contributions will help us grow to be a stronger Kealing Community for our scholars. The roll out for the action plan is below, please take a moment to review. Thank you for choosing Kealing Middle School and Austin ISD, feel free to reach out to me directly for any reason at all: jerald.wilson@austinisd.org

Action Plan Rollout

Monday 2/14 - Present Action Plan to the KMS Staff

Tuesday - Kealing Magnet Director Hiring Planning Meeting

Wednesday - Kealing 7/8 Master Schedule Work group will meet

Thursday - Principal's Coffee (Action Plan Follow Up)

Revised A/B Calendar

Due to the weather days last week(2/3 & 2/4) and the AISD Approved holiday (2/11), we adjusted our A/B Calendar for the 2021-2022 School year. Click here to observe the calendar.

Budget Time Line

1/28 - Receive budget for 2022-2023 school year

1/31 - Share budget details with staff

2/3 - Share budget details with PTA

2/3 & 2/4 - 7th grade choice sheets through the Social Studies Classes (choices will influence budget decisions)

2/17 - share budget details & workshop with CAC

3/3 - Budget workshop with PTA

3/11 - Budget due to AISD

4/15 - CAC signature Sheets due

PTA Corner!

Hornet Parents,


Thank you to everyone who attended our recent PTA meeting (Feb 3). At that meeting, we approved a letter to the superintendent and trustees opposing the proposed change in planning time for teachers for next year. Many parents and organizations throughout the district opposed the proposal and on Friday we heard that the district will stay with a 6/8 schedule for middle and high school teachers next year as well as schedule planning time for elementary teachers. This means that the budget deficit will have to be made up elsewhere. Please continue to pressure your state representatives to change the recapture formula that takes nearly half of collected property taxes for education in Austin and sends them to elsewhere in the state.

TEACHER APPRECIATION
This week we will be having our second Secret Pal gift drops. If you’ve signed up as a secret pal, you’ll be dropping off your gifts on either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Make sure they are well labelled and have your student drop the gift off to the front office.

We all know that teachers are feeling beleaguered these days. Please encourage your student to write a note, make a video or post on this padlet (https://padlet.com/vpmembership3/qarn8d4kph7fa5jw) to show some love and appreciation to our teachers. You’re welcome to send notes as well!

MEMBERSHIP
Our hive is strong with a whopping 509 members; currently, Kealing has the highest Middle school PTA membership in Austin ISD. We only need 126 members to receive Texas PTA all-time high award. If you haven't joined the KealingPTA, it's not too late! You can join Kealing PTA at www.kealingpta.org

COMMUNICATION
PTA is adopting a new communication tool, Konstella, to provide Kealing with a voluntary, opt-in Directory for current families (and teachers/staff), and the ability for PTA to easily communicate direct to email. In the future Konstella can also be used for volunteer sign ups, committee organization, and more. Konstella can be accessed via your desktop or by mobile app by downloading the Konstella app on iOS or Android.

To start with Konstella, please visit: https://www.konstella.com/cd/DZLPNN which will take you through the Kealing Konstella registration process. Like the Kealing MS Parents Facebook group (which can be found in the Kealing Middle School Facebook page), Konstella activity should pertain specifically to Kealing and remain kind, courteous, and respectful of others' privacy. Hate speech/bullying, self-promotion or spam are not allowed.

We hope Konstella makes connecting with each other even easier. Please reach out to Jen Loving at jen.loving@gmail.com with any questions about registering an account or using Konstella.

HOW TO HELP
Sign up to monitor lunch (gives the teachers a break during the day!) or monitor hallways during passing periods. Sign ups are found in Konstella. You can sign up as often or as rarely as you like. If you're going to volunteer on campus, please register as a volunteer here: https://austinpartners.org/volunteer/

NEXT MEETING
Our next meeting will be on March 1 immediately following the regularly scheduled Principal's Coffee. We had discussed calling an extra meeting, but feel that the topics we would discuss there are being covered in the extra Principal's Coffees.

KMS Safety Protocols as of 2/13/2021

All Day

Mask wearing is mandatory

Before School

All staff, students, and visitors are encouraged to self screen for COVID 19 symptoms before entering into a campus or other Austin ISD Facilities each day

Arrival

- We will maintain outdoor markers to social distance

Transition

- we will encourage moving halls where students are encourage to not stop while transitioning to classes

- staggered release

Classrooms

- We are seating/desks at least 3 feet apart when feasible

- Each classroom has a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filtration unit

- Personal Protective Equipment will be available in each room

- Plexiglass dividers available

- Additional outdoor seating (2 outdoor classrooms & the courtyard if teachers plan to use)

Breakfast & Lunch

- Assigned seating

- Students are allowed to eat lunch both inside the cafeteria and outside in the courtyard

- Plexiglass accordian dividers

-Volunteer lunch monitors

- The courtyard comfortably seats 4 classes, which is from 25% - 100% of the lunch capacity for each lunch period.

Dismissal

- we will have staggered dismissal where scholars will be dismissed by areas of the building to reduce traffic.

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K.M.S. Community Positive Cases Update Letters

Please click to see the most update Positive Case Updates pertaining to our campus. Our most recent letter went out January 28th, 2022.

Upcoming Dates

Monday - February 14th - A Day (1st - 4th Periods)

Deadline to Accept Magnet Offer


Tuesday - February 15th - B Day (5th - 8th Periods)


Wednesday - February 16th- A Day (1st - 4th Periods)

COVID 19 Vaccine Clinic


Thursday - February 17th - B Day (5th - 8th Periods)

Principal's Coffee Follow up meeting 8:00a - 8:30a, Click Here for Zoom Link

CAC Meeting @ 4p - 5p , location - Virtual

Kealing Boys Basketball vs Small Middle School @ 6p & 7p

Homework Hiatus


Friday - February 18th -A Day (1st - 4th Periods)

Homework Hiatus


Saturday - February 19th

KMS Virtual Choice Fair, 10a - 12p

Instrument Selection, 1p - 5p (Large & Small Gym)

Next Week - B Week

2/21 - Student Holiday / Staff Professional Development

2/23 - Math Placement Exam

2/26 - Instrument tryout @ 9a - 12p, Large & Small Gym

2/26 - Math Placement Exam @ 9a-12p then 1p - 4p

Please click here to submit Hornet Herald entries

Entries must be submitted by Thursdays weekly to be included in the upcoming week's communication.

This Past Week on Campus

The PTA Coffee Cart was Great!

In Classrooms!

The Annie Jr. Musical was hit!

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We celebrated National Counselor's Appreciation Week by honoring our Caring Counselors!

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Announcements!

KMS Amazon Wish List

Please click here to support our Amazon Wishlist

COVID-19 Protection Drive

Throughout the month of December NJHS held a winter wear drive, and was able to collect over 200 clothing items. These items were used to create a winter closet for the Kealing Community. We were able to help so many families and community members only because of YOU! Now, we are looking to expand our service past the school community and into the greater Austin area.

- Our next student-selected service project is a COVID-19 Protection Drive in which we are asking the Kealing Community to donate PPE and other related items to unhoused Austin community members.
- We need disposable masks (preferably surgical masks, KN95s, or N95s), hand sanitizer, and sanitizing wipes.
- The drive will run from February 1st through the 28th.
- Drop off items at Ms. Chambers’ room (116)

All Call for Supplies

Hello community! Thank you so much for showing up for Kealing time and time again! Be it your time, your talent, or your treasure--we appreciate you! Supplies are running low again and many of y'all know we basically do not have a supply budget as we previously had. Additionally, we are working hard to welcome refugee students to our campus. Their teachers providing resources to engage them and make them feel supported, so we have included several books and language acquisition resources to the Amazon wish list. I cannot express how much we appreciate you all. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/B7BQHNMLAOP?ref_=wl_share

KMS is looking for substitutes

The details: We've increased the base rate of substitute teacher pay for all levels. For example, degreed substitutes can now earn between $140 and $200 per day for filling a teacher assignment. We’ve also added compensation for supporting campuses when Austin-Travis County is in Stages 4 and 5.

  • We also expanded our eligibility requirements so that people with fewer than 60 college credit hours are eligible to work in elementary or middle schools.

  • Hopefully, we’ll get back to normal soon. In the meantime, if you know someone who would excel in a substitute role in AISD, point them to our website and encourage them to apply online.

Summer Youth Employment Program Brochure

SYEP is offering summer employment opportunities to young people 14-17 years of age as well as young people with a disability up to the age of 22. Employment opportunities include 100 hours of paid learning/work experience.

PTA Membership

Kealing prides itself on fostering a supportive & caring community, and one way it does that is through the Parent-Teacher Association. The PTA comprises families, teachers, administrators, students, and community members dedicated to enriching every student learning experience.

Your PTA membership makes Kealing a great community and unique learning environment. While our memberships number is at an impressive 486 members, we are 150 members short of the Texas PTA 3-year-high award. Let's finish this year with the largest PTA that Kealing has ever seen!!

To join the Kealing PTA hive, click the link below:
www.kealingpta.org

If you have Kealing PTA membership questions, please email Shannan Riemer, vpmembership@kealingpta.org.

Why Join PTA? Watch this video to learn more about why you should join the Kealing PTA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzGtGcYdEFs


Please contact Kealing membership VP, Shannan Riemer, vpmembership@kealingpta.org, with any membership questions, comments, or concerns.

Yearbook Recognition Ads are Available! Pre-Order Your Yearbook Today!

Hello Hornets Community! Yearbook recognition ads are currently available through the Josten's website (www.jostens.com > search Kealing)! Recognition Ads a great way for parents, families and friends to commemorate student achievements and important milestones. Limited ads are available so be sure to secure your space now! Recognition and Personalized Yearbook Ads start as low as $35!


How To Order Guide (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b6bv9eEqfKqLAyzyyYIIeYCaz3_e_xXY/view?usp=sharing)

Community Donations

Thank you for all your generous contributions to our campus! We appreciate you and all the many ways you show up for our Kealing Community. We have started a Community Donates spreadsheet in order to repurpose household items to our campus. There are two ways to contribute--1. Drop off the requested item to the front office labeled with the requesting teacher's name. 2. If you have item(s) to offer that might have a second life on our campus, please add a description to the spreadsheet. Teachers can then go in and claim the item. HERE is a link to the spreadsheet. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IOK7cMk99UZtIQcClIWNQ8Wgc3_nBQ0tBrj7amKXLro/edit?usp=sharing

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