Stevenson Family Newsletter

January 2022

Happy New Year, Stevenson Families!

Welcome back! I am thrilled to be starting 2022 with our Stevenson community. I hope your holidays were happy, healthy, and relaxing.


We are excited to welcome back all students on January 3, 2022. Our doors will open at 7:45 AM and school starts at 8:30 AM. Please remind your student to bring their Chromebooks fully charged for a full day of learning.


As I know you are all aware, COVID cases in Harris county have spiked over the holidays. Please review updates from HISD and Stevenson below for more information regarding safety precautions to continue to protect your students and our Stevenson community.


Respectfully,

Christyn McCloskey, Principal

Updates from HoustonISD:

Upcoming Events

January Coffee with the Principal

Friday, January 7 @ 9:00 AM

Due updated HISD COVID guidance, all meetings are returning to virtual.

Links to all meetings can be found here: https://www.houstonisd.org/domain/52404

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!

No School January 17 & 18

Students will not have any school on January 17th and 18th.

  • January 17th - MLK Jr. Day
  • January 18th - Teacher Prep Day

Spring Semester Begins January 19th

The last day of Fall Semester is January 14th. The first day of Spring Semester is January 19th. Report Cards will be sent home on January 21st. Remind students to check on their grades and turn in any missing work before the 14th!

Prior Updates:

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!

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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/

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Attendance - It's Important!

Attendance has BIG implications for Stevenson MS:


  1. 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.
  2. 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!
  3. Promotion Standards - students must have no more than 10% of unexcused absences to be promoted to the next grade level.
  4. Most Importantly – student learning! Students can't learn and grow if they aren't in the classroom learning from their teachers and peers.

After School Activities

UIL Sports

UIL Sports are back!


  • Football - fall
  • Volleyball - fall
  • Cross-Country - fall
  • Cheerleading - year-round
  • Basketball - in-season
  • Soccer - spring
  • Baseball/Softball - spring
  • Track - spring

Clubs


After-school clubs have started! Here is a list of clubs we have so far:


  • Art Club
  • Anime Club
  • Robotics Club
  • Name That Book Club
  • NJHS
  • Band
  • Karate
  • UIL Academics Club
  • Sparklers Dance Team

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!

COVID Protocol

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.

Helpful Links

School Information

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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.

Stevenson Grading Policy

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Meet the Stevenson Administrative Team!