PfISD Employee Express

Below are some important dates and a few others to spark creativity or ideas for fun with your students or family.

Days

• March 25: Tolkien Reading Day
• March 30: PfISD SPED and CTE Teacher Job Fair
• April 2: World Autism Awareness Day
• April 4: National School Librarian Day

March Month Holidays

• Women's History Month
• National Athletic Training Month
• National Music in Our Schools Month
• National Reading Month

Dear Friends,

We had a rough start to the week with the historic storms and subsequent tornadoes in Pflugerville and Central Texas. Some of our staff members, families and neighbors felt a direct impact from these storms and our hearts and thoughts are with them during recovery. I know our individual school communities and administration have pulled together to support our Pfamily members in need with donations and we stand ready to help however we can.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Spring Break and is ready for remainder of the semester, which past experience tells me will fly by. While many of us were taking a break last week, some of our students and staff were achieving during their vacation.

Hendrickson Health Sciences teacher Shay Haude recently relayed an amazing story about one of our EMT students, Clara Buwule. While our EMT students were at a hospital doing their rotations in the ER Trauma room, Clara provided chest compressions to a person who had no pulse. She provided truly perfect compressions, fast and deep to this patient. At the 2 minute mark they stopped her to do a pulse check and found that patient had a pulse. They were able to get him stabilized and up to Intensive Care Unit to recover.

Clara impressed the medics and doctors, and Shay’s story reminded us that the students in the program are actually saving lives. If they don’t do so today, they likely will be asked to do so later in their lives. Kudos to Clara, Shay and all our students in the EMT program.

Well, pretty hard to top that, but we had major news, on all sorts of fronts. As you saw earlier this week, we’ve opened up campus access to visitors at long last. The news can’t get much greater than that for our parents, guardians and grandparents wanting to eat lunch with their students, or attend performances and other events. We still have to keep a wary eye toward COVID but this is such welcome news.

Oh, and one of our PfISD alums won a national championship this week.

Seriously big kudos go out to Connally High School grad Eddie Burgess, who just captured an NAIA national championship in basketball with Loyola University. Eddie’s come a long way and we wish him the best on the court and beyond.

This week we also opened up our new student registration for next year, which allows us to welcome some of our littlest learners. We’ve got steps on how to do so online, at www.pfisd.net/register and parents will be able to find enrollment forms on that page. We also will be holding our Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Registration event April 12 and 13. Such an exciting time for parents and new students. To learn more about PfISD's early childhood educational offerings (Prek, Kindergarden and the Pegasus program), visit our website: https://www.pfisd.net/domain/2170.

Also, this week we had our bi-district UIL One Act Play competition take place at Hendrickson, and three of our high school color guard teams will perform at TCGC State Championships on Saturday. For those who can’t make it out to College Station on Saturday, the teams will also perform Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the PHS gym to get one last rehearsal in before the competition. All are invited to attend.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine.

In the best interest of children,

Douglas Killian, Ph.D.

Proud Superintendent

Monday night’s storms left many in our area devastated and in need of assistance. Optum EAP is offering their support to anyone impacted by the recent severe storms. Anyone can call the Optum Public Crisis Line in the flyer below to speak with a counselor. Optum has other services to help like their Disaster Planning & Recovery Center, coping services and more.

We highly encourage anyone impacted by the storms to reach out to their immediate community and to other services like Optum to get the financial, material and mental help you may need.

PFISD has added a digital option to pre-register and consent for COVID-19 testing. The program is called CrisisGo. Over Spring Break parents and staff should have received an email from CrisisGo asking them to pre-register for COVID-19 testing.

We will be resending the notification and link to staff and parents at the end of the week as many thought this was a phishing attempt. We apologize for the confusion, but we are glad to see your annual training on technology safety is keeping you sharp, and on your toes, when it comes to cybersecurity!

The need for the pre-registration and consent is to speed up the process when students are showing symptoms and need a COVID test. If a parent has already completed the consent form online, our nurses can proceed with the test and not wait to contact a parent and for that parent to come to school to provide authorization. Please be aware that no student test will be performed without communication with a parent/guardian at the time of testing. Parent permission will be gathered over the phone at the time of testing.

This email will link you to a pre-registration form, there is NO mandatory requirement for student or staff testing and consent may be withdrawn at any time by reaching out to your campus nurse. If you do not receive this email by next week, please reach out to Lorie Killian, BSN, Lead Nurse at lorie.killian@pfisd.net. We will no longer be able to conduct a COVID test unless you are pre-registered.

Employee’s enrolled in the District’s medical plan are eligible to be reimbursed for at-home COVID-19 test kits through Express Scripts (our pharmacy vendor). Bring the test kit to the pharmacy counter (not the regular check-out) and the test will automatically ring up at no cost to you. Please review the attached flyer for more information.

COVID vaccines are now available to all persons aged 5 and up. PfISD has partnered with Austin Public Health and Travis County to provide vaccinations to our students at multiple locations across the district. ANY staff member, eligible PfISD student, and members of staff and students' families are welcome to come and get vaccinated.

These clinics are offering first dose, second dose, and now boosters.

• March 29 — The Rock Gym (4-6 p.m.)

* Additional vaccine clinics may be added. Once dates have been set, they will be added to the google form link for registration.

In order to plan for the number of vaccines at each clinic, PLEASE complete the Google Form linked below.

Beginning with the 2022-23 school year transfer process, for the first time, PreK and Kindergarten students will be eligible to apply for transfers. PreK transfer applicants must submit the Pre-K Eligibility Screener before applying for a transfer request via the Student Affairs application. Submitting a PK eligibility screener and transfer application is not a guarantee of transfer approval.

The application window is from March 21 through April 29. Please visit our Student Transfer Information page for more: https://www.pfisd.net/Page/7316

Do you know a senior in PISD? The Pflugerville Education Foundation has four scholarships available for seniors to apply for. The deadline for all four scholarships is March 31.

Visit: www.thePfoundation.org to apply. Details and eligibility requirements for each scholarship are linked below. Scholarship winners will be notified on April 15 and a reception will be held in May for the winners.

• Mott Scholarship
• EDP Scholarship
• Provan-Lockhart Scholarship
• Luminary Awards

Regional Science Fair Results

More than 170 Pflugerville ISD elementary and middle school students took home awards and ribbons from the 2022 Austin Energy Regional Science Festival last month, with three advancing to the state science fair.

The Austin Energy Regional Science Festival, open to students in grades 3-12, annually attracts approximately 3,000 students, encouraging and rewarding innovative research while providing science professionals an opportunity to engage with young minds in our community.

Third- through 5th grade students competed in various categories of the fair’s Elementary Division. Top finishers were presented special awards and/or ribbons for their projects.

Pflugerville ISD elementary school students receiving special awards were:

• Will Spurlin (Windermere Elementary): Austin Energy Renewable Energy Innovation Award
• Harneet Kaur (Rowe Lane Elementary): Austin Parks Foundation Young Environmentalists Award
• Annabelle Phillips (Windermere Elementary): Dell Medical School Future Health Leader Award
• Hannah Jackson (Dessau Elementary): Health Through Science Honorable Mention

PfISD elementary students who won ribbons at the regional fair are listed here.

Guneet Kaur of Kelly Lane Middle School, and Atzi Flores and Pamela Kundla of Pflugerville Middle School placed in the top three in their respective categories at the regional event to advance to the state event in the Junior Division.

The Texas Science and Engineering Fair takes place March 4-9 in a virtual format and in-person March 25 at Texas A&M University, pending COVID-19 restrictions. The state event is open to grades 6-12.

Octavian Glendenning of Kelly Lane Middle School received the district’s Superintendent Award, a trophy presented to one outstanding Pflugerville ISD project among secondary campuses. Kaur and Kundla received Broadcom Masters SSP Awards for finishing in the top 2 of their respective categories. Because of their excellent finish, they also earned the opportunity to compete in the Broadcom Masters National Science event in Washington, D.C.

Soccer playoffs started Thursday, and we have seven teams in actions! That’s right our boys swept all four playoff spots available in our district and the girls took three.

Connally Boys Soccer tied with Hendrickson for the district regular season title and are the No. 1 seed holding the tiebreaker over the Hawks. CHS hosted Austin Crockett at 7:45 p.m. Thursday and lost on penalty kicks, 5-4. Such a hard way for your season to end, but the Cougars should be very proud of how they played this year.

The Hendrickson Girls Soccer team overcame some challenges this season and still came away with the district title. They hosted Ann Richards on Thursday night and defeated them 4-1 to advance to the next round.

The Weiss Boys came from behind to grab a 2-1 win at House Park over McCallum, and the PHS Boys held off Austin Anderson, 4-3, to also advance.

Here are the other playoff matches set for this week:

Friday

• PHS girls vs McCallum, @ House Park, 6 p.m.
• WHS girls vs LASA, @ House Park, 8 p.m.
• HHS boys vs Northeast, @ Nelson Field, 6 p.m.

Connally’s Roman Mason heads to Abilene this week to compete in the state powerlifting championship. Good luck, Roman!

This week marks one of the largest track meets in the country every year. After the pandemic prevented the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays from being held in 2020 and not allowing high school entries last year, the full slate of the meet is back! PfISD is proud to have six entries in the boys’ events and four for the girls. Good luck to all our track and field athletes competing at this prestigious meet!

District play continues for our baseball and softball teams, and our middle school track and field athletes hold their final practice meets of the season this week before our district championship next week. The boys will compete at Weiss HS and the girls face off at Connally.

In this week’s CTE Corner, we want to highlight our three ag programs: Animal Science, Plant Science and Applied Agricultural Engineering. Wednesday, March 23 was National Ag Day. It’s an opportunity to reflect on the impact our farmers, ranchers, large animal veterinarians and more have on our community. If you ate today, you have the ag industry to thank for that, so let’s give them the thanks they deserve for feeding America and the world.

Animal Science

Housed at WHS, HHS & PHS, the Animal Science program of study is a great fit for students wanting to learn about livestock production & management skills, practice veterinary assisting skills, and even earn the Certified Veterinary Assistant (Level One) credential at no cost! Seniors intern with local vet clinics during their Practicum-level course.

Plant Science

The Plant Science program of study is perfect for students who want to learn plant management practices and/or floral design techniques. Have the opportunity to participate in a school-based business and earn an industry-based certification in floral design, at no cost; complete a Fine Arts graduation credit requirement too! Offered at HHS & PHS, the program is available to all PfISD students with transfer.

Applied Agricultural Engineering

Interested in a future in welding? The Applied Agricultural Engineering program is for you! Practice VR welding techniques on state-of-the-art simulators, as well as live welding in a campus laboratory. Classes also offer industry certification & college credit, both at no cost to the student. Housed at HHS & WHS, the program is available to all PfISD students with transfer.

Learn more about these programs and more at our PfISD CTE website!

Also, this weekend the FFA chapter from PHS took part in the annual calf scramble at Rodeo Austin. This event helped the students earn money that will go toward purchasing animals of their choice for next year’s stock shows and competitions.

And don’t forget that applications to both of our P-TECH academies are open until April 15!

Apply to P-TECH here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdl79qbg92GOVfEQx8xe75NUNRDO57G48T_TObqjkDSN1hjfQ/viewform

The Pflugerville Education Foundation is now accepting applications for its latest run of Innovative Teaching Grants. The goal for these grants is to select projects and/or programs for funding that are innovative and stimulate students’ learning and creativity by enhancing the existing curriculum.

PEF awards Innovative Teaching Grants up to $2,000 for programs or projects initiated by an individual educator or up to $5,000 for projects initiated by teams or departments.

Applications are open now. Get to innovating your students’ learning and apply today! The final day to apply is March 31.

If you have questions, please visit www.thepfoundation.org or call 512-594-0375.

These grants have helped our campuses provide important resources for our teachers and students and as the name suggests innovative ways to provide educational materials to our students. Recently, Park Crest Middle School librarian Kimberly LaMarre finished her project funded by a PEF grant. Her Literacy Lockers are officially complete and ready for Pumas to use for their book clubs and more!

Teachers are some of the best at networking. They know other teachers from all over the country. So, tell your teacher friends looking for a job that we’re having job fairs!

PfISD Human Resources is hosting a job fair for special education and career and technical education teachers on March 30 at The Rock Gym.

COVID positive employees will isolate for 5 days followed by 5 days of wearing double masks while in a district facility if symptoms have improved. If symptoms have NOT improved, employees will need to reach out to their physician for guidance and obtain a physician’s note if it is determined your isolation needs to be extended past 5 days. Employees on the District's health plan (Health Care Highways or BCBS) can utilize the virtual option with MD Live. Download the App or sign up online:

• Healthcare Highways – Sign up online by going to www.mdlive.com/hch or download the app
• BlueCross BlueShield – Sign up online by going to www.MDLIVE.com/bcbstx or text BCBSTX to 635-483

The copay for the high and low plans is $0. Employees on the high deductible plans have a $49 co-pay. Please request a physician’s note from MD Live for documentation purposes.

In order to qualify for COVID-19 Paid Sick Leave, you must submit a positive lab-confirmed test. Home tests are not acceptable as proof of a test result for staff. If you are not able to return after the five days of isolation, then a doctor’s note is required for any remaining COVID Paid Sick Leave days.

If eligible, 8 days of Covid-19 Paid Sick Leave (CPSL) will be provided. CPSL will be entered/updated in Skyward by HR before the pay period has ended.

Close Contact: If an employee is listed on the employee contact trace form, they will be required to test for COVID with the campus nurse on Day 5 (or Monday if Day 5 falls on a weekend). If an employee refuses to test at Day 5, they will be electing to use their own personal days for the remainder of the 14-day quarantine.

Other items to remember:

• Stay home if you are sick. If you have a fever, do not report to work.
• Adhere to district mask mandate while inside district facilities.
• Complete the Screen and Go each day.
• If you are recovering from COVID and have been cleared by HR to return after your five days of isolation, please mark the Screen and Go accordingly and inform your Supervisor/Principal if you fail for symptoms but those symptoms are resolving per district and CDC guidelines.

Please be patient after submitting your COVID-19 Intake form; our HR and Benefits staff members are processing them as quickly as possible. For any questions, reach out to COVID19HRSupport@pfisd.net.

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, PfISD needs more substitute teachers than ever. Beginning substitutes earn $120 per day, and this can go up based on certification and the number of days worked. To qualify to serve as a substitute in the Pflugerville Independent School District, you must be at least 21 years of age and have a high school diploma. All applicants must complete the online substitute application and attend a Guest Educator orientation.

Each week I like to recognize some of our staff members who have made a positive impact. If you know someone who deserves to be recognized for the passionate service they provide to their coworkers, students or any other member of our community, you may nominate them.

Please use the link below and bookmark it for future use if you happen to know lots of worthy Pfamily members and plan to submit Kudos every week.

Kudos submission form

Now on to this week's Kudos!

PfISD Social Work team (via Kallie Gettinger, Social Work coordinator): “The social work team has continued to provide quality service and care to our students. They work day in and day out to ensure that the students and staff receive referrals, individual services or resources. This team provides great crisis response care when needed. I appreciate their grace during this change in their leadership, as they shift to a new supervisor and the potential for future change as we continue to grow the department. They are a great asset to this district and continue to provide excellent care for all those they interact with. I am happy to have inherited such a great group of people!”

Ruth Barron Elementary Specials team (via Kathryn Archer): “Everyone works together to shine a light on our student’s talents and skills. I know I can always count on them. The students love you too!”

Adelma Peña of Caldwell Elementary (via Celia Klotz of Transportation): “Huge shoutout to Ms. Pena, Behavior EA at CWES. Late last year CWES had a behavior teacher transfer out of CWES. Ms. Pena stepped up to the challenge and for 2 months Ms. Pena carried out the required classroom curriculum. As a SPED driver I had the pleasure of being greeted by Ms. Pena every morning as she met the bus and greeted the students. Every afternoon she made sure all the students assigned to my bus arrived in a timely fashion. Her weariness was obvious. However, through it all she was consistent, optimistic and patient. CWES is fortunate to have a dedicated hardworking EA. From a fan, "Yay for Ms. Pena"!”

Zachary Kleypas, Crystal Keck, Argie Flores and Christopher Riley (via Officer Terry Ivy of PfISD Police): “PHS administration team goes above and beyond their required duties to help the students that they serve, staff members, and anyone else who asks for help. I admire their dedication and hard work to make this school a successful place of learning.”

Rachel Scott of Curriculum (via anonymous): “Rachel Scott has jumped into her new role, and has been so helpful. She has come to our campus many times to share ideas, listen and provide support. Thank you, Ms. Scott!”

Weiss High School CTE (via Keri Smith): “These absolutely fantastic teachers came to the aid of the future medical assistant students to provided support so that they could practice hands-on skills. These teachers without hesitation said, ‘What do you need’ and made it happen. Best group of supportive teachers ever!”

Frannie Sanchez of River Oaks Elementary (via Jeanne Lashus): “Ms. Frannie is an amazing member of the River Oaks family. She is an innovator, inspiration and great servant leader for our community. She is our very own Bill Nye the Science Guy at River Oaks! She has led the fifth-grade team in their implementation of the challenging Science TEKS and provides and teaches pre-recorded lessons even though she is now a kindergarten teacher. She is a true mentor to her peers and leads an afterschool leadership group for our girls. In addition to all these wonderful opportunities for our students, she comes up with activities for our blossoming ‘Little Buddies’ partnership between fifth- and kinder grades. She is making footprints on each of the hearts of every student that she works with as well as every teacher here at River Oaks. We are so very lucky she is part of PfISD.”

LPAC Coordinator Audrianne Boehme (via anonymous): “First off, Boehme is an amazing human. She is welcoming to all students and staff, and always is available to listen and problem-solve. This year she has supported our campus not only through TELPAS and getting our EBs what they need to succeed, but she pitches in wherever there is the greatest need on our campus. She fights to produce great campus culture and has gone under-appreciated for all of her hard work. This shoutout is for all the late nights and long weekends she has spent on her work for Weiss campus and her principal certification, in addition to, being short staffed in the LPAC department with our rising numbers of emergent bilingual students at Weiss. Thank you Boehme. We see you and appreciate all that you do. (I hope when you read this, you reread it in song!)”

Michelle Mutuc of Technology (via Charlotte Zemo of Curriculum and Innovation): “Michelle, thank you for constantly working with me and our elementary campus registrars to add new features to our Pre-K screeners. It’s because of you our systems can run so smoothly. You are indeed a hidden PfISD gem, and we are genuinely lucky to have you and the particular set of skills you bring to our Pfamily!”

Robert Herrera and Paulita Zuniga of Dessau Middle (via Lacey Ajibola): “For the past three weeks, Mr. Herrera and Mrs. Zuniga have worked hard to orchestrate TELPAS testing at DMS. Their team work and planning has made TELPAS run smoothly. We are grateful for their commitment to the process and diligently working to get the job done!”

Daniel McMinn-Reyna of Highland Park Elementary (via anonymous): “Daniel is always holding his students to very high academic expectations, but he still also has a lot of fun with his students! His students truly love him.”

Dessau Middle teachers and staff (via Lacey Ajibola): “Words can't express how grateful I am to lead this dynamic group of educators. Over the past few weeks, I have watched this team selflessly give up their spaces to support testing, serve as TELPAS administers without reservation, volunteer to support wherever they are needed, encourage one another, love on our students, and take the initiative to assume extra responsibilities to make our campus run smoother. Our students are so fortunate to have this team of dedicated educators! I am beyond blessed to have the opportunity to humbly serve as their principal. #DessauProud #DessauStrong #DessauRising”

Sarah Citzler of Weiss High School (via anonymous): “Sarah is an amazing advocate for her students. She is an organized superstar who is such a team player. Thankful that she leads our SPED Department.”

Reading Interventionist Amy Gonzalez (via Jennifer Coleman of Carpenter Elementary): “Amy champions the students she works with like no other! I see her support them not only in her space, but also in the hallways and in the library. She has amazing follow-through and intuition. What a gifted educator. I’m so lucky to get to collaborate with her!”

Please continue to socially distance as much as possible, wash your hands and wear a mask if possible. This school year, we will continue to find learning opportunities and activities to prepare our students for success in and out of the classroom.

Together this Pfamily can do anything, and through the challenges, we are #MovingPforward.

In the best interest of children,

Dr. Douglas Killian

PfISD Superintendent of Schools