Cougar Nation-

How great was it to get a chance to speak with over 500 of you this week via the comfort of your homes, offices, patios, cars, and waiting rooms. That’s one thing I do love about connecting online; more opportunities for involvement. Whereas once before if we held a parent Q & A at 1:00 p.m. on campus, we’d be looking at only a handful of you (a handful is roughly half a dozen) in attendance. With Zoom and the ability to reach out to you wherever you are, we had over 100 parents/guardians listening in. That’s what I call a vast improvement and something we will continue to do even after we all return to brick and mortar. We want to thank those of you for attending and promise that all information shared and discussed is or will be available on our website or linked in this newsletter.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Fall Athletics (volleyball and football) will not begin practicing on campus until Travis County is in Stage 2. We spent a lot of time coming to this decision and made sure to speak with as many stakeholders as possible before we did. Thank you to all for filling out the Google Form and letting us know your family’s preference. After meeting with our coaches and the athletic departments of 18 other middle schools, pouring over the safety protocols, and requesting from AISD that all students be given a fair chance to participate only to be told no transportation would be available, we have decided to wait with 12 AISD middle schools until Stage 2.
• All classes will be utilizing BLEND as their LMS (learning management system) platform. No more Google or Blackboard or Canvas...it’s all about BLEND. Too many LMSs is difficult to keep track of and navigate, so we are proud to state that all grades and all classes will be using BLEND.
• Student attendance for Remote Learning is required and will be taken via Zoom and/or through asynchronous assignments. The best way to make sure your student gets credit for being in a class is by being in the class during the synchronized learning session (9, 10, 1, and 2) each day. Once there and seen by the teacher, they get RS (remote synchronous) credit for attendance. If for some reason your student cannot make it (dentist, internet down, assisting with siblings) then your student has until midnight of the class day to log into BLEND and complete an assignment. Then, your student will be given RA (remote asynchronous) credit. Best not to leave things to chance is to make sure they are there for all scheduled periods.
• BLEND is the launchpad for all classroom communication: emails, announcements, zoom info, etc… Train your student to log into their portal then head straight to BLEND.
• The first week of school students will meet in PRIDE (advisory) each day from 8:30 a.m. until their first class at 9:00 a.m. We need to set the tone, make sure they know what to expect, and start the socialization process as quickly as can be so PRIDE will be a must these first 4 days. Here is the 1st week schedule: first week 9/08-9/11
• Prepare for the following on the first day: Zoom outages, internet down, students being logged off accidentally, teachers being logged off accidentally. If you or your student has an issue with the internet and can’t get back on, simply email the teacher to explain and try your best to get back on before your next class. If Zoom is not working for you or for our teachers due to the act that 85,000 students and staff will be on simultaneously, simply go to BLEND and begin working asynchronously. Prepare your students for this and have a plan so there is minimal frustration.

There are many links in this S’MORE to help you troubleshoot almost any obstacle or hindrance during the first few days, however there’s a good chance we haven’t touched on everything. This is why we invite you to email us with questions and concerns. We want to make this as smooth a transition as possible and hope our lessons are all user friendly, while at the same time engaging and rigorous.

Best of luck to you all and know that we are pulling for you and yours during these next few days.

Matthew Nelson

Principal

Small Middle School

(512) 841-6705

@smallprincipal

matthew.m.nelson@austinisd.org

www.smallmiddleschool.org

If you have any questions, contact our new attendance clerk Bettina Schmitz at 512-841-6702 Icela.schmitz@austinisd.org

Thank you to everyone who joined us on the parent meetings last week. If you missed the new parent meeting, you can watch the videos below.

• Click here to watch the video - English
• Click Here to watch the Video -Spanish
• Click here for the presentation

Parent Quick Reference Guide

Dear 7th Grade Parents,

We have over 300 seventh grade students that our records indicate are missing one or more required vaccination. Seventh graders are required to have the Tdap and MCV (meningitis) vaccine before enrolling in school. If you have not already, please email or fax in your child’s current vaccination record. Your child might be up to date on all their shots especially if they go in for checkups yearly, but we just are missing records. Please get these to me as soon as possible so that your child will not be excluded from school. Records can be emailed to me at becky.jenschke@austinisd.org (This email link has been fixed) or faxed directly to me at 512-841-6745. A picture of a current vaccination card emailed to me will work. Please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Thanks,

Becky Jenschke

Small Middle School Health Room

We still have some students that have not registered for this school year. Every year parents must register their students so that we can have the most current contact information.

This is also where you give permission for things like going to the nurse and/or having a picture in the yearbook etc. We need to have the most current information in our records. If you have not registered yet, Please click the link for the instructions below.

http://www.smallmiddleschool.org/our-school/registration

Not sure if you registered?

• Click here to learn how you can see if you did or did not.

Meals are still available at 70+ curbside and bus stop locations throughout Austin. Find sites, times and more info at austinisd.org/covid19/meals.

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Las comidas aún están disponibles en más de 70 ubicaciones, en banquetas o paradas de autobús en todo Austin. Encuentre sitios, horarios y más información en austinisd.org/covid19/meals.

#AISDProud #WeAreAISD #SomosAISD Austin ISD Food Services

GT / Advanced Academics at Small is looking for a logo! A logo will help parents and students quickly locate relevant information on the Cougar News and in other online and print resources. Let's make it a contest! The winner receives a prize!

Contest Rules:

• Entrant must be part of the Small Community, student, parent, staff, or faculty.
• Design should be in color, and should also read well in black and white.
• Design must be in .jpeg format.
• Design must include the words GATE Small Advanced Academics, although not necessarily in that order, except Advanced Academics because Academics Advanced doesn't make sense.
• Design may use elements copied from other sources, BUT may NOT include copyrighted images. Google "How to see if an image is copyrighted"

Submit design to your campus GT Advocate christie.manners@austinisd.org by Sept 8, 2020.

A committee of CSMS teachers and admin will select the winner. The committee's decision is final.