Happy Thanksgiving!
Health Benefits of Gratitude
Thank You Mustang Families
When I started this newsletter it was simply going to be a thank you to our PTO and all our Mustang families for your support during this challenging year. I want you to know that I am thankful for all that you do to support our Mustangs and teachers.
Your emails of support and kindness make a positive impact on our staff and campus culture. Our staff is sincerely appreciative of the notes, and small tokens of appreciation our families have shared. Thank you for taking the time to support our PTO and the many activities they do for our students and faculty. I am grateful for my job, and I truly appreciate the support our community has provided me directly.
I need to also communicate with you about some changes in our district. Most importantly the district has made a revised calendar. I have attached the calendar to this newsletter. The district is providing much needed time for our district staff to work on our curriculum, safety standards, and paperwork. COVID-19 has brought many challenges to our community. The increased level of bureaucracy is one of the new challenges we face. In response, our school district has provided faculty and staff professional development and work days to give them necessary time to get things done.
The deadline for determining in-person or remote learning for the third grading period is December 4th. If you do not plan to make any changes, you do not need to do anything. If you do plan to make a change in instructional placement, please send your instructional status change form to our Registrar, Debbie Combs, on or before December 4th.
The Austin Health department has also asked local schools to help communicate effective measures for how to isolate when needed. AHP has also provided guidelines for being safe during the holiday season. Both articles are attached in this newsletter.
I will end this message where I began. It is important to take a moment and be grateful for the many blessings that have been given to our Mustangs. I want you to know that I am sincerely grateful for all our families and the support.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving,
Samuel Hicks
Revised 2020-21 Academic Calanadar
School Board Approves Additional Professional Development Days, Student Holidays to 2020-2021 Instructional Calendar November 20, 2020
Dear Lake Travis ISD Parents and Guardians,
During its regular meeting held Wednesday, November 18, the Lake Travis school board approved the submission of a waiver to the Texas Education Agency that will allow the district to add four days of staff professional development to the current 2020-2021 school year calendar. As a result, these four days will be observed as student holidays as indicated below:
- Friday, December 18, 2020
- Tuesday, January 5, 2021
- Tuesday, January 19, 2021
- Friday, March 5, 2021
Furthermore, the waiver provides a half day for additional professional development which will be observed by students as an Early Release Day on Friday, March 12, 2021. Therefore, release times will occur as follows:
- Elementary Schools - 12:05 p.m.
- Middle Schools/High School - 1:15 p.m.
Due to these changes, our grading periods been modified as follows:
- End of 2nd Grading Period is now Thursday, December 17, 2020
- Start of 3rd Grading Period is now Wednesday, January 6, 2021
- End of 3rd Grading Period is now Friday, March 12, 2021
- Start of 4th Grading Period is now Monday, March 22, 2021
A revised calendar outlining these changes is attached.
The waiver allows us to train our teachers and support staff on various educational strategies designed to improve student performance in lieu of instruction. Additionally, we believe these extra staff development days will give our teachers much needed time to plan and prepare while providing our students and families with added breaks to disconnect and recharge.
I thank you for your continued patience, understanding and flexibility during this time.
Sincerely,
Paul Norton
Superintendent of Schools
How the Revised Calendar Impacts our Mustangs
December 18th
January 5th
January 19th
March 5th
March 12th Early Release - Elementary 12:05 and Secondary 1:15
The revised calendar has also adjusted the start and end dates of the second and third grading periods.
Health Benefits of Gratitude
When was the last time you stopped to really acknowledge the things you’re thankful for? There’s a whole host of reasons why we should make gratitude a daily practice — research has shown that being thankful confers a whole host of health benefits, from improved immune systems, to feelings of connectedness, even higher team morale.
1. Good for the heart. A 1995 study in the American Journal of Cardiology showed that appreciation and positive emotions are linked with changes in heart rate variability.
2. Good for the immune system. Gratefulness is linked with optimism, which in turn is linked with better immun health WebMD reported.
3. Reduces stress. WebMD reported that negative events can boost gratitude, and that gratitude can help to boost feelings of belonging and decrease feelings of stress. For example, a survey showed that feelings of gratitude were at high levels after 9/11, according to WebMD.
4. Strengthens relationships. Being thankful for the little things your partner does could make your relationship stronger, according to a study in the journal Personal Relationships. The Telegraph reported on the study, which showed that journaling about the thoughtful things your partner did was linked with a beneficial outcome on the relationship.
5. Improves sleep. Writing down what you’re thankful for as you drift off to sleep can help you get better ZZs, according to a study in the Journal of Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being.
6. Higher Grades. Grateful high-schoolers have higher GPA's— as well as better social integration and satisfaction with life — than their not-grateful counterparts, according to a 2010 study in the Journal of Happiness Studies.