Proud Residents of Smallville USA-

This weekend we hope all within earshot (eyeshot actually) take some time to honor the person most responsible for their existence; their mother. There is not a thing in the universe more special than being able to create life, and we are excited to be able to honor and celebrate those who bestowed the beautiful gift of life to us this weekend. Mother’s Day should be 365 days a year (so my sainted mother says), and hopefully, we all agree.

"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."- Abraham Lincoln

PRIDE back in the room and not in the Zoom: Now that we are returning to campus, we want to make sure our students get the most out of the experience by returning to the classroom for PRIDE lessons and activities. No more Online PRIDE in a student’s 7th or 8th-period class; now they will meet in their PRIDE teacher’s class and then head to their final period of the day immediately after—sort of like the way we always did things way back in March of last year. We’ve told your students and will tell them again, but please remind them as well.

Quarantine: Unfortunately, we still have students exposed to COVID here on campus and will have students quarantine due to Contact Tracing Protocol. If this is your student, please encourage them to continue to work online and take careful note of any symptoms or changes in health. Just because a student is quarantined does not mean h/she has COVID; it is just a precautionary measure to ensure more students are not exposed. We put the safety and health of our students and staff very seriously and are doing everything we can to continue to provide a safe, clean environment for all. If you have any questions about the process or the return date or how this will affect testing, please feel free to email.

Enjoy this wonderful weekend dedicated to our mothers. We are who we are because of who you are.

Thank you,

Matthew Nelson

Principal

Clint Small Middle School

(512) 841-6705

www.smallmiddleschool.org matthew.m.nelson@austinisd.org

Induction Ceremony for 2019-2020 (current 8th graders who were selected for NJHS as 7th graders last Spring) and for 2020-2021 (current 7th graders who have been recently selected) NJHS members will be held on May 20th at 7:30pm. Current NHS members from LASA will be hosting and welcoming new members and we will have a very special guest speaker! The virtual ceremony should last about half an hour (no commute time!)

Mrs. Manners, your NJHS sponsor, has the emails for the students in 7th and 8th grade as well as the adults-of-7th-graders and she will send a Zoom link to those emails closer to May 20th. If you are an adult-of-an-8th-grade NJHS member who would like to attend the virtual ceremony, please send an email to christie.manners@austinisd.org with the emails of anyone you'd like included (grandparents, bonus parents, etc). Please include the name of your NJHS member and "Zoom Link Request" in the subject line.

When: June 28 – July 1

Where: Small Middle School gym

Who:

• Boys and Girls entering 3rd – 5th grades 9:00 am – 12:00 noon
• Boys and Girls entering 6th – 9th grades 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Cost: $100 per camper

The Austin High Basketball Camp will focus on teaching the fundamentals of basketball and will provide campers the opportunity to improve and have fun with the game. Each camper will receive individual as well as group instruction from professional coaches. Coach Brad Ingram, head boys basketball coach at Austin High, will be the Camp Director. All equipment will be provided. Students will need to bring their own water bottle.

Sign up online at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfI2AXbNcpoAvgQIcS-SKnkh2owOX_TIYkmqaDhCyvcUj2png/viewform link and pay at https://austinisd.schoolcashonline.com/ (search for Austin High Basketball Camp)

We have three dates available for TRYOUTS

(1) Thursday, April 22

(2) Thursday, April 29

(3) Thursday, May 6

If you are interested in speaking to our CAC using our Citizen Communication time, please email our CAC chair Co-Chair Chasee chappellhudgins@mac.com for the meeting Zoom details.

Citizens Communications. For all regular and other plenary meetings of the CAC, time at the beginning of the meeting shall be set aside for citizens communications. This time is specifically for non-members to make comments to the CAC. The Co-Chairs may limit the time for citizens communications and the time given to individual speakers. The Co-Chairs shall ensure that the district’s “Citizens Communications and Visitor Guidelines” are applied. Under these guidelines, except for requests for clarification, dialogue shall not occur between speakers and members. If the CAC is interested in hearing more from a speaker, the speaker may be invited to a future meeting and placed on the agenda specifically for that purpose. Or, the CAC may call a special meeting specifically for the purpose of open dialogue with non-members (e.g., a “community conversation”), but it must be posted for discussion on a specific topic or topics.

Parents, are you looking for a way to give back to teachers and staff at Small Middle School?

We (A handful of Small Parents) have found a free and very effective way to show some love and thought we would share it with you all.

RAVE: Recognizing All Valuable Employees

Let's send some sparkly gratitude to our faculty & staff this holiday season with an AISD RAVE submission!

• Does your student have a favorite teacher?
• Has someone at Small (or any other AISD School) gone above and beyond for you and your family?
• Do you want to support teachers and let everyone (Teacher, Principal, AISD District) know about it?

All of our faculty and staff have gone above and beyond this semester. The best free, easy, sparkly way to show our gratitude is via the RAVE form on the AISD website (link below.) It only takes a couple of minutes to complete!

This form is received by AISD administration. RAVE submissions mean a lot to teachers and staff. It's equivalent to a virtual hug! And, there's never been a better time to remind the Superintendent how indispensable they all are.

Please submit a RAVE for any teacher or staff member (current or from school years past.)

Maybe send one or two a day! You do need the first and last name of the employee you wish to RAVE about. Those can be sourced on Small's Staff Directory :

https://www.austinisd.org/schools/small/directory

Flooding AISD administration with positive feedback will make an important and lasting impact. Let's make this holiday season sparkle a little extra with RAVES!

https://www.austinisd.org/hr/customer-service/rave

Thank you,

Small Parents