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"The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel
and live in harmony with the earth."
-- Dr. Maria Montessori
WE ARE LIVE!
Casino Night Silent Auction is live and ready for viewing!
We are just over one week away from the big night on campus! Have fun shopping our auction in support of our efforts to raise money for campus safety and security. The auction ends at midnight the night of the event!
A huge THANK YOU to all of our donors and sponsors who have contributed to this amazing selection of auction items!
It’s not too late to contribute an item or service to the auction! We will continue to add items next week. To submit your donation, please complete this form.
STILL NOT SURE WHAT’S GOING ON??
Line up your childcare, pick out your disco cowboy outfit, and come boogie with us to Jesse Vain and the Happy Hour Holiness Movement, dine on a delicious Vespaio dinner, enjoy an open bar, and try your hand at the six casino tables with real dealers! Play and win raffle prizes!
Visit the Events page of our website to RSVP, donate, and read the letter from our Founder to know where your fundraising dollars are going.
Can’t wait to see you on Saturday April 8th at Athena!
Safety Protocols on Campus
Interested in learning more about our safety protocols and drills? Campus security measures? Below is a quick high-level overview of our practices. We aren’t going into too much detail here, so if you are a current family and have questions, feel free to give our office a call.
Athena Safety Protocols
Monthly Fire Drills:
Each month, we conduct a fire drill with the whole school that is scheduled by Admin but a surprise to the teachers. We send a mass text via our Emergency Broadcast system and Admin walks through campus opening gates and doors while ringing cowbells. We exit the buildings in less than three minutes, gather in our designated class spots, do a headcount, and sing a song.
Quarterly Lockdown and Severe Weather Drills:
We do not do these drills with the children. We do these drills only with the teachers and train them on what to do and what to say in the event of various unexpected scenarios. In case of severe weather, the children are well prepared to go to our designated safety spots for weather. What I repeatedly tell the teachers in these drills is that what they do every day with the children is preparing them: every day in their classroom management (circle time, transitions, lining up, getting their attention with the ring of a bell, “herding cats” :) etc.) they are training the children to listen attentively to the adults, trust the adults, trust that the adults keep them safe, and follow the instructions of the guides. Our belief is that if we spend time preparing the adults for emergencies, and make plans with them to work as a team and feel prepared for anything, then the children will respond to their instructions in an emergency. And in the event of a real emergency, the main message that the guides give the children is that it is the adults’ job to keep them safe, and that they are safe in our care.
Annual Safety and Security Trainings:
When onboarding a new staff member, and every August during our prep days for all staff, we do an annual deep dive into all of the safety protocols and drills and practice them as a team.
NEW: Sending Brightwheel Messages:
On the day we conduct a drill or training on campus, we will send a message on Brightwheel to inform parents and to offer a nugget of information.
Campus Security
We have a number of security measures in place on our campus. These include high perimeter fences with locking mechanisms on each gate (gate codes are changed periodically and only given to current staff and families); security cameras in various locations around campus, with two monitoring screens in the office; motion-activated lights around campus; part-time security guards onsite; and a full-time Facilities Manager onsite, whose primary focus is the safety and security of Athena.
After the fundraiser, we will begin upgrading the fencing on the Morgan Lane side of the school to a higher perimeter fence with controlled access gates.
We are currently doing research, talking to other schools, vetting companies, and soliciting bids on various additional projects, including upgraded locking systems, communication systems, and additional fencing and surveillance. We welcome feedback and suggestions you may have around measures to implement and/or any leads on vendors we could vet.
April Current Events
Core to our values at Athena Montessori Academy is the practice of fostering a deep appreciation for all the beautiful differences that make us who we are. Sometimes, though, beautiful differences are turned into marginalized identities. We live in a society where certain ways of being are exalted. We call this ‘being in the center’ or ‘being centered’. Another way of saying this is that certain identities are normalized, or considered ‘normal’.
Lives that fall outside the center are marginalized or ‘othered’. We are aware that systems in our country are built to exclude certain groups from what we know as basic human rights: housing, health care, education, nutritious foods, and the agency to build a life.
Yesterday, Thursday, March 31, was a celebration of marginalized identities very near and dear to our hearts here at Athena. It was a two-fold day of joy being both International Day of Trans Visibility and César Chávez / Dolores Huerta Day.
César Chávez and Dolores Huerta Day
“When the man who feeds the world by toiling in the fields is himself deprived of the basic rights of feeding, sheltering, and caring for his own family, the whole community of man is sick.” -César Chávez
“Giving kids clothes and food is one thing, but it’s much more important to teach them that other people besides themselves are important and that the best thing they can do with their lives is to use them in the service of other people. -Dolores Huerta
Click HERE to learn more about César Chavez
Click HERE to learn more about Dolores Huerta
Transgender Visibility Day
What does it mean to be visible? What does it mean to be seen for who we are? What does it mean to feel safe and comfortable, to be accepted? Are these questions ones we have to ponder as we move about the world? If not, then we have the agency to step up to the plate and go to bat for those who must hide, who cannot be seen for who they truly are for fear of repercussion.
Ramadan in 2023
Athena Montessori acknowledges that being Muslim in America is fraught. Depending on where people of the Muslim faith live in this country, being open about one’s faith and religious identity can mean to be othered and discriminated against.
Even in more liberal cities such as Austin, or more diverse cities like Houston, being openly Muslim can invite biases and misconceptions to surface and cause harm. We stand with our Muslim community members and their right to practice their faith unhindered. We wish you a fruitful month of peace, prayer and family. Ramadan Mubarak, y’all!
ADMISSIONS AND ENROLLMENT
Current Families:
Enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year is complete!
There is always a chance of attrition between now and the start of school, especially in our Primary program. If you know of any families with a child that will be between the ages of three and five in August and that are looking for a school, please encourage them to check out Athena, or connect them directly with Joy.
Waiting Pool Families:
Enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year is complete!
If you have an eligible child in our waiting pool, you can expect to hear from our Admissions Director if a spot opens up for your child over the next few months. There is always a chance of attrition between now and the start of school, especially in our Primary program.
Our continued goal in the admissions process is to be as transparent as possible, and we strive to give you the most accurate information we can during each step of the deliberate process of enrollment. We respect that decisions related to your child's education are important and timely ones, and we will continue to send you general enrollment updates via this monthly newsletter. Thank you for your continued interest, and we encourage you to reach out with specific questions related to your child's enrollment at any time.
Please direct admissions & enrollment questions to our Admissions Director, Joy Jacobson. You can email her directly at Admissions@AthenaMontessoriAcademy.com.
LEAVE YOUR MARK AT ATHENA!
Purchase a custom brick for the Athena pathway in front of the breezeway!
Bricks are custom-made and may include a special tribute to your child's guides, your child's name and/or signature, or your family's name! Need inspiration? Visit our brick path today.
If you are interested, please stop by the office to fill out the order form OR click to download it HERE.
Bricks are $100 each
IMPORTANT DATES
March 31st- Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta Day
-Transgender Visibility Day
-Student & Staff Holiday
April 1st- April Fools Day
April 2nd- Palm Sunday
- World Autism Awareness Day
April 5th- Passover
April 7th- Good Friday
April 8th- Athena's Annual Casino Night
April 9th- Easter
April 13th- Last day of Passover
April 14th- Tamil New year
April 15th- Vishu
April 20th and 21st- Parent Teacher Conferences/Student Holiday
April 22nd- Eid al-Fitr
-Earth Day
MARCH BIRTHDAYS!
STUDENTS:
Quinn A. 4/4
Bowie H. 4/5
Grayson S. 4/7
Vicente A. 4/11
Mirren S. 4/13
Gurbani M. 4/14
Josephine B. 4/18
Lennon B. 4/19
Ethan T. 4/20
Hudson B. 4/23
Sunny T. 4/25
STAFF:
Candice B. 4/1
Mandy W. 4/9
Kimberly L. 4/12
Ben G. 4/15
Alejandra C. 4/16
Meghna G. 4/18
Sam H. 4/28
Sharp'n Austin Day
We have a very exciting announcement – as some of you may remember, Leif Rasmussen, an Athena alum and local college student hosted his knife-sharpening services for our community a little while ago. By popular demand, he’s offered to host another knife-sharpening party later this month, so if you have any knives or tools that need to be sharpened, be sure to make use of his services. We will send another announcement with more details regarding the event later, but you can reach him through his website (sharpnaustin.com) or email (leif@sharpnaustin) for any questions you have.
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