The Panther's Claw
December 2, 2022
A Note From Ms. Dean
Welcome Parents, to The Claw!
Good Afternoon Parents,
Happy Friday!
I hope you all were able to enjoy your Thanksgiving break and then some! December will go quickly and then we will move into 2023--hard to believe!
As we near the end of the fall semester, I wanted to take a minute to remind parents of the importance of attendance at this time of year--especially if your child is in high school credit classes. As I'm sure you have seen via the website, emails from HISD or on social media, all students must attend class 90% of the time to get credit for a given semester. Students who are enrolled in high school classes will not get credit unless they make up the time missed for their classes. In addition, we are giving final exams, common assessments and preparing our students for success in the upcoming semester. Please make every effort to have your child here on time and present for the whole day. Thank you in advance for this.
As we begin the month of December, I also wanted to take a minute to get some feedback from you. In moving into the Principal position, I came in with very specific goals for the school. There are many things we have implemented to ensure better communication between the school and the community, to make sure students are optimizing their time in class and to give more recognition to all of our students throughout the year. Later in the newsletter, I have embedded a quick survey. Please take a minute to send me your feedback so we may continue to improve. As you have probably heard me say many times, it is my goal to ensure this is a safe school for everyone, to give all students a place to belong, to make this the premier middle school in HISD and to continue to maintain our A status for state accountability. I believe together we can make all of those happen.
I didn't add as many photos and recognitions to this newsletter because I wanted to provide you with some information and give you the opportunity to provide feedback.
Photos and Fluff will return in January!!
Just a final reminder regarding communication platforms.
**Remember, all district information or any legal information that might be sent out from the school will be sent out via SchoolMessenger, not Remind. Please go onto HISD Connect and make sure your information is updated and correct. The computer will only pull from information in Connect.
Sincerely,
MDean
Highlighting our SuperStars on Campus
Teacher, Student and Staff Member of the Month are voted upon by Staff--pretty cool to be picked by you peers!
Anthony Castelline--Teacher of the Month
From 7:00am to 6:00pm any school day, you can find Mr. Castelline going above and beyond in some capacity to lead Frank Black to success. From athletics to mathematics Mr. Castelline leads by example. His students in math continue to improve their skills every single day and his athletes in Soccer, Swimming and Cross Country all excel every year. Mr. Castelline greets all students and visitors to campus daily and makes sure they get home every evening. Thanks for all you do Mr. Castelline.
Staff Member of the Month--Lauren Ayres
You know when you need to get things done, you go to the busiest person on campus. As a principal, Ms. Ayres is one of my go-to people. She always steps up to help out and does it with a smile on her face. She has a real passion for kids and truly wants our teachers to be the best they can be. She is a true example of what an instructional coach should be.
Frankie Persyn--Student of the Month
Frankie works extremely hard to be successful in her classes. She always looks out for others and advocates for their needs, often before her own. She displays school spirit by dressing up, cheering on her classmates at games, and participating in our new student council. Frankie is the ultimate servant leader. In addition to excelling in the classroom, Frankie is our newly elected Student Council President and she plays basketball.
Panther--Teachers of Excellence are chosen by leadership based upon the amazing things they do in the classroom daily!
Continue to check out our newly renovated website for all of the latest Frank Black news
I hope you've been enjoying our Panther's Choice Awards and Most Valuable Panther Awards--New students chosen weekly!
Volunteers Needed
Important Dates for December--Please see School Calendar for more events
12/2--Pep Rally Schedule; Girls will have a guest speaker in the auditorium (Pegasus House outside)
12/3--Saturday Tutorials
12/7--ELA/SS Night
12/10--Saturday Tutorials
12/16--Pep Rally Schedule; STAR Student Celebration
12/21--Annual Faculty vs. Student (basketball teams) Basketball game and Pep Rally and last day of the semester
12/22--1/8 Christmas Break
Year in Review....
1. School Safety--This has always been a top priority for me. I have been here since this school was a turn-around school and there has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears that went into making and keeping this a safe place.
A. All teachers doors must be locked during the day--no exception. Periodic door checks are done by both campus and district personnel.
B. Safety Drills--these are not new but we do follow protocol and this year we debrief after each drill so we can improve our practices and we have a newly formed Safety Committee.
C. Color-coded restroom passes so students cannot roam.
D. Coffee with the Principal--Topic: School Safety to get input and answer questions regarding the practices and policies we have established.
E. Door Buzzers are being installed on the Community Center and outside of 504.
F. SEL (Social/Emotional Learning) during the Enrichment block and in classroom time when possible.
G. Restorative practices being used by leaders when possible.
H. Culturally Responsive Practices being practiced by teachers when possible.
I. CLAW Patrol-- we can always use volunteers for this, especially around the holidays.
2. Communication--This is a biggie for me. I am a firm believer in effective communication on campus and between the campus and the community. I believe effective communication solves a multitude of issues before they even begin. I stepped into this role knowing the importance of communication and the longer I am in the role, the more important communication becomes to me.
A. Newly Renovated website which is updated weekly with pertinent information
B. The Panther's Claw Monthly newsletter--highlighting the good and not so good parts of the campus
C. Weekly Reminds--I'm sure this gets to be a lot some times but it is my best and quickest way to get the word out.
D. Open Door policy--my door is always open when I am available
E. Response to email and messages within 24 hours--district policy is 24-48 but I do try and respond as quickly as possible.
F. Twitter--I really like to use this platform to highlight events, students and teachers on campus, and the campus itself.
G. Student Council
H. Communication being sent out (to the extent possible) in both English and Spanish
I. Weekly principal announcements in English/Spanish
3. Instruction--this is the work you don't see.
A. Weekly classroom walks by leadership to give coaching and feedback to all teachers on campus.
B. Coaching tracker--Feedback is tracked so that every administrator can see what is being worked on with teachers and how they are progressing.
C. Extra planning time for teachers when needed, especially ELA and Math teachers who are tested at every grade level
D. PLC Leaders and Department heads have access to coaching tool to coach their own teachers as well.
E. Peer observations--teachers are able to go and visit their peers who may be strong in an area where they need to grow
F. Mr. Buren being added as an Instructional Coach and he and Ms. Ayres being able to focus solely on Instruction
G. Mr. Bridgewater being able to focus solely on Instruction as our Dean of Instruction
H. Working to expand and improve our Dual Language program
4. Bringing the school into the community and the community into the school. This is actually easier said than done. Many leaders don't trust parents to come into the school to see what they are doing. My philosophy is a little different than that--I want parents to know exactly what we are doing. I believe that to get to where I want us to go as a school that parents and the school have to work together and partner with each other.
A. Coffee with the Principal--Next meeting in January
B. Opening the campus for Pickleball
C. CLAW Patrol
D. Campus Beautification
E. Highlighting students and staff via newsletter, twitter and website
F. Cultural celebrations and awareness
G. Citizenship classes on campus
H. Community Partners in the Schools as Mentors
I. ESL classes on campus
J. New Bilingual Counselor who specifically works with our emerging bilingual population
This is not an exhaustive list, just a few things we, as a campus, have been working to improve. I hope you have found this enlightening.
And the Survey says...
The questions are very generic and open ended and you don't have to answer them all.