PfISD Pfamily Pflyer
Weekly Parents/Guardians Update: May 13, 2022
Upcoming Events & Holidays
Below are some important dates and a few others to spark creativity or ideas for fun with your students or family.
Days
- May 13: School Communicators Day
- May 17: National Graduation Tassel Day
- May 21: National Armed Forces Day
- May 24: National Brothers Day
- May 25: National Sing Out Day
Weeks
- May 6-12: National Nurses Week
- May 11-17: National Police Week
May Month Holidays
- Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
- Better Hearing and Speech Month
- Jewish American Heritage Month
- Military Appreciation Month
- National Pet Month
- Teacher Appreciation Month
Greetings from Dr. Killian
Dear Friends,
Last week, and you all are my witnesses, I mentioned that in May we celebrate our school nurses and speech pathologists. But with much information to post about our Employee Recognition ceremony, it was only a brief mention. However, the contributions of our nurses and speech pathologists are anything but worthy of only a brief mention.
Our school nurses are absolutely serving in a pivotal role for our district. Not only do they lead our promotion of health education for the district, but using clinical knowledge and judgment, the school nurse provides healthcare to students and staff, performs health screenings, and coordinates referrals to the medical home or private healthcare provider.
And much like our school nurses, the contributions of our speech pathologists often fly under the radar, but that shouldn’t diminish their importance. Speech-language pathologists assist our students with communication needs that adversely affect the student’s educational performance. SLPs also serve an important role in educating and collaborating with parents, teachers and the community about communication disorders.
Our thanks to our campus nurses and speech pathologists for their valued contributions to our district.
Our congratulations to language arts teacher Jordan James of Kelly Lane Middle School for being selected to the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (TCTELA) Rising Leaders program. James is one of only four people in the state to join the 2022-24 Rising Leaders cohort.
Through the program, Rising Leaders have opportunities to participate in group and individual video conferences designed to support leadership development in the field that is relevant to each individual’s needs, interests, and aspirations. At the conclusion of the program, they will be invited to present evidence of their growth and future plans.
Completed Rising Leader applications are scored by a selection panel of TCTELA board members using a rubric focused on the program goals. Finalists are forwarded to the TCTELA executive committee for approval.
Carpenter Elementary Librarian Jennifer Coleman’s book, “Come ‘N Git It!” was recently named a finalist for the Western Writers of America Spur Award for best children’s picture book. Western Writers of America annually honors writers for distinguished writing about the American West with the Spur Awards.
Coleman will receive the finalist award in June at the Western Writers of America National Conference in Great Falls, Mont. Congratulations to Jennifer!
Ruth Barron Elementary School recently received 400 books from the Friends of the Pflugerville Library and Pflugerville Public Library. On behalf of our students, we’d like to thank the city and Friends for the generous donation.
Texas Parent to Parent will host its 17th Annual Statewide Parent Conference in person at the Hyatt Regency, 208 Barton Springs, Austin on July 22-23. The conference is for families of children with disabilities, chronic and mental health conditions or other healthcare needs, self-advocates, educators and other interested parties.
For more information, please visit www.txp2p.org .
Have a great rest of the week and a super weekend.
In the best interest of children,
Douglas Killian, Ph.D.
Proud Superintendent
Passionately Serving
PfISD speech pathologists
Quote of the Week
Free/Reduced Meals Applications Now Open
The free meals program provided by the Texas Department of Agriculture for all PfISD students during the pandemic will end with the 2021-22 school year. Starting with the 2022-23 school year, students must complete the necessary form to receive free or reduced meals.
PfISD is encouraging families who feel they may qualify for the free/reduced meal program to complete the forms this year as it will give their students coverage for the first 30 days of next school year. Then, they will need to complete an application at the beginning of next school year to receive benefits all year long.
Parents can get more information on other benefits provided through the free/reduced meals program online at www.pfisd.net/Meals. This link includes instructions on how to complete the application and links to the application in multiple languages.
Please take note: the free meals that have been available to all students, regardless of their application status, are ending. Students who have previously been part of the free/reduced meal plan or newer students who enrolled in PfISD during the 2020-21 or 2021-22 school year who may be eligible for the traditional program need to apply to continue receiving free or reduced meals at school next school year.
Stop the Bleed Training for 7th-12th grade students
Texas House Bill 496, Sec. 38.030 requires that each school district implements a Traumatic Injury Response Protocol for use in the event of traumatic injury involving blood loss. The bill requires that bleeding control stations are stored in easily accessible areas throughout the school and that training is offered to all employees and students in grades 7-12.
No matter how rapid the arrival of emergency responders, bystanders will always be first on the scene of trauma. A person who is bleeding can die from blood loss in 3-5 minutes, therefore it is important to quickly stop the blood loss.
“Stop the Bleed” is a nationwide campaign to empower individuals to act quickly and save lives. For more information, please visit BLEEDINGCONTROL.ORG.
This training is OPTIONAL. If you wish for your child to view a video describing the general steps of the training, please complete the following survey. https://forms.gle/iBQ3wgEgSbBFMKNy5
The video is about 20 minutes long and will be added to their Canvas account and available for them to view when they are able to do so. Once again, this is NOT required and is optional.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Lorie Killian, BSN, RN, at Lorie.killian@pfisd.net
Staff Shout Outs!
We love our PfISD staff members and we know you do too! We want to publicly recognize and thank our staff members who serve our students, staff and the community.
Show your appreciation for a staff member (or multiple staff members) who has gone above and beyond to provide service to you, your student or our community via Let's Talk. Click the link below and choose the category "Staff Shoutouts" to recognize our amazing PfISD staff members.
These Shout Outs will be included in upcoming issues of the Parent Newsletter. If you would prefer to keep your Staff Shout Out private, please indicate this in your message. If your Shout Out references your student directly, we will not include the parent name so to protect the child's anonymity.
THANK YOU TO THESE AMAZING PFISD STAFF MEMBERS FOR EVERYTHING THEY DO FO OUR STUDENTS AND COMMUNITY!
Staff Shout Outs:
Marjorie Mitchell of Brookhollow Elementary (via Jaleesa Dixon): “I want to thank Ms. Marjorie Mitchell for being one amazing person! She goes above and beyond every single day for her 504 homebound students, parents and the students at Brookhollow Elementary. Thank you Ms. Mitchell for being so happy, patience, caring and loving.”
Rachel Blust of Bohls Middle School (via Amy Kidwell): “Ms. Blust has connected with our daughter in such a special and effective way this year. She is the kind of support we all want for our children when they are not with us. Our student trusts her and goes to her with both academic and social challenges. We are so thankful for her dedication.”
PfISD offers Certification Program Partnership
Are you interested in becoming a certified teacher and work in a new role within the PfISD Family to advance your career? Do you have a bachelor’s degree or higher?
Join us on May 18 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Rock Gym for an information session with a district partnered Alternative Certification Program (ACP) who will certify you to become a teacher.
Please confirm your session attendance to learn about the program qualifications and the application process by clicking here to reserve your spot: Certification Information Session.
For high need teaching areas, PfISD will pay program costs and associated fees which will allow this to be a zero to low-cost opportunity.
Academic Update
HHS student named UIL state champ
Hendrickson Journalism student Seth Deaton has a gift for getting articles noticed, and last weekend, UIL took notice of his talents. Deaton, a senior, was named UIL Class 5A state champion in Headline Writing, after having qualified for state last month. Seth is coached by Kari Riemer.
Our congratulations to both of them.
Athletics Update
In Athletics, we have a few more weeks of middle school soccer (games are each Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at multiple sites). Please consider encouraging tomorrow’s high school stars by stopping by to watch a game.
At the high school level, Allison Morris and Suzan Ogunleye of Hendrickson will be joined by Lauryn Jackson and Ava Roberts of PHS at the UIL State Track and Field Championships Friday at the University of Texas.
Ogunleye will be vying to medal once again in the triple jump, where she took bronze last year. She will also be competing in a track event, the 100-meter run.
Morris advanced to state in the discus, while both Jackson and Roberts will represent PHS in the shot put.
Best of luck, ladies, and as serious as the state track meet can be, please remember to take it all in. One of these days, when you get to be my age or so, you may find yourself fondly looking back at this time as one of your cherished memories.
In baseball, we have Hendrickson and Weiss playing in the postseason still this week. The Hawks take on Brenham in a best-of-three series starting Thursday at HHS (7 p.m.). The Wolves face Magnolia in a winner-take-all game Friday at Magnolia (7 p.m.).
Cheer on your PfISD teams if you get a chance.
Suzan Ogunleye of Hendrickson
Fine Arts Update
So many of our PfISD Fine Arts programs are active on Instagram, and we encourage our parents and staff to keep an eye out for these awesome pages of student work!
Here’s just a bit of what there is to see:
- PfISD elementary school students took part in a Music Memory contest, with students from Parmer Lane and Caldwell Elementary earning perfect scores,
- Wieland art students continue to amaze with spectacular work for learners as young as they are (see below),
- Hendrickson Hawk Jazz recently performed their end-of-year gig, and
- Hendrickson art worked on fantastic portraits and facial feature collages.
Please follow all of our fine arts programs, and @wielandartroom, @Hendricksonhawkjazz and @HHShawkart for the work mentioned above. More can also be found on the @PfISD Instagram account.
Wieland art
CTE Corner
Our Career and Technical Education students have been cooking up good deeds, as well as delicious baked goods. Johanna Harmon of Weiss Family and Consumer Science and her group took part in the King Arthur Baking Company Bake for Good event on May 5. With materials donated by King Arthur Baking, students learned how to make bread, rolls and cinnamon buns, and then donated them to those in need.
Pflugerville High School students will also be participating in Bake for Good, at a later date.
Kudos to our CTE students and faculty for a creative way to educate while giving back.
Weiss Family and Consumer Science
District to host meeting for private school, homeschooled students
Pflugerville ISD will hold an informational meeting on Special Education services for private school and homeschooled students on Tuesday, May 24 at 5 p.m. via video teleconference.
District staff will discuss the child find process for children suspected of having a disability, as well as proportionate share funding for students with disabilities who currently attend private school or are homeschooled within PfISD. In addition to parents, administrators of private schools located within the PfISD boundaries are encouraged to attend.
For more information and how to access the video teleconference, please contact the Pflugerville ISD Special Education Department at 512-594-0178.
Substitute Teachers Needed
PfISD continues to need substitute teachers more than ever. Beginning substitutes earn $120 per day, and this can go up based on certification and the number of days worked. To qualify to serve as a substitute in the Pflugerville Independent School District, you must be at least 21 years of age and have a high school diploma. All applicants must complete the online substitute application and attend a Guest Educator orientation.