Rudder Ranger News
Rangers Lead the Way
Rangers Starting the Year Strong and Safe
Choose In-School or Distance Learning
Click here to go to the district link to make the learning selection for your child(ren).
Important Events and Dates
Parent Choice for Instruction Due: August 16th
Principal Town Hall Meetings August 13th, & 20th at 7 am and 6 pm. See the details below.
Grade Level Open Houses- Meet the teacher event - See the details below.
Chromebook distribution August 11-13
School starts August 24th virtually
Students who have opted to attend in-person return to school September 8th
Family Engagement Survey - How Can We Serve You?
Rudder Parent and Family Engagement Survey English
Message from the Principal
A Message from the Superintendent
Student Schedules Available Monday
If there is a change desired or a conflict on your student's schedule, please click the Counselor's link below to access a schedule request change.
Virtual Town Hall Meetings For the Rudder Community
Thursday, August 13th at 6 pm. To access click https://meet.google.com/hng-hgnn-ggd
Thursday, August 20th at 7 am. To access click https://meet.google.com/wdn-bahk-evy
Thursday, August 20th at 6 pm. To access click https://meet.google.com/xbu-ssan-bia
Open House Virtual Meetings for all Grades levels
Thursday, August 20th
8th Grade Ranger Open House 4:00-5:00 pm Click link to join
https://meet.google.com/zwp-rngz-qvr
7th Grade Ranger Open House 5:00 - 6:00 pm Click link to join
https://meet.google.com/zgn-nntj-ryq
6th Grade Ranger Open House and Welcome 7:00 - 8:00 pm Click link to join
https://meet.google.com/tnv-hkwo-brd
We look forward to seeing all of you and your students at your level open house!!
Prevention of Covid-19 on Campus
- Faculty and staff will be screened daily coming into school.
- Students will be screened weekly via a screening questionnaire.
- Classrooms will be cleared and social distancing will set up with desks 6 ft apart.
- The bell schedule is being modified to allow social distancing procedures to be implemented for students between classes, during lunch, and for arrival and dismissal from school.
- Traffic patterns and six-foot distancing procedures are being implemented for hall movement. Signage concerning direction flow, mask use, and social distancing will be appropriately placed all around the school.
- Everyone in the school will be required to wear a mask at school.
- Visitors will be restricted to essential business only scheduled appointments, pick up due to illness of a child, or family emergencies will allow parents in the office.
- Hand sanitizing stations will be all around the school. Students will be required to use hand sanitizer at entry and departure from class.
- Custodians will practice an enhanced cleaning schedule of the school that will include wiping down commonly touched areas throughout the day.
- All field trips, pep rallies, and other large events will be done virtually until further notice.
- Student work areas, desks, and equipment will be cleaned after each use.
Mitigation in the event of suspected Covid-19 case
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Chills/Repeated shaking with chills
- Muscle pain
- Headache
- Sore throat
- Loss of taste or smell
- Nausea/vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Feeling feverish or a measured temperature greater than or equal to 100.0 degrees F.
- Known close contact with a person who is lab confirmed to have Covid-19.
If someone, either faculty/staff or student present with any symptoms during the course of the day, the following procedures will be conducted:
- Person suspected to have symptoms will be escorted to a school isolation room where they will remain until parents/family member can be contacted to provide transport home.
- Once a suspected or determined Covid-19 case has been identified, a contact trace will be conducted. Parents will receive written notification of possible exposure and of district policy for returning to school based on CDC recommendations.
- Areas in school which the suspected or confirmed case was located will be cleared and then cleaned after 60 minutes to ensure all air droplets have fallen.
- Any students considered to be exposed, displaying symptoms, or who have a family member with a positive test will automatically switch to distance learning for the required quarantine time period of 14 days or 72 hours after symptoms are gone and a minimum of 10 days from the first appearance of symptoms.
What Does this mean for students and families?
- Students will all have to have a mask and wear it at all times while in school.
- Water fountains will be disabled; therefore, students will need to bring a refillable bottle to school for water as part of their required school supplies.
- School supplies will not be shared; therefore, students are required to have a back pack as part of their school supplies to carry their own supplies daily.
- Students will not be allowed to touch nor walk within 6 feet of their friends at anytime during the school day. Violations to this expectation will receive school consequences.
- No deliveries of food for students will be accepted from parents for students.
- Parents will not be allowed in building to eat lunch with their child.
- Parents will not be allowed to walk their student into the school.
- Parents must make an appointment to be able to come into school to meet with an administrator by calling the school.
- All ARD, 504, and parent conference meetings will be held virtually.
- Arrangements will be made for parent pick up of student to take place in the front parent pick up/drop off lanes during school for emergencies or sickness.
Please keep in mind that procedures and policies are subject to changed at any time based on district, city, state, or national guidelines or directives.
Instructional Changes to Ensure Student Success
- Northside ISD has adopted an LMS or learning management system designed specifically for distance learning, called Schoology. We are very excited to be able to offer the same high-quality instruction and assessment in both the Synchronous (present for direct instruction either online or in-person) or Asynchronous (instruction is provided for access at the students' convenience). Schoology will also allow parents to view and access all aspects of their child's classes as well as receive direct communication from teachers and administration and so much more.
- In an effort to provide for the learning needs of students, we are encouraging online students to attend class daily virtually through Schoology at the same time other students are in class. Schoology will allow teachers to teach synchronous students who are present for class both in person as well as online at the same time. Students who cannot make the synchronous instruction can still go to their online class asynchronously that same day and get instruction as well as complete their assignments and to be marked present for the days class.
- Schoology will provide access for students to all required resources for their online classroom from textbooks, reference resources, and instruction that they would get if they were present.
- Therefore, because of social distancing, the students who are present in the classroom will also be using Schoology during their class period.
- IEPs, IAPs, and other accommodations or modifications for diverse learners will also be able to be provided through Schoology. When annual ARD meetings and 504 meetings are held, accommodations for both in-person classes and virtual classes will be provided.
- Because our goal is for students to learn and achieve at grade-level standards, Schoology also will allow teachers to give assessments to determine student's mastery of the standards and to determine the instructional needs of each student in their learning.
- Grading of student achievement based on their school assignments and assessments will be given every grading cycle.
- To give students the time needed for virtual learning and assessment, all NISD secondary schools have been changed to a 9-week grading cycle instead of the previous 6-week cycle.
Attendance Will Count Each Day for Each Student
- Students will be required to attend school each day whether in person or virtually. Therefore, teachers will be taking daily attendance.
- Students who are virtual learners can be marked present each day one of three ways: 1) they attend class in real-time virtually via Schoology at the time the class physically meets in the building, 2) they complete the assignment for the day the same day it was assigned, 3) they attend the virtual meeting with the teacher during the day to be marked present for that day.
- Students must attend each day in one of these three ways in order to be marked present virtually for that day of school.
- Students who hand in all their work for the week on Monday will not be marked present the rest of the week unless they virtually show up for their class or attend an office hour with their teacher each day of the week.
- Parents will have access to all areas of their child's Schoology account and can see when then turned in their assignments.
Earl Rudder Middle School
Email: brenda.cornell@nisd.net
Website: nisd.net/rudder
Location: 6558 Horn Boulevard, San Antonio, TX, USA
Phone: 210-397-5000
Facebook: facebook.com/EarlRudderMiddleSchool
Twitter: @EarlRudderMS