Principals' Newsletter

(submitted by Brandy J. Baker)

I’d like to introduce Dana Wilcott as the new Parent and Family Engagement Coordinator for Pflugerville ISD.

She comes to us with previous experience as an administrator, school counselor, and parent and family liaison. Dana has a true passion for children and believes that we are put on this earth to be a service to others and prides herself on her commitment to volunteerism and involvement in several organizations around the community. As part of her commitment to service, she has established a strong community presence in the surrounding areas and looks forward to serving the families of Pflugerville ISD. Dana will support Pflugerville ISD as a whole but will concentrate her work in areas of our community that struggle with parent and family engagement. She will also serve as a capacity builder, resource, and support for campuses that currently have a Parent Specialist on staff. Please feel free to reach out to her for help! I have included her job description as a reference for you. She’ll stop by your campus to personally introduce herself as well.

I’d like to introduce Jackie Yekpabo as the new P-TECH Coordinator for Pflugerville ISD.

Jackie Yekpabo has been working in education for the past 11 years. She comes most recently from Austin ISD where she worked as a school and Early College High School Counselor, and assisted in creating and implementing the Early College High School Program. In addition, she works as adjunct faculty at Austin Community College teaching College Success Skills. Previously, Jackie worked and lived in Northern Virginia where she assisted in creating a transitional counseling program at Northern Virginia Community College for first-generation, underrepresented college seekers. She is excited to bring her experience to the Pflugerville ISD Career and Technical Education team as the P-Tech Coordinator, working with Connally High School and Weiss High School as we enter a planning year in 2020-2021 for P-TECH programs in Computer & Information Technology (CHS) and Health Science (WHS).

(submitted by Holly Galloway)

The PfISD Meeting Calendar has been updated. The PfISD Meeting Calendar is an Outlook calendar created to provide one place to look for meetings and trainings for campus personnel. Please use the Viewing Instructions to see scheduled professional learning and meetings.

(submitted by Brandy J. Baker)

We will administer our 2019-2020 Student Experience Surveys March 2-12. In order to prepare for this launch date, we need to identify and/or reconfirm a Survey Coordinator for your campus. With your direction, this person will be responsible to:

• Block off time to prepare staff for upcoming survey window.
• Schedule time for students to complete their surveys - including a make-up window!
• Track participation regularly and follow up to encourage 100% survey completion
• 
  

Please use this link to update your campus survey coordinator contact information on or before Dec 20, 2019. We will begin training and prepping your Coordinator when we return from the Winter Break.

(submitted by Victor Valdez)

Campus staff have recently received messages that appear to be from campus principals. These messages are SPAM and are intended to deceive you. Please continue to check the full email address in each email instead of just the name.

The image below shows how the message appears to be from a campus principal but the email address, circled in red, is not of a PfISD address. Thank you all again for your awareness!

(submitted by Deena Bosier)

Registration for the It's Time Texas Community Challenge is officially open, and this year, we have the opportunity to make it our most impactful challenge yet. More Texans. More activities. Healthy change is possible. It starts with you. the Community Challenge is a statewide competition inspiring people, organizations, and cities across Texas to choose healthy activities in support of a healthier community. At the end of the 8-week challenge, the cities and school districts with the most points in each size category get a cash prize to put toward a community health project. There are also regular prize giveaways for individual participants. The Challenge kicks off January 6 – March 1. Here is the link https://ittcommunitychallenge.com/.

(submitted by Deena Bosier)

Happy Holidays!

Spurs Sports and Entertainment have partnered with Austin Park & Pizza for this event. Please join us on Saturday, December 14th for our Season of Giving Festival. All students that are registered will receive an unlimited attractions wristband (excludes bowling and arcade games). There will be vendor tables and activities provided by our partners. All parents will need a valid form of identification that matches the entry form to receive the wristbands for the students. Raffle ticket and prizes will be given out throughout this event. You will only be allowed to pick up your wristbands between 9am-11:30am. (The unlimited wristbands are valid from 10am to 6pm day of event only.) In addition to your wristbands and raffle tickets, all guests will receive a ticket voucher to the Austin Spurs game which will be good for 2 tickets on January 3rd. Opening ceremonies will begin at 12pm. Thanks in advance for your participation. To register, please see link below:

https://sse.formstack.com/forms/austin_spurs_season_of_giving_festival. Need more information contact Dexter McMarion -Premium Account Manager-Spurs Sports & Entertainment

(512) 236-8333

dmcmarion@attcenter.com

(submitted by Karen Shah)

Please ensure that if a staff member or an external university/company/institution/individual contacts you about conducting a research project on your campus that you refer them to contact Karen Shah, or forward the email/phone call request to me. The district’s research application process applies to both internal PfISD employees and external agencies/individuals who wish to conduct research or gather/access district/campus/classroom data for any kind of research project. This includes teachers/staff completing action research projects for graduate school.

• Research projects cannot be conducted without a research application first being approved at the district-level with final approval by the campus principal
• Initial contact regarding research studies in PfISD shall be initiated through the Department of Accountability and Assessment. Per district regulations, individuals wishing to conduct research must submit a research application, and must not contact campus principals, teachers, or other staff directly.
• If you do receive a research request directly, please forward the request/refer the requestor to Karen Shah and I will contact them directly to initiate the application process.

Application Information, Regulations, Process:

• All research application information can be found here: http://www.pfisd.net/Page/300

Approved Research and Evaluation Projects:

• All research and evaluation projects that have been approved at the district level with final approval by principals to be conducted at campuses is found here. If you hear about a project being conducted at your campus that is NOT listed here, then the project has not been approved to be conducted within the district. Please notify Karen Shah if you have any questions or concerns about research projects.

(submitted by Kelly Bertholf)

Reminder: December STAAR EOC Checklist for Campus Principals (attached)

Campus principals are invited to use this checklist to support campus coordinators as they prepare for the upcoming December STAAR EOC administration.

(submitted by Kelly Bertholf)

Instructions to update/install TestNav v.1.8.2.0 are attached. Campuses are assigned to begin online TELPAS assessments on either February 24 or March 2. It would be ideal to have software updated no later than mid-January to allow time to troubleshoot any problems. Waiting until February to update software is not advised.

(submitted by Christy Fox)

The November Quarterly Formative Review must be conducted through a CAAC meeting with progress monitoring entered for each strategy in the plan by November 22 (see the CNA/CIP Timeline here).

• Additionally, Title I campuses must evaluate the school’s Title I program by discussing the Title I plan and progress.

(submitted by Tina Felan)

1. Employee Giving Campaign. Deadline is 11/29 to turn in pledge cards to your office or Administrative Assistant.

Thank you to all who are currently giving to the Pfoundation through payroll deduction. This year we have created new levels and we're providing new thank you gifts. The half-back incentive will continue. For everyone $1 you give, 50 cents goes back to your campus or department to use in whatever way your group decides. The deadline to turn in your pledge cards to your campus office or department administrative support staff is November 29 to get the incentives. Thanks in advance for collecting the pledge forms that were distributed. You can send them via interoffice mail to PEF. As members of the Pflugerville Community who are passionate about education and a thriving city, thank you and please know that every gift makes a difference!

2. Calling all Performers: Galaxy Gala Talent Show Sign-up Deadline is December 2, 2019

The 2020 PEF Gala planning is underway and we are bringing back the Talent Show for campuses and departments. You MUST fill in this short interest form if you plan to participate. All registered PfISD campuses and/or departments will perform their “Out of this World Talent” in the preliminary contest on January 13 at the Weiss High School theatre to see which three finalists will compete in the 2020 PEF Annual Galaxy Gala, on Saturday, February 1, 2020, at the Courtyard Marriott. A mandatory dress rehearsal will also be held at Weiss High School on January 13th please report to Weiss by 4:30 pm.

PRIZES & AWARDS

Three finalists will receive $300 and an invitation to compete in the 2020 PEF Annual Gala Dancing with the Stars on Saturday, February 1, 2020.

Grand Prizes

1st Place Campus or Department: $5,000.00 Grant

2nd Place Campus or Department: $3,000.00 Grant

3rd Place Campus or Department: $1,000.00 Grant

3. Galaxy Gala Gift Basket Contest. All baskets are due by January 27, 2020.

The Gift Basket Contest for our annual gala is back and any campus or department in PfISD can participate. Gift baskets are put on our silent auction tables and help to raise funds and best of all, we offer prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize for the baskets that bring in the most money at the auction.

1st Prize: $500

2nd Prize: $300

3rd Prize: $100

(submitted by Jerry Karacz)

This year, we made an adjustment to the Grade 1 Early Literacy/Star Reading administration in order to give us better growth data for all students and ensure we were providing the best assessment. The hope was to not administer Star Reading unless students were Probable Reader, however, this conflicts with the dyslexia screener requirements.

I have had to updated the MTSS Implementation Guide to reflect the changes below:

*Students in First Grade will take the Early Literacy Assessment or Reading Assessment in Star 360 during the screening window. Dyslexia screening must conclude no later than January 31 of each year. Dual Language students in First Grade will use Tejas LEE Dyslexia Target Listing Report as screening data tool.

What does this mean?

• Any student who took Star Reading in BOY will take Star Reading for MOY and EOY.
• Any student who takes the MOY and is Probable Reader will take Star Reading MOY and then again for EOY.
• Any student who takes MOY and fails to meet Probable Reader will also need to take Star Reading to satisfy the dyslexia screener requirement, but will take Early Literacy at EOY.

Thanksgiving Break

12/2/19

District Security PLC

PACE C127

9:00 - 10:00 am

LAS Links and PreLAS Refresher Training

Administration Board Room

8:00 - 11:00 am

12/3/19

High School PBIS Team Session 2

Rock Gym

8:00 - 11:00 am

12/4/19

Coaching Classroom Management - AM

Rock Gym

8:00 - 11:30 am

Coaching Classroom Management - PM

Rock Gym

1:00 - 4:30 pm

12/5/19

2019 ECSE PLC Meeting

Delco Elementary School Ms. Mayo's Room

3:00 - 4:00 pm