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Thank you for your continuous support as we continue to navigate changes with staffing, learning prefances and helping slow the spread of COVID. This past week we had an average of 65 students on campus compared to the approximate 190 students at the beginning of January. We appreciate your help and flexibilty during these trying times.

Please email your child's teacher with your learning preferance for this week. This will allow us to staff accordingly and make the needed changes.

I am excited to welcome Austin Edwards as our long term music substitute. Austin has taught middle STEM and is excited to bring his love of music to our Panthers. He will be proctoring the music classes for the first couple of weeks as students participate through BLEND and will transition into live teaching very soon.

This week some classes will be proctored by substitutes or other AISD district members to meet staffing needs. Teachers will be emailing individual classes that will be affected by these changes. A big thank you to the BW staff and their flexiblity over the last couple of weeks.

We have a lot of exciting events to celebrate this week:

• We will be kicking off our Great Kindness Challenge. Ms. Gee will be discussing this more during morning announcements. Please check out the Counselor's Corner buttom below for detailed information.
• We will also be celebrating all of the hard work our young scientist showed during the BW Science Fair. Please go to our BW Community BLEND page and click on BW Science Fair and explore all their creative projects. Thank you so much for all the parents, staff and community members who made this possible
• Library will also begin this week. Ms. Kettler will be meeting with classes every other week. Teachers will be communicating the biweekly library schedules.
• Friday will be an Asynchronous Day and students will learn from home. We will ensure devices are sent home with students on Thursday.
• We'd also like to celebrate Ms. Cavazos and her dedication to BW. Friday will be her last day. Thank you, Ms Cavazos. You will be truly missed!

Have a wonderful week!

Peace, Love, Panthers!

Kris Muehling

Proud Principal

Monday, January 25:

• Great Kindness Challenge Week

• Happy Birthday, Ms. Paula!!!

• Asynchronous Day: Remote Only Learning

February 2: PTA Meeting 5:00

February 5: Magnet School Applications Due (5th Grade)

February 8: CAC Meeting 3:15

February 9: Benchmark Testing (3rd-5th)

February 10: Benchmark Testing (3rd-5th)

February 11: Benchmark Testing (3rd-5th)

AISD has determined four Fridays to be Asynchronous Learning Days to allow custodians to deep clean buildings and give teachers time for planning and prep. Our first district Asynchronous Learning day will be this Friday, January 29.

Students will remain at home and participate in class through asynchronous lessons. We will ensure all students take their devices home on Thursday. Attendance will be taken for these days and will be based on work submitted through BLEND. Teachers will send more information on schedules and lessons.

Asynchronous Learning Days:

• Jan. 29
• Feb. 26
• March 5
• April 9

Thank You BW Science Fair Committee and Judges for your hard work and for making this possible for our Panthers!!!!!

2020 - 2021 Bryker Woods Science Fair Committee:

Tom Connolly, BW Parent

Kelly Lancaster, BW Parent

Kim Zipfel, BW Parent

Michelle Noid, BW Teacher

Haley Vincent, BW Teacher

2020 - 2021 Bryker Woods Science Fair Judges:

Laura Azouz

Diane Kneeland: The Central Texas American Chemical Society

Caiden Golder: The American Chemical Society & The University of Texas at Dallas

Alice Roberts: The American Chemical Society

Juliette Strasser: The American Chemical Society

Burzin Balsara: UT Austin Cockrell School of Engineering

Caitlyn Cobb: UT Austin

Joseph Franklin, M.S.: UT Austin

Kylie Heupel: UT Austin

Samuel Igrisa: UT Austin Cockrell School of Engineering

Anna Krieger: UT Austin Department of Chemistry

Trevor Lease: UT Austin Cockrell School of Engineering

Aanchal Singh: UT Austin Cockrell School of Engineering

Olivia Toth: UT Austin Cockrell School of Engineering

Hannah Wendlandt: UT Austin Department of Chemistry

Rebecca Wilen: UT Austin

In order to be proactive and offer additional testing resources to our students and staff, Austin ISD will be offering mass COVID-19 testing once per week while we are in Stage 5 in Austin/Travis County.

We are also excited to announce that rapid tests (for mass testing events only) are now available to ALL Austin ISD students and staff, which includes those who learn and work in-person and remotely.

January Dates and Times

• Thursday, Jan. 21 from 8:30 am-5:30 pm
• Friday, Jan. 29 from 9:00 am-3:00 pm (district asynchronous day)

Locations (for both days)

• North: Northeast Early College High School (Nelson Field) 7105 Berkman Dr. Austin, TX 78752
• South: Austin ISD Central Office 4000 S. IH-35 Austin, TX 78704

Registration

Participants must register to be guaranteed testing. REGISTER HERE: https://forms.gle/mv9ScYqSTftJiPP76

Items to Bring to Your Testing Appointment

• Austin ISD ID or Badge
• Completed Consent Form
• QR Code from Pre-Registering Online (not required, but strongly encouraged to help decrease wait times): https://register.txrapidtest.org/

Additional information

If you are unable to make either date listed above, or if you have non-AISD family members who wish to access testing, we encourage you to contact your primary care provider or schedule an appointment through Austin Public Health: https://www.austintexas.gov/covid-testinfo

Thank you,
Alexandra Copeland, Director of Health Services

I am so excited to announce that we will be starting our scheduled library classes at the end of January! Remote and in-person students will all participate in biweekly lessons, with in-person students having the option to check out a book to keep in their classroom. Classes will be safely held in the library, with only one to two in-person classes a day. Remote learners will join on a Zoom with Ms. Kettler, and have the option to check out an eBook through our virtual library MackinVIA. All schedules will be communicated through your teacher. I am looking forward to formally working and reading with all our students once again!

Mrs. Kettler

As I mentioned last week, Ms. DiGaetano welcomed her baby girl, Cecelia, 11 weeks early. A group of wonderful 1st-grade families are organizing ways to support Ms. DiGaetano and her beautiful family.

Please see this link on Living Tree for more information on how to support Ms. DiGaetano.

Wednesday, February 3, 2021 - 8:30 am to Friday, February 5, 2021 - 6:00 pm

Join us for the Central Texas African American Family Support Conference which will be held virtually, Feb. 3-5 from 8:30 a.m.–6 p.m.

Highlights include:

• Inspirational speakers like Grammy-winning songwriter Billy Dorsey, who overcame depression and homelessness to reach his dreams, plus Dr. Brenda Combs and Dr. Lonise Bias
• 20 interactive workshops on grief and loss, COVID-19 and racism, trauma, Black men and mental health, self-care, substance use and much more
• Entertainment from Austin’s finest hip-hop duo Riders Against the Storm as well as local icon DJ Hella Yella

Registration:

Austin ISD will be providing scholarships to AISD families who would like to attend the conference. Deadline to request a scholarship is Fri., Jan. 22.

Any AISD family interested in attending who needs a scholarship to pay the conference fee can register with their @AustinISD Parent Support Specialist or call the AISD Parent Engagement Support Office at 512-414-0726. Visit: ctaafsc.com for details.

If you have any questions, please contact your school Parent Support Specialist or Jennifer Vasquez at 512-414-0726.

The Austin ISD 2020–21 Family Survey is now available and is accepting responses online through March 5, 2020. Please click the link below to access the survey.

Families are encouraged to participate so they can share input on district and campus performance. The survey includes questions about how well school staff and leadership communicate with parents, as well as how easily parents may communicate about their students and how families learn about programs offered at their school. Due to COVID-19, it is especially important this year to provide your opinion to ensure we are providing a great experience for you and your child.

The results will help district leadership learn how to best to improve services for our students.

To take the survey:
https://tinyurl.com/AISD-Family-Survey-2021

Austin ISD is currently working on the calendars for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years. The Calendar Task Force has worked very hard to prepare two (2) calendar options. Please take a minute to vote on the calendars that you prefer for each school year.

Please click on this link to view the calendars and to vote: Vote here

Or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser:
https://austinisd.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9FakodMJbJHPro1

If you have technical issues with this survey, please contact Cinda Christian at survey@austinisd.org.

If you need to request a device, please reach out to Ms. Kettler.

carly.kettler@austinisd.org

Video Tutorial: How to Request Technology on the Parent Portal

Family Technology Q&A

iPad Home Screen/Layout Settings by The Time of Day

Beginning Friday, September 25, Austin ISD iPads have settings restrictions that vary by time of day. From 7:00 am-4:00 pm, Monday to Friday, apps will appear in the current pushed layout. Outside of those hours, the apps will revert to any customized layout caregivers have set, AND they will be able to delete apps they have added. (Note that the iPads have 32GB of storage, and currently 13GB is taken up by District-required content.)

Lost/Stolen student devices:

Families should follow the procedures outlined here.

Student devices in need of repair:

Families can take iPads, Chromebooks, and hotspots in need of repair to either your school or to one of the Curbside locations, where they can be swapped out as long as supplies allow.

“Power wash” Chromebooks to Update Zoom:

Students may notice that Zoom is out of date on their Chromebooks. Students and caregivers that Chromebooks must be “power washed” (restored to Austin ISD default settings) for Zoom to update automatically. Here is a step set as well as a link to a video.

MackinVia and Dreambox added to iPads:

The MackinVia and Dreambox apps have been added to iPads. Apps on the student iPads will soon be organized into logical folders to streamline student access and hide infrequently used apps and system apps.

Students use the Canvas Student app to access BLEND (and then Seesaw)

A video in English demonstrating this process can be seen here. A video in Spanish is in progress and a link will be provided as soon as it is available.

Student iPad Security and Student Safety

Please note: District-wide safety restrictions can be seen on the iPads under Settings> General > Device Management > JamfSchool MDM Management Profile > Restrictions. Families may see other options under Screen Time, but despite appearances, no Screen Time setting can be less restrictive than the General Restrictions pushed by the District. A flyer for distribution is available here.

Handbook for BLEND/Seesaw

• Sign up for a PTA Committee- BW PTA Committee Signup Sheet
• Reach out to our PTA president for additional information- jennrustgi@gmail.com

• AISD Covid-19 Updates
• AISD Summer Meals Sites
• BW Website
• AISD Asbestos Letter (see attachment below)

Email: kristina.muehling@austinisd.org
Website: byrkerwoods.austinschools.org
Location: 3309 Kerbey Lane, Austin, TX, USA
Phone: 512-414-2054