UPDATE: More News from the GTA!

1) Expect and plan for DELAYS and IMPERFECTIONS with transportation. Whether your child will ride the bus or whether you are dropping him/her off and picking him/her up, it will take a few days before the balance of the daily routine will smooth things out. BUT things will smooth out! They do every year! Please keep this in mind ahead of time. It will save you and your child some stress and anxiety.

2) Students will report to designated locations when they're dropped off at school. Parents are NOT allowed to walk to class with their children. There will be staff members abundantly available to guide and supervise students in the halls and assigned morning locations.

• Grade 6 > Practice Gym
• Grade 7 > Competition Gym
• Grade 8 > Commons

These locations will be the same EVERY DAY this school year. 6th and 7th graders who need to eat breakfast will report to the commons, eat there, and then remain there at a designated table.

3) Don't worry, schedule errors will be addressed (see message below) and corrected. Although schedule errors might occur and they might seem like an urgent emergency, they really are not. Students will receive correction forms over the first few days of school, and, before the end of the week--probably sooner--all the errors will be corrected. No significant instruction will be missed in the first days of class. And before you know it, your child will have settled into his/her daily and weekly routine without hiccups. 😀 (After school on Tuesday 8/11, feel free to email Mr. Bernhart about any schedule corrections, and he will assist in following up with those concerns.)

4) Students will need only basic school supplies on the first day of school. Send them with their backpack, pens, pencils, paper, and a few other basic school supplies. As conveyed in earlier newsletters, most middle school teachers will inform you and your child of more specific supply requests in the first week of school.

5) Make sure your child KNOWS THE BASICS such as:

• His/her lunch number
• His/her Manner of Dismissal
• Is he/she a bus rider? If so, MAKE SURE HE/SHE KNOWS THE BUS NUMBER!
• Is he/she a car rider? A biker? A walker?

Regarding schedules, please be patient. Currently, our counselors are aware that there are some inaccuracies in what you might see when you check your child's schedule. Rest assured, the counseling team is making final revisions and corrections AS I TYPE THIS, and they will account for information received from the district regarding CBE results if they have not already (or any other concerns).

Schedules will be officially released in Skyward on Monday, August 10th. Thereafter, corrections will be made, and even if they are not able to account for every error on day 1, the counseling team will address and correct concerns with as much expediency as possible during the first week of school.

Typically, at this time of year, especially for our 6th grade families, concerns about transportation can seem quite urgent. Yes, transportation is important, YET the less stressed parents are about it, the more ASSURED their children will be.

As coordinator, I can assure you that THINGS WILL WORK OUT and SMOOTH OUT. There are almost 80,000 students in FBISD. Not all of them ride buses, but many of them do. EXPECT delays and imperfections during the first few weeks of school as Transportation settles into their routine for the year. Maybe there won't be any issues and everything will run smoothly from day one; then, no worries... But if there are issues, experience has taught me, THEY WILL BE CORRECTED AND WORKED OUT. So please try to practice patience during the first weeks of school. And please communicate with me and Mr. Pena about your concerns. We will advocate and work for you, your student, and the GTA program. ~Mr. Bernhart

• FBISD Transportation has informed me they sent invitations to Stopfinder and suggested checking your spam/junk mail if you have not received one. They also advised you go to their webpage, which has instructions for Stopfinder AND a link to email them if needed (see below). Here is the support email address if needed: Stopfindertransportation@fortbendisd.gov

In the GTA, we value our students, first and foremost. With this in mind, we strive to accomplish several primary goals.

#1 - To appropriately challenge and engage students academically.

#2 - To understand and meet their social emotional needs.

#3 - To foster their growth as leaders, human beings, and global citizens.

#1 - The curriculum in the GTA is unique to the academy, covering FBISD's scope and the required TEKS while appropriately extending beyond those to challenge and engage students. We value both collaborative and individual learning. We strive to engage students; compact and accelerate learning when appropriate; allow for student choice in content, process, and product when possible; and differentiate curriculum to best meet the needs of various students. We do NOT believe that our GT-identified students should do MORE work; we believe that the quality and challenge of their learning should be founded upon HIGHER QUALITY CURRICULUM and MORE ENGAGING OPPORTUNITIES.

#2 - Our teachers are highly experienced as far as working with, working for, and understanding GT-identified learners. They strive to be supportive and empathetic when interacting with their students. And our overall programming is designed to take students' social emotional well-being into consideration. The structure of the GTA was purposefully created to have students learn in classes with other GT-identified students who support one another and value learning. This structure fosters empathy and positivity among our students--whether extraverts, introverts, or in between.

#3 - The GTA offers a multitude of opportunities and experiences that help students grow and progress as human beings. Through opportunities like our GT Ambassador Program, Elementary Open House Recruitment Initiative, the Expo of Excellence, Be the Change, Raider Camp Leadership, Imagine the Change, Volunteering at the Houston Food Bank, and multitudinous others, we support the development and growth of our students as global citizens and leaders. Through a plethora of field experiences such as the Cultural Anthropology Trips, the Eternal Gandhi Museum, the Texas Journeys Overnight, the Houston Holocaust Museum, UH Public Arts Tour, Camp Olympia Overnight, and many others, the GTA offers chances for students to learn and grow in the field, interact with different people, and sometimes be carefully pushed outside of their comfort zone to foster their development as human beings.

Chaperones will be needed for a MULTITUDE of on-campus and off-campus

field experiences in EVERY GRADE LEVEL!

Please complete your annual FBISD Volunteer Background Check NOW, so you'll be available to chaperone LATER. It is required to complete this background check EACH school year.

The GTABC (Gifted & Talented Academy Booster Club) is looking for you! While GTA dues fund the field experiences and on-campus programming that make the academy special, the Booster Club goes a step further, supporting special events like showcase nights and end-of-year celebrations, providing classroom supplies and grants for teachers, funding extra enrichment like academic competitions and clubs beyond dues, and building community among GTA families all year long. Membership is open to every GTA parent and guardian, no experience needed.

THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO'VE ALREADY PAID THE GRADE LEVEL DUES!

See the PDFs below each grade level due button for breakdown

of how DUES are used in each grade level in the GTA.

If you are are able, please DONATE to support GTA students whose families need support in paying the annual dues. Your GENEROSITY is AMAZING and APPRECIATED!

[Apply for a scholarship if needed. The goal of the GTA is to support EVERY student with EQUITY.]

[Open the PDF below to see how the grade level dues are used.]

[Open the PDF below to see how the grade level dues are used.]

[Open the PDF below to see how the grade level dues are used.]

Joseph Bernhart

Academy Coordinator

Gifted & Talented Academy

Quail Valley Middle School

joseph.bernhart@fortbendisd.gov

(281) 634-6687