CHS Newsletter
Love Kids; Drive Rigor
Principal's Note - Sunday, November 2nd
Bobcat Nation,
It has been a wonderful and busy week at CHS. We had so much fun celebrating Red Ribbon Week with our themed dress-up days. Thank you to everyone who participated and showed their school spirit. We also hope you all enjoyed a fun-filled Halloween weekend and that the extra hour of sleep last night was restoring.
Last week was full of exciting events and accomplishments. Our 10th and 11th graders took the PSAT on Thursday, and on Friday we celebrated our amazing seniors and brought home a 61-0 win against Community. Congratulations to our volleyball team, who are now Bi-District Champions, and to our cross country team, who represented us proudly at the State Meet yesterday. We’re also cheering on our band, who will perform at the State competition on Wednesday. What an incredible season of success for our students!
This week marks our last regular season football game—come out and show your support as we finish strong. We’re also looking forward to honoring those who have served our country at our Veterans Day Program on Thursday. As we enter November, a month centered on gratitude and reflection, let’s take time to appreciate the staff, students, families, and community that make our school so great. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement.
For Kids,
John
CHS/CISD Events
Our volleyball team is Bi-District Champions! They will play in the next round of playoffs, the Area Championship, against Life HS Waxahachie on Tuesday at Lewisville High School at 6:00 PM.
Bobcat Band - Area C Champion!!!!
On Monday, our Bobcat Band was named the 2025 4A Area C champion and is headed to the UIL 4A State Marching Contest for the 4th year in a row!! This is also the band’s 3rd consecutive Area Champion title! Our students got back around 2:30 am and still made it to class on Tuesday morning. We are so incredibly proud of them!!
We will perform in the prelims of the STATE competition at the Alamodome in San Antonio at 2:15 PM on Wednesday, November 5th!! If you can, go support our amazing band!
Yearbook Deadline!!
November 14th is the last chance to buy your yearbook at a discounted price!!!!! Buy before 11/4 and save money.
Picture Retakes
CHS Adapted Sports Bocce Ball Tournament
Last week, our Adapted Sports athletes and student peers competed in and hosted an amazing Bocce Ball tournament. Over 270 athletes from surrounding areas joined us for an amazing event. Thank you to Mrs. Coach Krepps for all of your hard work in putting on such an amazing day for our athletes.
Thank you to Mandy Harvey Photography for sharing some amazing photos with us!
🌟Student Spotlight🌟
Check out our "C" team's Episode 4.
- Celina ISD: Making a Difference
- Stella's Ice Cream
- Bobcat Brigade
- Student Interviews
- Celina Hockey
What are the Bobcats doing in class?🐾
Biology
While 10th and 11th graders took their PSAT Thursday, our Biology students made cell membranes!
Floral Design
Our Floral Design students put together Halloween arrangements this week!
Photos by Yearbook student, Ethan Weston (11)
Commercial Photography I
Commercial Photography students did a food photography week! They brought in foods and created backdrops, and some of them used inedible items to help make the food look more fresh than it appeared. They edited the photos to look as if they were selling the food in an ad!
Ayden Goldstein (11)
Ayden Goldstein (11)
Ethan Weston (11) and Anna Huynh (11)
Ava Cotten (9)
Nicole Rusov (12)
Kira Paul (9) and Abel Tinkler (9)
Max Combs (10)
Presley Raymond (9)
Club Focus
Interact Club
"Volunteering is at the very core of being a human. No one has ever made it through life without someone's help." - Heather French Henry
Student Council
HOSA
Our HOSA club held their Fall Blood Drive on Tuesday. Thank you to this group for their hard work and to everyone who donated! We donated over 80 points of blood which equals at least 240 lives being saved.
Emergent Bilingual Parent and Families Newsletter
For entry into CISD events, we are using the HomeTown app to make it easy to purchase tickets. You can scan the QR code below to download the app.
Counseling Corner
Join us for the 2025-2026 Lunch n Learn Series! Brittany Cortez is a College and Career Counselor from Collin College and will cover a variety of college related topics throughout the year. The sessions will start at 12pm via Zoom. No sign up is required, just grab your lunch and click on the Zoom link in the flyer. Each of these topics will also be offered to all students to attend throughout the school year.
Helping Hands of Celina
Community Action Team (CATS)
Our CATS is our parent organization that helps to support all 1500 students and 135 staff throughout the year with bake sales, selling the official Homecoming t-shirt, and providing goodies/luncheons for our staff. Please join to add a layer of support for our kids and our staff. You can join through your School Cafe account and look for CATS (HS PTO) Membership '25-'26.
If you do not have a School Cafe account, you can click here to set up one and this will allow you to join CATS, purchase the official Homecoming t-shirt designed and sold by our CATS, set up a lunch account, and order other items like paying for parking spots and dues for various classes.
School Lunch
Free and reduced lunch applications can be found in the following link: https://www.schoolcafe.com/CELINAISD The grace period will end September 26, 2025, so please take time to complete your application.
For our new families, you can create school cafe account using the link above, you can send money with your child, or you can have your child bring their lunch. In School Cafe, you can monitor your child's account and place restrictions on their meal accounts if you would like to do so (e.g., your child can only buy one ice cream).
For those who were in Celina ISD last year, any balance that you have in School Cafe rolls over from the previous school year. Please add funds to your account before the first day of school.
GPA Update beginning for Class of 2026
Please click this link for the GPA update for the Class of 2026.
GPA Update beginning for Class of 2029
Please click this link for the GPA update for the Class of 2029.
2025-2026 Attendance Goal = 98%
We achieved 95.1% attendance last year so 98% is a very bold and ambitious goal! Furthermore, the more students are here, the more connections and positive relationships that they have, and the more that they learn!
Attendance-Truancy Tribunal
Chapter 25 of the Texas Education Code details the attendance requirements for students in Texas. Students must be in attendance for 90% of their class in order to receive credit for the class (remember that our goal is 98%). In addition, there is language in this code that directs schools/school districts to take action when a student accumulates a certain number of unexcused absences (including tardies - 3 tardies = an unexcused absence) and this includes filing truancy charges on the parent. Celina ISD wants to partner with our parents in order to prevent truancy charges from being filed. Therefore, when a student accumulates 7 unexcused absences/tardies, we will send a summons to the parent and student to attend a Truancy Tribunal Hearing in order to develop a plan to improve the attendance of the student. The Truancy Tribunal process has proven to decrease unexcused absences, decrease failed classes, and decrease discipline incidents of students. We are proud to implement the Truancy Tribunal Hearings and we know that this will benefit our kids and our families. If you have questions about the Truancy Tribunal process, please reach out to me via email or phone call at the information in my signature
At CHS, we start with the knowledge that we have the best students and parents on the planet! As such, we hold the highest standards for our kids because we know that they will live up to these standards. Likewise, we hold ourselves the to the highest standards to support our kids and our parents. We want to make sure that you have all of the information needed regarding our dress code and the passage of the new "cell phone ban" HB 1481. The dress code and standards of conduct are contained in the link above. The dress code is addressed on pp. 58-59 so please take a moment to familiarize yourself with CISD standards of dress and decorum.
HB1481 Device Ban
The major change for this year is the passage of HB 1481 that prohibits personal communication devices. Celina High School will strictly enforce this law/policy between 8:45-4:10. Prior to 8:45, students should turn off and put any prohibited devices in their backpack. This will prevent any prohibited devices from being seen or heard and will allow students to form relationships with other students and teachers and focus on learning. If you need to contact your child, you can send a message to their school email account and if there is an emergency, you can contact our front desk and we will assist in getting the message to your child(ren).
Although HB 1481 does not go into effect until September 1, 2025, CISD has chosen to implement this law beginning Wednesday, August 13, 2025. Our staff will continue to only use their personal devices for professional use only during the work day and because we receive emergency notifications and we send emergency notifications through our personal devices.
Prohibited personal communication devices include, but are not limited to:
Smartphones
Laptops and tablets
Smartwatches
Earbuds and earphones
Smart eyeglasses
Portable gaming devices
Contact Information for Administrators and Counselors
Administrators
- Dr. John M. Burdett (Principal) - johnburdett@celinaisd.com
- Kristy Carr (Student last names A-Gan) - kristycarr@celinaisd.com
- Greg Sherwood-(Student last names Gar-N) - gregsherwood@celinaisd.com
- Dr. Adam Washburn (Student last names O-Z) - adamwashburn@celinaisd.com
Counselors
- Carrie Crane (Student last names A-Gan) carriecrane@celinaisd.com
- Denise Moore (Student last names Gar-N) denisemoore@celinaisd.com
- Karen Pelkey (Student last names O-Z) karenpelkey@celinaisd.com