CHS Newsletter

Bobcat Nation,

Friday marked the end of six weeks in this quarter, and progress checks will go out this week through Skyward. This six week check is a pass/fail UIL eligibility check. We encourage students to continue keeping up with their grades and communicating with their teachers.

It has been an amazing first six weeks, and we anticipate an even better next three weeks to close out the quarter. Thank you to our staff for helping the beginning of our year start off smoothly, and thank you to our wonderful students for adding excitement and school spirit to our hallways. We hope you all have enjoyed an amazing three day weekend.

Looking ahead - Friday will be our USA themed pep rally. Dress in red, white, and blue and be ready to cheer on our sports and organizations participating on Friday. As always, thank you for your continued support in upholding our high expectations for CHS.

For Kids,

John

Each week, you will find the Athletics Calendar here and you can click on it to see what is going on for the week. We will advertise for other events in Academics, CTE, and Fine Arts.

On Friday, our Cross Country team ran in the Hoka McNeil Invitational at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock. Our women's team took 6th overall in the 2 Mile 4A Girls Race!

Friday night, our Varsity Football team drove to Alvarado and beat the Franklin Lions 33-22!

Photos by Ben (10) and Luke (12) Rothenbach

Our Varsity Volleyball team picked up two district wins this week and still found time to open car doors at Lykins for our little Bobcats!

Junior, Mallory Davis is a busy student! On top of all that she does and avenues she serves in, Mallory is actively chasing her dreams in Sports Broadcasting. She has started a broadcast called "Mic'd up with Mallory" where you can watch her chase her dream of being a sideline reporter. We are proud of you, Mallory!!

Meet Freshman, Ashley Koehne

Ashley is a freshman, and she is a member of our CHS cheer team. She is also a member of our Student Council and Celina Young Life. Her hobbies include traveling, cheering, tumbling, and hanging out with her friends. She is excited for competition season for cheer and Homecoming at the HS. Her biggest fear is spiders, and if she could have any super power she would want to have the power of invisibility.

Her favorite Bible verse is "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandings but in all ways honor Him, and he will make your paths straight" Proverbs 3:5.

Celina High School Spanish Honor Society is thrilled to celebrate Spanish Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15! This special time allows us to recognize and honor the rich cultural traditions, history, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino communities. We’re excited to foster appreciation and understanding while celebrating the diversity that strengthens our schools and community. ¡Feliz mes de la Herencia Hispana!

Hey everyone! If you’re looking to get involved and make a real impact, you should join the UNICEF Club. We're a group of students dedicated to supporting UNICEF's global mission of helping kids. Our club organizes and runs fun fundraisers, creates awareness campaigns to educate our school about important issues, and advocates for children's rights. It's a great way to gain leadership experience, earn volunteer hours, and be part of a team that's working to make the world a better place. You'll also get to meet other students who are passionate about helping others. We’d love to have you!

Interested? Come to our first meeting to learn more! The date and time will be announced in the Google Classroom, code cgmirjxa. In the meantime, you can talk to Mrs. Weddle in H254, or contact Harshitha Challa for more information.

Want to help build a new school organization? Check out this new opportunity below!

Our 2025-2026 yearbooks are on sale now! https://jostensyearbooks.com/?REF=A08128000

Last week, Mrs. Hollowell's class practiced their basic knife skills before they move on to more complex baking.

This week, Mrs. Lyon's Ceramics classes practiced hand modeling with clay!

Our women's basketball program has a team shop where people can purchase gear, and all proceeds go directly back into supporting the program. Please take a second to look through their shop before it closes on the 24th. As always, thank you for supporting our amazing student athletes.

Please enjoy this second Fall guide created by Sophomore Journalism student, Blair Gonzalez! Click the link, and you'll find plenty of Fall inspiration and cozy feels.

Meet Mrs. Elliott! Mrs. Elliott is in her 5th year teaching. This year, she is teaching Intro to Culinary and Principles of Human Services. She is also a Co-Sponsor of our Student Council. She graduated from Abilene Christian University, and she has her Masters in Health, Kinesiology, and Sports Studies with a concentration in Athletic Administration from Texas A&M Commerce. Outside of school, Mrs. Elliott works as a Virtual Assistant and stays very busy. She has a beautiful one year old daughter named Ember, and she is expecting her second beautiful daughter in March. She wants people to remember that she always tries to see the good in all people's hearts and that she believes you always have the chance to be the sunshine in someone's life. We love you, Mrs. Elliott!!

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.

Thank you for taking time to read some of the ways in which we connect and grow in order to Love Kids and Drive Rigor.

For Kids,

John

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

Student Code of Conduct

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