The Brauchle Post

Hello, Brauchle Cougars! 🐾

WOW! What an INCREDIBLE start to the 2026–2027 school year! Our campus has been filled with smiles, hugs, laughter, learning, and so much Cougar pride! There is truly nothing better than seeing our hallways full again and watching our Cougars settle into their classrooms, build new friendships, reconnect with familiar faces, and come to school excited and ready to learn. Brauchle is BACK, and we are already DRIVEN WITH PURPOSE!

Our AMAZING teachers and staff have been working hard to build a strong foundation for an incredible year. Students have been creating classroom Treatment Agreements, learning and practicing our PBIS expectations, and understanding what it looks and sounds like to be a Brauchle Cougar everywhere on campus—from the classroom and hallways to recess and the cafeteria! 🐾

We are also so proud to see our students learning how to collaborate, communicate, problem-solve, and work together as a team. Even our littlest Cougars are already learning, laughing, making connections, and finding their place in our Brauchle family.

And guess what, Cougars?! We’re just getting started! 🙌 Let’s keep that momentum going! We have so much learning, growth, FUN, and success ahead of us. Our Cougars have truly STARTED STRONG, and now it’s time to stay focused, keep moving forward, and continue being DRIVEN WITH PURPOSE!

To our families—THANK YOU! Your encouragement, support, patience, and partnership mean more than you know. It truly takes all of us working together to make Brauchle such an incredible place for our children.

One school. One community. One Cougar family. 💙🐾
Together, there is no limit to what our Cougars can accomplish!

🏁 START STRONG. STAY STRONG. FINISH STRONG.

💙 DRIVEN WITH PURPOSE! 💙

With Cougar Pride,

April Mata-Tausch
Principal

Patric Rivas
Associate Principal

Brauchle Families,

As we begin planning for the next school year, we want to share some very important information regarding our Title I status. At this time, Brauchle is AGAIN not projected to qualify as a Title I campus, which could mean a significant loss of funding that directly supports our students, teachers, classrooms, and programs.

Our Title I eligibility is determined in part by the information families provide through the CEP (Community Eligibility Provision) Form. Based on the information currently submitted, our campus may not meet the eligibility requirements to maintain Title I status.

This is where we need your help! ❤️

Please take a few minutes to complete the CEP Form for your household. We ask that every family provide the needed information. All information submitted is confidential, and every completed form helps ensure that our campus data accurately reflects the needs of our community.

Title I funding makes a tremendous difference at Brauchle. It helps provide additional staff, tutoring and intervention, instructional materials, classroom resources, technology, books, professional learning for teachers, and other supports that directly benefit our Cougars.

🐾 The application is OPEN NOW!
Complete your CEP Form here:
ecep.nisd.net

We truly need EVERY Brauchle family to take the time to complete the form. Together, we hope to maintain our Title I status and continue providing our students with the resources and opportunities they deserve.

Thank you for always supporting Brauchle and for partnering with us to do what is best for our Cougars! ❤️🏁🐾

Every form matters. Every family matters. Every Cougar matters.

Lunch with Families 💙

We love welcoming our families to join their children for lunch! When visiting, please enjoy lunch with your child on the stage in our cafeteria.

For the safety and supervision of all students, families may only invite their own child to join them for lunch. Other students may not be pulled from their assigned tables, even if permission has been given by another parent.

Once lunch has ended, students will return to class with their teacher or classmates. Parents and visitors may not walk students back to their classrooms. Before leaving campus, please remember to check out through the front office.

Thank you for helping us keep lunchtime safe, organized, and enjoyable for everyone! 🐾

When dropping off your child, please pull up to the next available car sign to help the traffic flow smoothly. Students may enter the school building at 7:00 a.m. when supervision begins. Please ensure students are not dropped off before 7:00 because we do not want students outside without any adult supervision.

If you are dropping off your child in the front, please adhere to the city code of ordinances which prohibits the use of cell phones while driving on school property. This will help keep our students, parents and staff safe.

Don't forget to grab your fast pass when coming in to walk your child. Parents who walk in after 7:40 will not be able to walk past the office area. If needed, we will walk your child to class.

Thank you!

Attendance Updates

Every Day Counts at Brauchle! 🌟

Every day at Brauchle provides another opportunity for our Cougars to learn, grow, build relationships, and shine! Consistent attendance is one of the most important factors in student success. When students attend school regularly and arrive on time, they can fully participate in learning and remain connected to their teachers and classmates.

Last week, Brauchle’s attendance rate was 97.8%, which was within the district average. Let’s make sure we continue to start strong! Our goal is to work together to improve our attendance and ensure every Cougar is present, prepared, and ready to learn each day.

Last school year, Brauchle’s overall attendance rate was 93.6%, slightly below the district average of 94.2%. Many students accumulated a significant number of absences, including a few who missed more than 100 days of school. It truly breaks my heart to see students miss so much valuable instructional time because their education and future are incredibly important.

We understand that children occasionally become ill and need to remain home. When your child is absent, please send a written parent note or medical documentation to your child’s teacher as soon as your child returns. This allows our attendance team to review and properly document the absence.

The district is now sending Automated Attendance Notifications when a student reaches three unexcused absences, including full or partial days. Families will have a limited amount of time to submit the appropriate documentation before the notice is finalized. If a student accumulates five or more absences, our campus team will partner with the family to develop an attendance intervention plan.

Our goal is to identify barriers, provide support, and help every child attend school consistently.

If your family is experiencing circumstances that make regular attendance difficult, please reach out to us. We are here to listen, partner with you, and help whenever possible.

Every day matters. Every minute of learning counts. Every Cougar deserves the opportunity to succeed!

Thank you for being such important partners in your child’s education. Together, we can improve our attendance and ensure our Cougars have every opportunity to learn, grow, and shine! 🐾💙

The dismissal bell rings at 3:00 p.m. Our dismissal is moving along much more smoother and faster. Please have your car tag up so we are able to quickly input the number. Parents walking up to get their child will need wait in the area at the flagpole. Please make certain that you stand behind your child's grade level cones as this will help with student safety in ensuring our students are all walking to their parents. This makes it easier to make certain that students are getting to their parent/adult. We do our best to manage both car pick ups and parents walking up to pick up. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Things have been going very well and appreciate all your support!

We know that there are times when dismissal changes may happen, please notify your child’s teacher of any changes in writing. Our teachers are busy at work teaching throughout the day, therefore if you are going to send a class dojo, please ensure you send the message of dismissal changes the day prior so teachers have enough time to see the change. Please do not ask your child to verbally let their teacher know as sometimes the information does not get to teachers accurately. If you need to make immediate changes the day of, please call the front office at 210-397-1500 prior to 2:15pm.

The safety and security of our students, staff, and families continues to be our number one priority at Brauchle. We are committed to maintaining a safe and secure learning environment each and every day.

Campus Entry & Visitors
The designated point of entry and exit for all visitors is through our security lobby. All visitors must check in through the front office and present a valid ID. We will continue to use the Raptor Visitor Management System to verify and clear all visitors before they are permitted to enter the campus.

If you plan to walk onto campus, you will need to either:

• Check in through the front office to receive a Raptor visitor badge, OR
• Complete a Fast Pass so your badge can be pre-printed and ready for you upon arrival.

All visitors must also exit the campus through the security lobby doors.

Safety Drills
Throughout the school year, our students and staff will participate in required fire, lockdown, and other safety drills. These drills are an important part of ensuring everyone knows what to do in the event of an emergency.

Anytime we conduct a lockdown/safety drill, campus administration will notify families through ClassDojo, and teachers will also communicate with their families.

Campus Security
Our administration and custodial teams work closely together to routinely monitor our campus and ensure exterior and interior doors are secure and functioning properly.

We appreciate our families working alongside us and following all campus safety procedures. Keeping Brauchle safe is a shared responsibility, and we are grateful for your partnership.

We also encourage families to visit NISD's Safety & Security webpage for district safety information and updates. We will continue to keep our Brauchle families informed throughout the school year.

NWEA MAP Testing

NISD students participate in NWEA MAP Growth testing three times each school year—at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. These assessments help us monitor each student’s academic progress, celebrate growth, and identify areas where additional instruction or support may be needed.

MAP testing is important for several reasons. MAP scores may be considered as part of the qualification process for certain programs, such as Gifted and Talented services. Student growth data may also be one of the measures used for the Texas Teacher Incentive Allotment, commonly known as TIA. Most importantly, the results help teachers understand what each student is ready to learn next and measure academic growth throughout the year.

Our teachers will notify families when MAP testing is scheduled to begin for their specific grade levels. Please help your child do their best by ensuring they arrive at school on time, get a good night’s sleep, and eat a healthy breakfast on testing days.

NWEA provides a helpful Family Toolkit with resources to help parents better understand MAP testing, student scores, and growth reports. We encourage you to take a look!

NWEA Family Toolkit

We are on a mission to boost our PTA membership! Last year, Brauchle ranked among the bottom five NISD campuses for PTA memberships—but this year, we are ready to change that! We’ve got this, Cougars! 💪💙

Our staff members and their families are signing up, and our amazing PTA Board is working hard to grow our membership. They will also be offering fun incentives for students whose families join!

Together, we can make it happen! Let’s show everyone the incredible strength and support of our Brauchle community! YAY! 🎉🐾

A Resource for Our Families: As we kick off the new school year, attached is the District’s Voluntary Student Accident Insurance Program—an optional resource that may help families with medical expenses if their student experiences an injury or accident on your campus.

💙 Interested in Volunteering at Brauchle? 🐾

We LOVE having our families involved on campus! If you are interested in volunteering at school by helping with copies, cutting, laminating, assisting with campus events, or joining us on field trips, please complete the volunteer application using the link below.

Thank you for your continued support and for helping make Brauchle such a special place for our Cougars! 💙🐾