Hello Smallville,

We are closing out the last full week of the fall semester! It has been a fun and busy semester and I’m looking forward to all of the adventures that the Spring semester will bring. Next week, we will be with our Cougars Monday through Wednesday and then we will be starting our Winter break. Below you will find a few things before the break begins.

Security Fencing

I, along with Ms. Snowden, Patton Elementary Principal, and district personnel are continuing to create solutions that will assist our students in accessing both campuses in a safe and productive manner. We are hoping to have solid plans by the completion of Patton’s phase two fencing project. I want to thank the Green Tech Academy team and Mr. Poehl for creating short term solutions for the walking pathways as we continue our discussions and plans.

Hiring Updates

I am pleased to announce that we will have two new Cougar staff members join our team starting in the spring semester. Please welcome Ms. Janelle Mendoza our new Art teacher and Ms. Annette Avila, our new Creative Writing & Photojournalism teacher. We are excited for them to join Smallville. We are still in the process of interviewing and hiring for an additional LifeSkills teacher and Special Education Teacher Assistant.

Counseling Team Update

Ms. Cynthia Diaz, our 8th grade Counselor, has accepted the AISD Middle School Counseling Coordinator position and will begin her new role in the spring semester. Although we are extremely happy for Ms. Diaz’s promotion, we are sad to see her departing the Small community. She has been a huge support for Small and we are going to miss her smiling face and calm demeanor. Her ability to build solid relationships with our students and strong systems for our staff will be very difficult to replace. We know that her leadership will be greatly appreciated at the district level and we send her well wishes as she embarks on her new journey! But of course once a Cougar…Always a Cougar!

In January, our counselor search will begin and we will send out further information regarding Ms. Diaz’s student caseload and structure of the counseling team. I want to send out a special thank you to Mr. Joel Garcia, our current counselor, who will move from part time to full time to help assist us while we are in search of the perfect fit for our campus.

Have an amazing weekend!

I have been part of the Small family for 8.5 years and have had the privilege of supporting hundreds of wonderful children and their families. It has been such an honor to see many students come back and report their academic and social emotional achievements. Middle school students really fill my soul. For these reasons, it is difficult for me to announce that I have accepted a position with the district as the Coordinator for Middle School Counseling. I am excited to continue to support middle school children in a different capacity. Thank you so much for sharing your kiddos with me. I will miss them so much. It has been a wonderful journey.

With gratitude,

Cynthia Diaz

Whew what a whirlwind of activity we had going on this week on campus. Kids doing performances, going on field trips, leading tours for 5th graders plus much more... What that means is they were not always in class. You may have gotten an absence notice on a day when you KNOW your student was in school. Let me explain how that works...

Each year TEA mandates that the teachers sign an affidavit that states if a student is not in class at the time they take attendance they must mark them absent. Even if they know that kids is on a field trip or exactly why they are not there. Legally, if they are not in class they have to mark them absent.

It is up to the teacher who took the student out of class (field trip, performance, tour) to inform our attendance clerk what students they had during that time. Then the attendance clerk goes in and changes that students absence from unexcused absence to field trip, or in school activity. As you can imagine with over 1200 kids each having 9 classes this takes some time. Especially on weeks like this when there is a lot of extra activity on campus.

Please give our Attendance Clerk a few days to catch up on attendance before you question your students absence when you know they were here. It will be fixed, but calling just slows her down. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at jennifer.newell@austinisd.org

Ms. Holzman is battling breast cancer and there is a go fund me to help her. If you are interested in helping her financially Donate to her Go Fund Me https://www.gofundme.com/f/urgent-support-for-erica-holzman?utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

Another tradition of giving we do every year is collect money to give to our Custodians during the Holidays. If you would like to send Cash to the front office Monday or Tuesday next week or donate to a Venmo account. We will collect all the money and divide it by 5 and give it to our Custodians on Wednesday with a nice holiday card. If you have any questions contact Jennifer.newell@austinisd.org

We have slightly modified our AB calendar - here is an updated calendar with the new days highlighted.

Summary of Changes

• Dec 20th is now a C day
• Jan 12th is now an A day
• May 17th is now an A day

The Health Room is asking for donations. We need pants and shorts for both girls and boys sizes 10-16. Any donations can be dropped off to the front office or to the health room.

If you are planning to attend Austin High School as a 9th grader next year, it is time to complete the Academy Preference Survey so your academy can be selected through the lottery process. Please complete this google form by February 6, 2024.

You can read more about the academy model at Austin High by visiting their website and exploring Academy Overview Information.

All future Maroons who live in the AHS attendance zone must complete the google form to rank your academy choices: Academy Preference Survey.

We work very hard to honor student choice and place students in their 1st or 2nd choice academy, but you DO have to submit your Academy Preference Survey by the Feb. 6 deadline.

If you live outside the Austin High attendance area, please have your parents/guardians complete the Enroll Austin tile in the parent portal, rank Austin High as your top choice, and then complete the Academy Preference Survey/Curriculum Transfer Application. Students who do not complete this application will not be considered eligible for a curriculum transfer to Austin High School.

Last year many of our students waited until yearbooks were distributed in May to decide that they wanted to buy one. By then it is too late and we had lots of disappointed kids.

Yearbooks must be preordered.

They are expensive to print and although we do order extra's knowing people forget, we can not guarantee you a yearbook if you do not PRE-ORDER your yearbook.

Order your yearbook today!

$35.00 (until winter break)

How do I order a 2023-2024 Yearbook?

1. Have your student take cash or a check for $35.00 to Mr. Shoptaw's classroom, Room 300. He will provide a receipt, please keep for your records OR.....
2. Click here to Order online

Home of the Cougars and the Green Tech Academy!

Email: jennifer.newell@austinisd.org
Website: https://small.austinschools.org/
Location: 4801 Monterey Oaks Boulevard, Austin, TX, USA
Phone: 512-841-6700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057069836221