Leopard Pride News

The Bond Oversight Committee met again this week to get an update on the current and future bond projects. Joe Warren, GISD Director of Maintenance & Operations, gave an update on the current JH project, provided a Phase 1 review and value engineering (including bidding timeline), notified the committee that the general contractor has been awarded for Phase 2, and stated that the bid process is currently underway for the GJH partial roof replacement. In addition, Mitch Fuqua with WRA Architects provided the schematic designs for the Phase 2 projects.

To view the schematics for Phase 2 (GJH/GHS) and the previously shared schematics for Phase 1 (Edison, Chalmers, GIS), visit: https://www.gainesvilleisd.org/.../bond-oversight-committee

Important points to note:

• The first day of school is August 12. This is one week later than the previous three years. The last day of school is May 27.
• This calendar is a hybrid calendar. Students will not begin having Mondays off until March, with the exception of the holidays which fall on Monday.
• The number of student days has increased from 158 to 165. This gave us more flexibility and allowed for shorter instruction days (see new start/end times below).
• The instructional day has been shortened by 25 minutes. A slight adjustment was made to each campus start and end time.
• Due to less minutes of instruction each day, there are zero banked days/minutes in this calendar. This means that if school has to close for any reason, those days/minutes will have to be made up on an alternate day.
• There are no longer any student intervention days on the calendar.
• Spring Break is the third week in March, to reflect the academic calendar set by NCTC. This was a recent change made by NCTC and differs from the calendars sent out to vote on previously.
• Teachers will have a Friday workday at the end of every grading period. This results in students having four Fridays off, in addition to the Friday holidays.

To view a printable calendar, visit our calendar page >>>https://www.gainesvilleisd.org/calendars

We are excited to introduce the SMART Tag system for our bus riders! The system began rollout in the spring and is now used for all bus riders at all campuses.

Download the SMART Tag parent app. The app is available for ios and android. https://www.qbit.codes/q/smart-tag-parent-app.

App registration begins with the Primary Parent – the parent associated with the student in the school district’s system. The primary parent must complete their app registration and confirm their student before any co-parent can register for them. Co-parents who wish to register for a student must submit a request to the primary parent within the app. In cases where there’s no response from the primary parent, the school district can review and approve.

Please visit our transportation website for additional details on the SMART Tag system as well as the Parent App. https://www.gainesvilleisd.org/departments/transportation/smart-tag

The School Health Advisory Committee met last week. The committee discussed some very important topics regarding the health education of our students. Agenda topics included the Hope Team presentation of Reset Bags, Abigail’s Arms new VOCE curriculum, addressing the needs of new puberty videos for nursing staff, and discussion of new integrated medical records for nurse staff. To view the minutes from the meeting, visit the SHAC page on our website .

The next meeting will be held on April 27 at 5:30pm. The agenda will include updated puberty videos and EHR for school nurses.

Solo:

William Drew (Flute), Miranda Eudy (Flute)

Autumn Farr-Overstreet (Clarinet), Andres Costilla (Horn)

Jazmin Huerta (Trombone), Logan Davis (Tuba)

Ensemble:

Phoenix Kemp, Gerardo Torres, Karson Tressler

Andres Costilla, Jazmin Huerta, Jarek Marin

Abel Aguilera, Destiny Cordona, Rithika Chitoor

Superior ratings:

Gold: Jarek Marin, Jaden Powell

Silver: Jeremiah Bledsoe

Bronze: Kassandra Costilla, Joshua Anderson, Adriel Puente, Zavier Rios, Antonio Rangel Zarate

We are so excited to share how our Junior High Choir students performed today at Solo & Ensemble!

Of the 6 soloists who performed their music fully memorized for the judges, 5 earned Superior ratings, which is the highest possible score!

Superior Medalists:

8TH GRADE: Oscar D, Lillian A, Emma A

7TH GRADE: Max O, Katie A

A HUGE congratulations to Max O, who was named “Outstanding Performer” by his judge! His solo stood out as one of the best performances of the entire day — and the judge listened to 50 students. What an incredible honor and a big win for Gainesville ISD!

We are so proud of all the hard work our UIL students and coaches put in to prepare for District Contest in January. Official Results are in... combined with the 5th graders from Gainesville Intermediate we took 2nd place as and Elementary School! We want to congratulate all of our teams and say thank you to the parents that allowed them to stay late for practice and helped them at home to prepare. Every Leopard Every Day - Great job!

Neomi Collazo, Adrian Diaz, Axel Dooley, Ava Hendricks, Jayse Howell, Isaac Martinez, Amiah Padron, Gabryel Reed, Kyle Tressler, Roberto DeLeon, Estrella Diaz, Dilara Fraser, and Chrysdayne Holland earned the Food Protection Manager Certification in the Culinary Arts Pathway. This certification exam is designed to assess the student's food safety knowledge and is required to work as a manager in a food service operation.

Not pictured- Alex Lopez Cardona, 7th grade

GHS students made a wonderful BBQ lunch for the Superintendent Advisory Committee meeting with Dr. Stewart and other administration. Great job!

Students gathered at GJH for a hope rally focused on suicide prevention, thanks to the leadership of GIS and GJH Hope Squads and uplifting performances from the GIS and GJH choir.

GISD held our first Paraprofessional Academy and it was a huge success! This is a new federal training requirement for paras. There were 17 who attended this session, and all were engaged and learning all day long! We are happy to offer this training to our valued paraprofessionals!

GISD teacher that are new to the profession are in the New Teacher Academy and attend monthly learning sessions throughout their first year. Part of their learning experience is being paired with a veteran teacher on their campus, who mentors them throughout the year and is there to answer any questions they may have. At the February New Teacher Academy, the mentors joined their mentees and had a productive time together working through lesson plans and much more. This was a valuable experience for all!

The Leopard High Five program is a way to salute any Gainesville ISD employee who goes above and beyond for our students, staff, and community. Whether you are a parent impressed with a specific interaction with your child, or you are a coworker who thinks the campus secretary doesn't hear often enough about the great job she is doing - you can send a Leopard High Five! Nominations can be made by any staff member, parent, or community member, and any GISD employee is eligible to be nominated for a High Five.

All nominations should include a specific example of how this staff member has gone above and beyond for a student, a peer, or the community and must align with one or more of our GISD core beliefs: Equity, Excellence, Diversity, Innovation, Partnership, Safe and Comfortable Environment.

As a vital partner within our district, we want to take this opportunity to inform you about our district’s participation in the StayALERT School Safety Program. StayALERT is a safe and secure place to confidentially or anonymously report unsafe behaviors, suspicious activities, bullying, acts of violence, harassment, and any other school safety concern. Download the app to quickly make a report. Users may report concerns 24/7/365 via any of the five reporting modes:

1) Call or Text 1-206-406-6485
2) Report Online: www.stayalert.info

3) Send an E-mail: report@stayalert.info

4) Download the app: www.stayalert.info/stayalertapp

In a time when concerns for school and student safety are paramount, we would ask that you be aware of this tool for both your own use and to help bring awareness to the students within our district.

Note: StayALERT is NOT a substitute for reporting an emergency. Please call 911 or your local police, fire or EMS if there is an urgent situation.

Follow our official district and campus social media accounts:

Facebook

• District @gainesvilleisd
• Athletics: @leopardathletics
• GHS @ghsleopards
• GJH @gainesvillejuniorhigh
• GIS @gainesvilleintermediate
• Chalmers @chalmerselementary
• Edison @gisdedison
• Head Start @gainesvilleheadstart

Instagram

• District @gisdleopards

YouTube

• District @gainesvilleisd