Tomorrow is September 11th, a National Day of Service and Remembrance (9/11 Day), is a chance to help others in tribute to those killed and injured on September 11, 2001, first responders, and the countless others who serve to defend the nation’s freedom at home and around the globe. September 11, 2021, is the 20th Anniversary of that tragic day. We encourage our Eagles to step forward to serve in a remarkable spirit of unity, honor, and compassion. Remember, even a small act of service is a giant act of patriotism. Honor. Serve. Unite.

Go Eagles!

Follow us on social media:

Twitter: @Sturdevant_CRMS

Instagram: Canyon_Ridge_MS

Parents, we need your help! The pandemic has definitely taken a toll on our students’ social/emotional awareness. Our students have had difficulty transitioning back into the structure and routines of the school setting, and we are seeing an uptick in behaviors that have not been predominant in the past. We have clearly established classroom/campus expectations; however, the kids are definitely pushing the boundaries. We thought we would share some of the specific behaviors that we have been dealing with these first few weeks of school (see example pictures): trashing the restrooms, destroying property (toilets/sinks/breezeway glass), throwing food in the cafeteria and the cafeteria lines, grabbing handfuls of condiment packets and running around and squirting the condiments on others, and leaving trash behind in the cafeteria/courtyard. The students are seeing inappropriate behaviors on social media and acting in large groups to recreate them, not taking into account that the negative behaviors are impacting those of us who have to clean up their messes or are on the receiving end of their “jokes”. Additionally, reports of disrespect, food fights, and trashing the stands in the middle school student section at the VHS stadium have also been noted for the last two home games.

We are firm believers in the fact that it takes a village to raise a child, so that’s why we are soliciting your help. Please, please, please visit with your children regarding respect, kindness, and empathy. Canyon Ridge Middle School prides itself in being a safe, welcoming, clean space where high levels of learning and achievement occur. We know that not every student is acting this way and we have AMAZING kiddos on this campus who can set goals to be positive, contributing members of our school community and lead others in a positive manner. Despite the fact that this school year has begun a bit bumpy with regards to disciplinary infractions, we are confident that with your partnership we will see the behavior issues quickly dissipate.

Don’t Make a Mess, Soar to Success!

Parents, the first grading cycle newsletter from the CRMS counseling office is available via the link below. The newsletter serves to highlight CRMS students, provide an overview of guidance lessons, insights from the counselor’s book study, and upcoming dates. Enjoy!

Counseling Newsletter – The Echo

Reflecting Positivity through CRMS Counseling Services

Volume 4 Issue 1

September 10, 2021

• Crossing Guards - volunteer for particular day(s) of the week or can do a daily paid position

• Substitutes - can be intermittent when you are available or regularly here on our own campus

• The following are paid, full-time positions with benefits:

• Instructional Assistants

• Cafeteria staff

• Bus drivers

For more information on any of these opportunities, please contact Megan Prata at CRMS.

Leander ISD updated our Health Response Protocols and on August 17th, elevated to a new Red Stage. Please review and partner with us to keep people healthy and schools open:

• COVID-19 Update: New Health Response Protocols
• August 6th Update to COVID Notifications, Contact Tracing and Dashboard data
• August 17th Update: Mask Requirement for All
• Leander ISD COVID dashboard

CRMS Frequently Asked Questions - COVID

• Beginning Monday, Aug. 30, indoor extracurricular events in Leander ISD will be limited to 50% capacity. This will remain in effect while LISD is in the “red stage.” Masks are required at indoor LISD events. More info

• Effective Monday, August 30th, STUDENT SPECTATORS must be accompanied and supervised by their parent/guardian to attend indoor events. In order to ensure family members of our student athletes and performers are able to attend and support them, student spectators will be required to be accompanied and supervised by a parent/guardian at indoor events. We recognize that our students are eager and proud to support their peers at games and performances. When LISD returns to the Yellow Stage we will adjust this policy.

Our Board of Trustees called for a Bond election to:

• Keep up with growth.
• Take care of existing schools and impact every student.
• Replace equipment and technology.

Three propositions will be on the ballot for voters to consider. Proposition A includes $727.2 million worth of new construction, renovation, and equipment replacement projects. Proposition B includes $33.3 million to replace existing technology devices, including student and staff laptops, over the next three years. Proposition C includes $11.7 million in renovation and lighting/sound upgrades to our high school and district performing arts centers.

We worked with a community committee of over 150 volunteers to identify and prioritize our district’s needs over the next three years. The proposed projects impact every student and school in our district and can be financed without a tax rate increase and will be paid for by layering in debt payments using tax collections from rising property values.

Election Details

• Last Day for Voter Registration: Monday, Oct. 4, 2021
• Early Voting: Oct. 18–29, 2021
• Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021

ALL tickets for all high school and middle school athletic events hosted at LISD facilities will be sold online only. There will be NO cash sales at the gate. Tickets can be purchased through link on the athletics webpage: https://www.leanderisd.org/athletics_ticketspasses/

Students from Vandegrift High School began a homework help service in 2012. Today Viper Nation Homework Help continues as a student-led, free tutoring service for elementary, middle and even high school peers in our community. To sign up your student for one of the Tuesday evening sessions, please visit https://signup.com/go/zmqysDO.

Many have generously reached out and asked how you can donate or support the teachers/school during this time. If you are wanting to donate and unsure how, we will gladly accept donations on campus of the following:

• bottled water
• masks
• paper towels
• hand sanitizer
• Clorox wipes

Currently, there is no state funding for PPE this year, so donations will be accepted and very appreciated! You can drop off in the school front office at your convenience during school hours.

Sign up today to represent CRMS. We could win a prize if we have more from CRMS to participate on Saturday, September 18 at Vista Ridge High School:

leeftx.org/mudstacle

In Leander ISD, students in Grades 7–9 are taught Human Sexuality Curriculum through presentations by LifeGuard, an independent organization. The topics covered in this abstinence-based curriculum the Texas Health TEKS. All content has been reviewed by the Leander ISD School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) and is grade-level specific and developmentally appropriate. This material will be taught in 2-3-day windows at every LISD middle and high school campus from Sept 14 – April 21.

CRMS Student Presentation Dates

• 7th Grade: October 18-20th
• 8th Grade: October 21-22nd, 25th

Opt-In Google Form

**For your child to be able to attend the presentations, you must submit this OPT-IN form:

• 7th Grade Opt-in form

• 8th Grade Opt-in form

Curriculum Preview

If you wish to preview the curriculum, you may do so at your home campus library. Parents/Guardians may stop by or contact their school librarian to schedule an appointment for viewing. You may also request an electronic parent preview via the LifeGuard website.

When completing parent preview request:

• 7th grade enter team lead, Cody Redfern, as Instructor for CRMS
• 8th grade enter team lead, Rachel Schnee, as Instructor for CRMS

Parent Workshop Information

We will host virtual parent workshops via Zoom throughout the year; future times are listed below. Parent workshops are designed to give parents helpful tips for communicating with their children (grades 7-9) about human sexuality, allow them to review the district curriculum, explore statistics from health officials, and ask questions of LifeGuard and LISD staff.

To register for a parent workshop and to access additional LifeGuard information, please visit the LISD Human Sexuality Curriculum website.

Parent Workshops Dates

September 2, 2021 6:00 - 7:30 registration link

In case you missed the recent emails directly from your child’s teacher, here is the current book club info...

7th Grade

In an effort to match the right book to the right child, we are sharing the book options with you ahead of time. Feel free to preview books, browsing for content/interest. You will notice this list is extremely varied in both maturity and reading level, just like our students. If there are any books you don’t want your child reading, please fill out this form. When you fill this form out, it will alert our 7th grade team and we will pass your concerns along to the district ELA team.

Students will book shop (read summaries, etc) and choose their top THREE books this Monday, 8/30, and will receive their book club groups later next week. We do have copies of the books in the classroom, but they cannot leave the room and will be shared across all classes. If you prefer that your child has their own book, there are Amazon links included in the list, but please do not purchase a book until you hear from your student the book they were assigned.

8th Grade

We support parent involvement in book choice and appreciate when families are sharing their literacy lives. For book clubs, students, teachers, and parents work together to make sure the choice is a good fit for the student and their family. The titles are included on the attached list (Advanced ELA: link here or on-level ELA: link here). Prior to your child submitting titles of interest to the teacher, please review the attached document to preview the choice selections. For additional book reviews, parents and students might consider visiting commonsensemedia.org, Goodreads, and Amazon. It is our goal for each student and their family to feel comfortable reading and analyzing in this unit, and for open lines of communication to exist. If there is a specific book club title(s) that you do not want your child to choose, please e-mail the ELA teacher by Monday, August 23rd.

Just a reminder that CRMS will not be proctoring the PSAT 8/9 for our 8th graders this year. We are partnering with More Than A Teacher to host 2 options for students to take a practice PSAT test either on November 2nd or November 6th. Here is the link to the information (registration link is embedded).

Home Access Center (HAC) provides families with an online tool where they can view helpful student information to support and guide their children through the educational process. From home or work, at any time of the day or night, parents can access the web portal to track academic achievement.

Features include:

• Grade notifications,

• Class schedules

• Attendance records.

Visit the Home Access Center page to learn more. Please allow time for our campuses to complete schedule and teacher assignments in the coming days prior to the start of the school year.

Beginning Aug. 5, Leander ISD parents can enter their home address into Infofinder to look up their child’s bus route number, pick-up/drop-off times, and bus stop locations for the 2021-22 school year. Bus routes are subject to change, so LISD parents are strongly encouraged to confirm their child’s bus information again the week prior to the start of school.

The Transportation Department will continue to use the Remind platform to communicate delay notifications and other important updates. Bus riders and their guardians will be added to a Remind “class” for their assigned bus route.

All students at CRMS must have a working computer/device with a keyboard. If you do not have your own device, that is okay! Click on this link to sign-up/re-enroll and pay the 2021-2022 mLISD non-refundable security deposit so you can get your computer as soon as possible!

Our schools and teachers use Remind to send text messages and emails to our parents. Make sure you log into Remind to set up your notification preferences, see archived messages, and send messages directly to your teachers and school staff. Download the mobile app (Google Play, Apple) for the best user experience.

Click here to learn more about Remind.

As Leander ISD Child Nutrition Services will continue to offer free breakfast and lunch meals to all students for the 2021–22 school year, low-cost meals are not being served at this time. To manage your student’s meal balance for snacks or extras beyond the meal service, please create your Titan Family Connect account (formerly MealTime). Leander ISD school menus, along with complete nutrition information, are available through Nutrislice.

School start and end times for elementary, middle and high school are listed below.

• Elementary School: 7:40 a.m.–2:55 p.m.
• Middle School: 8:10 a.m.–3:25 p.m.
• High School: 8:40 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

90-minute Early Release Schedule for 2021–22 School Year

• Elementary School: 7:40 a.m.–1:25 p.m.
• Middle School: 8:10 a.m.–1:55 p.m.
• High School: 8:40 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

*District Calendar linked below

Turn your sound on and please watch this video from CRMS students!

*Randall's will donate to CRMS PTA if you select us as your Good Neighbor Program just because you shop there! Complete this form and then e-mail to good.neighbor@randalls.com or take to any store customer service location..

*Did you know you can buy all your Amazon purchases through Amazon Smile, and they will donate to our PTA all year long?!?! It doesn’t cost you anything and you order the same way. Just set up your Amazon Smile profile to donate to PTA Texas Congress Canyon Ridge Middle School PTA.

*CRMS PTA: If you have not yet, please consider joining the CRMS PTA. Memberships start as low as $10.

*SPIRIT WEAR: Spirit Wear is restocked. Porch pickup is very close to CRMS.

Be sure to follow Canyon Ridge Middle School PTA on Facebook and join the Facebook group for your child's grade level. Thank you for your time and all of your support for our Eagles!

AP/Counselor by grade-level for 2021-22:

• 6th: Monica Diaz Carle/Sabrina Anderson
• 7th: Cassandra Ricks/Katie Young
• 8th: Leah Cox /Staci Cote

Email: Wendy.Sturdevant@leanderisd.org
Website: crms.leanderisd.org
Location: Canyon Ridge Middle School, Country Trails Lane, Austin, TX, USA
Phone: 512-570-3500
Twitter: @Sturdevant_CRMS