CHS Newsletter

Bobcat Nation,

As we head into our final week before the holiday break, I want to extend my heartfelt appreciation for the energy, resilience, and positivity our students and staff have brought to campus this semester. This time of year is always busy, but it’s also filled with moments that remind us why our school community is so special.

Over the next few days, we’re focusing on finals and finishing up the semester. Thank you, families, for your support and partnership. It truly makes a difference every single day.

For Kids,

John

Our CHS Student Council has planned 10 days of fun, dress up days, and activities. Please refer to the calendar below for dress up days, and remember you must remain in our school dress code, aside from hats on appropriate days and holiday pajamas that are school appropriate on pajama day. Please leave the blankets at home.

• Our football team ended their season top 4 in the state, and we are so proud of their hard work and incredible season. We are grateful to our community and student body for their support in a great season together.

Our JV Competition Cheerleading Team competed this weekend and did an amazing job!

🥇 1st Place JV Gameday

🏆 Best Use of Props

at the NCA State of Texas Championship!

These girls SHOWED UP and SHOWED OUT — so proud! 🧡

We’ve got basketball action happening this Tuesday, December 16th, right here at Celina High School! Both our girls and boys basketball programs will be competing, with games tipping off at 5:30 PM.

To make the night even more festive, we’re going with a Christmas theme! Wear your most spirited holiday gear, ugly sweaters, Santa hats, Christmas socks, let’s fill the stands with orange and holiday cheer! Gift card for the best dressed during half time!

Come out, support your Bobcats, and help us bring the Christmas spirit to the court!

Juniors and Seniors that sell more than 10 tickets will receive a heavily discounted prom ticket. Please make sure to put the name of the student you are supporting in the comments for them to receive credit!

We are always proud of our students' athletic accomplishments, but we are also so incredibly proud when our students excel academically. Please join us in congratulating these Varsity Volleyball Seniors for received the TGCA Academic All-State Award.

We are so excited to finally announce and publicize the hard work of our Journalism students!! Our Journalism class received a grant from Celina Education Foundation to purchase an account from WordPress. Their goal was to create an online newspaper that could house their stories, videos, pictures, and other work that represents our school and our student voices. They have worked hard with Mrs. Reeves for 3 months to build this website, and we are excited to see it continue to grow!!

We’re excited to bring back the Celina Bobcat Soccer scarves and blankets! Order yours by tomorrow, December 15th.

Please see the Title III Family Newsletter below!

Let your kiddos wake up to a sweet surprise from Santa or your Elf on a Shelf!! Limited slots available on select dates. Ensure you fill out the attached form and send in payment via VENMO @ CHStxPG

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.

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