Ridge Relay

A few important reminders to help systems be more efficient for everyone at CRMS:

• On these rainy and cold days, we have more cars because we have less walkers/bikers. Please leave earlier and allow extra time & patience on rainy school days!

And even on rainy days, when dropping off your student(s), please pull all the way up. If you need to get out of the car to help your child with a larger object, please pull around and park in the front row of parking lot so you aren't holding up the line behind you.
Thank you for your help to make sure we get all of our Eagles to school safely and as efficiently as possible!

• Absence notes should be emailed to crmsattendance@leanderisd.org within 48 hours of the absence. When you email the school, please include the student's first and last name and ID #. Student nicknames can cause confusion with attendance coding.
  

• If you will be picking up your child from school early, please call the school (512-570-3500) ahead of time to let the Receptionist know. This allows our Receptionist time to get a pass written ahead of time and helps to move the process along more quickly.

Go Eagles!

Mrs. Wendy Sturdevant

As we prepare for Halloween tomorrow (or any other dress-up days), I must remind you of school dress-up day rules:

• School dress-code must be followed

• No weapons or look-alike weapons

• No full-face masks

• No blood or gore

• No offensive or provocative attire

We want all Eagles to have fun with the dress-up days, but we must also assure that it will not cause a disruption in the learning environment. If any props are a distraction in class or around campus, they will be confiscated by a staff member and the student may receive it back at the end of the school day. We want students to enjoy dress up days, but they still must be engaged in classroom instruction and maintain proper behavior.

Veterans Day is quickly approaching on November 11th! We want to take the time to recognize and honor Veteran's in our Eagle Community. We are creating a video assembly to show our appreciation and give thanks to all who have served our country with grace and honor. The video will include various student pieces, and we would really love to feature our veteran community members. Please complete this Veteran's Day form if you are a veteran or have a veteran in your family that you would like to honor. Form submissions will be accepted through Monday, November 6th.

*Since Veteran's Day is on a Saturday this year, we will honor them at school on Friday, November 10th. We look to wearing Red, White & Blue in honor of our Veteran's on Friday, November 10th.

Mark your calendars and plan to have dinner on Wednesday, November 1st, 5:30-8:30pm.

Tell them you are there for CRMS and they will donate back to the Eagles!

CRMS Students and Families are invited to join us for our 1st annual Trivia Night & Film Festival.

Tuesday, November 14th, 5:30-7:00pm

Check out this fun film & trivia opportunity for Students!

Students are also invited to submit a short film as part of the Film Festival:

• Movies must be appropriate, original CRMS middle school students’ work. Movies cannot use images, dialogue, or other elements that were not created by the student filmmakers.
• Movies must be created between September 1, 2023 and Nov. 2, 2023 to be eligible for this Film Festival.
• You must also submit the Film Festival Entry Google Form by 9:00 p.m. November 2, 2023. This form AND your film must be shared and submitted by 9:00 p.m. on November 2nd, 2023 to be considered. Your movie must be successfully uploaded to (and viewable in) Google Drive, AND shared with Jamie.Wright-Sheriff@leanderisd.org as an editor, in order to be entered on time.

Students, we are having a preliminary Spelling Bee which will be held on Wednesday, November 8 and Thursday, November 9 at 4:30pm in the cafeteria! You're all invited to participate on either date. Many will be chosen for the preliminary rounds for the FINAL SCHOOL SPELLING BEE on Thursday, November 30.

Spelling Bee study guides for the PRELIMINARY BEE were shared in your ELA Google Classrooms during the week of October 23rd.

Cedar Park High School's award-winning broadcast program is hosting an elementary broadcast camp on Tuesday, Nov. 7 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Broadcast students will lead and help the kids make a newscast by the end of the day!

Details:

• Tuesday, Nov. 7 (Staff PD Day) 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• 6th-8th graders
• Snacks & Lunch Included
• Cost is $60

Parents can click here to register their child.

Thanksgiving 2023 Food Boxes for CRMS families

Please review the available slots here and click on the button to sign up for one of the needed holiday food boxes.

Here is a recommended list of items for a holiday box of food for a family in need. Please try to avoid glass items for safe transportation of food box.

Please deliver the box of items to the CRMS front office no later than the end of the day on Wednesday, November 15th so that we can get it delivered to the family before the Thanksgiving break.

If you would like to sign-up to do a box of food but aren't able to do the shopping, you can Venmo (@Laura-Maniccia) the donation to the PTA President, Laura Maniccia, and the shopping will be done for you.

Thank you for supporting a family in need in our community!

With Red Ribbon Week, it is also timely to remind everyone that October is Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Month. In an effort to educate the Leander ISD community and increase awareness of the dangers of fentanyl and potential overdoses, the district is sharing information to assist parents and guardians by providing resources for use with students. The information below is from the National Institute for Drug Abuse. These resources will also be available on the Leander ISD Empowering Parents webpage.

Because illegally manufactured fentanyl is increasingly found in counterfeit pills, individuals are often not aware of the danger of the pill they may take. The only safe medications are ones that come from licensed and accredited medical professionals. The DEA warns that pills purchased outside of a licensed pharmacy are illegal, dangerous, and potentially lethal.

Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Month in LISD

8th Grade Parents--save the dates! Information will be updated on the VHS Counseling Website as the dates get closer. Be sure to check there for all VHS related information!

**These dates are accurate as of 10/5/23.

February 22 // 8th Grade Parent/Guardian Info Webinar // Link will be posted here

• counselors will provide a high school academic planning overview to 8th grade families

• parents/guardians will learn about the course selection process and ask related questions

February 26 - 27 // Four-Year Planning & Course Selection Overview with VHS Counselors (2 days at each school)

• VHS counselors will visit Four Points and Canyon Ridge Middle Schools to provide a high school academic planning overview to 8th grade students

• students will submit tentative course requests

• students and their parent/guardian will be emailed a PDF copy of these tentative requests

• choices are editable - a new PDF copy of updated courses will be emailed after each edit

February 29 - March 4 // 8th Grade Individual Student/Counselor Conferences (February 29 & March 1 - CRMS // March 4 - FPMS)

• VHS counselors will meet individually with 8th grade students to review four-year plans and course selections

April 3 // Viper Night (more details to come!)

• students and families will have the opportunity to further explore course options

• Viper Night will include an elective fair, club & org fair, breakout sessions, and student panels

March 4 @ 4pm

• deadline to lock in initial course selections for the 2024-25 school year

• while there will be additional change opportunities, finalizing your requests as early as possible provides the highest likelihood of being placed in the classes you want

Special Programs & Services October Newsletter

Special Programs Parent & Family October Events

Parents: Here is an opportunity to recognize a Canyon Ridge Middle School teacher or staff member who has made a difference! Every week, a faculty member will be chosen as the Golden Eagle recipient. If the teacher or staff member you nominated is recognized for this award, you will be invited to come to campus and join us to present the award with the admin team. Please complete this brief form to honor a CRMS teacher or staff member.

The Leander Educational Excellence Foundation (LEEF) is hosting its annual Gala and Auction on January 27, 2024 at The Crossover in Leander, Texas. We welcome you to come walk the yellow brick road with us into An Evening in the Emerald City where we will honor and celebrate our Leander ISD students and staff. You will enjoy cocktails, dinner, dancing and the opportunity to help raise funds for LEEF to continue investing in Leander ISD and your future leaders!

Come join us and we'll show you why #There'sNoPlaceLikeLISD

Tickets, Tables & Sponsorships

Randall's has agreed to add CRMS to the Good Neighbor Support program and it is SO easy! Email below, then do your regular shopping and Randall's will donate back to the CRMS PTA.

Simply copy/paste the below message to send an email to good.neighbor@randalls.com with the following:

Hello,

Please link my customer account connected to phone number [type your Randall's phone number] with Good Neighbor Charity #14216 for Canyon Ridge Middle School PTA.

Thank you,

[type your name]

The Canyon Ridge Yearbook is available for sale HERE! Yearbooks are currently $40. Pre-order yours today!

Yearbook Recognition Ads are also available to purchase for 8th Graders ONLY; they cost $25.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Jared.Lichtenberger@leanderisd.org

Please note that we have a new yearbook vendor for this year, so please make sure you are purchasing with our link for Jostens Canyon Ridge Middle School Yearbook.

Our students love our outdoor “recess” time after lunch each day but our basket of sports equipment is almost empty. If you have any sports equipment in your garage that you would like to clean out and donate, we will gladly accept footballs, volleyballs, soccer balls, kick balls and basketballs. It does not need to be new--we welcome used equipment that we can put to good use for all of our students. Please drop off your donations anytime during school hours in the front office. Thank you for helping to provide for this valuable outdoor time for our Eagles!

Important Attendance Reminders:

• Absence notes should be emailed to crmsattendance@leanderisd.org within 48 hours of the absence.
  

• When you email the school, please include the student's first and last name and ID #. Student nicknames can cause confusion with attendance coding.

• If you will be picking up your child from school early, please call the school (512-570-3500) ahead of time to let the Receptionist know. This allows our Receptionist time to get a pass written ahead of time and helps to move the process along more quickly.
  

• The only people who will be permitted to pick up a child will be parents/guardians and those individuals listed as an emergency contact in your Home Access Center (HAC). Due to safety reasons, we are no longer allowing a parent to call in and give permission for someone to pick up your child during the school day other than those listed in HAC.

  We do not allow early pick up after 4:00pm.

• If you feel like there is an error for a particular class period, please email the teacher directly first. For example, if your student was tardy and the teacher accidentally already marked the student absence, email the teacher because the attendance office has to have it in writing from the teacher before attendance can update anything

• There is a turn around time in updates if a student was with the nurse, AP, counselor, etc. It is not necessary to email the attendance office. Please remember that we have almost 1100 students so it will take 1-2 business days to show the update. We appreciate your patience and understanding that our team is working tirelessly to support all of our Eagles!

At CRMS, we are a 1-to-1 device campus. All students are required to have a device with a keyboard each day at school. Students may bring their own device or get a device from mLISD.

This coming school year, all 6th graders will begin receiving new devices as part of the technology rollout from the last bond election.

The payment window is now open for families to secure their students’ district-provided laptops for the 2023-2024 school year. Plans to distribute laptops will be communicated at a later date. This program is optional. A non-refundable security deposit will be required for participation. The security deposit will be waived for students who qualify for Free and Reduced meals.

Price:

Middle School Students: $40 per school year

High School Students: $60 per school year

Students who qualify for Free and Reduced meals: $0.00

(Registration through our online store, currently EdPay, or submission of a signed acceptance form is required.)

Payment methods:

A) Debit/credit cards through the mLISD website

B) Scholarship opportunities are available. Please contact mlisd@leanderisd.org or your counselor for more information. Please include the following information in your email:

• The student’s name

• Campus

• Student ID number

• Parent phone number

Click here for more information about mLISD, scholarships and access to sign-up and pay

The Leander ISD Transportation Department uses SMART Tag – a system that provides accurate, near real-time monitoring of where and when students load onto and unload off of their school bus – to help promote student safety and security, keeping parents, school administrators and the district’s transportation department more informed.

Returning bus riders are asked to continue to use the SMART Tag card they were issued last year. If they do not have a card, the student will punch in using their lunch number (student ID) when getting on and off the bus. Bus drivers will begin to issue cards in September for new bus riders.

The online parent portal allows parents and guardians to register to receive alerts for when the bus will arrive at their child’s stop; see a live map of their child’s bus; and view a riding history for their child. Be sure to register if you have never done so.

By Wednesday, Aug. 9, 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 2023–24 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.

During the 2023–24 school year, Leander ISD will welcome back Southwest Foodservice Excellence (SFE) as its food-services provider. That’s right – that means Crispitos are coming back!

All students who qualify for free meals during the 2023–24 school year will receive breakfast and lunch at no cost. In 2023–24, students who qualify for reduced-price meals will receive free breakfast meals and lunch for $0.40.

For elementary students who do not qualify for F&R meals, prices will remain the same from last year. At elementary school, the cost of breakfast is $1.50 and lunch is $2.90. For secondary students, the cost of breakfast is $1.75 and lunch is $3.15.

Parents who would like to apply to find out if they are eligible for F&R meals for their children can visit our Child Nutrition Services website for more information.

Beginning last school year, 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/

AP/Counselor by grade-level for 2023-2024:

• 6th: Dr. Ashley Thompson1 / Kimberly Mills
• 7th: Leah Cox / Jillian Baaklini
• 8th: Brian Bass / Staci Cote

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