August 1, 2023 Monthly Message

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August 01, 2023

Alamo Heights ISD staff and families - 

Welcome to the 2023-24 school year! I’m excited to welcome our students and staff home to Alamo Heights ISD in the coming days as we approach the first day of school on Monday, August 14.  

I hope you all had a wonderful summer and were able to spend time as a family with the people you love, recharging and making quality memories. 

Yesterday,  we welcomed our new employees on the first day of their New Employee Orientation. They’ll spend the next several days learning about our curriculum and instruction practices, our AHISD Profile of a Learner, campus procedures and practices, as well as time spent  preparing for new students. Today they’ll be taking a bus tour of the District to learn more about their new “home” as a valued employee of  AHISD. 

Next Monday, August 7, we will welcome all staff back with our annual Convocation, the official start of the school year celebration,  where we will highlight some of our AH-mazing staff and also our talented Fine Arts students.  

I know you’ll join me in showing appreciation to all of our dedicated teachers and staff members who are working diligently to prepare for the opening of school!  There’s no place like AHISD, and as I enter my 28th year of service to this district, I feel so privileged to call this district my home. 

Accountability

While our community prioritizes our AHISD Community Based Accountability System (CBAS), I want to inform you about significant changes to the state’s A-F system that you will be hearing about in the media this fall. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) oversees the state’s accountability ratings and assigns A-F letter grades for schools and districts. There are substantial changes this year in how TEA assigns A-F letter grades. In addition, TEA is changing the way that individual campus scores are combined for the district rating. Both changes are expected to result in lower A-F letter grades statewide for the same student performance as in past years. Like a majority of districts across the state, Alamo Heights is anticipating its district A-F letter to decline by one letter under these new TEA rules for how scores are calculated and how letter grades are assigned. 

Additionally, because of changes to the STAAR test and the A-F system, TEA is delaying the release of student individual scores. STAAR scores will not be available in the state’s Parent Portal until mid-August. There will be additional information provided later about how parents can access these scores through AHISD’s Home Access Center (HAC). The state A-F ratings for schools and districts are expected in late September.  For more information, please read the article on Page 11 of our Summer School Views publication. 

Academic Rigor

In AHISD, we celebrate numerous student accomplishments across multiple areas - fine arts, athletics, and creative problem solving awards. However, academic accomplishment remains a top shared priority within our community. We are proud to share that this past month, we learned that about 65% of our Class of 2023 earned an Advanced Placement Scholar Distinction. AP Scholar awards recognize students who have demonstrated both a depth and breadth of knowledge and whose work has shown college-level mastery across multiple disciplines. Nationwide, only about 10% of students earn the distinction of AP Scholar or higher by the time they graduate (based on historic data provided by the College Board). AP Scholar is a credential of value for CBAS because it indicates not only college-readiness but also the amount of college credit potentially earned by our students in high school, thus saving tuition costs for our families. 

AP Scholars Data

Safety and Security

As we prepare to welcome our faculty and students back for school year 23-24, I want to make you aware of some of our updated security measures:

We now have three Alamo Heights police officers assigned to our district as full-time School Resource Officers, and we are advertising for two more to join our staff.

Our Centegix Crisis Alert system is operational, giving our employees the means to summon routine help or to immediately place the campus in lockdown and notify law enforcement with the press of a button.

Our district recently completed its triennial safety audit, affirming our safety and security practices.

Back to School Dates

We’ve compiled Back to School  information on our website and we hope that it helps answer many questions that arise this time of year around registration, bus service, calendar, school supply lists, before and after school care, and more. 

Here are some dates to put on your calendars: 

Mule Markets

Fall Mule Markets open starting today for Howard, Cambridge, Woodridge, the Junior School, and AHHS.  Visit  your campus PTO websites for more information. 

You can also learn more about the tremendous work of our campus PTOs on their websites. You’ll find information on the events, activities, and fundraisers they organize each year to support students and staff. As we start a new school year, I also hope you will consider joining PTO at your campus if you haven’t already. 


Elementary Meet the Teacher:

Howard Early Childhood Center

August 3  - 4 p.m. - Mini Mules Orientation  

August 10 - 9 – 10:30 a.m. and 1 – 2:30 p.m.

Cambridge Elementary

August 10

4:30 – 5 p.m. – New to AHISD

5 – 5:40 p.m.– Meet the Teacher (Last name A-L)

5:40 – 6:20 p.m.  – Meet the Teacher (Last name M-Z)

Woodridge Elementary

August 10

4:30 – 5 p.m. – New to AHISD

5 – 5:40 p.m. – Meet the Teacher (Last name A-L)

5:40 – 6:20 p.m. – Meet the Teacher (Last name M-Z)

Back to School Nights:

Howard 

August 31, 4:15 to 4:45 p.m. - PreK/ECSE

6 to 6:30 p.m. - Kinder 

Cambridge 

September 6, 6 to 7:15 p.m. - 1st and 2nd Grades

September 7, 6 to 7:15 p.m. - 3rd- 5th Grades

Woodridge

September 6,  6 to 7:15 p.m. - 1st and 2nd Grades 

September 7, 6 to 7:15 p.m. - 3rd- 5th Grades 

Alamo Heights Junior School

August 22, 6 to 8 p.m. - 6th Grade 

August 29, 6 to 8 p.m. - 7th and 8th Grades 

Alamo Heights High School 

September 20, 6 to 7:30 p.m. - 9th-12th Grades 

Mules up!

Dr. Dana Bashara

Twitter:  @BasharaDana

Photo of the Month:

Photo of new employees

Reminders:

There are still many families who have yet to complete the annual residency verification process. Please submit the required information to your campus data clerk. Visit our website for the list of needed information and the emails for our campus staff. 

If you see something, say something! We ask all AHISD families to commit to having ongoing conversations with students about safety and security and to encourage the reporting of any concerns to a trusted adult on campus.  Families can also report safety concerns on our website by clicking Students / Parents and then Safety Concerns.

Please stay connected with all things AHISD by visiting Heights Happenings and also following us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Upcoming Events: 

Athletic Events (Visit Rank One for all sporting events)

Wednesday, August 23 - 6:00-8:00 PM - HS Athletics Kick Off Program - Location: Alamo Heights High School

Thursday, August 24 - 4:30-7:30 PM - JS Athletics Kick Off Program - Location: Junior School Cafeteria/Field

Master Calendar Events

Monday, September 4 - School Holiday 

PTO General Meetings

Thursday,  September 8 - 5:30-6:00 PM - Howard PTO Meeting - Location: Howard E.C.C.

Thursday, September 8 - 12:00-1:00 PM - Junior School PTO Meeting - Location: Junior School

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