Stay In-the-Know: This Week’s Top News You Can’t Miss

• Don’t forget next Monday and Tuesday are student holidays
• Get excited for Carnival! Links below to sponsor, volunteer, buy wristbands, and host an auction party
• All volunteers need to complete a background check to be able to volunteer this year! Link below
• Join us Thursday, September 25th at 9am on Zoom for a Parent Education Event: How to Talk to Children About Grief, Loss, and Difficult Emotions 

Cougar PRIDE Families,

It’s going to be another great week at Casis! As we continue in the new school year, it’s hard to believe that we’re already entering the fifth week of school. Various school activities, like our ‘Fall Carnival’ and ‘Class Field Trips’ are currently being planned, promising to make this school year one that will be full of both fun and learning. Please see important information for the week below.

Mr. Tinnon

NEWS FROM THE PRINCIPAL

STAFF NEWS

We are so very happy to introduce Julia Pena to the Casis Elementary Learning Community! Ms. Pena will be a Special Education Teacher and is coming from another AISD School, as a result of the district-wide staff leveling process. Ms. Pena has great educational experience as a Special Education Teacher Assistant, 1st & 2nd Grade Teacher, and currently a Special Education Teacher. While unexpected, we are so very glad to add Ms. Julia Pena to our staff, as we still have a couple of vacancies on our Special Education Team. Welcome to Casis Ms. Pena!

CASIS CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER NEW STATE DESIGNATION 

We are pleased to announce that the Casis Child Development Center (CCDC) is now sponsored under the umbrella of Texas Rising Star. Our program has received stars as a high quality early learning program for students to achieve in academia. The star program offers three levels of quality certification to encourage childcare and early learning programs to attain progressively higher levels of quality. Early learning programs that achieve Texas Rising Star certification, offering quality care that exceeds the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) Child Care Regulation (CCR) minimum standards, are in a better position to positively affect the physical, social-emotional, and cognitive development of children. As programs advance through the levels of Texas Rising Star certification, they are increasingly able to positively affect the development of the children they serve daily. We are so very ‘Cougar Proud’ of our Casis Child Development Center!

TEACHING ASSISTANT APPRECIATION WEEK 

Monday, September 22 – Friday, September 26 is designated as Teaching Assistant Appreciation Week. In addition to Classroom Teachers, Teaching Assistants assist in strengthening our schools and learning communities. At Casis we have Teaching Assistants in our Special Education, Physical Education, and Pre-Kindergarten programs. We could not do our jobs as educators without the help of other school support staff members like our Teaching Assistants. All of these individuals play a vital role on their education teams and in the lives of students, both inside and outside of the classroom. Together they keep our schools running and our students safe, healthy, and ready to learn every day. We salute all Teaching Assistants in AISD and at Casis Elementary. They are all absolutely fabulous and so well-deserving of this recognition!

2023 SCHOOL REPORT CARD FOR CASIS ELEMENTARY 

The 2022-23 School Report Cards (SCRs) for all Austin ISD campuses are now available. The Texas Education Agency requires that SCRs be distributed to school families, along with some helpful definitions to help make sense of the report. It has a lot of information to help you see how our school is doing. Families will be able to see: (1) How our students performed on the STAAR tests, (2) How ready our students are for college, careers, and the military, (3) Details about our student enrollment, (4) Average class sizes, (5) Information on our financial spending, (6) How our school compares to the rest of the district and the state, (7) Data for different student groups, like race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status, and (8) Results from at least the past two years. The School Report Cards can be found online at TEA School Report Card. Here is the Casis SCR for your convenience and information. And here are helpful School Report Card Definitions. Thank you for your continued support of our school.

VISION AND HEARING SCREENINGS 

The Texas Department of State Health Services requires that all children enrolled in public school have a vision and hearing screening. During the months of September and October, Casis Elementary Health Staff will be screening the following grades: Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, Grades 1, 3, 5, and any new students to AISD. Here’s the Casis Health Screening Letter with additional information and the specific screening dates for our campus. If you have any additional questions, please contact Angela Evington, School Nurse, at (512) 414-7169.

GIFTED & TALENTED REFERRAL WINDOW 

The Gifted & Talented referral window is now open and will remain open until Friday, October 17. To learn more about GT services in AISD and to submit a referral, click here for the English link. Additional languages can be found here. Prior to submitting a referral, it is recommended that parents notify their child’s classroom teacher. For additional information, you may reach out to our campus GT Advocates and Classroom Teachers, Primary Grades K-2: Lauren Vienne (K) and Intermediate Grades 3-5: Vickie Price (3rd).

ADMINISTRATIVE COFFEE CHAT FOR SEPTEMBER 

Casis Administration will host a series of meetings during the school year, to engage with parents about various school topics and happenings. During these informal meetings, Mr. Tinnon, Ms. Beckham, and Ms. Davis will share school information and dialogue with parents about school topics of their choice. The goal of this platform is to build our shared knowledge and make community connections. Our first ‘Administrative Chat’ will take place on Friday, September 26 at 8:00a.m. in the Casis Community Room. We look forward to having some very authentic conversations with our learning community.

FIELD TRIP INFORMATION 

Field trips are wonderful extension experiences for students outside of the classroom learning environment. At Casis Elementary, we will offer a few field trip opportunities for each grade level throughout the school year. Parents will be asked to pay a bulk one-time ‘Field Trip Fee’ to cover the costs of these planned educational outings. A letter will be sent home over the next two weeks (electronic or hard copy), outlining the process for payment, as well as sharing field trip information from each grade level. All families will be asked to pay this fee by Friday, October 17. We are hopeful to get full participation from all of our families, but regardless, please know that no student will be excluded from any of the year’s field trip events. Stay tuned for specific field trip payment instructions.

CHECKING STUDENTS IN & OUT DURING THE SCHOOL DAY 

We certainly understand that students will have occasional appointments during the school day. For the safety of your child(ren) and for accountable documentation purposes, please know and adhere to the following campus protocols:

• Students will not be sent to the office prior to parent arrival.

• Plan accordingly and arrive early enough to anticipate some delay in your child(ren) coming to the office.

• When bringing your child(ren) back to school, please accompany them to the main office to check them back into school.

• A note documenting the reason why the student missed part of the instructional day should be submitted to the Attendance Clerk (hard copy delivered or emailed to casis@austinisd.org ). You may also use this link to: Report An Absence Note.

We appreciate everyone’s cooperation and compliance with the above safety and security standards.

LUNCH VISIT REMINDERS 

Parents will be able to come and visit their children during lunchtime, beginning Tuesday, September 2. As we welcome parents back onto campus this school year, please be reminded of the following lunchroom visit guidelines:

• Children must remain in the cafeteria with their class during lunch.
• Due to space, bringing younger siblings is discouraged.
• Due to space and large class sizes, be aware that there are a limited amount of seats for adults. 
• Parents may bring lunch for their child(ren) only.
• Parents may not just drop off lunches – must be present.
• Parents must check-out in the office immediately after their child’s lunch time.
• Parents may not stay with children during their outside recess time.

NEW PERSONAL COMMUNICATION DEVICE POLICY 

In accordance with Texas House Bill 1481, all school districts are required to adopt and implement a policy prohibiting the use of personal communication devices by students on school property during the school day (first bell to last bell). Please see the official AISD Personal Communication Device Policy One-Pager. And here’s an Away For The Day Flyer, which summarizes this new policy in a more simple graphic representation. The preference is that no devices are brought to school at all, but if they are, please know that students will not be allowed to wear them during the day and will be asked to either turn the device off or put it on silent, while at school. We appreciate the cooperation and compliance of everyone.

STUDENT HANDBOOK & STUDENT SUCCESS GUIDE 

Please see the most updated editions of our campus Student-Parent Handbook and the district Student Success Guide for this school year. In alignment with AISD, both of these documents act as guidelines for our school community practices and policies. Please review and reference them throughout the 25 – 26 school year.

EMERGENCY DRILLS ON CAMPUS 

Student and staff safety are a top priority in the district and at schools. At Casis Elementary, we will have monthly rotating drills that practice safety measures that are taken, in the event of campus emergencies. Here’s a visual poster that is in every classroom, explaining all of the drills that will take place during the school year: Safety Poster. If parents happen to be volunteering or visiting during any of our monthly drill exercises, they will be expected to participate and follow the group that they are closest to at the time. It’s important for students to be aware of our safety measures and to participate in these practice drills. Please know that staff members are expected to speak about the topic of safety, using child-friendly language and terms, so as not to cause undue anxiety or stress around these required drill activities. For more information about safety protocols in AISD, visit: AISD Emergency Management website.

CHARACTER STRONG IMPLEMENTATION & PRACTICES 

This year, AISD and Casis Elementary are implementing a new Character Education and Behavioral Support program called Character Strong. This program is meant to provide students with the necessary skills and strategies to be the very best humans that they can be in the world. Students will hear morning messages and receive lessons from their teachers about topics like respect, gratitude, honesty, courage and more. Teachers will be providing weekly lessons and sending home monthly information to families about the different program topics learned each month. The lessons derive from a program called, “Purposefull People”. Here’s a Family Introductory Letter about Purposefull People. Each month we will cover a different Character Strong topic and resources will be shared to help families have meaningful conversations at home about the learned trait. Here’s an Overview of the monthly topics that will be taught. The Character Strong trait for the month of September is Respect. Here’s the Family Connection Newsletter – Respect for this first month’s theme. We are so excited to be ‘Character Strong’ at Casis Elementary! 

IMPORTANT DATES 

September – National Hispanic American Heritage Month 2025

Mon., Sept. 15 – Fri., Sept. 19 – Celebrate Freedom Week (Texas)

Mon., Sept. 15 – Fri., Sept. 19 – Coordinated School Health Week

Mon., Sept. 22 – Fri., Sept. 26 – AISD Teaching Assistant Appreciation Week

Mon., Sept. 22 – Staff Development Day & Student Holiday

Tues., Sept. 23 – Staff Development Day & Student Holiday (Rosh Hashanah)

Fri., Sept. 26 – Administrators Coffee Chat at 8:00am (Community Room)

TRAFFIC SAFETY PROCEDURES

Please adhere to the guidelines in your particular arrival/dismissal area (Front Circle Drive or North Parking Lot). See Arrival & Dismissal Plan here. We continually ask for your patience and cooperation in exercising safe practices in your area.

Additionally, please see the following reminders/updates:

• Walkers should use crosswalks at all times.
• Bikers should park bikes at bike racks and walk bikes through crosswalks.
• Drivers should ALWAYS be aware of our foot and bike traffic.
• Drivers should consider TURNING OFF ENGINES when not moving forward.
• Avoid Parking in the Casis Village, if conducting school business.
  • Front Circle Drive & Hillview are available for parent parking during the day.
  • The North Parking Lot is designated for staff parking only.
• Vehicles using the North Parking Lot during arrival and dismissal (3rd – 5th) should be aware of all walkers who are using the parking lot crosswalks.
• Vehicles cued on Northwood for Circle Drive afternoon pick-up should remain in one moving line to avoid double-parking.

Vehicles who need to enter the North Parking Lot for morning/afternoon drop-offs/pick-ups of 3rd – 5th graders may safely by-pass the ‘Circle Drive’ vehicles to enter the parking lot. 

PTA NEWS