Stay In-the-Know: This Week’s Top News You Can’t Miss
- There will be an information session for parents interested in learning more about Gifted & Talented services this Thursday, Sept. 17th at 8:30am in the Casis Community Room.
- Keep an eye out for information coming home over the next couple weeks about field trips and how to pay your fee.
- Please join us for our first general PTA meeting this Friday, Sept 18th at 9am in the Casis Community Room.
- Get excited for Carnival! Links below to sponsor, volunteer, and host an auction party
Casis Weekly (9/14/26-9/18/26)
- News from The Principal — Staff News, Young Rembrandts Art Club, PK4 Vision Screenings, Gifted & Talented Information Session, Administrative Coffee Chat for September, Field Trip Information, Checking Students In & Out During the School Day, Student Handbook & Success Guide, Emergency Drills on Campus, Character Strong Implementation & Practices, Important Dates, Traffic Safety Procedures
- PTA News — PTA General Meeting, Casis Carnival, Thank You Volunteers
- Vertical Team News – O.Henry Middle School Round Up
Have something you want to include in the Casis Weekly? Please send information to PTA VP of Communications Emily Peavey by Wednesday to be included in the following Monday issue.
Cougar PRIDE Families,
It’s going to be another great week at Casis! As we move into this fifth week of school and further into the month of September, we are all falling into our school routines. And as we continue to refine our new school year processes, please know how much we appreciate the cooperation and understanding of everyone. Our Learning Community must work as a unit to ensure that safe practices are natural and everyday occurrences at Casis Elementary. Also, 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. And please see other important information for the week below.
Mr. Tinnon
NEWS FROM THE PRINCIPAL
STAFF NEWS
We’d like to welcome the following new Casis staff members to our Cougar P.R.I.D.E. Family! Ariana Barriga & Abigail Mayorga are the newest members of our Child Development Center. Both teachers started last week and are coming to us with some great early childhood, pre-school, and pre-kindergarten experience. The Director and staff of the Casis Child Development Center are so very excited to welcome Ms. Barriga and Ms. Mayorga to the team. We are so happy that they have chosen to join our team and we look forward to working with these individuals.
YOUNG REMBRANDTS ART CLUB
There is still time and room to sign up before the first Young Rembrandts DRAWING enrichment class begins. And you can now enroll your student for a pro-rated, late start! Here’s the FLYER with all the details: YR Flyer – Fall 2026 @ CASIS and you can register here: Register YR – Early Fall @ CASIS. Want to know more about about Young Rembrandts Classes? See more information here: Fun Art Classes for Kids – Austin TX.
PK4 VISION SCREENINGS
Having good vision is essential to student learning and success. The Austin Founder Lions Club is assisting AISD with screening the vision of our Pre-Kindergarten students this school year. This screening will take place at Casis on Tuesday, September 15. After this initial screening, if any students need additional vision testing from an outside professional, the family will receive a follow-up packet with more guidance. If families have questions or need additional information about this screening service, please reach out to our School Nurse, Bailey Manning, at 512-414-7169.
GIFTED & TALENTED REFERRAL WINDOW
Thursday, September 17, at 8:30am – 9:30am in the Casis Community Room, there will be an Information Session for parents who are interested in learning more about Gifted and Talented (GT) services provided at Casis Elementary, as well as the AISD Nomination/Identification process. All interested parents should plan to attend, as this will be the only scheduled session for this school year. The Gifted & Talented referral window is now open and will remain open until October 16. 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. Thanks in advance to our campus GT Advocates and presenters, Jonathan Padgett (2nd) and Vickie Price (3rd) for leading this information session.
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 25 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 16. 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.
- If picking up towards the end of the day, please try to arrive at the office by 2:30p.m., as it often becomes much more challenging to contact classrooms and/or find students so close to the dismissal time.
- 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.
STUDENT HANDBOOK & STUDENT SUCCESS GUIDE
Please see the most updated editions of our campus Student-Parent Handbook (26-27) and the district Student Success Guide (26-27) 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 26 – 27 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
AISD and Casis Elementary will continue implementing Character Strong, the district Character Education and Behavioral Support program. 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 month’s theme, as well as a list of recommended books for both school and home: Respect Book List. We are so excited to be ‘Character Strong’ at Casis Elementary!
IMPORTANT DATES
September – National Hispanic American Heritage Month
Mon., Sept. 14 – Fri., Sept. 18 – Celebrate Freedom Week (Texas)
Mon., Sept. 21 – Student Holiday (Yom Kippur)/Staff PLED Day
Mon., Sept. 21 – Fri., Sept. 25 – AISD Teaching Assistant Appreciation Week
Fri., Sept. 25 – Administrators Coffee 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.
We ask that everyone exercise extra caution and patience. Adherence will help to maintain safety for all. We truly appreciate everyone’s compliance with the above requests.