Hornet Herald

Hello fantastic family members!

Thank you all for choosing Kealing Middle School as your child's primary educator. We are excited about the Spring semester and all that is to come. Spring exams, sports, activities, and weather are just a few reasons to be excited about Spring 2021. Safety continues to be our top priority for the students and staff. Our educators are continually working to provide a great learning experience to our scholars. We were excited to celebrate a few of them for their service to the scholars of Austin Independent School District this past week (Pictures below).

This past week we experienced an event in Washington D.C. on January 6th that impacted us all. We as a Kealing family did not shy away from addressing the event with our scholars. We wanted to assure their voices were heard and they had an opportunity to express themselves about it. So, our amazing counselors and Social Studies teachers banded together to create an open door opportunitiy for any student needing to talk about the event and a lesson to give students an opportunity to discuss the event amongst themselves and with their teachers for a moment during thier Social Studies classes. With all that is going on around us, our staff stays committed to providing an enriching, exciting, and most importantly equitable learning experience for our scholars.

Monday - January 11th - B Day

Tuesday - January 12th - A Day

Wednesday - January 13th - B Day

Thursday - January 14th - A Day

January 14th - Honor's Assembly (during advisory 2:30p - 3p)

- Campus Advisory Committee Meeting (3:15p - 4:15p), CAC Meeting Link

- PTA Meeting (4:30p - 5:30p) *Join PTA with this link , PTA Meeting link

- Anderson High School IB Experience (more information below)

- LASA Roadshow, 6:30-8:00 pm (more information below)

- Hornet Boys Basketball vs Paredes at Paredes Middle School @ 6p (7th A/B) & 7p (8th A/B)

Friday - January 15th - B Day

Saturday - January 16th

- Martin Luther King Service Day (9a - 5p) at Kealing Middle School

- Kealing Girls Soccer vs Paredes (A team game @ 9a) at Paredes Middle School

Monday - January 18th - Martin Luther King Day

- No School

We are excited to announce that we have secured approval from AISD to have an outdoor day of service to honor Martin Luther King Jr's legacy of service and bring our Kealing community together safely to spruce up our gardens and grounds.

This service day will be the first step toward establishing more outdoor learning spaces that our teachers, neighbors, and community can use flexibly during covid, but also for years to come. We hope you will join us for this first service day of 2020-21 and come learn about the opportunity to get involved monthly if you end up loving your experience! In addition to leading the reimagining of the design and usage of our outdoor space, Science and Gardening Teacher Catherine Bergman will be conducting some mini nature talks/walks to share information about the various ecosystems around our school and how we are exploring enhancing them.

The service day will be on Saturday, January 16th, 2021 from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm (Rainout day will be MLK day, Monday, January 18th, 2021).

Signup is required to ensure we have enough supplies and space to work safely.

Sign up by Thursday, January 14th here: https://signup.com/go/XJuJRWj

Do you have gently used books at home that you don't want any longer? As a community, we are looking to collect as many books as possible to eventually distribute to our feeder schools, Kealing students and elsewhere. We will collect books starting in mid-January but want you to start creating a book giveaway pile at home NOW! 🙂 Types of books: ALL books, levels Pre-K to 12th grade. Books written in all languages will be accepted.

Collection sites: Kealing will be a collection site but we need more sites! We would like collection sites all over the city. If your family is willing to host a collection site, please contact Ms. Fernandez at kiersten.fernandez@austinisd.org to submit your address as a potential contactless, drop-off location.

Thank you!

Address Part of Town
5310 Musket Ridge 78759 (183/360/MoPac- Great Hills)
2410 Bridle Path, Austin, TX 78703 (Central)
1516 West 29th Street 78703 (Central/Mopac)
1702 Linscomb Ave, 78704 (Central/Zilker)
11617 Georgian Oaks Drive, 78739 (Circle C)
1607 Pennsylvania Ave (EAST)
4518 Sidereal Drive, Austin, TX 78727 (Milwood/Mo Pac and Parmer)
3102 Rexford Dr., 78723 (Mueller/Windsor Park)
5200 Magdelena Dr/78735. (Southwest)
3818 Arrow Dr., Austin TX 78749 (Southwest)
7304 Journeyville Drive, 78735 (Southwest/ Lantana/Oak Hill)

If you are interested in joining or trying out please complete this Google Form to let us know. Practices are held on Tuesdays and games on Saturdays. There is information on the form about physicals and mask requirements.

Please contact Coach Gardner (justin.gardner@austinisd.org) if you need more information.

We have a large number of students who are not in TEA compliance when it comes to required immunizations. Prior to Thanksgiving Break, we contacted families with outstanding immunizations requirements. Please submit the required documentation ASAP. You can email the documentation to stephen.mansolo@austinisd.org or drop it off at campus.

Thanks,

Mr. Mansolo

If you are interested in joining or trying out please complete this Google Form to let us know. There is information on the form about physicals and mask requirements.

Please contact Coach Gardner (justin.gardner@austinisd.org) if you need more information.

The 2021 Kealing yearbook staff is hard at work producing a book for our school community to commemorate this one-of-a-kind school year. It’s going well, but we need your help.

1. SUBMIT PHOTOS - we’re currently looking for photos from summer travel or summer camps, online school/clubs, extracurricular sports or fine arts, Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, election & activism, kindness, art, etc! We’ll take just about anything!!

Use this form to submit: https://forms.gle/1iaymHHDj6EPGdwf7

1. YEARBOOK COMMUNITY BLEND - stay tuned to the yearbook community Blend page for surveys, interview requests, and submitting school pics. Not a member of this class yet? Email Ms. Scott for an invitation: kristen.scott@austinisd.org

1. PURCHASE YOUR YEARBOOK TODAY - Yearbooks are on sale now for $35, the lowest price of the year. Order here: https://www.jostens.com/apps/store/customer/1077699/Kealing-Middle-School/

Important note:so PLEASE don’t wait to order your book. If we order fewer books, we will sell out and you will miss your chance to own this very special publication!

AISD to Continue Free Meals through the 2020-21 School Year

The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) recently announced an extension of current school meal programs through the 2020-21 school year. Through the federally-funded program, all Austin ISD students will receive free school meals through June 3, the last day of school.

For students participating in remote, off-campus learning, free 7 day meal packs will be available each Thursday at more than 40 curbside locations throughout Austin. While Austin ISD plans to continue curbside service as long as needed, meal sites are subject to change as more students transition to on-campus learning.

Curbside meal sites and more information can be found here

Austin ISD is committed to putting health and safety protocols in place that will prevent the occurrence and/or spread of COVID-19. However, we must be prepared to quickly and effectively respond to and communicate a lab-confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 at a school or other Austin ISD facility.

The Austin ISD COVID-19 Dashboard will be updated by noon each Tuesday, starting the week of Sept. 21. All lab-confirmed positive cases on campuses will be communicated directly to the campus community. Individuals who may have been exposed will be contacted directly and provided information on the next steps, including a quarantine timeline if needed.

FREE COVID-19 Testing is available through Austin Public Health (APH). NEW RESOURCE!

COVID-19 testing is recommended for those who:

• have COVID-19-related symptoms

• have had close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19

• have traveled in the last 14 days

Students can schedule free testing by using this link: https://www.austintexas.gov/covid-testinfo

View APH testing site locations here

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