RMA

Mission

Empowering students to graduate, prepared to exceed all expectations.

Vision

Every student will be empowered to make CHOICES for lifelong success.

Dear RMA Colleagues,

I trust this message finds you well and ready to embrace the vibrant and transformative month of October. As we step into the heart of the fall season, I want to convey my gratitude for your remarkable dedication and contributions to our educational community.

First and foremost, I would like to express my appreciation for your unwavering commitment to our students' growth and well-being. The start of the school year is dynamic, and your dedication to fostering a positive and engaging learning environment has set the tone for a successful academic year.

One foundational principle guiding our district is our unwavering commitment to putting our students at the center of everything we do. Our goal is to empower and educate, and I encourage you to embody this daily in your interactions with our students.

In the spirit of highlighting student-centered instruction and service, I would like to focus on a few essential aspects:

Personalized Learning: Your commitment to recognizing the unique needs and talents of each student is impactful. By providing personalized attention, you ensure that every student has the opportunity to thrive academically and personally.

Mentoring and Support: Many of you go above and beyond to serve as mentors and guides to our students. Your dedication to their holistic development sets a powerful example for the entire community.

Community Engagement: Our students benefit immensely from your engagement in community service projects and partnerships. These experiences not only enrich their lives but also instill in them a sense of social responsibility.

Listening and Empathy: Your willingness to listen, understand, and empathize with our students makes our district exceptional. Your support is a beacon of hope for many.

Collaborative Efforts: The teamwork and collaboration among our faculty and staff are fundamental to our student-centered approach. Working together ensures that our students receive a well-rounded and enriching education.

As we move forward, I encourage you to continue embracing a student-centered and service-oriented approach. Our students rely on us as educators, mentors, advocates, and role models. I also want to express my gratitude for your continuous dedication to professional growth. By staying updated on best practices and innovative teaching methods, you enhance our quality of education.

In closing, let us cherish the incredible privilege we have to shape the lives of our students. Your service to our students is the heart and soul of our district and is a testament to your unwavering commitment to their success. Thank you for your tireless efforts, and I look forward to witnessing the positive impact we will continue to make in the lives of our students in the coming months.

As always, we are here to offer support; you are not on this journey alone.

Respectfully,

Dr. Armard Anderson

Superintendent of Schools

October 9 - District PD day

October 13 - Last Day of Term 1

"The pink ribbon symbolizes hope and community for many who've been impacted by breast cancer."

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October and throughout the year—people wear pink ribbons to honor survivors, remember those lost to the disease, and to support the progress we are making together to defeat breast cancer.

🩷RMA Breast Cancer Awareness Initiative 🩷 - Each Day during the month of October that you wear pink to honor breast cancer awareness - you may wear jeans.

Dr. Heidi Lambert, Kate Driskill, Patrick Campbell and Ingrid Baker taught sessions this year at the TPCSA Conference in Austin.

RMA Public School Board Member, Dr. Francis White, attended professional development sessions.

Building relationships with my students has always been incredibly important to me, and the reason why I am still connected to a lot of my old students, despite being out of the classroom for 2 years now! Likewise, teaching is about so much more than the content we share with our students. My most memorable teachers are the ones that I felt really knew me and cared about me. If we want our students to know that we are their allies, it starts by building relationships with each one.⁣⁣ But where to begin?

Start by learning their names! Every year I make a seating chart for each class, like the one pictured. On the first day of school, I take the time to walk up to each student, introduce myself, and ask what they like to go by. I record their names on my chart and spend the first night of school memorizing them. I truly don’t make any plans for that night so that I can have the time to do this. I always greet my students at the door so the next day I call them each by name as they walk in. It’s a small first step in building a relationship with students that says, “I value you as an individual, and I want to know you. I care enough about you to learn your name.”⁣⁣

Additionally, it is important to connect with each student AT LEAST once per class period. One way I do this is through using popsicle sticks. At the beginning of the year, I make a set for each class with the students’ names on them. I store each class set in a cup at the front of my classroom. I use these names for EVERYTHING – drawing names to hear answers, engaging students in discussion, creating lab groups, assigning tasks, anything! I make sure to go through the entire cup at LEAST once a class period to make sure I have spoken to each student and called them by name every day. I also liked to greet my students at my door to start each class (as I mentioned in last week’s tip!) so that was usually a second interaction.

It may sound like a silly or obvious tip, but I found that before I implemented this strategy I would spend all my time interacting with the students that raised their hands the most and students that caused the most disruptions. There were so many students (especially in my public school my first few years where I always had 30-32 in a class) that could slip through an entire period under the radar. I want every student in my class to feel not only noticed but known and cared for.

⁣⁣Next, I recommend sending positive emails to parents. During one of my first mid-year evals with my principal, he challenged me to focus more of my energy on creating relationships with parents. I really didn’t get the need for it at first until (1) I started doing it and (2) I myself became a parent!⁣

Because of his challenge, I set aside 30 minutes every Friday afternoon before leaving for the weekend to send quick emails (or phone calls home) to parents with something positive about their students. I kept a list so that I could keep track and try to contact each parent/guardian twice a semester. It was so fun to hear the surprise from many of the parents that a teacher was actually reaching out to share GOOD news! Some students would even come in on Monday and thank me for saying something nice to their parents.⁣

I found it really built my rapport with the parent AND student, much more than I anticipated! It also made parents more receptive and responsive when I did have to reach out with any issues, because they felt like they knew me and that I truly cared.⁣

https://itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com/2020/07/building-relationships-with-students/

Make sure you register for the Ascender Employee Portal here https://portals20.ascendertx.com/EmployeePortal/login?distid=014801 Your W-2 and check stubs can be printed from this portal.

The 2023-2024 Payroll Calendar is available on Sharepoint at the following link.

2023-2024 Payroll Calendar.pdf

Here is the link for the Finance SharePoint. https://rmatx.sharepoint.com/sites/RMAFinance

OCTOBER IS CHILDREN’S HEALTH MONTH!

Children are often more vulnerable to pollutants than adults due to differences in behavior and biology, and these differences can lead to greater exposure and/or unique windows of susceptibility.

Children in overburdened and highly-exposed communities may suffer from a reduced ability to recover from harmful environmental exposures, due to lowered resilience. This can particularly affect children in low-income communities, as well as children in communities underserved by education, healthcare, and housing.

The focus of Children’s Health Month 2023 is to raise awareness about the importance of protecting children, especially those in ultra vulnerable populations, from environmental threats where they live, learn and play. Find messaging about each week's focus area.

• October 1-7: Protecting children where they live.

• October 8-14: Protecting children where they learn.

• October 15-21: Protecting children where they play.

• October 22-28: International and National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week.

Over the last twenty years, RMA has always prided itself on the relationships our students and staff have built with their local communities. We recognize our community partners in the in the form of our Friends of RMA program.

Email: info@rma-tx.org
Website: www.rmaschools.org
Location: 401 E. Sonterra Boulevard, Suite 375, San Antonio, TX 78258
Phone: 830.557.6181
Facebook: facebook.com/RMAschools
Twitter: @rmaschools