We are starting our 3rd year! Can you believe it! Have you set your goals for the new year? RootEd has a few goals...most especially, reaching out to parents who are looking for a school for their child. We are asking parents to STEP IN THE DOOR of their neighborhood school. Whether it's for a school tour, for a community event or to register, we would love to see parents checking out what's going on at the school around the corner!

Another goal of ours is to educate parents on their voting options for the election year ahead. We plan to get as much information out to families on the voting schedule along with the candidates take on education topics. RootEd supports pro-public education candidates, statewide and locally, who truly dedicate themselves to their neighborhood schools.

Public School Week is Feb 24-28th. RootEd is an Organizational Supporter of this year's Public School Week and we would love to see our districts and schools promoting the week. The best thing you could do is post on social media in support of public schools during Public School Week. Here is a link: http://lovepubliceducation.org/publicschoolproud/

The last day to register to vote is Feb 3rd! You can find out everything you need to know to register, here: https://www.votetexas.gov/

Two sites we recommend using are https://votetxed.org/ and Texas Educators Vote http://texaseducatorsvote.com/parents-community-members/ , both are great sites to see what YOU can do to help get out the vote for education.

Principals can:

1. Robustly discharge their duty under Texas law to serve as registrars by actively encouraging all eligible students and staff on their campuses to register.

2. Discuss with campus staff, students and parents the importance of supporting public education through civic engagement, including voting.

3. Encourage voter participation through activities like cross campus voter participation challenges/contests and offering jeans/casual days for showing your “I voted” sticker.

Teachers/Staff can:

Model civic engagement for students and colleagues by openly discussing the importance of voting as part of non-partisan non-candidate specific get out the vote campaigns, holding one another accountable for voting, and proudly displaying symbols that they have voted such as an “I voted” sticker.

All educators, including superintendents, principals, teachers, other school personnel and board members, can on their own time, including during a duty-free lunch, speak about candidates they support or oppose. They can communicate such opinions either directly, through personal email, or personal social media accounts.

You can now vote anywhere in Bexar County for early voting AND EVEN ON ELECTION DAY! Which means you don't have to drive home to vote. You can vote where you work.

RootEd had the opportunity to visit Northside ISD's magnet school that focuses on careers in the construction industry. Construction Careers Academy (CCA) was created 10 years ago and every year is getting better and better! Each year 120 freshman join the program and spend the first 2 years learning the curriculum and how to use equipment in anticipation of making their fully-equipped tiny home their junior and senior year. While on the tour with Adrian Velasquez, the Student Success Liaison, we were able to see the architecture classroom where they design a home, the labs where they work on software and practice design math that construction entails and the actual creation of a tiny home and other amazing projects. The students learn every detail of building a home including electrical, plumbing, and carpentry. This all leads them to the build of the tiny homes. They spend 2 years building their home to sell at auction. The homes are gorgeous and are built on custom trailers ready to be moved to the desired locations. These are skills they can take with them to the real world and apply to so many types of occupations. We were truly impressed with the facilities and the opportunities this program presents to their students. You could really see the focus in the student's work and the joy in the instructor's eyes.

https://www.proudlyrooted.com/rootedblog/rooted-visits-construction-careers-academy

RootEd Reps across our five districts worked hard to market their schools during Kinder Round Ups, where preschoolers and their parents get a chance to tours schools, learn about curriculum and see where the students learn. Our Reps worked with principals and staff to beautify the schools, promote the event to the community and worked the event to answer any questions from nervous parents. Kinder Round Up is one of the most important marketing events of the year for the schools and the RootEd Reps rose to the occasion. Special shout outs to Reps from NEISD Schools: Coker, Oak Meadow, Harmony Hills, Cibolo Green, Churchill and Huebner and NISD Schools: Colonies North and Adams Hill for going the extra mile!

Roxie is the Brandeis RootEd Rep. She currently has 2 teens at Brandeis HS in NISD and a little one at home. She has created social media accounts to help market Brandeis HS, attends events and shares the stories of the cool things going on at Brandeis and around the district.

Roxie says, "I attended, graduated and also worked in our NISD public schools. I loved all the time spent here and I do believe our public schools still have so much to offer. There are so many great things about our public schools and being a RootEd Rep allows me to showcase just some of them! RootEd stands by our public schools and allows parents to tell the stories. I love that it’s parent to parent points of view. I am grateful and honored to be part of a program that believes in our public schools just as much as I do. I am the proud RootEd Rep for Brandeis High School in Northside Independent School District. Brandeis does an amazing job of creating a feeling of unity for all students, staff and parents. We are just getting to learn about the countless programs clubs, sports and so many ways to be involved at this campus...the list is endless! Brandeis also has this amazing school spirit. It’s the spirit of being proud to be part of this school and all that is stands for. It’s orange and blue...and strong! Above all, it is the people. The teachers, admins and staff have welcomed our children and our family and we are more than happy to support them right back. When we work together this way it is our children that benefit in so many ways. Truly grateful to be RootEd"

RootEd is a parent-led, grassroots organization that promotes neighborhood public schools through storytelling, advocacy, and education. We believe a strong public school system for all children creates a robust economy and well-connected community. RootEd is a 501(c)3 non profit organization.

Email: info@proudlyrooted.com
Website: www.proudlyrooted.com
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Phone: (210) 617-0824
Facebook: facebook.com/RootEdTexas
Twitter: @RootEdSA