Eagle Updates

Meadow Wood News:

• From Mrs. Barry
• Summer Credit by Exam (CBE)
• Counselors' Corner
• Trustee and Bond Election Information
• Online Registration is OPEN!
• CIT - Community Member Needed!

• MWE Calendar

PTA News:

• PTA Survey
• La Dolce Vita Style Show & Luncheon
• 2025-2026 Spirit Wear
• Talent Show
• How to Stay Informed

Last week I talked about teaching certifications, but did you know that paraprofessionals also need to apply for a Texas certificate? You must be employed by a school district to be eligible, but there are actually 3 different levels of Educational Aide certificates in Texas - Educational Aide I, II, and III. They all have the same basic requirement - you must be a high school graduate or hold a GED certificate. The levels differ based on the amount of education or training after high school. For example, Education Aide II requires a minimum of 15 semester hours of college credit, while Educational Aide III requires 30. There are more guidelines, and experience is considered as well as actual college hours, but this is a general overview. Like teachers, paraprofessionals must apply for their certification and have it added to their state certificate. Unlike teachers, they cannot renew every five years but must actually reapply every two years (unless they received their certification prior to January 2018).

There are different types of paraprofessionals that serve our school, and based on their role, they must have the appropriate certificate. The easiest way to differentiate is those who work directly with children and those who do not. Of course, all of our staff interact with children every day, but we look at this through an instructional lens. School districts can have more stringent requirements for paraprofessionals, and SBISD does! Before being eligible for interviews, paras must either show proof of education/training or take exams to show proof of mastery in job specific skills. Not everyone is able to fill every/any open position. And, like teachers, they also must go through the fingerprinting and background check process.

As I write this, we currently have 5 positions to fill - 2 professional and 3 paraprofessional. I hope the last two week's information gives you a little insight into the process for not only becoming certified but also what we must look at when trying to find the right person for our Eagles. If you have any questions - or know any great candidates - please reach out!

Summer 2025 CBE registration is available for SBISD students who are currently enrolled in Kinder through 5th grades. The link below will take you to the SBISD's Assessment Department where you can find detailed information about the CBE testing.

CBE Link

If you are interested in math acceleration or whole grade acceleration for your MWE student, you must register using this CBE Form MWE: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScjjQYlo1DvG5OOKlcc502xWLTyU0xCTW6OW2FgXuJCbSXLLA/viewform?usp=header

The deadline to register your student for summer CBE testing is April 25th by 4 p.m. Please see the links for Summer test date options.

Students who earn an 80% or higher on a CBE exam may be accelerated for the 25-26 school year. If you have further inquiries, please reach out to both MWE counselors below to ensure your inquiry is received and responded to in a timely manner.

24-25 MWE Counselors:

Gladys Hollis Gladys.Hollis@springbranchisd.com

Anne Ivy Anne.Ivy@springbranchisd.com

If you register your child and have questions during the Summer, please make inquiries to: michelle.fontenot@springbranchisd.com

The months of April and May are all about being Persistent and Adaptable. SBISD believes that Every Child is fueled by their own passions, interests, and goals and perseveres with confidence and courage. In a T-2-4 ready graduate this looks like a child who:

• Discovers, develops and maximizes their gifts and talents by learning to set and monitor goals for themselves. Tries new things to explore their passions, strengths and talents.
• Responds productively to feedback, praise, setbacks and criticism by accepting and responding to feedback in order to learn and grow.
• Embraces the idea that failure is part of success, accepts being wrong, learns from mistakes and keeps moving forward by recognizing mistakes can help them grow as a learner and person. They keep trying even when they don’t get it right the first time.

TRY THIS AT HOME

Encourage use of calm down strategies, and find a few that work for your child and family.

• Take a break in their safe space
• Take deep breaths
• Spend time outside
• Play with a pet
• Talk about their feelings
• Do something they love - building, creating, playing

Encourage positive self-talk.

• I can do hard things
• I can’t do it…yet
• I’ll use a strategy I learned
• Mistakes help me grow
• Learn something new and encourage learning through frustration, and the challenge.
• Learning a new skill (cooking, athletic skill, etc.)
• Growing in reading or an academic skill
• Independence skills (morning or evening routines, asking for help)

Puzzles: complete a challenging (100+ piece) puzzle as a family, as one of the family members gets frustrated, encourage them to try out different calm down strategies or positive self-talk statements.

• All registered voters within SBISD are reminded to vote in this year’s School Board and Bond Elections. Early Voting dates are Tues., April 22 – Tues., April 29. Election Day is Saturday, May 3. Please visit https://www.springbranchisd.com/about/board-of-trustees/elections/current-elections for more information.

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• Early Voting sites include:
  Wayne F. Schaper Leadership Center (SBISD Administration Bldg. – Board Room)
  955 Campbell Road, 77024
  Don Coleman Community Coliseum – Home Dressing Room,1050 Dairy Ashford, 77079
  Holy Cross Lutheran Church 7901 Westview – Youth Room, 77055
  City of Piney Point Village 7660 Woodway Suite, #460, 77063
  Spring Branch ISD – West Support Campus, 2100 Shadowdale, Room F7, 77043
  Spring Branch ISD -East Transition Campus, 8655 Emnora Ln. 77080

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• Election Day sites include:
  The following seven Election Day voting locations will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 3. Voting locations are based on middle school attendance zones and home street address:
  

  Election Precinct No. 41 – Landrum Middle School, 2200 Ridgecrest, Houston, TX 77055
  Election Precinct No. 42 – Memorial Middle School, 12550 Vindon, Houston, TX 77024
  Election Precinct No. 43 – Spring Branch Middle School, 1000 Piney Point, Houston, TX 77024
  Election Precinct No. 44 – Spring Woods Middle School, 9810 Neuens, Houston, TX 77080
  Election Precinct No. 45 – Spring Forest Middle School, 14240 Memorial, Houston, TX 77079
  Election Precinct No. 46 – Spring Oaks Middle School, 2150 Shadowdale, Houston, TX 77043
  Election Precinct No. 47 – Northbrook Middle School, 3030 Rosefield, Houston, TX 77080
  

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• - Candidate Information:
  
  Competing for the Trustee Position 5 are Diana Martinez Alexander who lists her occupation as educator and Jennifer Hyland who lists her occupation as travel advisor.
  
  Competing for the Trustee Position 6 are J. Steven Smelley, who lists his occupation as retired; David Enrique Lopez, who lists his occupation as consultant; and Walker Agnew, Jr. who lists his occupation as natural gas scheduler.
  
  Competing for the Trustee Position 7 are Juan Jose Reyes, who lists his occupation as civil engineer/sales manager; Patricia Cabrera, who lists her occupation as director, and Caroline H. Bennett, (incumbent) who lists her occupation as general manager- non profit, and self-employed.
  
  All positions are for three-year terms.
• -

  2025 Bond Information

  
  Information about the proposed 2025 Bond Program is available at https://www.springbranchisd.com/about/2025bond/home. Voters will cast their votes for each of the four bond propositions separately.

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• If you need assistance on where to vote or for all other questions, please call 713-251-2217.

Online Registration for the 2025-2026 school year for both new and returning students is now OPEN!

To complete this process, go to the following link:

https://www.springbranchisd.com/studentsfamilies/enroll/enroll/registration

For returning students:

• Families are asked annually to confirm/update information for each child attending.
• Returning families can update online most information collected in a school’s First Day Packet through Skyward Family Access. If you do not have a Skyward Family Access account, please contact your school to set up an account.
• Parents are not required to print forms. Forms can be signed and submitted electronically.
• If you would like to print out the forms for your records, please ensure that Adobe Reader is installed on your device. This process can be completed on a PC, Tablet or smartphone browser.
• Please be sure to complete forms by clicking the submit button at the end of each form.

If you have any questions about the registration process, please reach out to Mrs. Snelling at susan.snelling@springbranchisd.com or 713-251-6204.

We are still in need of a community member to serve on our Campus Improvement Team. This person can be anyone who lives in our zone who does not have a child at MWE. It can be a former parent or someone who never had a child attend. The CIT meets approximately once a month during the school year.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Mrs. Barry. The application is below and can be returned to Ms. Olvera.

Reminder: Every week we have T-2-4 Tuesday - students are encouraged to wear their favorite college or military shirt. Fridays are MWE Spirit Day! Wear your Eagle attire!

April 15

STAAR Reading

No visitors today, please!

April 16

2nd Grade Hands on Science

April 17

4th Grade Hands on Science

5th Grade Hands on Science

No lunch visitors, please!

April 18

HOLIDAY

April 21

HOLIDAY

April 23

STAAR Science

No visitors today, please!

April 29

3rd grade Hands on Science

April 30

STAAR Math

No visitors today, please!

May 2

Field Day

To help MWE PTA set priorities for next school year, please take a few minutes to take our survey. We need your input by Monday, April 14th at 5pm. The MWE budget from the district is only approximately $45,000, so PTA funds are critical to enhance the school we love! We raised a record $395,000 at the Spring Auction and would love your input on how to allocate these funds!

Fill out the survey here - https://forms.gle/7TFSdHAwx3dJeiQ46

MWE PTA celebrated all of our volunteers and 5th grade moms at our La Dolce Vita Style Show and Luncheon. We awarded our PTA Life Achievement Award to Leah Brown, Annie Ickes, Jamie Kelley, Shirley Labiosa (posthumously), Katie Mayeaux, and Jennifer McKnight for their incredible dedication to our kids and community. Thank you to Kristen Taylor for chairing the event along with EDIT, Swoon and Lady Hart for styling our moms. Also a special thank you to our other vendors for providing a fun shopping experience! Carter and Co., CB Jeweled, Front Porch Elegance, Golden Thread, IRIS, Ladybird and Grace, Palmer Kate Boutique, Threadfare and Turquoise Tamy.

MWE Spirit Wear is coming soon! Thank you to our Spirit Wear Chairs, Jackie Almquist and Jennifer Hubley, for putting together some great options for our Eagles! You will be able to purchase on mwepta.com starting April 21st. Check out our preview dates where you can see the items in person for sizing.

Save the date for our MWE Talent Show on May 22nd!

To stay updated on everything MWE PTA from Spirit Wear sales to signups for Talent Show, please follow us on Instagram (@mwepta) and Facebook (Meadow Wood Elementary PTA).

For additional information, go to our website: www.mwepta.com.

Follow us on Facebook (Meadow Wood Elementary PTA) and Instagram (#MWEPTA).