Dessau Rising...

Hello Diamondback Family!

Read below for updates and activities for the upcoming week.This is a busy week! Tomorrow we will be viewing the solar eclipse as a campus. We are excited about this rare opportunity. More details are provided below. We will also begin STAAR Testing this upcoming week for ELA. All 8th grader students will test on Wednesday, April 10th. All 6th and 7th grade students will test on Thursday, April 11th. Please make sure your student brings their devices fully charged on their testing day.

Monday – 4/8

• Campus Viewing of the Eclipse
• Homework Haven after school in café (3:45 – 5:00)

Tuesday – 4/9

• Homework Haven after school in café (3:45 - 5:00)

Wednesday – 4/10

• ELA STAAR Testing - 8th Grade
• Homework Haven after school in café (3:45 - 5:00)

Thursday – 4/11

• ELA STAAR Testing - 6th & 7th Grade
• Homework Haven after school in café (3:45 - 5:00)

Friday –4/12

• Have a great weekend!

Saturday – 4/13

• Saturday School - Science STAAR & Social Studies (8th Grade Only)

We have had a great turn out at Saturday School! The students have been enjoying fun and engaging learning activities to prepare them for the STAAR test. We also use this time for grade recovery to allow students who attend to raise failing semester grades to a 70 (Math, ELA, Science & Social Studies) if they attend 6 of the 7 sessions. Please see the remaining dates on the schedule below.

Session Dates:

April 13th - Science STAAR & Social Studies STAAR Boot Camp (8th Grade Only)

April 20th - Math STAAR Boot Camp (all grades)
April 27th - Last Day

Each Saturday session begins at 8:00 am and end at 12:00 noon. Saturday School will serve many purposes to address students’ needs. We will provide activities to address intervention needs (ie, closing academic learning gaps, STAAR Intervention, and grade recovery). Students will do learning activities in core content areas. You can drop off and pick up your student off in the front of the school. We will provide the students with breakfast and a snack before they leave.

Please contact me if you have any questions or would like more information: lacey.ajibola@pfisd.net.

Our campus will be participating in viewing the solar eclipse on Monday, April 8th. From 12:55 pm - 1:38 pm, the front office will be closed. All staff will be supporting the students during this time.

Please pick up your student before this time if you are needing to sign them out. We have reviewed safety precautions with the students on Friday. We will view them again on Monday morning. All students will receive and inspect their glasses prior to leaving the building to view the solar eclipse.

Please keep the STAAR testing dates in mind as you plan. Please plan around these days as much as possible. These days will require us to be a secure campus so visitors will not be allowed. All 8th grader students will test on Wednesday, April 10th. All 6th and 7th grade students will test on Thursday, April 11th. Please make sure your student brings their devices fully charged on their testing day. Make-ups will be given on Friday. Please avoid picking up your students during their testing times.

OUR DIAMONDBACKS RISE AGAIN!!

On Friday, the Dessau Wind Ensemble beautifully performed their concert program at the Region 26 Concert and Sight Reading evaluation at Pflugerville HS. The band members' dedication, long hours, and hard work paid off with straight 1s on stage and a 121 in sight reading. This earned them an overall sweepstakes award. Congrats to our students, their families, and Mr. Larusch and Mr. Carrera for the hard work you all have put in! We are so grateful and proud of you!

Keith Terry is a nationally known comedian who reached out to PfISD earlier in the year to host a pfamily pfriendly comedy show in which ALL proceeds will go directly to Pfood Pfairness. He saw PfISD students on the news who created this non-profit and was moved to take action. This has been a labor of love and PfISD wants to support our students by sharing the event as far and wide as possible. Please come out and support if you can.

If you are receiving letters for attendance, these are generated and sent out once a student's attendance reaches a certain number in Skyward. If you feel there is an error with your student's attendance please reach out to our student records specialist Mrs. Amy Martinez and your students grade level-principal so that we can correct the error.

Amy Martinez

Student Records Specialist

Amy.Martinez@pfisd.net

Robert Herrera

8th Grade Assistant Principal

Robert.Herrera@pfisd.net

Terrence Stith

7th Grade Assistant Principal

Terrence.Stith@pfisd.net

Alicia Ramirez

6th Grade Assistant Principal

Alicia.Ramirez@pfisd.net

Students must have no tardies to participate in or attend sporting events as spectators weekly. The tardy count resets every week. The tardy count period is from Thursday of the current week to Wednesday of the next week. Students that are tardy twice or more within one week will be assigned to lunch detention. If tardies continue, students will incur additional consequences. Please help us stress the importance of being to class on time.

Congrats to Kaleb D., Benin A., Layla H. and Daisy V. for leading in points this past week!

Parents can review the student expectations on the Dessau Middle School website. Once on the webpage, go to the " About Us" tab and scroll down to the "Campus Rules & Regulations". There, you can find our Dessau Middle School Student Expectations, Cell Phone Policy, requirements for student attendance of extracurricular events, and the student ID policy. The district dress code policy can be found here. We are currently in the process of getting all 6th grade and new students' IDs printed. Once students have their student ID badges, they will be required to wear them daily.

As we begin to have more events beginning after school, I want to remind all parents/guardians and students of the expectations we have in place for students to participate in and/or attend extracurricular events. We hold our Diamondbacks to high standards. In order to participate in extracurricular events weekly, (this includes playing in or attending games and attending after school recreational events) students should not have:

• any referrals, detentions, or suspensions,
• any tardies (unexcused)

If a students has any or all of the above stated circumstances during the week, they will not be allowed to participate in athletic games or attend the game as a spectator for that week. The reports are ran weekly, from one game day to the next. Please discuss the importance of positive conduct with your student. During grade level assemblies last week, we discussed theses expectations with all students. We do not want any of our students to miss out on opportunities. Coaches and activity sponsors will be notified of any athlete or student member that is on the list for disciplinary or tardy reasons.

Student will not be admitted into games or extracurricular activities without student IDs.

Student that are eligible to attend the game, MUST go home at the end of the school day. Students may not wait on campus for the games to begin. This leaves students without adult supervision for 2 hours. Any student remaining on campus to attend the game will be denied admission into the game. A parent/guardian will be called to pick the student up. Students must go home and may return to attend the game at 5:00 pm. All games generally begin at 5:30 pm. Backpacks must be left at home - backpacks are not allowed into games.

Breakfast and lunch is free to all students. You can visit the Nutrislice menus to see what the school breakfast and lunch menus offer.