Oak Hill Observer

Hello, Wonderful Oak Hill Community! We did it! We successfully completed the first week of the 22-23 school year. It was a great week, full of smiles, hugs, and happiness at seeing friends again.

We look forward to seeing everyone at Back to School Night this Tuesday from 5:30-7:30. We know everyone is busy and coming to school on multiple nights can be difficult, so we have opened up some new locations and will be seeing every grade level in one night. Each team will present together as a group with the exception of 2nd grade who will each be in their own classroom. We ask that students stay at home if at all possible so you are able to listen attentively to the presentations and ask any questions you may have.

You may have seen this week that the Texas Education Agency released school Accountability Ratings. We are SO EXCITED to announce that Oak Hill Elementary was rated a B! Our students made tremendous growth and helped our score to soar from an 79 to an 86. We are so proud of their hard work and the hard work of their teachers!

This week on Thursday morning, we will do our first safety drill of the year. This will be a fire and lockdown drill. We practice a drill every month of the school year. You also may notice more AISD police and Travis County Constables around the school. These are routine patrols that happen every year at the beginning of the school year, but we also have been notified that the frequency that we get routine patrols for the year will be more frequent. I wanted to let you know about both of these so you are not alarmed.

We are so excited about this school year! We appreciate your continued support of our students, teacher and community!

Lori Komassa

• August 23- Back to School Night (See flyer below for times/location)
• August 25- Fire and Lockdown Drill
• September 5 - Labor Day Holiday (No School for students/staff)
• September 7- General PTA Meeting- 8am
• September 12- CAC Meeting 3:30pm
• September 8- PTA Ice Cream Social Event 5:30-7:30
• September 28-29 - Parent/Teacher Conference Nights

PTA No Hassle Fundraiser
Support OHE Today!

How can you help our teachers and children?

Step 1: Donate now to the No Hassle Fundraiser at http://www.ohepta.org/store 100% of your donation goes directly to OHE PTA and our school’s needs and no products for students to sell or deliver! We recommend $65 per child, with an option to "stretch" to $100 per child if you can.

Step 2: Become a PTA member now at www.joinpta.org

*Share your voice! * Get connected! * Get Involved! It costs just $10 per adult (parent, grand-parent, friend, neighbor, etc!)

Help us reach our $20,000 goal by Oct 1st and help OHE soar!

Have questions? Contact nohassle@ohepta.org or membership@ohepta.org.

Thank you for your generosity and support of our school and our children!

I am so excited to bring Hip-Hop for Kidz back this year! We have a lot of fun working on a hip-hop routine to a popular song for six weeks and then we get to perform it for our families and OHE students! It will begin Wednesday, September 7 and runs through October 12.

Please click here for information and details in English about the class.

Please click here for information and details in Spanish about the class.

Please click here to sign up on the Google Form.

I look forward to getting started again!!

Thanks,

Mrs. Weber

OHE Counselor and Hip-Hop Teacher

Oak Hill is in need of one parent to serve on the Campus Advisory Council (CAC). Campus Advisory Councils are committees of parents, students, business and community representatives, teachers, principals, and other campus staff. The formation of CACs is required by state law (Texas Education Code, §11.251). Specific functions of CACs include providing review and comment on:

• Campus Educational Program
• Campus Performance
• Campus Improvement Plan
• Campus Staff Development Plan
• Campus-Level Waiver Requests to the State
• Campus Budget

We meet 8 times a year (likely by Zoom) to discuss the different topics above among others. If you would like to apply for a spot on the CAC, please fill out the application found HERE and email to lori.komassa@austinisd.org or return a hard copy to the school.

Please see an Introductory Letter from Ms. Gutierrez, our new parent support specialist (PSS). She is required to share and asks that you complete the following survey and return it to the school. (you will need to print and then fill out)

Parent Survey: English/Spanish

If you need a paper copy, we will have some available in the office. You can send the completed survey back to school with your child and their teacher will return it to Ms. Gutierrez. You can reach the PSS by email at yuridia.gutierrez@austinisd.org if you have any questions or need support.

Just a couple friendly reminders:

1) If your child needs to leave early for an appointment, please notify your child's teacher and the front office. If you need to make a 3:30 appointment, picking your child up no later than 2:30 is best. The front circle drive may already be occupied with cars at that time, so it is best to park on School Rd and walk over to the front door.

2) There are no lunches with students for the first 4 weeks of school. We want to allow the students the opportunity to learn the lunch procedures, systems and rules as well as build community with their class and get to know each other. After the 4 weeks, lunches with PARENTS are allowed on Wednesdays and Fridays only. Parents can only eat with their child and due to space restraints, must eat outside at the picnic tables.

AISD has updated the medication policy. We are now required to have a written physician/provider order for all medications administered on campus. The physician/provider can use their own school medication order form or they can sign the AISD Parent Authorization for Medication Authorization (attached). This policy includes any regular daily medications as well as things like tylenol, motrin or short term antibiotics. For those students who have emergency medications (ie. injectable epinephrine, inhalers, diabetes and seizure rescue medications) the allergy, asthma, diabetes, seizure specific order forms from the physician will be acceptable as a written order. Please know that we will not be able to accept any medications on the first day of school without a physician order. Feel free to call the health room at 512-414-5149 if you have any questions.

District Update:

Beginning in June, Food Service resumed pre pandemic operations, affecting which schools and students are eligible for free meals. The Department of Agriculture pandemic-related waivers that allowed us to provide free meals for all students, as well as free summer and afterschool meals at any school, expired at the end of the 2021-22 school year.

• All students will no longer automatically receive free breakfast and lunch.

• Students may be determined eligible for free or reduced-price meals through a variety of ways, outlined below.

• Beginning on the first day of school, students will dine using their current meal status - free, reduced-price, or paid. There is no 30-day grace period like in the past.

• We encourage families to complete a meal benefit application prior to the start of school to avoid accruing any negative balances.

• Students may add funds to their account by bringing cash to the cafeteria or caregivers may make online payments through their SchoolCafé account. Online payments are subject to a processing fee.

• If students exhaust their meal accounts, they may charge meals at any meal service as follows:

• Students in elementary and middle school may charge up to three meals.

• Students in high school may charge up to two meals.

• Once a student reaches their charge limit, if the account is not replenished, the student shall receive a courtesy meal, their choice of the available menu items for that day. We do not pull trays or provide an alternative meal. There is no limit to the number of courtesy meals a student may receive.

• We will notify caregivers of any negative meal account balances.

• All campuses will offer healthy à la carte Smart Snacks available for purchase. Students may purchase using cash or funds on their SchoolCafé account. Parents may set à la carte restrictions on a student's account by contacting their café manager.

Free Meal Eligibility:

Students may receive free meals by meeting one of the following criteria:

• Directly certified through state-funded benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

• Directly certified through foster care; migrant, homeless, or runaway programs; Head Start, or state-sponsored pre-K programs.

• Determined eligible by completing a free or reduced-price meal benefits application.

Meal Benefit Applications:

• We encourage online meal benefit applications for quicker and more efficient processing. Online applications will go live in July, accessible by creating an account at www.SchoolCafe.com/AustinISD.

• In August, schools will have paper applications available.

Masks:

With the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, students, staff and visitors are not required to wear face masks when on school properties, unless they have tested positive for COVID-19. Note: Per CDC guidance, individuals with a positive COVID-19 result will be required to wear a mask for five days after returning from quarantine/isolation.

• Masks are not required, but are encouraged at any time of the school day or in any school space.
• Masks are optional at all times.Face masks will continue to be provided for any student, staff, or visitor upon request.

• All students, staff, and visitors will be allowed to make their own choice.
  

Close Contact and Contact Tracing

• Campus administrators will notify all families of positive cases on the campus using a standard notification letter. Individual classroom letters will not be sent home.

• With masking now being optional, all students and staff at the campus may be considered close contacts when there is a positive case identified.

• Campus Administrators will not be required to track close contacts.

• Any asymptomatic individual (except those who have tested positive) may remain at school as long as they are asymptomatic.

Testing Availability

• Testing sites are located at specified district sites and can be found on the COVID-19 district webpage.

• All sites will accept insurance, medicaid, and self-pay.

• Site will be updated whenever vaccines are available.

Our campus has the opportunity to have a parent representative serve on the District Advisory Council (DAC).The District Advisory Council is a committee of parents, students, business and community representatives, teachers, principals, and other district staff. The formation of the DAC is required by state law (Texas Education Code, §11.251). Specific functions of the DAC include providing review and comment on:

• District Educational Program
• District Performance
• District Improvement Plan
• Student Code of Conduct
• District Staff Development Plan
• Waiver Requests to the State
• District Budget

Interested parent(s) shall submit the Standard Membership Application form / Spanish and the district advisory bodies coordinator will review all application(s). If more than one parent application is submitted per campus, placement on the DAC will be determined by DAC bylaws, Article IV: Section Five.

Website: www.oakhillelementary.org
Location: 6101 Patton Ranch Road, Austin, TX, USA
Phone: 512-414-2336
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OakHillElementary/
Twitter: @OakHillElem