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,

As we enter the month of March, we encourage you to consider how you can each personally contribute to improving our campus communities. Your invaluable assistance is required as part of our continuous commitment to providing students with the best possible learning environments. In addition, we are forming an enrollment task force and are looking for additional volunteers from our campuses. To obtain further information, please contact your principal.

I want to emphasize the importance of each of us playing a role in maintaining and enhancing the positive image of our school district. Every interaction we have, whether with students, parents, or community members, shapes our school's overall perception. It's crucial that we consistently speak positively about our campus and showcase the incredible work being done here.

Remember, the best advertisement for any business, including our school, is a referral from satisfied students and staff. When students and staff speak highly of their experiences at RMA, it resonates far beyond our walls. It influences prospective families' decisions and strengthens our ties within the communities.

So, let's continue championing the great things happening at our school. Whether through sharing success stories, participating in community events, or simply exuding positivity in our daily interactions, each of us has a part to play in shaping our school's narrative.

Thank you once again for your continued dedication and commitment to excellence. With Spring Break next week, please use this time to recharge and return rejuvenated to finish the 23-24 school year strong. Together, we will continue to make each campus within RMA a beacon of learning, growth, and positivity in our communities.

Respectfully,

Dr. Armard Anderson

Superintendent of Schools

March 11th - 15th - - Spring Break

March 29th - Good Friday

For students enrolled in NCCER (CTE program), our dedicated special education teacher, Ms. Tessie Sanders, plays a crucial role in supporting her students. With her unwavering commitment and expertise, she ensures that all students, regardless of their unique learning needs, have equal access to educational opportunities. She employs various instructional strategies and accommodations to meet the diverse needs of her students, providing them with the necessary tools and support to succeed in their chosen career paths. Through personalized instruction and individualized learning plans, she creates a nurturing and inclusive environment where students can thrive. Her dedication and unwavering support empower her students to overcome challenges, build their confidence, and achieve their goals in the exciting world of career and technical education.

Graduating With More Than a Diploma is a mantra that Tessie Sanders-Matlock, SPED Case Manager/Provider implemented into her professional practice when working with Juniors/Seniors/ & Adult Learners on her caseload that need to understand that maximizing one's educational opportunities is paramount. "These kids need to maximize these same set of opportunities that those of us that graduated "Back In the Day" from trades and other certifying programs that spring boarded us into great first starts as we "Transitioned" from high school into college, the workforce, or the military," says Tessie Sanders-Matlock. She concludes by stating, "Graduating With More Than a Diploma" needs to free your mind as a young professional who's about to step foot into a world of opportunity, technology, and promise as an American student. With certification programs at your fingertips, a student graduating from high school in this day and time should never be able to say: "I don't know what to do."

RMA Lubbock received an incredible surprise from DTR! Ms. Perez's NCCER class was presented with their tool box, and a representative from Diverse Trade Resources (DTR) came to demonstrate its features and speak to the students.

If you have questions please contact Ms. Perez @ vperez@rma-tx.org.

The RMA Odessa Law Enforcement team attended the Texas law competition last weekend. They received 3rd place!!! We are so excited for them! We would like to get a write up for not only the Odessa website, but for the RMA website, along with the Odessa American newspaper.

Way to go Mr. McNeese!
JANUARY 2024 EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
Mr. McNeese has set the standard for student achievement as it relates to STAAR EOCs. More than that, Mr. McNeese’s leadership impacts RMA Amarillo by identifying students in the Amarillo community who want to graduate early, and Mr. McNeese facilitates “what’s next” with these students, which is a military enlistment.

To date, RMA Amarillo has graduated four students that went onto the military and completed bootcamp for either the Navy or the Marines.

Thank you, Mr. McNeese!

RMA Corpus Christi hosted a sweetheart luncheon on Valentine's Day for students and parents. Food was donated by Grimaldis Pizza

A representative from South Plains College spoke to junior and senior students about the numerous programs of study and financial aid for college.

As we approach the end of the calendar year, please check your pay stub to verify your home address. If you need to update any information, please complete the appropriate document in Talent Ed.

Talent Ed Log In: https://rmaschools.tedk12.com/sso/Account/Login?pid=9

Finance SharePoint

https://rmatx.sharepoint.com/sites/RMAFinance

2023-2024 Payroll Calendar is uploaded to the Finance Sharepoint

2023-2024 Payroll Calendar.pdf

Ascender Employee Portal

https://portals20.ascendertx.com/EmployeePortal/login?distid=014801

Location for W-2 Forms and Check Stubs

What No One Told Me About "Classroom Management" as a Teacher

1. See, Hear, Value, and Accept Each Student as an Individual

Effective "classroom management" and effective teaching begin with a teacher who is, to a significant degree, smitten with the students as individual human beings and relishes the opportunity to make a difference in their lives.

Even at the high school level, young people need to feel seen, heard, accepted, and valued. They experience learning in a far more motivating context when they see that their teacher wants to teach them important things than when they conclude that the teacher is largely about teaching content and that their presence in the classroom is secondary. (I have not found that to be different with adult learners.) This caring is the foundation of trust between students and teachers and thus the foundation of effective “classroom management” and effective teaching.

2. Structure the Class in Service of Learning

Learning requires structure and order, but the structure and order should be in service of learning—not for the sake of demonstrating who’s in charge.

If the first day of school is about going over classroom procedures and listening to the consequences of violating them, students will find it difficult to feel that the environment is safe and welcoming or that the teacher finds them trustworthy.

Young people, like all of us, need structure in their lives but how and why teachers go about establishing that order makes a great difference.

3. Effective Teaching Naturally Leads to Effective “Classroom Management”

Effective “classroom management” is not a separate entity from effective teaching. If “what” we teach and “how” we teach are lively, varied, sometimes surprising, often joyful and meaningful, both teachers and learners are largely relieved from the burdens implicit in teacher-student power struggles.

As noted above, my first lesson plan for my history students had only a feeble connection to the course, world history. I gave them a crossword puzzle and posted it on the chalkboard on a giant sheet of paper so we could complete it together. It completely absorbed their attention.

4. Plan Proactively for When Lessons Go South

When we plan proactively for predictable classroom malfunctions, both we and our students are likely to be able to respond in ways that prevent derailments or at least maintain the dignity of those involved.

We eliminate many, if not most, of the reasons students act out when we have a plan for when a lesson goes awry, when students get restless, whether to address (or ignore) minor or more significant behavioral issues, when lessons are just a bit briefer than the general attention span in a class, or when the work we ask students to do is neither consistently too difficult nor consistently too simple for their various points of entry into the work.

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