HIGHLAND PARK NIGHT AT TACO SHACK BOWL! We are on again this year. Mark your calendars for Thursday, August 29, 7:30 pm, to join us as we cheer on our McCallum Knights Football Team at House Park. There will be a limited number of comped tickets to share (hopefully I will have these in my hot little hands by Rally Day) and as last year, our students will be able to hit the field at half time to welcome the players back to the game. It was an awesome experience last year and I have no doubt it will be again. Comped ticket or not, hope to see you there.
We have quite a few new people joining us this year due to several life changes for some of our staff. Some of the changes you may know and a couple happened over the summer. Here are the newest staff members at our school...
I'm thrilled to have Jose Ortiz on board as one of our newest custodians. Seeing him
Joining our ASCC staff this year will be David Woodberry. David has a long and varied career, including a stint as owner of Pure Eye Photography in Los Angeles, Director of Residential Life at Harvard College (yep!), to most recently being a stay at home dad for son Samuel. David originally hails from Australia, having earned his B.A in Philosophy from the University of New England in New South Wales and, after meeting David, I believe the following statement kind of sums up who he is and why we are glad he is joining our staff...
Kids are our future, so to a large extent we are our kids’
future. Regardless of how, I am here to facilitate their development with love,
kindness, playfulness and guidance.
So welcome David and welcome to son Samuel who will also join us as a Scottie Kinder this year. Fun!
A big welcome to Nate Haynes III, coming to us as our new part time PE teacher. Nate tells me he "graduated from James Bowie High School
and attended and played basketball at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos. After I
graduated college, I played basketball in Mexico and worked in accounting
during the off-season before I made the decision to teach and coach. I have taught and coached for the last 6
years in AISD. Basketball, football, and
track are the sports I have coached at Reagan High School during the last 6
years. Outside of school I have been a personal trainer for the past 7 years
with Lift U.P. and an AAU basketball coach for the past 4 years. Some of my
hobbies include basketball, personal training, and learning new facts about the
body to help people take care of their body.
With this being my 7th year in AISD I am excited to be a part
of the Highland Park staff." We are excited to have you join us as well Nate!Samantha "Sammie" Bulluck is on board as our newest Kinder teacher, coming to us with a B.S. in Elementary Education from Oklahoma Sate University. Sammie is an Austin area
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Tiffany Perkins some of you already do know and love. She was David Robenhorst's student teacher extraordinaire and we are pumped she is joining us as a 4th grade teacher. Tiffany "was born and raised in Austin, and loves this city so much. I got my Bachelor's at Texas State in San Marcos. I'm the oldest of five kids and the only girl (yay me!). My family loves playing board games and it is now a tradition that we play board games every family holiday. We have even started to include them on birthdays as well. My family and I are always on the lookout for new ones"...just an early FYI parents! Tiffany also tells me she is an avid reader, especially science fiction or historical fiction books. She knits, has always enjoyed the arts and was even a nanny one summer, traveling with the family around Germany and Austria. Tiffany also enjoys physical activity of any kind, especially running on the hike and bike trail. She's now training to participate in a half-marathon this fall. She states the physical activity helps her "de-stress" from the demands of the job and I couldn't agree more. Love it!
Finally, two mid-summer hires for our campus. Fourth grade teacher Tamra Snell has left us in order to take a much coveted (and rarely found) librarian's position in another school district. Absolutely hated to see her go, but good for her as she was ready for a next step! That said, we are truly fortunate in that we found Elizabeth Duquette, who moved to Austin from North Carolina with her civil engineer husband last fall. Elizabeth holds a BA in Spanish from UNC-Asheville (including a summer internship at Cambridge) and has eight years teaching experience, most of those in 4th grade. This teaching experience includes teaching at an NC Gifted & Talented magnet school (when I spoke to a former principal, she told me she was heartsick to lose her!), as well as a year long stint teaching in Spain. Her husband hails originally from Spain and in fact, they both spent the summer there visiting family. I know we are so fortunate to have found Elizabeth. Fun facts include her "crazy love" for dogs (see her dog Maci in the photo), her guilty pleasure of "occasional" reality tv watching (she told our interview committee it makes her appreciate her own life that much more!), as well as serving as a volunteer with The Mountain Echoes Storytelling Festival in Asheville. Glad you are here Elizabeth...and Maci too!
And last but not least is our newest teaching hire, Ms. Jordan Zabilka. Jordan is taking the place of first grade teacher Margaret Williams who has moved to the country and now accepted a job close to her new home. The first grade team, Sally Hunter, and I had some top-notch candidates during the hiring process, but I have to tell you we fell in love with Jordan. This young teacher was poised, spot on with what she needed to do in a classroom (diagnostic assessment tools, reading-writing workshop specifics, differentiation for varied learners...), confident, knowledgeable, and came highly recommended by many others, including those at Doss where Jordan student taught, as well as a former co-worker, our very own Katie Ferguson. Jordan is "a former Scottie, graduating from Highland Park High School in Dallas, and loves the opportunity to represent the mascot again." She holds a B.S in Applied Learning and Development from UT, with additional years of study in Special Education at Arizona State University. In fact, for the majority of her time at UT, Jordan participated in Best Buddies, an organization that works with students and adults with intellectual disabilities. Jordan sums up her teaching philosophy by stating, "I believe that learning should be fun. I provide many opportunities for students to play games to enhance their learning. Educational games are both engaging and effective. I use games and technology for math and literacy activities. Brain Breaks are another method that I use. These are quick, kinesthetic breaks that promote cognitive functioning." This self described "over-prepared" teacher is simply going to be a wonderful addition to our first grade team.Welcome Jordan and all of our latest and greatest staff members.
Last thoughts before I close out this long post. Allow me a few words on STAAR. Our students (your children) did a remarkable job on the 12-13 state assessments, all the while HP's hard working teachers, support staff, and community arts providers kept the learning authentic. All students were provided rigorous, engaging, creative learning experiences. I'm proud to say we didn't teach to the test or structure our day around the test, but decided to focus on the bigger picture - the type of learner, worker, citizen we all are aiming for post high school. Our passing results based on the first assessment given (remember, at fifth grade any student who did not pass the first assessment, was given two more opportunities to pass STAAR reading and math before results were published) are seen below:
- READING - 3rd grade at 97%, 4th grade at 98%, 5th grade at 99%
- MATH - 3rd grade at 96%, 4th grade at 95%, 5th grade at 99%
- SCIENCE - 5th grade at 99%
- WRITING - 4th grade at 97%
So, given the above, just know we will keep our eye on the ball with all things Creative Classroom/Any Given Child initiative (this is Year III of the work that's working and we will now enhance/expand our understanding and practice in science and math), we will additionally look at needs in K-5 writing and math curriculum/instructional alignment (this work has already begun), and continue to enhance our inclusive practices through SEL and Courageous Conversations within our staff ranks. I know every AISD school is in the throes of the work that is never easy, but always rewarding. Hats off to all of them.
For me, our superintendent, Dr. Meria Carstarphen, best summed up the work ahead in her recent press release regarding STAAR ratings. "In AISD, we are shifting the focus away from a culture of testing-which can be punitive and narrowly focused on test results-to one that emphasizes academic standards of excellence and the strengths and interests of the whole child with art programs, athletics, health and wellness initiatives and social emotional learning."
Welcome Back, Scotties to a banner year ahead!
