LISD E-Newsletter

December 11, 2020 

Admin Alley

Lackland ISD Statement Concerning In-Person Instruction

 

Some of you have expressed concerns about our schools staying open after reading or hearing about the San Antonio Metro Health’s directive advising against in-person education. Please know that we take the safety of our students and staff very seriously. Since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, Lackland ISD has had one COVID case on our campuses.  We believe that our campuses are safe for students and staff and we believe we have precautions in place to help keep our students and staff safe.  We cannot of course make any guarantees, but we do believe that children need to be in school and that school is the safest place for them to be during the day.  

 

As a parent, you have every right to keep your child(ren) home and have them participate in remote learning and we will always support your right to do so.  However, the Texas Education Agency has mandated that we offer in-person education  to everyone who request it. Therefore, Lackland ISD will continue to offer in-person education unless we are otherwise mandated by the Texas Education Agency or the Governor of Texas to close our doors. Please stay safe!

Around the District

Holiday Fun-Virtual BINGO; New Parent Webinars; more grant and scholarship opportunities for students!  Enjoy!

 

https://www.smore.com/4b9zk

 

Juazzelyn Barrera, MEd, LPC Intern, CSC|Military Student Transition Consultant

Military Child Education Coalition 

[p]  210.338.0604 | 210.357.5113

*English form

 

*Spanish form

Stacey Happenings

7th grade science has created their own creatures for the “National Boots Geographic” magazine. Here are the articles each student wrote about their newly discovered creatures. These articles provide unique backgrounds to each creature, including how they reproduce asexually (the unit being studied). 

 

Here is a close up of a few of them. 

Meet Mrs. Boots!

by: Xyril Ramos, senior

Mrs. Jade Boots is the new 7th and 8th grade science teacher at Stacey. She grew up in Arizona and lived in San Antonio ten years ago, where she worked at SeaWorld in the Education & Conservation Dept. Her husband is active-duty military (19 years) and she most recently lived at Travis AFB in California, where her husband was stationed as a flight engineer for the C-5. 

 

While in California, she taught 8th grade science at Lee Middle School in Woodland and mentored the Ocean Conservation Club. Mrs. Boots  received her bachelor's degree in Science and her master's degree in the Art of Teaching.  She is an award-winning teacher, receiving Recognition for Educational Commitment Awards from the California Legislature, Congress and Senate. Mrs. Boots loves playing soccer; she played in middle school, high school, and college while in Arizona.  Mrs. Boots enjoyed her coaching opportunity while teaching in California.  She is also a fan of the ‘ocean’ life. Her son Caden attends Lackland Elementary, where he is a third grader in Ms. Martinez’ class.

 

The best part of teaching for Mrs. Boots are: first, the “ah ha” moments, when the student finally understands the topic at hand for the first time; second, being able to teach a subject and make it fun, memorable, and interesting by doing hands-on labs and activities; and third, being able to make great relationships with the middle school students and guide them through their jr. high years.

THANK You Mrs. Boots!

We're Jonesing for Technology!

 

An interview with Dr. Kyle Jones

by: Jacob Sims, senior

 

Dr. Jones is the Director of Technology for Lackland ISD. In this position, he has to oversee the infrastructure of technical operations, manage teams of IT employees, track technology in order to achieve business goals, eliminate security risks, increase user satisfaction, and maintain operations and systems.

What did you do before you became the director of Technology here at Stacey?

“I’m the Director of Technology for the district, so I oversee technology for the entire district . . . not just for Stacey.  Before I became the director here, I was the director at a private boarding school outside of Philadelphia.  It was a similar position there, except that I was also in charge of overseeing the library . . . which had to operate from around 7 AM in the morning until about 10 PM at night so that students had a place to study and do homework.”

 

How did you get into the technological aspect of things?

“I actually wasn’t a techie when I was in high school.  I mean, I didn’t even have a computer until I get ready to leave for college.  My undergraduate degree is from Harvard, and my first job there was to shred all of the resumes/curriculum vitae’s of the professors that Harvard decided NOT to hire . . . and there were a LOT!  While working there, I showed an aptitude for figuring out what was wrong with computers, and it just kind of developed from there.  I was soon helping out my fellow college students get connected to a wired network (a relatively novel thing in those times), and it kind of snowballed to the point that I was running my own consulting business where I helped various departments at Harvard figure out how to use the “world wide web” to their advantage.”

 

What is your favorite thing to do during the pandemic?

“Well, I might say that laying in my hammock was my favorite thing to do during the pandemic, but making sure that all the technology worked for remote learning – and that students, teachers, and parents were supported as best we could – I didn’t have a lot of time to do that.  I’ve been enjoying visiting some of the different city and state parks, and that’s been nice.”

 

Where did you get your PhD?

“My Ed. D. (Doctor of Education) is from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education.”

 

Do you have any other degrees/certifications?

“Yes.  My bachelor is in psychology, and I have a Master of Business Administration from Babson College.  Babson is a very cool place: it’s the top-ranked entrepreneurial business school.  Students who go there often start their own business.  As far as certifications, I’m certified as a school superintendent.”

 

There are rumors that you are into growing bonsai trees. If that is true, then could you tell us a little about that?

“I am into growing bonsai trees!  I probably have around 30 of them in different stages of, ahem, beauty.  (Some I’ve just started working on, and those are on the uglier side of things.)  I started the hobby back when I was in junior high.  A bonsai artist offered a class at a local nursery, and I took it with my father and was hooked!  I later took a long road trip with a high school friend and left my bonsai behind in the care of my mother and father, and, well, it died while in their care.  I guess my father wasn’t paying attention in class.  So, my first bonsai is unfortunately no longer alive.”

 

What is your favorite thing about your career?

“Hmmm . . . that’s a tough question, honestly, because I do enjoy my job.  My job can be kind of difficult, as I have to work with a lot of different hardware, software, cloud solutions, etc.  Sometimes, I view myself as a bit of a symphony conductor . . . trying to bring together what are sometimes very different pieces and make them blend together into something that hopefully plays out somewhat smoothly for the people (students, teachers, parents, and staff) that have to use them.  That can be challenging, because not all of the pieces always fit together easily.”

 

What would you sing at Karaoke night?

“My favorite type of music is jazz, and I really like Duke Ellington and Miles Davis.  I actually played jazz trumpet in high school, and I performed in the pit orchestra for musicals in college.  But I also listen to gospel, bossa nova, and even country on occasion.  (On country, I’ll even begrudgingly admit that I enjoyed Miley Cyrus covering “Jolene” in an interesting series she did called “Backyard Sessions.”)  I enjoy a good a cappella group, and, yes, I think Pentatonix qualifies.  I also listen to top 100, too, on occasion: Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes, etc.  Most recently, I’ve enjoyed listening to Allie Sherlock, a young busker (street performer) from Ireland, who has made quite the name for herself on YouTube doing covers.”

 

What is your favorite type of music & what is your favorite song/artist?

“It’s funny that you should ask that, as my wife is from Japan, the origin of karaoke, and we have quite the karaoke rig.  She would say that I should sing “Lady in Red” by Chris De Burgh, but I think this has less to do with my music prowess in singing that song . . . there’s a whispered “I love you” as the final line in the song, and I MIGHT be a bit guilty of overdoing that part because it feels to me like an odd afterthought in the song.  I also enjoy singing Smash Mouth’s “All Star.”  I did have a girlfriend who quite enjoyed making the shape of an “L” on her forehead, though it was fortunately at others and not at me . . . at least not where I could see it.”

 

What are your hobbies?

”Hobbies?  Well, we’ve talked about bonsai and jazz trumpet already.  I’m also really into cycling.  I don’t mountain bike, and I’m not super-fast, but I immensely enjoy the greenways and bike paths here in San Antonio.  I bike around 10 miles a day for exercise, and I’ll do some longer rides on the weekends for fun.”

Stacey Spirit week

Students in grades 6-12 will take semester exams December 16th - 18th. We will run a modified schedule seen below. Students who are distance learning should plan to take exams online at the scheduled time for each class.

Any student who will PCS before the end of the semester must take semester exams in order to earn credit for the first semester.

Friday, December 18th -
Early Release at 12:30 pm
*No Late Bus on December 18th

Wednesday, January 6th - (A Day)
First Day of Spring Semester

Elementary Happenings

Mrs. Martino's class taking pictures of slow changes to the earth's surface for their science scavenger hunt. 

Fourth Grade “Jean”iuses (Geniuses) 

Slippin’ into the Holidays with 4th Grade!

“Sneak” ing into the holidays like….Fourth Grade!

Fourth Grade is “Sleigh”ing into the holidays! 

Please congratulate our November “Lackland Elementary Student of the Month”, Kendall Walker! 

Kendall is currently a 4th grader at Lackland Elementary.  She was nominated by her teacher, Ms. Ramirez! 

As a Lackland Elementary Student of the Month, Kendall was awarded a certificate in front of her classmates and she had lunch with her teacher and school counselor!  Also, her nomination letter, certificate and her picture are all displayed in the main office!  Congratulations, Kendall!

Miss Coffey is collecting data from parents of elementary students to improve parent/teacher communication in regards to music class. With the exception of student grade level, this survey is anonymous.   Please complete the survey below at your convenience if you are the parent of an elementary student at Lackland Elementary School. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

Here is the link: https://forms.gle/HgnRk3VhKpv1nXsb7

PTSO Spot light 

Good Information

Lackland ISD has incredible Homework Help and Tutoring resources through our Local Public Libraries! 

Both the JBSA Lackland Library and the San Antonio Public Library have great Homework Help resources for grades Kinder–College, and for Parents!

For JBSA Lackland Library, go to https://sites.google.com/view/jbsalibrarieskidsathome
To get a JBSA Lackland Library Card – give them a call at 210-671-3610 from 11AM-4PM Monday-Friday and they can set it up over the phone.
SAPL’s Back to School Website: https://guides.mysapl.org/backtoschool
To get a SAPL Library Card: https://mysapl.ent.sirsi.net/
 

If you have questions or need help, feel free to reach out to your LISD Librarian!

 

SAPL Homework Help

 

JBSA Library Homework help at home

 

Tutor.com for Parents

*Military One Source

 

*Steven A Cohen Military Family Life Clinic at Endeavors

 

*The Ecumenical Center for Education, Counseling and Health

Wednesday, January 13, 2021
9:00 a.m.--12:00 p.m.
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) 101
Challenging behaviors may often disrupt the learning
environment for students with Autism Spectrum
Disorder. When typical behavior programs do not
work and the behavior continues, what do you do?
This training addresses how to assess the challenging
behaviors to better identify the core issue. You will
then learn the strategies and tools that can support a
positive learning environment.
Session ID# 67265
Webinar ID# 71091

Thursday, January 14, 2021
9:00 a.m.--12:00 p.m.
Understanding the Texas English Language
Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS)
for English learners
In this training, parents will learn about the 4 critical
components that make up the TELPAS English learner
state exam. The session will focus on strategies and
resources in supporting your child in the 4 language
domains of listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Parents will be provided tips and resources on how to
help their child become proficient using expressive and
receptive language skills.
Session ID# 67269
Webinar ID# 71092

Random Shots

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