District Office Position Updates

Ms. Xareni Flores is now the District Coordinator—Instructional Support/ESL/Testing Coordinator (PCN 10559). With her background as Dean of Academics and experience in coaching and HR, she will lead efforts for targeted interventions and coordinate testing and ESL duties. Mr. Gurlek will oversee the district's HR needs.

Ms. Abigail Rodriguez is the new District HR Manager (10135). With her HR and operations experience, she will focus on recruiting and retaining top talent. Her leadership as District Manager of Operations brought key improvements to South Texas.

Mr. Enver Topsakal is the District HR Specialist (10716). With 24 years of educational experience, he will assist with hiring, onboarding, and employee benefits. His dedication to education makes him an invaluable team member.

Mr. Gungor Sahin is appointed District STEM/GT/CTE Coordinator (10307). With extensive experience as a teacher, administrator, and Micro-Credential Ambassador, he will lead STEM, CTE, and GT programs. He was also the 2020-21 HPS Teacher of the Year.

Dr. Halid Kaplan will serve as Dean of Academics at Harmony Science Academy-San Antonio (12923). As the former District STEM/GT/CTE Coordinator, he led advancements in CTE completion rates and STEM competitions. He is poised to drive further growth at the campus.

OPERATIONS & BUSINESS

Training Materials

Here is the Principal Munis Guide

All Munis and Frontline Resources can be found here.

Campus Visits

Visit Schedule : District coordinators will visit campuses on weekly basis.

PROGRAMS

HB1416 Updates

Campuses are working on their HB1416 lists. We will be working on uploading the new student rosters to TIDE and then the data will be available in the Texas Assessment website. 

Updates in PowerBI will be done by the end of next week Sep. 6th

We will then build the intervention groups for the required hours.  

For the programs like IXL the central office will not purchase these items due to the integration issues. If the campus chooses to order the students will need to manually login to the program. The Central Office will consider adding this to the clever system for next year. 

Curriculum Resource HUB-USE FOR WT

Curriculum Resource Hub (for Admin)

Reading Screeners-Updated

Assessment Windows

mCLASS testing | K-5 -- 9/3-9/16 ← UPDATED

CIRCLE testing | PreK -- 9/3-9/30 ← UPDATED

NWEA Map Fall Growth | K-8 -- 8/26-9/20 → about three weeks remaining

*plus Map Fluency for some in gr. 7

Req. Training NWEA Map Fluency Training-7th grade

MAP Fluency Training NWEA Requirement

• Tuesday, September 24
• 2 hours /live virtual workshop | 2:00-4:00 CT
• Attendees: 1 RLS or campus coach or DOA per campus
• If the RLS at a campus is not able to attend, the attendee for the campus will need to provide the training information to the RLS. At minimum, at least one person from each campus is expected to attend.

Req. Training mClass Data Trainings for Campus Admin

Session: Building a data-driven culture for leaders

Focus: How to read BOY mCLASS data at a school level

Outcome: Participants will leave with an action plan to target key systems to drive stronger student and teacher outcomes

Audience: Elementary Deans of Academics (required) / elementary Principals (recommended)

Format/Duration: Virtual / 3 hours

Dates/Times:

• Tuesday, September 24 9:00-12:00 CT
• Thursday, September 26 2:00-5:00 CT
• Friday, September 27 9:00-12:00 CT
• Tuesday, October 1 12:00 - 3:00 CT
• Wednesday, October 2 9:00-12:00 CT

Sign up sheets will be shared as soon as session dates and times are finalized.

Each elementary DoA must sign up for and complete ONE of the training opportunities listed above.

Virtual Content-Based Language Instruction for Leaders (CBLI) Training with Region 4

Content-Based Language Instruction (CBLI) for Leaders | Virtual training

Explore an integrated approach to language instruction in which language is developed within the context of content of English Language Arts through the Leadership lens. Participants will leave with ideas for supporting teachers and staff on how to engage emergent bilingual students at beginning and intermediate proficiency levels in English.

Region 4 ESC

$75.00 / Evelyn Martinez, Susana Abanobi

Tuesday, September 17 | 9:00-12:00

ESL Certification Training for Teachers

Free live-virtual training sessions

Variety of days/times

CPE credit available

Certification Prep ESL Supplemental Course (#154)

Asynchronous online prep courses are also available for both:

ESL Supplemental 154 | Bilingual Supplemental 164

Resource: 23-24 Teacher Certification List

Virtual Literacy Pep Rally

Free Literary Pep Rally to kick off 24-25 Author Study season

• Read aloud with young-adult author, Kwame Alexander; plus guest appearances, Q&A time (25-minute event)
• Tuesday, September 17 | 12 CT / 11 MT
• For students of all ages
• Free, but registration is required

COLLEGE AND CAREER

HASA and Home Visit Reports

Engagement Reports HASA and Home Visits

• PO for promo gift Bag
• Home Visit Drive
• Home Visit Recognitions
• Principals visit International Families (PTO, New Families, Leaders)
• Home Visit Folder
• Sep 13th Due for Club Enrollments on Skyward (academic and athletic competitions email)

CTE Report 2024

CTE Report Details

Campus CTE Comparisons

programs-of-study-faq-2024.pdf

How will programs of study affect A-F state accountability? Completion of a program of study is among the indicators used for evaluating the performance of high school campuses and districts that include high school campuses. To allow districts time to implement industry-based certification aligned to programs of study, the following transition timeline provides guidance on how the alignment will be phased in over the next three years. The requirement to earn an IBC plus an aligned level two or higher course applies for the Class of 2024, the Concentrator requirement applies for the Class of 2025, and the Completer requirement applies for the Class of 2026.

COMMUNICATIONS

Videographer Requests

If your campus needs updated footage of the front of your school, coverage of a big event, enrollment promotional videos, etc., please fill out this form on Monday.com with project details and the date you would need our Videographer from Central Office to visit.

Newsletter Entries

For the new school year, we will continue using Monday.com to collect campus news stories for the District Newsletter. Each campus should submit at least one story each month. This helps connect our families within the district and attract potential parents by showcasing the amazing things happening at your campus.

Facebook

During the next principals meeting, we will discuss your campus' Facebook analytics. I would like to congratulate HSA-Brownsville and HSI-Brownsville for reaching the targeted goal of five posts per week, resulting in strong engagement each month. Please ensure you are sharing news and updates on social media platforms regularly using Harmony branding. Once the Coordinator position in Laredo and the Intern position in Brownsville are filled, a social media training session will be held for all social media managers. This folder has been shared with all campus social media managers.

Survey Calendar 2024-25

Please be informed that the survey calendar for the 2024-2025 academic year is now available. It includes key dates for various surveys such as the College Aspiration Pre-Survey, School Culture Survey, Organizational Effectiveness, and others. Kindly review the attached calendar to ensure alignment with these timelines.