Campus Staff- Communications Closeout: Please return all event materials that you have borrowed back to the Communications Department by June 2, 2023. (Prize wheel, table cloth, etc.) | |
Share appreciation and gratitude for a fellow CIS employee. Giving a shout out is a great way to recognize an individual or group for their extra effort and talent, and to contribute to a culture of appreciation, community, and kindness. | |
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Employee Excellence Nominee Spotlight: Dianna Matarazzo
“Dianna has a way to how she meets with students that allows them to fully trust her. Without her creating that environment, some of the students at our school would have no one they felt comfortable talking to. She never oversteps boundaries and is so amazing at getting the students to solve their own problem by asking the right questions. Dianna is actively striving towards change and lifts those around her up. Dianna always gets to school at 7:30 and tends to not leave campus until around 5PM. She actively engages with teachers and counselors on campus and is the walking example of why CIS is important. She collaborates with the counselors on next best practices for children and is a huge reason why a lot of these kids are able to start the change process. She listens and then takes action.”
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Employee Excellence Nominee Spotlight: Nicole Partin
“Nicole exemplifies the founding principle of CIS; establishing one-on-one relationships with individual students she supports at various campuses each day she steps foot onto a campus to provide support. Nicole is quickly able to build rapport with students, even the students who it may be difficult to get to open up. She provides emotional, psychological and physical safety for students and takes an actively listening approach. Nicole centers student voice and holds the students' best interest at the center of everything she does. Nicole is not only an advocate for her students on campuses but is a big advocate for the CIS program. Nicole does her do diligence at each campus to introduce herself to all members of the campus team, provide her business' cards to ensure communication follows openly and shares information about who CIS is and what CIS can do to support the students, families and the school community as a whole. When she is not actively focusing on integration onto a campus, she is behind the scenes taking a deep dive into campus data and documentation in CIS Nav. Quality results in relationships (w/students, families and staff) and data entry is a top priority of Nicole's. She has done tremendous work in her Program Support Specialist position this school year, for which I am truly grateful for! Nicole after starting supports at a new campus, began building relationships on the campus with admin, teachers/staff and students. After several interactions where she heard what is CIS? what is it that you do?, Nicole made it a point to share her elevator pitch, found ways to get involved with the school community, offered ways in which she could support and prioritized getting CIS's name out to the campus and students. Thank you Nicole for your dedication and commitment to the students and families we serve!” *excerpt
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Nominate someone for Employee Excellence. Click here for the form and here to learn about employee recognition & appreciation at CIS of Central Texas.
The deadline to nominate is May 26th and excellence awards will be announced at our August All-Staff.
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It was wonderful to have the entire CISCT team together for All-Staff last week! Click the link and share your thoughts about Spring All-Staff 2023: https://forms.gle/LiuHTmUmEFzXPSow9/ | |
[IT Notification] Auzmor's Course: Cultural Humility, a strength-based approach to Family Engagement | |
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Thank you all so much for your patience as we navigate the IT challenges with Auzmor. Below is additional guidance to help you complete this training.
Event: Auzmor's Course: Cultural Humility, a strength-based approach to Family Engagement.
https://ciscentraltexas.learn.auzmor.com/courses/249966
Issue: YouTube Video videos are blocked or showing up as errors.
Cause:
The IT Department has verified that some ISD’s are blocking those videos from running. Most likely those videos are tagged with “Not for Kids Content”, which some ISDs are filtering on.
Solution(s)
- Watch those videos outside of your ISD location. (Example: From your house or CIS Central)
- If you have access to a different computer, sign off your Auzmor Account and use another device to login into the course on Auzmor. Do this outside of your ISD location.
- If step #1 and #2 don’t work, please send a help desk ticket.
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Send an email to [email protected]
- Add in the Subject: Auzmor Support with Cultural Humility, a strength-based approach to Family Engagement.
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In the body of the email include your issue and request support from Jim Thompson, [email protected]
Issue: I have completed the training, but I am not getting to the assessment.
Cause:
The course requires you to watch all the videos and make sure you click and open all the content before you can take the assessment. Even if the course says, optional, Auzmor doesn’t recognize this as optional.
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Content creator note: I am aware of that now, so I will do better next time when creating content. I am sorry for causing frustration to all the users.
Solution
Make sure all the check marks on the left next to the content, are showing up at the end of each lesson. See example below or access this video with detailed information.
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For any additional issues, please send a help desk ticket and let your supervisor know.
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Send an email to [email protected]
- Add in the Subject: Auzmor Support with Cultural Humility, a strength-based approach to Family Engagement.
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In the body of the email include your issue and request support from Jim Thompson, [email protected]
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New CIS Central Office and Training Center Office Hours | |
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United Way seeking family engagement consultants.
United Way for Greater Austin is seeking parents and caregivers to serve as paid family engagement consultants who will collaborate with other community members and bring unique perspectives to the table to help inform the development of future strategic plans, ensuring that they are inclusive and representative of the community's needs and views. Please read and share this information with your networks.
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DEI Training Opportunity
Communities In Schools is pleased to have Whitney Drake, a senior staff attorney at American Gateways, provide a free DEI-centered training to our staff & network on the "public charge" test. This training will be personalized around our questions regarding public benefits & support programs that are available to families who have recently immigrated to the United States. American Gateways is an Austin, Texas non-profit organization that provides free and low-cost immigration legal services. Ms. Drake has worked at American Gateways since 2016. In this training, American Gateways will discuss the basics of U.S. immigration law, the “public charge” test (what it is, who it applies to, and when), and which public benefits are considered “safe” to receive for immigration purposes. They will provide referral resources for common issues including tax preparation, immigration legal aid, and family legal aid. The group will have ample time for Q&A.
CEUs will not be offered, but you can enroll in the Auzmor Event for credit toward our shared DEI goals. A recording will be available after the presentation. Please feel free to share in your networks widely! This will be a live, virtual training occurring over Zoom on Friday, May 19th, 9:30-11am.
Link
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Sign Up for a Checkout Meeting
Sign-ups are open for Checkout Meetings in June and July; if you are a direct service staff on the Campus Based Services team, please sign up for this required touchpoint about student data before you depart for summer break.
KPI Dashboard Updated
We have a 43% response rate this month – please take a moment to complete your KPI Survey for April is you haven’t done so already. The dashboard on Members Only has been updated as of 5/9, and will be updated again next week.
Thank you to our Apollo Beta Testers
THANK YOU to our Apollo beta testers! Representing 11 campuses, our beta testers have undergone just over 1.5 weeks in our new version of Apollo. Thank you so much to Ainaz, Ariana, Avery, Crystal C., Crystal J., Dacia, Eva, John S., Jose S., Nicci, Sam G., Sara M., Shane, Seth, Summer, Vanessa V., and Xavier.
THANK YOU also to SmartKids and to Innovation for really great conversations around how to further improve Apollo.
Stakeholder Survey Feedback
Thank you to everyone who has provided feedback on the formatting of the Stakeholder Surveys. We hear you, and we are planning a refresh for next school year. If you have feedback to share, please share it here so we can aggregate this all together.
PMD Support & Resources
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Join us for an introductory ConnectATX 101: Searching Session. Learn how to better connect your clients to services, such as public benefits, food, employment, housing, transportation, education, mental health, and more. In this session we will review how to search for programs, claim your organization’s program, and introduce the closed-looped referral system.
You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
Tuesday, May 23, 11 a.m. Central Time
Register in advance here.
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The Let’s Talk Team have to cancel the planned Let’s Talk for this Thursday, May 11 AfroLatine. We are currently working to bring an outside speaker to discuss AfroLatine as well as LQBTQIA+ themes, but were not able to get a commitment in time for this week’s Let’s Talk. (Thanks for all who reached out to let us know how important they felt this opportunity would be!) When we are able to finalize a speaker, we will announce when the LGBTQIA+ Let’s Talk will occur. Thanks! Crystal, Joe, Johanna, and Karen (The Let’s Talk Team) | |
Our next Collaborative Learning Space is next Friday, May 12 from 8:30am-12:30pm. We will have two outside speakers joining us on the following topics: Public Speaking and Data Equity & Storytelling. We will also discuss a Member Recognition activity. Please make sure to attend! Sign up for this event on Auzmor for the Zoom invite. | |
College and Career Success Department | |
Click here to find a list of scholarships that are currently available to Seniors! This link will be updated throughout the school year as more scholarships become available. If you and your Senior would like some support completing any scholarship application, please reach out to Jami Herrera with the College and Career Success Department at [email protected] | |
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Some Good News in Public Policy
(link in title)
Advocating for improvements in substance use policy can be a frustrating endeavor in Texas. But there have been signs in recent years that “harm reduction” approaches to substance use are starting to break through with lawmakers.
In this episode of Into the Fold, we’re joined by J.J. Ramirez, Hogg Foundation Policy Fellow and organizer at Texas Harm Reduction Alliance, to learn more about the harm reduction movement and some positive policy developments addressing substance use.
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The winner of the Apple drawing for a Torchy's gift card is
Gina Naccarella!
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Akins students who got to have an end of year movie celebration with good food for reaching their academic incentives goal. | Teresa Rivas, PM at Goodnight MS in SMCISD with staff on Cinco de Mayo. | PM Chante'l Bailey at Crockett High School celebrating her Seniors. | Vanessa Montoya with MBK celebrating her Seniors at Crockett High School! | |
Communities In Schools of Central Texas surrounds students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. | | | | |
