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Roadrunner Rundown | 4/4
- Apr 4
- 9 min read
Table of Contents
Welcome
With Spring Break behind us there are only 8 weeks of school!! We're sending another massive congratulations and thank you to the Lee Live team for raising 60K+ this year! Our volunteers tireless efforts along with your contributions made this event a success. The funds will be put toward needed programs and supplies for students and teachers at Lee.
We aren't winding down just yet because the next two months are still full of educational milestones and events. To name a few events, April brings with it Roadie Workday, STAAR testing, & the return of the Lee Art Show and Maker Faire! See the STAAR schedule here.
APRIL LIBRARY CHANGES: Speaking of STAAR - there will be some Library schedule changes to be aware of. Please take a look at Ms. Day's updated April calendar and remind your student to bring their books on their designated days. See the April Library calendar here & contact Ms. Day if you have any Questions.
TOMORROW: We'd love to see you at the Save Texas Schools rally at the Capitol on Saturday, April 5th from 11 am to 1 pm. Check the Advocacy update below for details!
REPORT CARDS: The 3rd 9 week report cards were posted last week. Find them in your AISD parent portal under Student Documentation!
Principal's Update
Check out Principal Sileo's Campus updates on Konstella. Principal Sileo is asking that we all fill out the Community Fine Arts Survey below.
Community Fine Arts Survey: In a Friday newsletter to families, we will be sending out a survey from Essential Areas to solicit feedback about Essential Areas programming. Findings and next steps will be discussed at our PD day on Friday April 18th as a continuation of our discussion in January about Essential Areas programming. The survey is linked here for you to review: EA Fine Arts Survey for Community
4/6 Roadie Work Day
John Hewlett, Roadie Work Day chair
Calling all Roadrunner Families! Please join us on Sunday, April 6th from nine to noon as we come together to work on campus improvement projects that help create a safe and welcoming environment for our Roadrunners. These workdays occur twice a year to make improvements to our campus and serve as a great opportunity to give back to the school we all love so much. We will be working on beautification of the campus with new planting, mulching around our favorite trees, removing invasive vines from the back fence and other projects requested by our amazing Lee Elementary staff. We will have a number of tools on hand, but families are encouraged to bring rakes, shovels, and trimming tools. All are welcome. We hope to see you all next Saturday!
4/17 - Art Show & Maker Faire, The Eyes Have It!
Please save the date for our Art Show & Maker Faire, The Eyes Have It!, a nod to individuality, democracy ("the ayes have it"), and of course portraiture, Thursday, April 17, 2025. Every child will have a framed portrait for sale, just in time for Mother's Day! Unpurchased artwork will still go home at the end of the year.
Artome Portrait Show: 4:00-6:00
Maker Faire: 5:30-7:00
Children who wish to share their wares at the Maker Faire will sign up with Ms. Day in Library.
If you are able to volunteer, we are certainly in need of a few extra hands the day of, as well as a couple of people to help hang artwork in advance. Many
Thanks in advance for helping to make this a spectacular event!
Time to order your yearbook!
Fami-Lee - Yearbooks are priced to sell so get yours today! ORDER HERE
$20.74 (soft cover)
$27.80 (hard cover)
📬 Want free shipping? Want to receive your yearbook in time for the last day of school? Order by May 1, 2025 to guarantee delivery for Lee's annual yearbook signing event on 5/29!
📸 CUSTOM PAGES 📸Every book includes two free customizable pages for you to fill with your own photos. Capture and preserve your child's unique memories in your copy of the yearbook. Custom pages can be edited until May 1, 2025.
Questions? Contact Selena at historian@russellleepta.org | ORDER HERE
📸 Send photo submissions of school/class events to be included in the school-wide yearbook pages to Selena historian@russellleepta.org
- (May 29th @ 3:30 PM) - RSVP HERE - Join us on the last day of school @ Central Market playground! Bring your yearbook & invite your classmates for Lee's 2nd annual yearbook signing & end of year celebration!!
Don't Miss Out! Summer Camp Sign-Up Extended – First Come, First Serve!
We’re excited to extend registration for our summer camps, and there are still spots available! Registration is now on a first-come, first-served basis, not through a lottery. If a camp is missing from the Google form, it’s already full. If your student was enrolled in one of those camps, you’ll get a confirmation starting Friday. The only camp with a lottery is Session 1 Explore Austin.
Funds from these camps help teachers earn extra income, with the rest supporting Lee. Thanks for your support!
Sign up here for Session 1 (6/2-6/6): bit.ly/RRCampSession1
Sign up here for Session 2 (6/9-6/13): bit.ly/RRCampSession2
More information & club descriptions can be found on Konstella here.
Advocacy Update
By Kelly Griswold, Lee Advocacy Chair
Wow y’all, I don’t know what’s been hotter or more unpleasant this week, the weather or the state of Texas public education. School closures! Vouchers! Lets dive in.
AISD Budget Conversations + School Closures
The AISD Board met last week - the big headline coming out of that meeting was Gibson Consulting presenting a budget reduction plan that included potential savings from school closures starting in the 2026/27 school year. Auditors' responses to questions from the Trustee Board make it clear that achieving $43.6 million from consolidations is optimistic at best.
Audit estimates $43.6 million could be saved by consolidating schools, which came from comparing the per-student operating cost for elementary schools with fewer than 500 students to their larger counterparts
The 500-student elementary cutoff is an arbitrary number auditors chose for the report. Many AISD elementary schools in the district do not have that building capacity, nor do they have room to expand at their current sites.
There are 49 AISD elementary schools with fewer than 500 students; the district operates 79 elementary schools overall. You can find a recap of that meeting here.
When Dr. Kevin Foster, AISD Board Trustee for Lee, spoke at our PTA meeting last week to discuss the district’s financial situation, he recommended that we stay active in these conversations moving forward.
So what can you do?
Stay engaged in community conversations with the AISD Trustee Board.
Community conversations are being held around the 2025-2026 budget
Saturday, April 12, 2025, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm via Zoom
Tuesday, April 22, 2025, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm at Austin HS
You can reach out to Lee’s AISD Trustees - Kevin Foster, Arati Singh, and Fernando Lucs de Urioste if you have questions. You can find their contact information here
You can find past and future AISD Board Meeting Docs here. I also provide board recaps on each meeting in the rundowns. Board meetings are held every two weeks.
Advocate for our public schools! The legislative session is in full swing - join our Konstella channel to keep up to date on calls to action so you can ask your reps for more funding.
At a campus level - the current 2025/26 budget has Lee fully staffed; however we are facing a shortfall of funds that will likely impact areas like staff professional development. Lee’s PTA will be able to supplement many of these shortfalls - so expect a larger fundraising push next year. Long term, there is concern around being able to keep well qualified staff if we are not providing teachers with development opportunities and raises.
Legislative Update
SB2 (voucher bill) and HB2 (school funding) both passed out of committee this week and will be heading to the House floor for debate, likely next week.
HB2 added only $400 to the basic student allotment, the amount of money school districts receive per student. Public school advocates say this number needs to be increased closer to $1400 to keep up with inflation (the state has not raised basic allotment funding since 2019). Please call your representatives and ask them to increase the basic allotment to $7,500 per student.
The House Public Education committee made some changes to SB2 - the Senate voucher bill, prior to passing it out of committee, including capping the program at $1 billion for the first two years. I’d also encourage everyone to reach out to their representatives daily to express your feelings on SB2 and vouchers.
This weekend! Save Our Schools Rally April 5 @ 11 am
Spend a lovely spring day on the Capitol lawn advocating for our public schools at the Save Our Schools Rally this weekend - April 5 @ 11 am. It's never been more important to show up for our schools. You can find out more information here:
It's a critical time for Texas Public Education - as always reach out if you have any questions and I can get you pointed in the right direction - advocacy@russellleepta.org.
Did you know we have an Advocacy group on Konstella?
From your mobile device click on Messages and scroll all the way to the bottom until you see "Join Committees"
Click on Join Committees to see available committees at Lee.
Next select "Lee Advocacy" and then click on Sign up. This will give you access to more Advocacy information and updates from the Lee Advocacy Chair, Kelly Griswold.
PTA Exec Board Recruitment 2025-2026
This is your chance to make a big impact on Lee. We're recruiting for the 2025-2026 PTA Executive Board. You can put yourself forward for any position but the highest need is for those that are about to be vacated.
Thank you to everyone who has expressed interest so far! We still need interested parties for one key position (VP Communications) so please reach out today!
President
Vice President
VP of Communications ⭐️
VP of Fundraising
VP of Educational Enrichment
Secretary
Historian
Parliamentarian
Send any questions to Kristy Orr, Lee Parliamentarian at parliamentarian@russellleepta.org.
Have a question about responsibilities of open positions? email Kristy or any current board member. https://www.russellleepta.org/ptaboard
⭐️ VP of Communications ⭐️ This role works to streamline communication, improve technology use, and assist the PTA in supporting students, parents, and staff with clear, timely and concise communication. Weekly communication as well as answer questions or steer communication to proper executive board member from the community.
Other ways to volunteer
Fami-Lee, as we're through half of the academic year, we're making a call for your support. Several Lee PTA and School initiatives need your continued support.
Please consider offering an hour or more of your time to help make things a little easier for our teachers and students this semester:
Lunch Recess
Volunteer to give our students extra Lunch Recess on Fun Fridays! Review Lunch Recess volunteer guidelines before your shift. Submit background check. Questions? selenamelancon@gmail.com Siblings/younger children may not accompany the Lunch Recess Volunteer Volunteer for Lunch Recess here.
COPY CATS
Would you like to help teachers directly by making copies and doing other tasks in the workroom? The commitment is 1hr/week. No experience necessary. Please email copycats@russellleepta.org if you are interested.
Lost & Found
Stop by campus once a week to sort, label, and organize L&F items and send a quick snapshot to me for posting... email president@russellleepta.org
Morning Traffic Monitor Volunteers
This is a 30 minute commitment that can be fun and easy with 2 or more people working together! VOLUNTEER HERE| Questions, email caitlin.sileo@austinisd.org
Roadie Work Day
Join the biannual event that takes on small projects throughout the campus to make minor repairs, beautify the grounds, and build/install new furnishings/shelves, etc. sign up here.
Call for photos
Reminder to send photos of any Lee event to photos@russellleepta.org for use in the Yearbook and/or Roadrunner Rundown. Thank you to everyone who has sent photos so far!
Lost & Found
Fami-Lee, reminder to please check out the Lost & Found rack and claim your lost items! The hall is overflowing with items.
Lee Calendar
3/31 - 🚫 NO SCHOOL
4/2 - 🛝 Early Learning Day
4/3 - 🦖 Kindergarten showcase
4/6 - 🪴 Roadie Work Day! - sign up here
4/8 - ⭐️ STAAR 5th/6th ELA
4/10 - ⭐️ STAAR 3rd/4th ELA
4/11 - ⭐️ STAAR ELA Make-Ups
4/15 - CAC meeting
4/16 - ⭐️ STAAR 5th Science
4/17 - ⭐️ STAAR 5th Science Make-Ups
4/17 - 🖼️ Lee Art Show
4/17 - 🤝 Lee Maker Faire
4/18 - 🚫 No School
4/22 - ⭐️ STAAR 5th/6th Math
4/24 - 📆 PTA Meeting
4/24 - ⭐️ STAAR 3rd/4th Math 4/25 - ⭐️ STAAR 5th Math Make-Ups
Vertical Team News: Summer Camp @ MCCallum
Come join us for 4 days of fun and dancing at our annual Kiddie Clinic Dance Camp sponsored by the McCallum Blue Brigade drill team!
The 2025 Kiddie Clinic Dance Camp is open for registration! Price is $150 per registrant. Please register and pay for each registrant separately.
July 28 - 31 from 1:00 – 5:00pm in the McCallum High School Cafeteria.
5600 Sunshine Dr Austin TX 78756
For Dance Camp questions contact Blue Brigade Director Nancy Honeycutt Searle at nancy.honeycutt@austinisd.org.
March Teacher Appreciation
This month our Lee Appreciation team provided a lovely Dirty Poppi Bar in the teacher's lounge. Teachers were given a variety of bases, syrups, creams, and garnishes to choose from. The PTA's monthly appreciation events are one small way we try to honor and thank our teachers.
Thanks for reading this week's Roadrunner Rundown! Have something to add? Share your comments or feature suggestions with Clarissa at communications@russellleepta.org or online here.
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