Vernon Middle School

It had been 20 years since members of a Vernon High School team had been fitted for state championship rings, but that changed Thursday! Our Vernon LIons tennis team brought home the TTCA Class 3A State Team Tennis title on March 11 and on Thursday representatives from Balfour were at the high school to get the ring sizes of the players and coaches who will each receive a ring celebrating their accomplishment of becoming state champions. This was the seventh state title for the VHS tennis program. The last time the district purchased state championship rings was in 2003, when the tennis team claimed its sixth title.

Vernon ISD filled two vacancies on its VISD Curriculum Team from within this week, as Randilyn Mayo and Kassidy Sherrill will be transitioning from their current positions to the Curriculum Team starting with the 2023-24 school year. “We had several highly-qualified applicants for these two positions,” said Sarah Swatzell, Director of Curriculum and Instruction. “We were looking for candidates with strengths in specific curriculum areas, and we are excited to add two talented and ambitious leaders to the Curriculum Team.” Randilyn, who has been with VISD for 14 years and is currently an interventionist at McCord Elementary, will be an elementary instructional coach, while Kassidy, who has been with the district for two years and is currently a biology teacher at Vernon High School, will be a secondary instructional coach. Their additions round out the VISD Curriculum Team that is led by Sarah and also includes elementary instructional coach Shelly Koch and secondary instructional coach Amanda Brown.

Congratulations to our students of the week! 6th Grade - Ava Lagunas and Ywa Soe 7th Grade - Nyra Espinoza and Aiden Torres 8th Grade - Emma Pena and Oden Lewis

The Community Healthcare Center will be just one of the vendors at the Community Resource Fair being held Saturday at the Vernon High School Cafeteria. Vernon ISD is hosting the event which will give residents the opportunity to learn about the different organizations and resources that are available to them in our area. There will also be donuts and coffee, and activities for the kids, including a bounce house. There will also be some great door prizes. The event begins at 9 a.m., and will continue until noon. Translators will be available from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. For more information about the Community Resource Fair, contact Nicole Cameron at 940-553-1900 ext. 2248, or at nicole.cameron@visdtx.org

Help your youngster build a strong education foundation. Check out the information on our pre-k registration for the 2023-24 school year.

Vernon ISD is hosting a Community Resource Fair Saturday at the Vernon High School Cafeteria. The resource fair will give residents the opportunity to learn about the different organizations and resources that are available to them in our area. A variety of local organizations will have booths at the fair and will be handing information about their group and the services they provide. There will also be donuts and coffee, and activities for the kids. Those who attend the fair can also sign up for a chance to win door prizes. The event begins at 9 a.m., and will continue until noon. Translators will be available from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. For more information about the Community Resource Fair, contact Nicole Cameron at 940-553-1900 ext. 2248, or at nicole.cameron@visdtx.org

!!!!NEW RESOURCE ALERT!!!! If you are in need of rental or utility assistance, there is a new resource available for you. Texas Rent Relief is currently accepting new applicants for rent and utility assistance from now until March 28th at 11:59 p.m CT. First-time Texas Rent Relief applicants may be eligible for up to 18 months of rent and utility assistance. Returning applicants who have not received the maximum allowed 18 months of assistance for rent and/or utility bills can submit an Additional Funding Request via their existing online user account. Applicants who have already received 18 months of assistance are not able to apply for further assistance. Here is the link to visit the site and put in an application: https://texasrentrelief.com/ There is an option on the site to change languages. If you have any questions or not sure if you qualify, reach out to Nicole Cameron at (940)553-1900 ext.2248.

Here is info on today's track meet in Childress. Good luck to our athletes!!

Kid League Baseball Registration Ends Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Parents interested in registering their child to play Kid League Baseball should register them online using the website address listed here: https://bit.ly/KLBRegistration23 Parents can download a copy of the League's Registration Form here: http://bit.ly/3ZfC3a7 For questions, please contact the League Director, Dustin Fraticelli at (940) 357-9422.

🌻SPRING BREAK🌻 Just a reminder that all Vernon ISD Campuses will be closed Friday, March 10-Friday, March 17 for Spring Break. All campuses will resume on Monday, March 20.

📅2023-2024 DISTRICT CALENDAR📅 Here is the board approved district calendar for the 2023-2024 school year.

Today, our VISD Superintendent, Dr. Ward, met with all staff to discuss teacher retention and pay. He stated that the VISD Board of Trustees and many district staff have been working hard to propose a new salary scale. While details are still being worked out, and the current state legislative session may have further impact on the teacher pay increases, he wanted the staff to know that their hard work and dedication does not go unrecognized by anyone. More information will be posted publicly as it is finalized. In the meantime, please take a moment to watch this video that has been created to discuss teacher retention: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Frbq-1dhtolJw3tYAgv5jvulT0sIV9Om/view?usp=sharing

🍕MARCH CAFETERIA MENU🍕 Attached is the cafeteria menu for March.

Vernon ISD parents, did you know that you can now view your student's STAAR scores through Skyward? You simply login to your Skyward Access (bit.ly/VISDSkyward) and follow the directions in this video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PBudNaCmIWEBfhnD24b81opyMrwOo6MM/view?usp=sharing If you have questions, forgot your Skyward Access login, or have other concerns, please email chantilly.sweet@visdtx.org.

SAVE THE DATE!!! Join us on March 25, 2023, for our Community Resource Fair. For more information, please reach out to Nicole Cameron at nicole.cameron@visdtx.org or (940)553-1900, ext. 2248.

Dr. Harrison is here today visiting with our VMS and VHS students about bullying prevention. This morning he was at the high school and this afternoon he'll be talking to our middle school students. Our students were great in the presentation and by now I am no longer even surprised! Please remember that Dr. Harrison will be at the Wilbarger Auditorium TONIGHT at 6:00pm for our parents and the community. Please come out and participate so that we can all work together to prevent bullying in our schools.

I maintain that VISD kids are collectively the best kids I have ever been around. Our kids consistently demonstrate to me that they are not resistant to working within the expectations that we set for them. Although expectations for our students existed here before me, I encourage each staff member in this district to evaluate those expectations and ask themselves are there opportunities to elevate our current expectations thus forcing our kids to perform at an even higher level. While I do not consider bullying to be a critical issue in VISD, it is an issue that I want us to address. We have a responsibility to the community, and to our kids, to be proactive in our planning. For this reason, we are bringing Dr. George Harrison to Vernon to speak to our students. He will be meeting with the VMS and VHS students during the school day. In addition, we have asked him to meet with our community and parents as well. We want everyone to work together to help prevent bullying. I am encouraging each VISD parent to support the district’s effort and attend the parent presentation on bullying on Tuesday night at 6:00pm at Wilbarger Auditorium. Dr. Ward

The GT students did a great job with their presentations for three judges and Dr. Ward last week. They worked for almost a month on a Community Improvement Project and worked up a proposal on how they could use a million dollars to "better our town." One group chose commerce. They researched the cost, viability, and necessity of bringing in a strip mall to increase city revenue and occupancy. The other group chose conservation. They researched the cost, necessity, and management of building and maintaining a year-round community garden to help promote healthy eating and feeding the homeless population. After the presentations and questions/answer segments, it was determined the conservation team won. They will be presenting to the board on Monday at 6:30.

Congratulations to our students of the week! 6th Grade: Brynlee Rozzell and Jacobi Pedigo 7th Grade: Olivia Hawkins and Ryan Fieldhouse 8th Grade: Alyssa Adams and George McCarty

Vernon ISD is bringing in Dr. Harrison to talk to our students and community about bullying prevention. Dr. Harrison will be at the following locations on February 28. - Vernon High School to meet with the students at 9:00am - Vernon Middle School to meet with the students at 1:30pm - Wilbarger Auditorium to meet with the parents and the community at 6:00pm We look forward to working with our students and the community to prevent bullying.