Roadrunner Rundown | 9/19

Sep 19
6 min read

Welcome
Loteria Night - Next Friday
Wait Until 8th
Fall Picture Day
Sponsor Spotlight - Big Blue Swim School
Library Lines
Recap - PTA Membership Meeting
Pre-Order Your Yearbook
Shop with Lee
Lost and Found
Lee Calendar + Upcoming Events

Welcome

Welcome to the long weekend (for you kids at least) - reminder school will be closed Monday and Tuesday for Rosh Hashanah/Staff Development.

Next week is also Teaching Assistant Appreciation week - please consider sending a note or a small gift to our amazing TA staff next week - Dani Monahan, Bobby Lopez, Porsha Shores, and Leauana Sanchez. You can find more about them on our staff page here.

Loteria Night

Friday, September 26 from 5-7

Loteria Night is next Friday - grab the family, shout ¡Lotería! loud and proud, and get ready for an evening of fun, treats, and surprises.

Join us in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month at our first PTA event of the year.

We still need a few volunteers to help with setup, serving F&B, and post event clean up. Sign up on Konstella here.

We hope to see you all there!

Wait Until 8th

September 25 @ 6-7 PM

Next Thursday, our PTA is co-sponsoring the talk "Wait Until 8th" from 6-7 at the McCallum Theater. Brooke Shannon (founder of Wait Until 8th) will share the impact of social media and smart phones on children and how to parent in the digital age.

You can find more about Wait Until 8th here.

Fall Picture Day

September 30

Fall picture day will take place during school on Tuesday, September 30. Click here to order online: https://shop.imagequix.com/g1001297959

Sponsor Spotlight: Big Blue Swim School

A big thank-you to Big Blue Swim School for diving in to support Lee! We’re so grateful for their sponsorship and commitment to helping our students and community make a big splash this year. 🏊‍♂️💙

Interested in becoming a corporate sponsor? Check out our Sponsorship packages and reach out here if you're interested!

Library Lines

By our amazing Librarian, Ms. Day

With Monday and Tuesday as Student Holidays for Rosh Hashanah, classes scheduled for Monday and Tuesday will still have library classes; they will just come at a different time or day.

Please take note and help your child remember to bring their library book back on the correct day.

Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Grant	Abeyta	Campbell
Townsend	Clinchard	Larsen
Sands	Rolling & Jones	Johnston
Draughn	Hull	Haddad
Chacole & Ardoin	Klemstein	6th grade
Yom	Thomas	Weaver

This week, I introduced the Bluebonnet Challenge for 3rd - 6th grades. Every year a committee of librarians recommend 20 newly published books for the Texas Bluebonnet booklist. Our Challenge is to read at least 10 of the 20 books. The Challenge lasts until March 25th. The Lee Library has 1 copy of all the picture books and 3 copies of all the chapter books - many teachers have the books in their classroom libraries, the public library has it available in print and as an audio book.

Here is the list of books from the Texas Library Assoc. https://txla.org/tools-resources/reading-lists/texas-bluebonnet-award/current-list/

The following is the form your student will use to keep track of the books they’ve read.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YkaEWS5-1s4aIYQ5x6kvAeyekW8Bt12pp2OTNTt2X8M/view?tab=t.0

Thank you for reading!!!

Recap: PTA Membership Meeting

Thanks to those who came out to the first PTA Membership meeting of the year.

We want to start by noting that PTA Treasurer, Elise Price, has decided to step down from her role on the executive board. Elise, we are incredibly grateful for your time, dedication and the energy spent in this role over the last year+, you were such an asset to the PTA Executive Board and pivotal in getting us to where we are today. With this announcement, we are looking for a volunteer to fill this position. If you're interested in learning more, please email president@russellleepta.org or vicepresident@russellleepta.org.

Here's what you missed:

Principal Sileo kicked off the meeting talking through staffing updates (still looking for a 6th grade Band Teacher!), SB12 Forms and AISD Consolidation Conversations (please take the Phase II survey if you haven't done so already!).

We had the pleasure of hearing from Ms. Koerth, our new counselor. She shared more about her background (14 years in education!), her goals for the year and her vision for her future at Lee.

PTA President Jillian DeLaTorre Copeland introduced the 25-26 PTA exec board, standing & special committee chairs and grade level coordinators. She introduced U-Knighted, a program focused on connecting McCallum students to its feeder elementary schools, and updated the group on PTA Membership stats -- we're 14 members away from matching last year's member count which will earn us the Early Bird Achievement Award if we can hit that by 9/30! Help us get there!

Budget Review - PTA Treasurer, Elise Price went down the budget line by line and will do so at every PTA meeting so if you are ever curious, please come to a meeting!

VP of Fundraising, Anjali Keller, let us know that between Game Day Parking and Receipt shares, we've already raised close to $2,500! Keep an eye out for more details around the Lee Carnival happening 10/25 and Roadrunner Rally kicking off 10/1.

PTA Vice President Jessie Doloresco introduced new Konstella Community groups such as Buy / Sell / Trade / Free, Austin Community & Events, and Bike Bus where Lee families can connect in different ways. Sign up for these committees and join the conversations today!

Lee Live co-chairs, Selena Melancon and Chelsea Holtz, announced that this year's theme will be, Unforgettable, highlighting famous couples and icons throughout history. Lee Live will be held Friday, March 27th, 2025 at the Austin Central Library, so mark your calendars! If you're interested in joining the Lee Live Committee, please email LeeLive@russellleepta.org.

VP of Enrichment, Kimberly Trott, gave a quick update on Afterschool Enrichment Clubs, noting that there are still a few open spots across the board, so please take a look and sign up today!

Historian Kelly Larson highlighted all of the amazing work PTA has completed thus far -- and it's a LOT. From kicking off the year with a Bowling Staff Team Building Day to a stocked lounge (x2!), to Thank You Breakfasts and Back to School Night Dinners - New Merch, 7 Enrichment Club scholarships and Classroom Grants... and we’re just getting started—there’s so much more ahead and we can’t wait to keep building together!

A special thanks to Lee's 6th grade for providing child care for this meeting.

And a huge thank you to Proud Pie for providing delicious pies for this event!

Pre-Order Your Yearbook Today!

Order your yearbook before Oct 31 and save 10%!

Go to Treering today and enter code 1015066231443557 to order yours - you get 2 custom pages to personalize!

https://web.treering.com/validate

Code: 1015066231443557

Shop + Support Lee All Year Round

Name Bubbles - All Year

Use this link to order personalized name labels—they're a simple way to keep track of your child's supplies all year long and avoid a trip to lost and found. When you use our purchase link, a portion of every order goes back to support our school!

Minted - All Year

Visit Minted.com and receive 20% off your purchase and Minted will donate 15% of your purchase to the school! Use code: FUNDRAISERUSSELLLEE

This is a great opportunity to get holiday cards and gifts for the upcoming holiday season.

Questions about Shop with Lee events and or interested in partnering with us on Shop with Lee initiatives at your business? Email fundraising@russellleepta.org.

Lost and Found

Lost and Found items will be available outside of school during pickup (weather permitting) this Friday. It will be located near the cafeteria near the bottom of the ramp.