Prom tickets will continue to be on sale the week of March 22-26 for students that still need to purchase.
Last night, the Big Sandy ISD School Board discussed Governor Abbott’s Latest Executive order allowing businesses to operate at 100% capacity and lifting the statewide mask order for the general public. The executive order goes into effect Wednesday, March 10th, 2021, and gives school districts the authority to develop their own guidelines regarding COVID-19 safety.
The Big Sandy Board of Trustees voted to make mask-wearing for students and staff optional starting on Monday, March 29th. This will allow the district time to monitor active caseloads for one week after returning from spring break and make a determination that it will be safe to make masks optional.
If, at any time, caseloads in the district begin to rise, the district will revisit and adjust its mask policy moving forward.
Hey Wildcats
Just wanted to remind everyone that Wednesday, March 10 will be an early release for everyone. Also, Thursday and Friday the 11th and 12th will be holidays as part of our calendar adjustment that was made recently. Next week, March 15-19th is Spring Break we hope you all enjoy extra time with your families.
Big Sandy ISD is now accepting nominations for students to be tested for the Gifted and Talented program. If you know of a student who may qualify, nomination forms are available in the Elementary, Junior High, and High School offices, or online at https://bit.ly/38orolc. All nominations are due by Friday, March 26th.
Big Sandy High School is hosting a blood drive in the high school gym foyer on Monday, March 8th from 9am-1pm. The drive is put on by Carter Blood Care.
Baseball game update - Game today with Hawkins will be played in Union Grove at 1:30 due to wet field conditions.
Softball update - due to condition of our field the game for Saturday has been moved to Carlisle.
The softball game for today March 5th with Carlisle has been rescheduled for tomorrow Saturday, March 6th at noon.
The baseball games for today with Hawkins have been rescheduled for tomorrow Saturday, March 6th at noon in Hawkins due to rain. The scheduled game for tomorrow against Longview Heat has been canceled at this time.
There will be a PTO Meeting today, March 4th at 4 pm in the Elementary Library.
The High School One Act Play Won Tuesday at the district competition. They will perform again at the Bi-District competition on March 22nd. Our district winning play called, “WIT” saw the following metal winners:
The entire cast and crew received a medal for advancing
Emma Eckeberger won an All Star Cast medal
Addy Akin won an All Star medal
Shelby Shears won an Honorable mention All Star medal
Ava Jenison won an Honorable mention Technical medal
Please Congratulate our cast and crew of :
Addy Akin
Gracie Jenison
Emma Eckeberger
Tristan Davis
Shelby Shears
Emily Thibodeaux
Richard Flores
Billy Flores
Hailey Lopez
Morgan Harroff
Rorey Caffey
Madelyn Warren
Ava Jenison
Kristin Mosley
GO CATS Fine ARTS
Today, Governor Greg Abbott announced an ending to several COVID19 restrictions in Texas, including capacity and mask orders effective Wednesday, March 10. At this time, we are awaiting additional guidance from the Texas Education Agency regarding the order and its effect on the school district. Until we receive more information we will continue to operate under all current guidelines. We will share more details once they are available.
Our softball game today against Grace Community has been moved to Big Sandy at 5:30 pm. Also, our baseball game against Union Hill has been moved to tomorrow, Wednesday, March 3 at 6 pm.
Tuesday, March 2 the elementary campus will have Spring Picture Day.
Parents
We have noticed some issues going on with our online gradebook software due to a recent update. We are aware of some random alerts being sent out that do not match the grades in gradebook. We are working with the software vendor to get this issue addressed ASAP.
Check out these Junior High Wildcats! Way to go! JH GT Students competed virtually on January 25-26, 2021 in Region 7 Model United Nations. The country of Kenya was comprised of Head Delegate Kiley Dobbs, Ayden Akin, Jordyn Brown, Calev Meeks, Lauren Ellis, and Kaydence Wicks. They won 2nd place Map and 2nd Place Collage. Kiley Dobbs earned 3rd place speaker in FAO and Ayden Akin earned 1st place speaker in UNODC. The country of Indonesia was comprised of Head Delegate Logan Jewell, Koning Vicente, Eugene Whiteside, Lexie McCartney, and Alexa Hostetter. They won 1st place Map, 1st place Collage, 2nd place Digital Documentary, and 3rd place Resolution Writing. Alexa Hostetter earned 3rd place UNIDO and Logan Jewell earned 1st place Security Council.
These are pics of the Big Sandy golfers competing in the first tournament of the year at Holly Lake Ranch Golf Club, on Tuesday February 23rd.
Samantha Auxier, Makenzie Johnston, Jake Johnson, and Nolan Harris all competed very well as individual medalists in very windy conditions. Jake Johnson finished tied for 4th Place with a 99, and Nolan Harris finished tied for 8th Place with a 103. Samantha Auxier finished tied for 10th place with a 121.
The remaining tournaments for these golfers are as follows:
03-01-21 Boys/Girls at The Links at Land's End Golf Club in Yantis
03-22-21 Girls at the Mt. Pleasant Country Club
03-23-21 Boys at the Mt. Pleasant Country Club
03-29-21 Boys/Girls District Meet at Alpine Golf Course in Longview
Attention families that might need assistance due to the recent Winter Storm.
FEMA is giving away $800 in food vouchers and providing assistance for home repairs. Call 800-621-3362 or go to https://www.disasterassistance.gov/ to apply.
You'll need the following to complete your registration:
• Social Security Number (SSN) OR the SSN of a minor child in the household who is a U.S. Citizen, Non-Citizen National or Qualified Alien
• Annual Household Income
• Contact Information (phone number, mailing address, email address*, and damaged home address)
• Insurance Information (coverage, insurance company name, etc.)
• Bank Account Information (if you are eligible to receive financial assistance, the money can be deposited in your account)
Reminder - Tomorrow Friday, February 26 is an early release day for all students. Elementary car riders begin at noon and secondary students at 12:18 pm.
Last summer, Big Sandy ISD made changes to its 2020-2021 school calendar to add almost 13 days of instructional minutes due to the uncertainty around COVID-19 and its impact on the school year. As of this week, the district has only used three of those 13 days (two when the district shut down in September because of COVID-19, and one in January when we closed for bad weather). Last week, the district was closed for five days, but expect to file a waiver with TEA to get some of those days back.
During our last meeting, the Big Sandy ISD School Board approved adjusting our calendar to add two more days to the Spring Break Holiday this year. Students and staff will now have an early release on Wednesday, March 10th, and be off on March 11th and 12th and during the initially scheduled Spring Break from March 15th through the 19th.
We hope you all enjoy the extra time off with your family this year when the weather is more cooperative for getting out of the house and enjoying one another.