Sunday, September 27, 2015

Principal's Update

It’s hard to believe the first six weeks grading period of the 2015-2016 school year will end this coming Friday, October 2. We want to thank you for a smooth start to our school year. We are looking forward to the rest of the school year ahead!

Our campus Student Resource Officers, Officer Morales and Officer Harper-Hill, worked with our Law Enforcement Academy Lead Teacher, Mr. De La Rosa, to host a ceremony called the Thin Blue Line. The purpose of yesterday’s ceremony was to honor and show support for the Round Rock Police Department (RRPD). Police Officers from various units with the RRPD were in attendance, along with the Chief of Police. Law Enforcement Academy students, along with students from various athletics classes, created a line that stretched across the front of the school, while holding a blue ribbon - thus, the Thin Blue Line. Gattis Elementary 5th graders were visiting Cedar Ridge, and were able to join in the ceremony with the Cedar Ridge students. The following are pictures from the event.
                                      Officer Morales, Mr. De La Rosa, and Officer Harper-Hill


The Thin Blue Line being held up by Cedar Ridge and Gattis students, to the left.


Round Rock PD guests and RRISD Student Resource Officers, to the right.



Lady Raider Volleyball girls and coaches, to the right




Law Enforcement Academy students and club officers tying blue ribbons around the trees lining the Cedar Ridge front driveway, to the upper left, left, and to the right.
   





 Students signing the police car in support, to the left.


Students visiting with RRPD officers, to the right.



Yesterday, we were notified by Tim Lowke, the Assistant Director of Visual and Performing Arts for RRISD, that our very own Assistant Principal, Laurie Chamblee, was named by the Texas Art Education Association as this year’s Principal of the Year for her leadership and support for art education and for the visual arts through her work with the Cedar Ridge Visual and Performing Arts Academy (VPA). We are so proud of Ms. Chamblee and so excited that she has been recognized for her vision and leadership with the arts. Ms. Chamblee is a very talented visual artist herself. She has had several of her own paintings included in local gallery shows. Congratulations, Ms. Chamblee! Way to go!


Parents, Staff, and Students, please remember to join the Cedar Ridge PTSA. Thanks so much to all of you who have already joined! PTSA does great things to support our school, so please show your support.  Go to the download for the PTSA Membership Form.


PSAT Information

Round Rock ISD will be offering the PSAT to all 10th and 11th grade students again this year. It will be administered on Wednesday, October 14. Parents do not need to register the students for the test. All students, including 9th and 12th graders, are expected to be in attendance all day on Wednesday, October 14th. At this time, the plan is for the 9th and 12th graders to follow their normal schedules, with some slight variations. 

Cedar Ridge will be offering a PSAT Bootcamp that 10th or 11th graders can sign up to attend. Students who are interested in signing up and who have not already done so, can sign up with the Cedar Ridge Test Coordinator, Ms. Roecker, in H133. Students can sign up to attend the one-hour bootcamp either Wednesday, October 7th or Friday, October 9th, from 4:15-5:15 pm. Late buses, leaving at 5:30 pm, will be available both days for students who are eligible to ride the bus normally.

Students take the PSAT, not only as preparation for the SAT taken their junior/senior years for college admission, but also to qualify for the National Merit Scholarship Competition. Please remember not to schedule appointments, such as doctor or dentist appointments, for 10th and 11th graders on Oct. 14. Please reinforce with your child the importance of the PSAT. It’s also important that students get plenty of sleep the night before and eat a good breakfast the morning of the test.

The district and campus A/B Day Calendar shows two consecutive A-days October 14th and 15th. This is due to the PSAT testing and is not a mistake on the calendar.

College Board has redesigned both the PSAT and the SAT assessments. This link will explain some of the changes in the tests.

Study Material and Links

Dress Code Assistance

The Cedar Ridge Administrators and Staff would greatly appreciate your assistance in supporting and reinforcing our dress code expectations with your children. Many of our students dress appropriately, but too many of the students are coming to school out of dress code. With approximately 2,800 students, it is impossible to catch all infractions to the dress code each day and therefore, we would appreciate your help in monitoring how your child is dressing for school. We are asking that girls not wear revealing clothes, which includes bare backs, midriffs showing, low tops, see-through shirts, or skirts, dresses, or shorts that are too short. Boys should not be wearing pants that sag, tank tops, or T-shirts with references to drugs or are offensive in nature. The infractions listed are the ones we have been seeing most frequently this year. Students who are out of dress code will be asked to change into dress code clothing we provide, if they don't have something more appropriate with them. We will continue to make school-wide announcements reminding students to dress appropriately, as well as speaking with students individually as needed. Thank you for your help and support in dealing with this challenging issue.








Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Cedar Ridge PTSA Movie Night Saturday Night- Come One, Come All! Sat. 9/26/15 5- 9 pm

The Cedar Ridge PTSA presents Movies at the Ridge.  They will have laser tag, concessions for sale, and a screening of the movie Pitch Perfect 2.

Admission is $5 and includes all activities. PTSA members get a free popcorn and a chance to win door prizes.
 
Buy your tickets online here or in cafeteria before school and during lunch.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Varsity Football Game Tonight, Law Enforcement Practicum Students Get First Class Treatment at the Williamson County Justice Center, & Principal's Coffee

Thank you to everyone who came out to our Meet the Cedar Ridge Teacher Night! The overwhelming response was a positive one to our change to a more relaxed format this year.

We have our first in-district Varsity Football Game tonight at Dragon Stadium against the McNeil Mavericks. Go Raiders! Tonight is Senior Night and our senior football players, athletic trainers, cheerleaders, band members, and Royalty will be honored. These seniors and their parents will be presented at 6:15 pm. I hope we see you at the game tonight cheering our CR Varsity Football team to a big win!

Mr. De La Rosa shared an update of a very busy week for our CRHS Law & Safety Practicum students. They attended a series of visits to the Williamson County Justice Center throughout the week, which allowed them the opportunity to observe or participate in a number of activities associated with Law Enforcement. Our CRHS Law & Safety students were hosted by the Williamson County District Attorney Office. 

During their visits this week, they observed several interesting things, including jury selection and Voir dire (I looked this up and it means "a legal phrase that refers to a variety of procedures connected with jury trials) for a criminal case, bond hearings for arrests, and they received a complete tour of the Williamson County Justice Center. They also were able to meet with Mrs. Jana Duty, a Williamson County District Attorney. The CRHS Law & Safety Program would like to personally thank Mrs. Jackie Borcherding, Assistant District Attorney for Wilco, who extended this invitation to our CRHS Law & Safety students and personally took time from her busy schedule to oversee their visit. We are hopeful that our CRHS Law & Safety Program and the Williamson County District Attorney Office will continue this mentoring program for the benefit of all our students.​

Williamson County District Attorney, Jana Duty and Assistant District Attorney Jackie Borcherding with our Law & Safety students.


CRHS students in front of the Williamson Count Justice Center in Georgetown, Texas.

Our students in the courtroom listening to Ms. Jackie Borcherding.


Come join us Tuesday, September 22, from 9:30 - 10:30 am for a Principal's Coffee, hosted by PTSA. The agenda will include information about graduation plans and recent changes the state has mandated. I hope we see you there.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Exploring in Chemistry Class

Mr. Rodriquez and his class were exploring chemical concepts through various labs. They were practicing  lab procedures, while experimenting with density, mass, volume, states of matter, and changes in the states of matter.




Friday, September 11, 2015

Introducing the Cedar Ridge Semifinalists in the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Competition

It is my honor to present to you our 2016 National Merit Semifinalists!


From left to right: Nicholas, Milikich, Joshua Tidman, Ekemini Ekpo, Lucas Stock, and Robert Hall

We are so proud of these students for their outstanding performance on the  2014 PSAT! Please congratulate these students when you see them!

Monday, September 7, 2015

Student Store Information and InfoSnap Online Enrollment Verification

I want to share important information about our Student Store, from the teacher who runs the store, Sara Parriott.-

"The Student Store has had an overwhelming response to the order form that went home in the beginning of school packets. Thank you very much!

Many of the orders we have been able to fill immediately and we have been delivering to your student. There are a few things that we will be ordering in the next week for delivery later in the month.

I want to give you one last chance to place an order. You can access the order form here, print it out and send it to school NO LATER THAN WEDNESDAY with payment.

Please contact me directly if you have any questions.

Thank you!

Sara Parriott
Student Store Sponsor"
sara_parriott@roundrockisd.org



Info Snap Online Enrollment Verification-

We are proud to announce that 75% of our families have already used the district's new online enrollment system, InfoSnap! Thank you so much for getting this information into the system! Hopefully, you found it easier, especially if you have more than one child, than filling out paper documents for each student.

I would like to encourage anyone who has not yet verified their child's enrollment information on InfoSnap, to please do so. The information is crucial and is required for the schools and district to have on hand, especially in case of an emergency. The district has set 9/11 as the deadline for electronic submission, and after that date we will be required to send out hard copies of nurses forms, ferpa forms and demographic forms to the families who have not yet verified their child's enrollment information. Please help us continue to go "green" by filling out the forms electronically. You should have received an InfoSnap code that is unique to your child, via email and regular mail from the district. If you can not find your code, you may email our registrar, Paige Bender at paige_bender@roundrockisd.org and she will send you your code.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

CRHS Law & Safety Students Show Solidarity

Yesterday, our CRHS Law & Safety students expressed their solidarity with other law enforcement agencies throughout Texas in participating in a minute of silence and the flashing of emergency lights at 11:00 a.m. as part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott mandate to honor and pay tribute to fallen Deputy Darren Goforth, who was killed in the line of duty last week in Harris County. CRHS Law & Safety students are shown here with Round Rock Police Department representatives.

Thank you, Mr. DeLaRosa, our fabulous Law Enforcement teacher, for sharing this information and the picture.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Meet the Teacher Night Information, Culinary Knife Skills, and Physics Experiments

Join us for Meet the Teacher Night, Wednesday, Sept. 16. We coordinated with all of our feeder schools this year, and this was the day that worked, so we apologize in advance for any conflicts you have on a Wednesday night.

Important- Please pull your child’s schedule up in HAC and take a picture or print it out. We are trying to go “green” this year and not waste so much paper, so we will not be printing all students’ schedules.

The evening will be different from in the past because we are following a more relaxed “come and go” schedule.
  • · 6:00-6:30- Booster Clubs and School Clubs/Organizations will be set up in the cafeteria. Some will be selling club items and some will be just be sharing information.
  • · 6:30-8:00- Come and go in classrooms – Meet the Teachers
    • You may visit your child’s teachers in whatever order you wish. There is no set timeframe. 
    • Please remember, this is not the time to try to discuss specific issues you or your child is having with a class. Teachers will have a sign in that will allow you to indicate if you would like to be contacted for an individual conversation in the near future.
  • Grade Level Presentations will be offered every 20 minutes beginning at 7:00
    • Freshman 101- Ms. Chamblee/Ms. Sumpter/Ms. Misner- Cafeteria
    • Sophomore Information- Mr. Arenaz/Ms. Del Dotto/Ms. Uranga- Large Gym
    • Junior Information- Mr. Hall/Ms. Pool/Mr. Peters- Small Gym
    • Senior Information- Mr. Fuchs/Ms. Colton/Ms. Marcano- Lecture Hall
We look forward to seeing you at Cedar Ridge!

I want to share some cools things I encountered while walking the campus the other day.

Culinary- It sounds scary, but they were practicing knife skills! Students were doing a great job and following the safety instructions shared by Mr. Johnson. Students were dicing potatoes, onions, and green peppers to make a hash-brown type of dish. It smelled amazing!

































Ms. Gabler's Physics class was out in the hall measuring the change of  time over distance with little cars. Our students were taking this very seriously. I tried to stay out of their way! :)