Next PFLASA Meetings & Directory Survey

Nothing to recap as PFLASA went on spring break too! But now we have lots of work ahead so we are sticking with the crazy schedule that is due to spring break. We will meet this Friday 3/28! And next Friday 4/4! PFLASA meets at 8:15 am in the Portable (next to the Tennis Courts).

We still need volunteers for our New Parent Coffee this Saturday 3/29. Sign up at
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0B45A4A722AB9-55593226-newparent#/form/Standard.

And please let us know if you use the directory. We can put that money to better use if it’s not helpful:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeAeQiUQdX-pq_7x8JRnAf9Oek6zA-bpIKkGi0hoY63a77QrQ/viewform.

Gird your loins,
Ellen Stewart-Klein
PFLASA President

Seniors! Sign up to perform at Senior Salute!

Seniors! Senior Salute is on Sunday, June 1st at 6pm and seniors will be the star power! We need seniors to emcee the evening (writing the script), audition to perform a musical act, and participate in the annual skit.

The deadline to sign up is Friday March 28, so be sure to fill out the form if you’d like to have a role on stage for this exciting event!

For musical acts, please submit a video of what you’d like to perform (no longer than 3 minutes). We’d like to have the videos submitted Friday 3/28 but let us know on the form if you need a little more time.

Tonight! – Tech Generation: Raising Balanced Kids in a Hyper-Connected World

Wed, March 26th 6-7:30pm Carver Branch Library (1161 Angelina St.)

PFLASA’s Raising Healthy Raptor’s Committee is thrilled to invite you to an evening with Mike Brooks, Ph.D, psychologist, author, and speaker. During this presentation, Dr. Brooks “shares insights from the latest research on screens’ effects, explains why technology has such a powerful grip on us, and provides practical strategies to help your family find balance in our hyper-connected world. These evidence-based approaches will help your children succeed academically while maintaining deeper, more meaningful connections.”

See the full flyer for more information on this presentation and Dr. Brooks. We’d truly appreciate an RSVP to wellness@pflasa.org so we can have a rough idea how many will be in attendance

LASA PTSA Earns Another Membership Award!

Another Award because of our wonderful members! The LASA PTSA has earned the XOXO Award! This is a Texas PTA Membership Award given to PTAs who share the love of PTA with 14 new members in February. Thank you to all of our members!

Let’s keep that passion burning and let’s see just how far our membership magic can go! Help us earn our next award by joining today and/or donating a membership for a facility member. We have fewer than 15 facility members who need a membership, so your donation will go a long way to helping us reach our goal!

All are welcome to join us: students, teachers, grandparents, and community members. We want you all to be part of our award-winning PTSA!

https://www.lasaptsa.org/

NACLO Invitational Round

Congratulations to LASA student Luka Zitkovic for advancing to the North American Computational Linguistics Open (NACLO) competition’s Invitational Round. Of 1733 students nationwide competing in the Open Round only 248 advanced to the Invitational Round. NACLO is a contest in which students solve challenging linguistic puzzles while exercising logic skills.

LASA CAC 2025 – 2027 Applications Open

It’s that time of year again, we are looking for community members, parents, and alumni members to be a part of the LASA Campus Advisory Council (CAC) 2025-2027. Access the Application form at https://www.austinisd.org/advisory-bodies/cac/application. The application deadline is Thursday, April 17, 2025.

You can learn more about LASA CAC, including how frequent the meetings are, at https://lasa.austinschools.org/parents/campus-advisory-council. If you are selected to serve on the CAC 2025-2027 board, your term will officially start in September 2025, and you will be invited to join the May 7th meeting.

Senior parent volunteer(s) needed: production assistant

Ideally, we need someone with some stage/performance experience (or roadie wannabe).

Will need to be available for:

  • Friday, April 4 (back up date April 11), 9:30am: noon at LASA for emcee auditions and viewing performance videos to choose the acts for the show
  • Late May: coordinate with acts, skit, jazz band about needs for microphones, music stands, etc
  • Day of the Show, Sunday, June 1, 1pm – 5pm: onsite for rehearsals, sound checks, etc

Please sign up here!

And many thanks to the parents who have signed up for the other volunteer positions!

3/7 Meeting Recap & Happy Spring Break

Spring Break is so close you can almost feel it!! This meeting started with an announcement of a change in the Board for the current year. Our co-treasurer Lisa Hill needs to step down due to the heavy demands of her job. Thank you, Lisa, for your service. And, the Board has voted Lara Wilcox into Lisa’s place. Thank you, Lara!!! It’s really a privilege to serve with these amazing and dedicated volunteers.

The rest of the meeting was brisk with updates on the upcoming Raising Healthy Raptors event, Master Classes and Project Graduation (venue contract signed and tickets on sale!)! Also, our New Parent Coffee where we host the parents of newly accepted Baby Raptors is going to be a bit different this year. Due to scheduling demands it will be held in conjunction with Choice Sheet Day on Saturday, March 29th. The coffee will be in the library while students attend the elective fair! But we still need volunteers to successfully answer parent questions. Sign up to volunteer for the New Parent Coffee.

The rest of the meeting was devoted to answering parent questions before we got an update from Principal Crescenski. With our recent survey on why people attend PFLASA meetings, the thing I hear is that it is a great way to get answers to your questions. It’s true! The PFLASA Board, Chairs, and other attendees are experienced parents who know a lot about how things run. And the after-meeting updates from the administration are very informative. I understand that most people don’t show up to hear us approve minutes and conduct board business, so we try to keep that part short and fast. But in a school that I think is complex, nothing cuts through all the noise like a parent explaining exactly how something works.

One example is Summer PE. Are you stressing about how to fit in those two ½ credits your kid needs to graduate? This is exactly the kind of thing we discuss, and experienced parents can tell you that a quick way to knock this out is the Summer PE classes that LASA offers. In one week, your kid can do the necessary fitness gram testing and other required education to earn one of those ½ credits. LASA offers two weeks of Summer PE (Novice and Advanced) so you can get all the credit needed by attending both. And just in case you worry about whether your kid can handle “Advanced” PE, don’t. Anyone can do both or either session. If you are now wondering when and how to sign up for Summer PE, I don’t have that info. But I can tell you it is supposed to be in the Principal’s Message after Spring Break. And while I’m sure you all delight in reading my recaps most weeks, I know for a fact that it is far more fun to discuss this with all the wonderful, funny, and smart parents at the meetings. And no matter how long I make these posts, I will never answer all the questions.

For those of you staying in town I wish you the beautiful March weather Austinites love. Safe travels for the rest of you.

Happy (Almost) Spring Break,
Ellen Stewart-Klein
PFLASA President

Master Classes Post Spring Break

Don’t let these classes slip away! We have two Master Classes the week after Spring Break. Do yourself a favor and purchase your ticket now before you unplug for our week-long vacation. We cannot say it enough. THANK YOU for your support of PFLASA through Master Classes.

Tuesday, March 25 at 7:00 pm | Laws of Inspired Leadership with Andy Land
ONLY 8 SEATS LEFT!

Learn key leadership laws that inspire others and lead to successful team efforts, and how you can immediately begin to apply these laws in your first leadership roles in high school.

Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at 6:30 PM | Junior Year College Planning
with Yvonne Espinoza of Yvonne Espinoza College Consulting

CALLING THE CLASS OF 2026 and 2027! Take charge of the Junior year to be more empowered Senior year!

Sign up for Master Classes in the PFLASA Store.