Lively Middle School Scholarship for graduating Senior

Alumni Scholarship 2025

Since 2024, Lively PTSA has offered an annual $500 scholarship to Lively Alumni.

Application deadline is April 15, 2025 and is open to all AISD High School Students who are alumni of Lively Middle School and are graduating during the 2024-2025 school year. Funds can be used for any continuing education program.

Each application needs a Letter of Recommendation, Transcript, Completed Application, and Completed/Signed Checklist. Applications and the Rubic can be found here:

2025 Alumni Scholarship Application

Scholarship applications include an essay. See web link for more information.

LASA PTSA Proposed Bylaws Update

LASA PTSA proposes to update our bylaws for next school year. The changes would be made to our dues structure to allow current LASA staff and current LASA students to pay a lower price for LASA PTSA Membership.

Updated Bylaws:
Section 2. Dues.

B. Annual dues for each current LASA staff member or current LASA student shall be the sum of national dues plus state dues plus state dues plus the local dues amount of $3.00.
C. Annual dues for each general member shall be the sum of national dues plus state dues plus the local dues amount of $8.00.

To replace current bylaws:
Section 2. Dues.

B. Annual dues for each member shall be the sum of national dues plus state dues plus the local dues amount of $5.50.

Please email president@lasaptsa.org with any questions or concerns.

PFLASA 3/28 Meeting Recap, Need More Help & EOC’s!

Happy April! This week’s meeting had a couple reminders but centered on two things. Quick reminder that we have two more Master Classes in April geared towards Junior Parents. And we have a new Freshman parent Happy Hour. You can purchase tickets in the PFLASA store.

First, there was much discussion of the New Parent Coffee. For those of you who are new here, the Coffee has changed quite a bit over the last few years. It used to be an event where parents of accepted students came and asked Raptor parents questions trying to decide if LASA was a good fit for their child. But between ice storms and advent of ranked choice in applications that is no longer true. To help parents decide if LASA is a good fit and to explain LASA’s requirements, PFLASA now has the Find Your Fit Parent Panels during the testing sessions. This year with additional compression of the schedule, the Coffee was hosted with Choice Sheet Day. Parents came to the library to ask questions which are now much more logistics or schedule related. Accepted students went to the elective fair. I’m currently gathering information from staff, volunteers, and attendees (if any of you were there) on whether this is the model for next year. Regardless of whether that is the case, we need shadows for the New Parent Coffee and the Find Your Fit Panels next year.

These are two different positions, but they are both low time commitments that make a huge difference in welcoming our incoming Raptor parents and building community. Both events will have Senior parent Chairs so we need to keep that institutional knowledge. Yes, I’m recruiting for an events in January and for (probably) next March but life is busy here. The Coffee requires part of one Saturday and the Find Your Fit event requires two Saturdays. Reach out for more details.

Second, we discussed that the Tutoring Committee also needs help. We have a chair and a shadow, but this massive undertaking could use several more parents to help. A few more parents would alleviate a lot of work on a few people and make the program sustainable. There are positions where you never need to come to the school. The Committee is composed of two different roles and they both need help. First, there’s a lot high-level planning in creating schedules and availability surveys, recruiting tutors, and updating communication. This would largely be by email or phone and does not require being at the school or a strict schedule. But we also need people who can send emails quickly. When a tutor cancels, we need to get the word out as quickly as possible to avoid frustrated students but again no need to go to the school. If you are a parent who’s around after school Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays. A few minutes a week could really help! I hear over and over that the Study Groups are one of the best things PFLASA does but this program can’t work without volunteers.

I know I spend a lot of time asking for help (just wait until AP sign ups are out) but I truly believe that any parent who wants to volunteer can find a role. There are small tasks that are enormous help to PFLASA and by extension to LASA. My goal this year was to be more transparent and to bring opportunities to any parents/guardians/grandparents wants to help.

After the meeting we got some updates from Principal Crescenzi including admissions and EOC tests. If you don’t know what an EOC is it stands for ‘End of Course” exams AND you should search your email for very important information regarding upcoming testing. If you have a 9th, 10th or 11th grader this email applies to your kid. I know tests are never fun, but these tests really affect LASA and its grade in ridiculous but also big and important ways. Please encourage your student to take this testing seriously and follow your normal pre-test protocols (sleep, snacks, bribes, whatever your tradition is).

Finally, we have another PFLASA meeting this Friday, April 4th at 8:15 in the portable. We only have four more meetings this year and big things are coming including officer elections and budget presentations. And if you know some newly accepted Raptors who are dying to get more LASA information, there is a delay in joining the Google and FB groups, but they can sign up for the Raptor Report now! As always if you have questions or want to help us email me at president@pflasa.org

Hoping for rain and the energy to get to the next three-day weekend,
Ellen Stewart-Klein
PFLASA President

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.