Raptor Report

This is an early save the date that the February 21 PFLASA meeting will be a joint PTSA meeting where PTSA has invited AISD Trustees to attend. After the meeting, PFLASA will also stuff envelopes for acceptance letters for LASA Admissions which is fun time. More info to come!

Our second January was even shorter than our short meetings so that the Board could gather to vote and discuss multiple important issues. I’m pleased to announce that the board approved, and I have signed the venue contracts for two of our biggest events!

Coffeehouse is the LASA music festival that helps celebrate the end of AP testing weeks. As the school (and the city) have grown finding an affordable venue and getting the necessary equipment has proven challenging. But the volunteer efforts of our longtime PFLASA volunteer have paid off! We have signed to have Coffeehouse at LifeAustin Events Mueller. Not only does this new venue fit our space needs but it has parking, is centrally located, and will include the equipment rentals necessary to host the show. This project is a labor of love for the LASA staff, kids, and volunteers who work hard to make it happen every year. More information to come BUT for right now mark your calendars for Friday, May 16th! And explain to your student that this venue has an extremely strict anti-vaping (and smoking) policy. Our sincere hope is that that this venue will become Coffeehouse’s home for many years to come.

We have also signed with a new venue for Senior Salute. That is a special ceremony for graduating seniors where they receive the magnet endorsement. It started when LASA was still part of LBJ to have something to distinguish them from the very rigid requirements of the AISD graduation ceremony. But now it is a beloved and meaningful tradition that more kids attend than graduation. The new venue is Austin Ridge Bible Church and our Senior Salute Chairs are so excited about this space. Don’t have a senior? This is actually good news for all classes. Just like the problems with finding a larger, affordable venue for Coffeehouse, LASA has struggled to find one for Senior Salute and the past venue the Long Center is prohibitively expensive. This beautiful space meets all our needs and again we hope will become the long-term plan for this event.

If it isn’t obvious both venues are churches. I understand that some people might object to that. This is not something that I take lightly because we want both events to be welcoming to all people. It is my understanding that these are not venues with a lot of Christian iconography. And these venues not only meet our spatial and parking needs, but they offer significantly lower rental rates than are otherwise available. PFLASA is always working to be the best stewards of your donated funds. The cost savings from both venues will allow us to put more money towards things that directly affect your child’s education while preserving important and valuable LASA traditions.

I realize that the signing of contracts may not seem to be exciting, but both signed contracts are the result of hundreds of hours of volunteer time. I am again inspired by the dedication and hard work of our parent volunteers and the commitment to finding long-term solutions.

At the extra-short meeting we recapped the success of the Showcase Teacher Dinner, upcoming master classes and had a treasurer’s report. PFLASA has also wrapped up the four Find Your Fit Panel events held during the COGAT admission testing. These have been a big success from all reports.

Our next meeting is Friday, February 7th at 8:15am in the PFLASA Portable. As always if you have feedback on anything above or anything in general, please write me at president@pflasa.org.

Hoping everyone enjoyed the four-day weekend,

Ellen Stewart-Klein
PFLASA President

Hello Dearest Readers,

PFLASA hosted the planned spring semester Zoom meeting. Then for the first time in the oral history parlayed to me, we exceeded capacity and people were locked out. I’m sorry.

I never want anyone to feel excluded and my intention this year with the couple online meetings was to be more inclusive. To this end, I’d like to explain a few things and how I could use your help.

First, the current bylaws require us to meet bi-monthly, in-person at 8:15 am on Fridays. My goal is to get them amended this year to allow for greater flexibility so this organization can grow and change. But since the bylaws also require all regular meetings to posted at the beginning of the school year, there is no way to change this mid-year.

Second, while the bylaws require us to meet as described above, they do allow for additional meetings. As you can understand, with an all-volunteer board and a robust meeting schedule, it is a big ask to have additional meetings, but since the limited feedback we get asks us to hold meetings at other times and online, I decided to experiment this year.

Third, PFLASA anticipated we might have a robust turn out for our Fall Semester meeting, so we bought a one-time webinar that allowed for 800 participants. We got less than 40. In my wildest dreams it never occurred to me that we would exceed our normal capacity of 100.

Fourth, due to a serious of serendipitous events, a couple of things happened that seem to be more appealing to all of you. One, I wasn’t sure what the content of our Spring meeting should be. But our fearless leader, Principal Crescenzi offered to have an admin or counselor as a guest which sounded great to me. Two, there were some miscommunications about getting the Zoom link out through the Raptor so we used the Google Grade-Level Groups and Naviance (the tool the school uses to communicate).

So with my acknowledged lack of technical prowess we headed into the 6 pm Zoom and the doorbell chimed repeatedly when I got a message from the Principal that people were saying they were locked out and I realized we had hit the limit. We did have some drop off after the counselor spoke so I understand that you really want to see the rock stars that work for LASA. Message received.

I wish I could say we will do it again but since this involves multiple people including LASA staff, I can’t promise that. The good news is that the information provided by Ms. McPherson is available on the LASA website: https://lasa.austinschools.org/academics/counselors/academic-resources

Finally, the help part I mentioned earlier. I can take wild guesses at what you want to hear and when OR you can email me at president@pflasa.org and tell me. I can’t promise I can or will honor any request made but since similar requests have largely remain unanswered your odds may be better than you expect.

Hoping everyone enjoyed the now-4 day weekend,

Ellen Stewart-Klein
PFLASA President

Join us Wednesday, 1/22 at 6 pm via Zoom for the LASA Testing Accommodations Parent Panel! What is this, you ask?

Students with existing testing accommodations must apply through College Board to receive similar accommodations on tests like the PSAT or SAT. LASA Principal Stacia Crescenzi, LASA Counselor Laurie Park, and several LASA parents will be on the panel to answer your questions about this subject.

If you have any questions about the panel, or you would like to submit a question for the panelists, please email president@pflasa.org.

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83450460813?pwd=6wTGKapoipg0WLbJRlfzfN9VrxUgGt.1

Welcome back to what will be an even busier semester! Trust Principal Crescenzi when she says this time will fly by. Hold on to your hats because there is so much PFLASA and LASA have going on.

Recruiting season is winding down but it isn’t quite over. Tomorrow night 1/16 at 6 pm, LASA will open its doors for Showcase to highlight the amazing school we have. And PFLASA will be feeding the teachers who give up their time to demonstrate their classes, answer questions, and generally just be amazing. This Saturday 1/18, PFLASA sponsors a Mentoring Zoom to give any applicant help with the application. And PFLASA is holding the “Find Your Fit” Parent Panels during the testing sessions to help parents decide if LASA is the right place for their child. I’m particularly proud of these panels because we just started them last year with the advent of ranked choice applications and the move into our PFLASA portable. In addition to providing a space for parents during the tests (and a bathroom-don’t laugh it’s a valuable resource that helps ensure the integrity of the testing), our incredible volunteer panelists field insightful questions about high schools including LASA. I learned so much from my fellow parents.

But PFLASA isn’t just about recruiting, we want to support our parent population as well. In that vein, LASA and PFLASA will be hosting an online parent panel about applying for testing accommodations at 6pm Wednesday, January 22nd. If your child has an IEP or a 504 and needs accommodations for the PSAT, SAT, and AP Tests, come find out about the process from a LASA counselor and parents who have done it.

We also discussed the fantastic Master Class offerings. There are a variety of topics and something for every grade. One ticket buys attendance for anyone in your house, and I’ve never heard that anyone regretted attending one. Then we had a presentation from our “Raising Healthy Raptors” chair. If you haven’t seen the dedicated work our chair has done to support parents dealing with a variety of teenager challenges and to provide resources you really should check it out: https://pflasa.org/wellness/

Our next in person meeting is January 24th at 8:15 in the PFLASA portable (next to the Tennis courts). If you can’t make these meetings but want to participate in helping LASA please email me at president@pflasa.org. We need volunteers for things that are strictly online, that take one day, or just a few hours.

Wishing you all a winter where we keep our power,

Ellen Stewart-Klein
PFLASA President