April Newsletter
Translate this page:
A Note From Dr. Kevin Phillips, Superintendent of Schools
Last Six Weeks Push
In this last six week grading period we need to over communicate with our families about how our students are doing and what we need from them to be ready for next year. We need our parents to overcommunicate with us about what their needs are. We want to support our families as much as possible. I want to encourage us to monitor our attendance at a high level. I would like for us to push for the 97% these last six weeks, across the district. We can do this! Teachers, I ask that you all make the learning fun and engaging.
Jubilee is Getting Noticed
Jubilee was chosen as one of the districts in the RGV to be supported by the Musk Foundation with a donation of over $100K. Their support is going to help us launch an engineering focus sequence of courses starting with 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. We are excited that this is going to be a long lasting relationship that is going to create opportunities for students. We will also have students visiting Space X in the RGV to get to know about what is in store.
Teacher Incentive Allotment
We have completed our application to TEA that will allow us to incentivize our best teachers for their work. This is going to allow teachers to earn several thousand dollars more per year. Get ready teachers; 2021-2022 is going to be our data capture year. We will be taking a deep dive with your data on student achievement and your TTESS.
Gear Up Grant
We are actively pursuing the Gear Up Grant so that we can get our students Geared Up for college. If we receive this grant of roughly 3 million dollars a year for seven years this will allow us to create college preparation opportunities for our students and our parents in all of our regions. We are excited about this opportunity and look forward to the exciting experiences it will produce.
While this school year has been a challenge for us all I want to send a special thank you to everyone on the Superintendent’s Advisory Council. They have given their time and connected with district staff to help complete our district needs assessment. This is a major part of us creating our district plan for next school year. Your investment of time, thoughts, ideas and energy was a BIG help.
Thank you,
Dr. Kevin Phillips
Superintendent
Important Dates
Click here to access all academic calendars.
Last Day of School (Austin, San Antonio, Coastal Bend Regions) | May 27
Last Day of School (RGV Region) | May 28
San Antonio Region Graduation | June 5
Jubilee-Brownsville Graduation | June 8
Virtual Learning Day | April 30
Teacher Appreciation Week | May 3-7
Nurses Week | May 6-12
School Lunch Hero Day | May 7
Senior Spotlight
Adriana Alfaro
2021 Salutatorian
Attending UTSA in the Fall
Multidisciplinary Endorsement
Kenneth Martinez
Ranked #3 in the 2021 Class
Majoring in Manufacturing Maintenance at St. Phillip’s College
1st ever JSA student to complete the Advanced Technology & Manufacturing Academy (ATMA) through the Alamo Academies Dual Credit ProgramGraduating with 34 dual credit hours in 11 courses
Completed an internship at Toyota
Will be certified as a Manufacturing Maintenance Associate upon graduation
Diego Arredondo
2021 Salutatorian
Majoring in Political Science at the University of Texas at Austin where his goal is to pursue a Law Degree
Active member of the NHS
Accepted to UT Austin, University of Dallas, Baylor University, Texas A&M, and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Offered a total of $146,407 in scholarships
Student Highlight: Caleb Ede
We would like to congratulate Caleb Ede (6th Grade), of Jubilee-Harlingen who was awarded the Daughters of the American Revolution Youth Citizenship Medal! This award was established to foster a greater appreciation of the qualities of citizenship Americans must possess if our country is to remain sovereign and independent. This medal is presented to a student who exemplifies the qualities of honor, service, courage, leadership, and patriotism. Caleb is pictured with his brother Owen (3rd Grade) after receiving his medal and certificate.
Great job Caleb! Keep up the great work and we are excited to see your leadership abilities soar!
Class of 2021 Graduation
We are excited to share that the Class of 2021 will be celebrating Graduation on the dates listed below! Tickets will be available to families soon. Both ceremonies will be outdoors and follow social distancing protocol for the safety of all in attendance.
Jubilee-Lakeview Univ Prep & Jubilee-San Antonio | June 5
Jubilee-Brownsville | June 8
Month of the Military Child
April is the month of the Military Child. As you may know, this includes many of our very own students!
Did you know that there are currently 1.2 million military children of active duty members worldwide and the average military family moves three times more often than their civilian counterpart?
Finance University
On April 17th, students from Jubilee-Wells Branch and Jubilee-Brownsville met with our CEO, Mr. Tom Koger for a special presentation. Topics of discussion included the basics of investing, insights to saving, and how to prepare for their financial future.
Based on the enthusiasm we saw from students, we are excited to hopefully offer a Finance Club at several schools in the next school year!
English Learners Mentorship Program with oLLU
This school year, Jubilee Lakeview Univ. Prep partnered with Our Lady of the Lake University for a mentorship program offered to our English Learner students. OLLU students who were once English Learners themselves, worked with our students once a week to help with Reading and Writing, practicing social skills to improve their listening and speaking, as well as serving as a model of what they can achieve in the future. Mentors also incorporate Jubilee’s Determined Destiny Values into their meetings. This Wednesday, Jubilee-Lakeview Univ. Prep hosted a Mentor/Mentee Raffle where students also got the opportunity to have breakfast and win prizes alongside their mentors.
Earth Day
On April 22, campuses celebrated Earth Day! Students got to attend presentations, work on projects, and several campuses even came together to beautify the campus and learn about gardening! Jubilee-Sendero pictured to the right and Jubilee-Brownsville pictured below.
Lady Titans Soccer
Jubilee Lady Titans, led by Coach Jennie Maldonado, will be recognized at the 2021 Annual East vs East All Star Game on Sat. May 8.
Coach Maldonado led our Lady Titans to a Co-District 32-AAAA Championship, Bi-District Championship, and Area Championship Qualifier. The two pillars of this year’s team were seniors, Corina Arizmendi and Sandra Garza. For their tremendous contributions to this year’s success, they are being selected to represent Jubilee-Brownsville on the East Team.
From the Jubilee Kitchen
This Spring we celebrate Texas Agriculture with the Texas Farm Fresh Challenge April 12th - May 14th by showcasing fresh and locally sourced products in our school meals. Our kids enjoy the taste of strawberries, apples, oranges, watermelon, carrots and broccoli throughout the month. Texas leads the nation in number of farms and ranches, with 248,416 farms and ranches covering 127 million acres. The average farm in Texas is 411 acres.
We also honored Earth Day on the 22nd. Its theme is, Restore Our Earth™, which focuses on natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems.
Not ready to go vegan - this recipe brought to you by Jubilee Academies Child Nutrition Kitchens, aids in cutting back on meat consumption which in turn helps reduce the global carbon footprint. Additionally, mushrooms are healthy on the plate and gentle on the planet. Producing 1 pound of mushrooms requires only: 1.8 gallons of water, 1 kilowatt hour of electricity, and generates only 0.7 pounds carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e).
basic Mushroom Meat Blend
Serves 8 (4 ounce) servings
Ingredients
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound white button mushrooms, finely chopped
1 pound lean ground beef, pork, turkey or chicken
Salt, black pepper & dried or fresh herbs of choice to taste
Instructions
1. Place a 12-inch frying pan over medium heat, add oil. Once the oil is warm, add the mushrooms and stir to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir occasionally until most of the moisture has evaporated for 8 - 10 minutes.
2. Add the ground meat. Stir well to break up the meat and sauté until cooked through, about another 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and herbs to taste. Add water as needed if mixture is dry.
3. Use in recipes as you would use ground meat.
For a Classic Blended Burger recipe visit the Mushroom Council Web Site here.
Teacher Incentive Allotment
House Bill 3 established the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) to recognize and reward highly-effective teachers. Teachers can earn three different designation levels based on teacher evaluations and student growth: recognized, exemplary, and master. These teacher designations generate additional campus funds to reward outstanding teachers. Districts are required to use at least 90% of each allotment to compensate teachers.
Jubilee is working diligently to design a local designation system to identify teachers for TIA compensation. Jubilee teachers qualify for TIA funds based on student growth measures in MAPs and evaluation results in T-TESS. For the first year, K-12 math and reading teachers will be considered for TIA designation.
We are excited to announce that the TIA application for Jubilee Academies was submitted to TEA for approval on April 15th. As part of the application process, all district staff are asked to participate in the TIA Teacher Buy-in Survey.
Jubilee is committed to recruiting and retaining dedicated and highly-qualified teachers with the support of TIA compensation.
Multicultural Literature
Elliot lives in America. Kailash lives in India. When these pen pals exchange letters and pictures, they learn that they both love to climb trees, have pets, and go to school. Their worlds might look different, but two boys living oceans apart can still be friends.
In accordance with Federal civil rights l aw and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, i ts Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating i n or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity i n any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA.
Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g. Braille, l arge print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.), should contact the Agency (State or l ocal) where they applied for benefits. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available i n languages other than English.
To file a program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form , (AD-3027) found online at: H ow to File a Complaint , and at any USDA office, or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide i n the letter all of the information requested i n the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or l etter to USDA by:
1. mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410;
2. fax: (202) 690-7442; or
3. email: program.intake@usda.gov.
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
