Dear Brentwood families,
Can you believe it? Tuesday is the first day of school, and our community is R-E-A-D-Y ready for a wonderful year! Campus opens at 7:10 a.m. and the final bell rings at 7:40 a.m. Dismissal is at 3:10 p.m. A few other important reminders:
- All grades are using Konstella for class and community communication. Please refer to your student’s welcome email from their teacher for instructions, or email hello@brentwoodpta.com for any help setting up or navigating Konstella.
- Need to know when and where to drop off and pick up your kiddo on campus? (Spoiler alert: no more cars allowed at the front entrance on Yates!) Check out our Arrivals & Dismissals guide.
- It’s tie-dye season at Brentwood Elementary! Visit the PTA Store to place tie-dye t-shirt orders by Friday, September 6, and keep an eye out on Konstella for volunteer opportunities to help your student’s class with their tie-dyes.
- Be sure to purchase your 2024–2025 PTA membership—each one is good for one year and must be renewed annually. PTA Membership is a great way to stay up to date on the happenings of our community, and ALSO an excellent opportunity to support our students, the staff, and public education.
Use Your Voice
Advocacy is the central role of the PTA and we believe that PTAs, families, students, principals, and school campuses all have powerful roles to play in providing environments in which every single student can reach their full potential.
We are gearing up for the 89th Legislative session this winter and the Austin Council of PTAs (ACPTA) has created a list of legislative priorities that we should all advocate for:
-Keeping teachers
-Increasing funding
-Saying no to vouchers and charter expansion
-Funding more mental health services
-Increasing support for Special Education
-Addressing school safety
-Reducing number of STAAR assessments, eliminating high stakes
-Ensuring the dignity and safety of our LGBTQ+ students
-Disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline
-Re-evaluating the Recapture formula
Do you feel confused or overwhelmed by the Legislative session? Wondering where to begin? You are not alone! Come to the first General Body Meeting of the year (after Back-to-School night on September 5 at 6:30 p.m.) where we will hear from Joe Morris, a lifelong Austin resident, McCallum grad, and former lobbyist. He will help us understand the ins and outs of life at the Capitol and how to best use our voices to advocate for all students.
Can’t make the meeting but still want to be informed? Sign up to receive the Texas PTA's Under the Dome newsletter, full of great information about advocacy efforts at the state level and ways to get involved.
Save the date for Rally Day at the Capitol, Monday, February 24, 2025, an inspiring, all-hands-on-deck event where students, parents, and teachers gather with PTAs from across the state to rally for public education and meet with policymakers to tell our stories.
Next Up...
Our Boo-hoo/Woo-hoo Breakfast for first-time kinder families will be hosted after drop-off on our first day of school, Tuesday, August 20, in the Community Room on campus.
We hope that everyone spent all that free time reading this summer... The deadline to submit the Summer Reading Challenge form is Friday, August 23. Students who complete the Challenge by the deadline will have lemonade during recess. Happy reading, Bulldogs!
Back-to-School Night will be Thursday, September 5 from 5:15–6:30 p.m. Look for communication from your child’s teacher for how your grade level will orchestrate their informational session.
Our first PTA General Body meeting will take place immediately after Back-to-School Night, from 6:30–7:30 p.m. on Sept 5. Again, our speaker, Joe Morris, is a former lobbyist who began in the Texas Senate in 1991, working in 10 legislative sessions before retiring. Morris is a native Austinite, McCallum graduate, and Allandale resident. Come learn how to best use our voices to advocate for all public schools!
Our Brentwood Halloween Carnival will be Saturday, October 19 from 3–6 p.m. Mark your calendars for this fun annual event.
Donate Today
We will keep accepting donations for the Bulldog Fund as our school year gets started… Don’t miss out on contributing to our goal of giving each teacher $300 to spend as they see fit for their classroom. Please help us knock this $15,000 goal out of the park—no amount is too small!
After-School Activities
Our list has been updated but is still in progress, so continue to check back as needed in the next few weeks. Note that we only include programs that are located at Brentwood or provide transportation from the school.
Call for Entries
Have a school program, event, or volunteer need that you want published in the Bulldog Bark, on the PTA website, or on social channels? Email communications@brentwoodpta.com for consideration.
Our Amazing Sponsors
Students aren’t the only ones back at Brentwood... PTA Sponsors—both new and returning—are also back to kick off the new school year. It takes a village and we are grateful for ours. Thank you, sponsors!
Our Tried-and-True Top Dog Donors
And please welcome our newest sponsors…
Leader of the Pack
Top Dog Donor
Bulldog Buddy
