Staff Newsletter for Nov. 13, 2025

On the cover: Across Northside ISD, students and staff came together to honor veterans and their families. From heartfelt assemblies and family breakfasts to student performances and campus tributes, our schools showed deep appreciation for those who have served.

Future Mustangs Experience a Day of Learning, Literacy, and the Arts

On Nov. 6, fourth graders from Valley Hi and Passmore elementary schools visited Jay High School for a morning of fun, learning, and inspiration.

Hosted by librarian Vanessa Eichler, the event gave students a taste of high school life as they explored Theatre, Choir, Orchestra, and ROTC, while enjoying story-based activities that celebrated literacy and positive character development.

High school mentors guided the young visitors through interactive sessions, modeling respect, courage, and perseverance, and demonstrating how creativity is connected to character.

“The hope is that this will be the first of many feeder literacy events to inspire future Mustangs,” Eichler said.

The fourth graders left excited and eager for all the opportunities that await them at Jay High School.

New Google Feature: Live Translated Captions

The Live Translated Captions feature in Google Meet is a valuable tool for fostering effective and inclusive communication within your community. This powerful feature instantly translates spoken words into a participant's preferred language, appearing as real-time subtitles on their screen. Google currently offers translations into over 80 languages. You can use this feature to provide:

• Immediate Support for Multilingual Students: Provide instant support for your English Language Learners (ELL/ESL students) by translating your live discussions directly into their native language, ensuring language is not a barrier.
• Inclusive Parent/Community Meetings: Ensure that every family can participate in conferences, meetings, or announcements related to their child.
• Effective Staff Training: Enhance professional development and all-hands staff meetings to make them more effective and inclusive for all employees, regardless of their primary language. 

The simple setting, which participants can enable themselves, is available for a wide variety of languages and helps ensure a diverse audience understands complex information and training sessions. To enable Live Translated Captions:

• On a Desktop: Go to Settings, Captions menu, select “Language of the Meeting”, and then turn on and select the preferred Translated Captions Language.
• On a Mobile Device: While in a call, click More Controls, Settings, select “Language of the Meeting”, and then turn on and select the preferred Translated Captions Language. 

For more information, visit nisd.tech/Google and explore the many other features now available in Google.

StudyMate

StudyMate is an interactive app integrated into Schoology that provides tools like digital flashcards, matching games, crosswords, and quizzes. Teachers can leverage data-driven insights to monitor student engagement and identify areas for improvement. This allows students to study on the go. For more information, click here. This resource is also available on the Schoology Support site, accessible through the HUB. For a listing of previous Schoology articles, click here.

Magic Bytes

Today's featured custom tool is the NISD Standards Unpacker for PLC Planning, your fast path to clear teachable learning targets and aligned lesson components.

Find it faster by selecting the 'Enterprise' filter, where you will see all the custom tools designed for NISD staff. 

Enter a grade level and standard (or set of standards), and this tool will break it down in order to clearly define expectations, formulate learning targets, provide responses to the four critical PLC questions to help guide instruction, and suggest an instructional strategy to use as well! 

Use this tool to prepare for and make PLC meetings more productive, create sub plans with clear learning goals, and communicate with families so they can practice at home.

Girls are on the Run at Esparza

Girls on the Run is a fun, evidence-based program that empowers participants to discover their inner strength, build confidence, and embrace healthy, active lifestyles. At Esparza Elementary, the Girls on the Run team is inspiring the next generation to believe in themselves, lift each other up, and make positive choices—both on and off the track

Quick Quack Car Wash

Get a discount on a car wash membership at Quick Quack Car Wash. You can wash as often as you want at any location. The offer expires June 30, 2026. Click here for the flyer with details and the QR Code to join. Use NISD as the employee ID when creating an account.

NEF Resource Grant

The Northside Education Foundation (NEF) Resource Grant (up to $750) is to provide classroom or department supplies that will positively impact district initiatives, students, and staff. Click here to apply or contact the Grants Dept. at 210-397-8563. Opens Dec. 3, closes Feb. 12, 2026.

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