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  3. Volume 2, Issue 4: 9/27/24

Volume 2, Issue 4: 9/27/24

by Superintendent's Blog

Posted on September 27, 2024

Volume 2, Issue 4: 9/27/24

Greetings Bulldogs! Happy Friday.

Bond Update:

We are at an exciting point in the Design Phase of the New High School construction project. Below is a short video describing our status and showing some great renderings of the new building.

TISD Bond Schematic Design - New High School Presentation

We will remain in the designing phase of the bond until December. During this time we will continue to refine and rework interior and exterior features of the high school construction. We will then go out to “bid” - get prices on all aspects of the work from subcontractors, and break ground in April or May.

 

We Need Your Voice & Ideas! - Strategic Planning

We are looking for parents, grandparents, and community members to join us for 5 early evenings throughout this school year to help us develop our 3-5 year District Strategic Plan. Similar to the huge participation we had in our bond planning, we want you here for input and feedback! There is no prior knowledge necessary… just that you love kids and love Thorndale!

Meetings will be from 5-6 pm on the following Wednesday nights at TISD:

  1. 10/23

  2. 11/13

  3. 1/22

  4. 2/12

  5. 3/23

Don’t worry if something comes up and you miss a night or two. 

Please send me an email at Zack.Kleypas@thorndale.txed.net and I will send you the details!

How to Check Your Child’s Grades in Parent Portal:

One of THE most important responsibilities as a parent (myself included) is to check in on our students. As kids move from elementary to middle to high school, they gain more independence and responsibilities. However, they are never too old to have a supporting parent checking on how they are doing, and fact-checking what you are told. A great way to do that is by checking their grades on the parent portal button on the TISD website. As parents, it is important to “trust, but verify”. 

Here is some information to help you log in and check your children's grade if you have not done this before or forgot how to do so:

Change to this year’s 2024-25 District Calendar:

Thorndale ISD has made a small adjustment to the current 2024-25 District Calendar in the Spring and wanted to make sure you are aware.

This year Thorndale ISD will be hosting the elementary AND middle school District UIL Academic competitions. This is a great opportunity for us to showcase our district and have a bit of “homefield advantage”.

However, to pull off an event this large, we are going to change our February 13th instructional day to a teacher workday. This way we can have all staff on hand to help with the event. We also hope this will encourage even more TISD students to participate in this years UIL Academics competitions since it will not conflict as much with other obligations.

We have already calculated our total instructional minutes before making this change and have more than enough to where this day will NOT need to be made up.

Below is the updated calendar.

Thorndale High School Career Fair:

Looking for businesses!

Stock the Trailer through FFA for Thorndale Cares:

Starting on Tuesday be on the lookout for posters on social media and around campus! The drop-off will be at the Ag Shop and more locations to come. 

Stock the Trailer is a drive FFA puts on to support Thorndale Cares so that those who need household items in the community can get them.

TISD Alumni Spotlight:

In case you missed it, TISD has started an Alumni Spotlight on social media! Check out our most recent spotlight:

The second Alumni Feature is THS 2001 graduate, Candace Kuhl.  You can read more about Candace and our other spotlight alumni here: TISD Alumni Spotlight 

Thorndale Hall of Honor Recognition!

Before we jump into highlights from our students in athletics, I want to make sure you all have heard about an awesome new tradition started by our athletics department, The Thorndale Hall of Honor - which will recognize former Thorndale Bulldog students and staff who have made great contributions to Thorndale sports. 

There will be a kickoff event on October 18th, 2024. Here is more information about it:

Ticket Info:

Tickets for the Hall of Honor event are on sale and may be purchased at the Thorndale Administration Office for $15. If you would like to reserve tickets and pay at the door, please email Coach Kovar at john.kovar@thorndale.txed.net. The date of the event is October 18th and will start at 4:30pm. Each honoree will be given a plaque and an opportunity to speak about their time at Thorndale High School! Hope to see you there! Go Bulldogs

The committee is pleased to announce their first-ever Thorndale High School Hall of Honor Class! These individuals will be honored on 10-18-24 with a catered meal and recognized prior to the football game. We will post info on how to purchase tickets to this event at a later time.

The first honorees to recognize are…

  • Lee Roy Caffey,  3 time Super Bowl Champion

  • Bob Evans, former NFL player and holds THS Shot Put record

  • Donald Beard, University of Texas track athlete who still owns a state record in the hurdles (180 yard hurdles)

  • Newton Butts, former athlete, coach and volunteer announcer for the Thorndale Bulldogs

  • Renee Jackson, first girl athlete to compete at a state track meet

  • Don Cowan, Head Coach for 3 State Championships in football at THS

Looking forward to this upcoming event! Mark your calendars to help support these former athletes and coaches! Go Bulldogs

You can also follow their page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564146524996 

Cross Country Updates:

The Cross Country teams had a great meet in Moody.

  • Lady Dogs Top Finishers -

    • Raven Sandoval - 2nd place

    • Skielee Bear - 3rd place

  • Bulldogs Top Finishers -

    • Case McDaniel - 6th place

    • Jaime Llanas - 11th place

Results can be found at https://tx.milesplit.com/.../627921-moody-bearcat.../results

On the Junior High Front, congratulations to Krystal on placing 14th today at the Jr. High cross country meet in Moody!!


Cross Country had another fantastic meet in Belton! Congratulations to Raven, Nadia, and Skielee for medaling for the Lady Dogs, and to Case and Jaime for earning medals for the Bulldogs! Great job, runners! Results can be found at https://tx.milesplit.com/.../615205-lake-belton.../results

Volleyball Updates: 

Volleyball has been busy since we last talked! They have traveled for tournaments, competed in home and away matches, and are gearing up for district play tomorrow, Saturday 9/28/24. Here are some of the highlights:

  • The Lady Dogs lost in 4 sets vs. Moody on the road tonight (19-25, 21-25, 28-26, 18-25).

  • The JV Maroon defeated Moody in 2 sets tonight (25-20, 25-11).

  • The JV Gold had the night off.

  • MS Lady Dogs traveled to Holland for a Tournament.

  • 7th Grade came away with a win over Rockdale to take the CHAMPIONSHIP! 

  • 8th Grade lost a close one to a tough Milano team to finish the day in 2nd Place!

  • The Varsity Lady Dogs defeated Meridian World School in 4 sets tonight (25-21, 25-15, 22-25, 25-17).

  • The Varsity Lady Dogs defeated Snook 3 sets to 1 tonight in Thorndale (25-17, 25-23, 20-25, 25-17). 

  • The Lady Dog JV Maroon defeated Snook in 2 sets tonight (25-18, 25-15).

 

MS Lady Dogs volleyball traveled to Holland:
 

  • 7th / 8th Combined team came away with a WIN

  • 7th grade lost in 2

  • 8th grade WON a nail-biter in 2 sets.

 

Football Updates:

The football team is off to a hot start, including winning their last 3 games.

Recently, they had big wins on Homecoming night against Riesel 27-6 and then a huge win 61-0 against Austin Achieve!

We hope to see you tonight as we take on Hempstead at home at 7:00pm.

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Most sincerely,

Zack Kleypas
Superintendent
Thorndale ISD
#TISDStrivingForExcellence

“Keep improving, always, in all ways.”