The submission period for Learning Environment Change Requests is now open until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, December 6, 2020, for the third grading period. 

For the 2020-21 school year, parents have the option to change their student’s learning environment for the next grading period during a set timeframe that concludes two (2) weeks prior to the new grading period. 

This request form is only for students requesting a change in learning environment - remote to on-campus or on-campus to remote.

• Those wishing to remain in remote learning or switch to remote learning will need to be passing 3 core classes AND have an attendance rate of at least 90%
• As students and parents make new learning environment choices, we will have to staff appropriately for those choices. It is important to note:
  • A change in learning environment may result in a teacher/campus change for elementary students and teacher/schedule change for secondary students
  • If enough students return to the physical classroom, some of the remote teaching positions will also have to return to the classroom. This could potentially cause remote students to be redistributed into new remote classrooms with a different remote teacher.
• All students will report to their new learning environment on Tuesday, Jan. 5.

It is important to note that a selection change for the grading period means a commitment to remain in that learning environment for the complete grading period.

The Change Request must be submitted by the deadline noted below through the online form. 
Change Request Open Date - Monday, Nov. 30 at 8 a.m.
Change Request Deadline* - Sunday, Dec. 6 at 11:59 p.m.
Change Request Link - Change Request 
Change Start Date - Jan. 5, 2021
*Changes will not be accepted after the deadline.

For information related to grades and attendance, login to txConnect.

UPDATED: Nov. 30, 2020

The spirit of giving and the holiday season has begun thanks to a handful of student groups in NBISD that organized food drives for families at Thanksgiving.

The Health Occupations Student Association (HOSA) chapter at NBHS decided they wanted to help NBISD families in need by collecting food donations. They stood out front at drop off with signs for a whole week, put up flyers around school and worked with H-E-B to get gift cards as part of their collection efforts. In the end they were able to put together 15 Thanksgiving family bundles complete with an H-E-B gift card for a turkey for families in need.

“We are so proud of them!,” said Rani Reyes, a health science instructor at NBHS and the HOSA advisor. “In a time where we are struggling to figure out this crazy year, our students stepped up and executed this service project remarkably well.”

The food bundles will be delivered to families in special decorated boxes created by the students. All of the miscellaneous items and extra money collected will be donated to the Food Bank.

At Veramendi Elementary, you will find a class of kindergarteners leading the efforts to also host a food donation drive for families at Thanksgiving. Mrs. Gilbreth’s kindergarten class came up with the idea after discussing World Kindness Day. In their discussions, one student made mention of his sister who donated money to a food bank as a way to show kindness. 

The following week, Mrs. Gilbreth picked up several food collection bins from the Food Bank and within a few days received several hundred pounds of donated food. Their total donation to the NB Food Bank was nearly 1,100 pounds of food! They hope to make this the first of many Vera-Giving Thanksgiving Food Drives to come.

The New Braunfels Food Bank serves more than 7,000 individuals each month and services 16 counties in southwest Texas.

A total of 117 students from New Braunfels High School were named Advanced Placement (AP) scholars including senior Matthew Alkire who was also recognized as a National AP Scholar.

Alkire is one of only 1136 National AP Scholars in Texas. He along with three recent graduates of NBHS were selected for this national level recognition for their performance on the AP exams last spring. 

When asked about this honor, Alkire said he was excited and is hopeful this honor will aid in his acceptance to college where he plans to pursue an education in the medical field. His words of advice to others taking these exams is to study early and study often.

In order to earn the distinction as a National AP Scholar, Alkire had to receive an average score of at least 4 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams.

 
At NBHS, 548 students took a combined 896 AP exams in 24 different areas during the 2020 spring semester.  A total of 52 percent of the NBISD students that took an AP exam scored a 3 or better and qualified for college credit. This is higher than the state average of 48.9 percent.

 
The largest participation was in Human Geography with 167 testing and 121 in U.S. History with 167 students testing in each. Additionally, of the 28 students that took  the Spanish AP tests, nearly all of them earned a 3 or better.

 
Out of the students named AP Scholars 28 were named AP Scholars with Distinction, 18 named AP Scholars with Honor and 67 as AP Scholars. Scholars are recognized based on the number of AP tests taken and their average score.
 

2020 AP SCHOLAR ROSTER
 
NATIONAL AP SCHOLARS:  Jeremy Alkire*, Matthew Alkire, Jack Lewis*, and Chloe Uelman*
 
AP SCHOLARS WITH DISTINCTION:  Cody Albrecht*, Jeremy Alkire*, Matthew Alkire, Katherine Brown, Hartley Clark, Colin Davidson, Julian Davidson*, Celine Erkan, Dana Hanson, Jacob Leal*, Marivelle Levett, Jack Lewis*, Katherine Lloyd, Caroline Meehan, Jack Meehan, Sofia Murra Vicario, Gavin Nowacki, Maxwell Remo, Zachary Rodriguez, Julia Sandoval, Lincoln Schuetz, Carlie Stratemann*, Alexandra Svatora, Lucas Trosper*, Chloe Uelman*, Alexandra Underberg, Mia Weidenbach, and Cameron Williams* 
 
AP SCHOLARS WITH HONOR:  Zachary Barker, Jacob Brewer, Jackson Burdette, Jaime Chavarria, Emily Childers, Gion Dunbar, Amanda Fahrni, Kenya Frias-Rodriguez, Bradi Hill, Lauren Hill, Grant Jacobs, Orion Mitchell*, Ainsley Phillips, Joseph Pickett*, Mia Post*, Ana Elisa Quinonez, Ellery Rodriguez, and Mikylie Wing
 
AP SCHOLARS: Naomi Ables*, Andrew Adnams, Keegan Ahlman, Cindy Alfaro*, Mark Armstong*, Caitlin Austin*, Madeleine Balderrama*, Aiden Baumann, Lena Baumann*, Brett Beckmann*, Jackson Bedele, Henry Boatright, Nathan Bowen, Jenna Buck, Richard Burd, Ariadne Cruz*, Landry Davis, Evan Erickson*, Margo Ethridge, Kendyl Farmer*, Annemarie French*, Logan Gilbreath, Eli Gilbreth, Daniel Gomez-de la O, Hannah Gonzalez, William Gossett, Aidan Guzman*, Hayden Hardaway*, Gabriel Hernandez*, Danielle Hill, Nolan Hopkins, Benjamin Horton, Tayley Horton, Kierra Howard, Sarah Johnston, Tyler Jones, Devon Kear-Leng, Destiny Kniseley, Ethan Kramer*, Chase Lano, Abigail Lawson, Andrew Lerma, Mary Lind, Alivia Lovgren, Phoenix Mantooth, Mason Mitchell, Jordan Montoya, Aidan Owens, Emma Pfeuffer*, Jacob Pham, Karly Post,  William Ramirez, Jackson Reid, Jack Renno, Grace Rinard, Amanda Rogers, Esther Santee*, Dylan Schmitt, Brendan Sheridan, Danielle Stowe*, Caleb Tyler, Montserrat Veliz, Christopher Villalobos, Rain Webb, Catherine White, Carl Witherell, Isabela Zuniga*
 
*Denotes 2020 NBHS Graduate
 
The AP Scholar criteria is outlined below:
National AP Scholar distinction is granted to students in the United States who receive an average score of at least 4 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams.
AP Scholar with Distinction designation is granted to students who receive an average of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.
AP Scholar with Honor designation is granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams.
AP Scholar designation is granted to students who received scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams.

The AP program is a curriculum sponsored by the College Board that offers standardized courses to high school students and are generally recognized to be equivalent to undergraduate courses in college. Participating colleges grant credit to students who obtain high enough scores on exams to qualify.

 
CAPTION: AP Scholars with Distinction and the National AP Scholar from NBHS were honored at the NBISD Board meeting on Nov. 9, 2020.

NBISD has been a 1:1 district since the 2012-2013 school year and that meant the addition of thousands of devices to the district’s Wi-fi network each year. Over the past few years, the network has been upgraded with newer hardware and most recently a refresh to the district’s Wi-fi hardware.

Over the past few weeks, the technology staff has been replacing wireless access points at the elementary campuses to complete the final phase of the refresh project. Approximately 340 new access points were replaced at the elementary schools alone as part of these improvements.

“We have a robust network in place but by changing out the hardware we are optimizing our network with newer, faster equipment,” said Matt Jones, director of technology for NBISD. “We consistently make improvements to our network and increase our bandwidth. This upgrade was the next step in our plan to allow not only more devices on the network but at faster speeds.”

NBISD’s network is now running at 2GB across the district and with the newer wireless hardware in place. 

"With new hardware and software updates happening on a continuous basis you can imagine how quickly a network can become outdated just in a matter of years. This refresh will greatly improve our speed and performance," said Jones. “We have worked really hard to make our 1:1 initiative a success in such a short time and will continue to make upgrades and enhancements to stay ahead of the need.”

NBISD has approximately 11,500 iPads in inventory and replaces them on a rotating basis to provide updated technology to the more than 9,200 students and 1,300 employees.

ABOUT TEC21
New Braunfels Independent School District’s TEC21 initiative is Transforming Every Classroom in the 21st Century by providing constant access to personal devices for all students, regardless of income, to engage in the collaboration, creativity, communication and critical thinking necessary for a post-K-12 education and the workforce. Every PK-12th grade student as well as every teacher and professional staff members in NBISD are issued an iPad to use for learning and teaching.

CAPTION: Network Technicians Ivan Escamilla and Lars Wastrom replace a wireless access point at one of the district's elementary schools as part of the Wi-Fi Refresh in NBISD.

Thousands of meals will be distributed to NBISD elementary school students each Friday as part of a Weekend Meals program.

Weekend Meals is a program that sends home four meals with elementary students every Friday. The meals include two (2) breakfasts and two (2) lunches each weekend.

Funding for the program came from the United States Department of Agriculture, according to Robert Rushing, assistant director of Child Nutrition at NBISD.

Meals began being distributed the last Friday of October, and they are provided at no cost to NBISD students. 
While not all NBISD schools have been included in the distribution, Rushing said, “Our ultimate plan is to serve weekend meals to all of the elementary schools.”

The program has been approved by the USDA through June, and as of Wednesday, Nov. 18, 7,440 meals had been distributed, Rushing said.

For breakfast, students receive mini French toast, cereal or a cereal bar. Lunches contain hot dogs, corn dogs, chicken nuggets and other items.

At campuses where weekend meals have started being provided, students receive the bag of food at the end of the school day on Friday.

CAPTION: Students at Carl Schurz Elementary receiving their free weekend meals from the Child Nutrition staff on Nov. 13 before they left for the weekend. 

The NBISD Board of Trustees approved a change to the district calendar that includes two early dismissal days and two holidays for students.

The two early dismissal days will be Friday, Dec. 18, 2020, and Thursday, May 27, 2021. On early dismissal days, students will be released 90 minutes prior to normal release. 

At the end of the day, school buses also will drop off students at stops 90 minutes earlier than usual.

In addition to the two early dismissal days, the two student holidays will be staff work days for NBISD employees. 

Those two student holidays will be Monday, Jan. 4, 2021, and Monday, March 22, 2021.

The school board’s decision came during a special board meeting on Monday, Nov. 16, when trustees revised the calendar, and incorporated two (2) early dismissal days and two (2) student holidays staff workdays.

Also, just a reminder to parents, students will have breaks in school for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Thanksgiving break will be from Nov. 23 to 27, and Christmas break will be Dec. 21 to Jan. 4.

Four NBHS students have earned Commended Scholar designations from the National Merit Scholarship Program. The four commended scholars are Matthew Alkire, William Borchers, Caroline Meehan and Gavin Nowacki.

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that started in 1955. High School students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Students in the National Merit Program are selected from the highest achievers and designated as either a Commended Student or Semifinalist in the first round. Only a Semifinalist advances to the final round and can become a National Merit Finalist.

While attending NBHS, Alkire competed in UIL academic competitions for all four years. He also is a member of the National Honor Society, Future Health Professionals of America and the Blue Crew. His future plans include attending an out-of-state university to study biochemistry and later enter the medical field. Alkire is the son of John and Jennifer Alkire.

Borchers participated in football during his time at NBHS. He plans to study engineering in college. Borchers is the son of Will and Kelly Borchers.

As an NBHS student, Meehan earned the honor of being an AP Scholar with distinctions, and she was named Academic All-State by the Texas Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association. Meehan is a 4-year varsity swim team member and captain of the team. She also is a member of the National Honor Society. She plans to study natural sciences in college. Meehan’s parents are Neal and Shannon Meehan.

Nowacki participated in UIL academic competitions and band at NBHS. He also is a member of the National Honor Society and the NBHS Math Club. Nowacki was part of the NASA High School Aerospace Scholars program during his junior year. He also tied for third place in the San Antonio Regional Chemistry Olympiad, which is held by the American Chemical Society. He plans to study engineering in college. Nowacki is the son of Michael and Diane Nowacki.

These students were honored by the NBISD Board of Trustees at the Nov. 9 regular monthly meeting for this achievement.

Updated: 11-19-20

NBISD is currently seeking community input on the proposed names for the district’s second high school that will open in August 2021 as a Ninth Grade Center. NBISD stakeholders can share their thoughts until midnight on Dec. 3, 2020. This school is the second of three high schools that will be needed with the full build-out of NBISD.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS HERE

The NBISD Board reviewed the submission collected over the past 6 months and narrowed the list down to five possible choices. Below is the shortlist of proposed names that NBISD is seeking input for:

1)  New Braunfels Heritage High School

2)  New Braunfels Legend High School

3)  New Braunfels Legend Point High School

4)  New Braunfels Long Creek High School

5)  New Braunfels East High School

All of the selections on the shortlist meet the board policy for naming a new facility. The Board may name a District facility:

1. To reflect the name of the residential community or communities that the facility serves, or

2. After a geographic area or feature, a municipality, or a particular space such as a street or development. 

BACKGROUND

In August 2021, New Braunfels High School Ninth Grade Center will move to the current New Braunfels Middle School building which is located on Klein Meadow.  The school will operate as a 9th-grade-only campus for at least two (2) school years before transitioning to the District's second high school. At this time, New Braunfels Middle School will become the feeder middle school for the second high school. Oak Run Middle School will become the feeder middle school for the current New Braunfels High School.

With the split from one high school to two high schools occurring in a relatively short period of time, NBISD will name the Ninth Grade Center with the name that will carry over as the second high school. NOTE: This campus will be the second high school needed out of a three total high schools in NBISD at full build-out.

As with any new facility in NBISD, the district has a process to name each new school or facility. The process involves working with the community to compile recommendations on names to take before the school board. This is an important process and one that will connect the school and community in which it serves. 

To view the board policy regarding the process and criteria for naming a new facility go to https://pol.tasb.org/Policy/Download/325?filename=CW(LOCAL).pdf&filename=CW(LOCAL).pdf.

NBISD students celebrated Veterans Day by honoring those who have served in the United States military with flags, signs and patriotic headgear during events today.

Veterans were honored in person at Klein Road and County Line elementary schools where students and family members engaged in the festivities. Other NBISD schools held virtual events to honor military men and women.

More than 20 veterans were honored during the County Line event. The Comal County Sheriff’s Department Honor Guard conducted a flag-raising ceremony during the celebration.

A walk-thru parade at Klein saw more than 50 family members who served in the armed forces. The NBHS Marine Corps JROTC also was on hand to present the colors.

Klein Road parent Robert Evans, an Army veteran, said it was an honor to participate in the parade with his three children who attend the school.

“It was very beautiful, and it was great to see my kids,” he said. 

Evans said his favorite part of the parade was seeing all of the signs thanking veterans for their service.

Another Klein Road parent, Jeffrey Madison, who served in the Air Force, said he enjoyed being able to spend part of the morning with his two children who attend the school.

“It was nice to be able to share this with them and for them to see the importance of Veterans Day,” he said. “It was just really wonderful to see all of the patriotism.”

VIEW PHOTO GALLERY

Based on the unofficial results released by Guadalupe County and Comal County Elections Offices, the  residents of New Braunfels ISD elected Nancy York for District 2 and John E. Tucker for District 4 during the election held on Nov. 3.  The races included two candidates vying for each position on the NBISD Board of Trustees. 

District 2 Unofficial Results

Incumbent Michael Calta received 2,144 votes (49.9 percent) and Nancy York received 2,156 (50.1 percent).  

Nancy York - Trustee, Single Member District 2

Nancy York is a retired teacher that has lived in New Braunfels the past year. She has served as the Key Club sponsor and a vacation Bible school leader for several years. She was also a statewide semifinalist in the H-E-B Excellence in Education Awards program. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University. She and her husband, Leo, have two (2) grown children and six grandchildren. 

District 4 Unofficial Results

Incumbent Matthew Sargent received 1037 votes (44.6 percent) and John E. Tucker received 1288 (55.4 percent). 

John Tucker - Trustee, Single Member District 4

John Tucker is an architect for the Comal ISD Facilities Department. He has worked in school facilities and contracting departments in Dallas, Flour Bluff and Comal ISD since 1995 and been an architect since the late 1980s. He has lived in New Braunfels for the past 5 years.