Mata Handbook 2021 - 2022

Mata Intermediate School
Campus Handbook
2021-2022

Table of Contents Mata Intermediate
2021-2022
Mata Intermediate 2021-2022 Theme
Mata Intermediate Vision, Core Values and Mission 3
Guidelines for Success 3
4
General Information
Alief ISD 2021-2022 Calendar 5
Employee Dress & Grooming 6
Identification Badges 6
Planning/Conference Period 7

Attendance 7
Staff Attendance 8
Staff Leaving the Building Form . 8-9
Discretionary Day Requests
10
Non- Negotiables 10
Lesson Plans 10
Objectives 10
Student Work Bulletin Board. 10
All About Me Hallway Bulletin Board 10
PLC 11-13
Content Planning 14-16
Reading/Social Studies 17
Mathematics 18-19
Science
Special Education 20
20
Discipline 20-21
Restorative Practices 21-22
CHAMPS 22
Re-Entry Protocol
Office Referrals Procedures 23-24
Examples

Counseling Department
Important information

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Mata Intermediate 2021-2022 Theme

Mata Intermediate Vision, Core Values and Mission

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Dress and Grooming (Staff)
Policy DH Regulation

For the purpose of establishing and maintaining a high standard of dress, staff members shall maintain dress
and grooming standards that are appropriate for their assignments, and in accordance with the following
guidelines:

● Hosiery (for females) will be optional.
● Facial hair (beard, mustache or goatee) must be well groomed.
● Tattoos that are distracting in the learning environment will be covered at all times.
● Body piercings (except for earrings for females) should not be visible.
● Outer garments will fit properly (not tight fitting) and be of an acceptable length.
● Undergarments must not be visible.
● Professional footwear does not include flip flops, slippers, shower shoes, house shoes, or “Crocs.”
● Sweatpants, wind pants, warm-ups, leggings, cargo style, low-rise, spandex or similar tight pants are

not permitted (with the exception for coaches noted below).
● Athletic wear is permitted during PE or athletic classes.
● Coaches are to be in neat athletic attire while in the regular classroom.
● Blouses, sweaters, and shirts must cover the midriff and lower back, including while reaching or

bending.
● Halters, bare backs, tank tops, spaghetti straps, muscle shirts, see-through garments, revealing or

provocative necklines are not permitted.
● Shirt and tops that are not made to be worn out (shirts or tops with a long tail) should be tucked in,

unless worn as a jacket.
● Jeans, of any color, are only permitted when approved by the campus principal and/or department

supervisor. See below for campus specific info.
● Capri pants, loosely fitted on the leg, and no shorter than mid-calf are permissible.

The campus principal/department supervisor has the discretion to make exceptions as per the job assignment
of the employee.

Mata Jeans Days

Wednesday- College Shirt with jeans
Friday- Spirit Colors/Spirit Shirts with jeans

Identification Badges

All Mata staff and students are required to wear an ID badge while on campus. Replacements are $3.00 and
can be purchased in the AP/Counselor office area with AP Secretary. At the start of the year, AP Secretary will
set up a schedule for all students to take pictures and have ID’s made.

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Planning/Conference Periods

● A minimum of 450 minutes for every two week period must be available to teachers for the purpose of
instructional planning, preparation and parent conferencing. These time periods must be in blocks of
not less than 45 minutes within the instructional day. These planning/preparation periods are not “off
periods”. They are part of the teacher’s scheduled workday.

● Teachers are not permitted to leave campus for personal errands or to obtain lunch during
planning/conference periods without communicating with a supervisor.

● If you must leave during planning/conference periods, you must complete a Staff Form for Leaving the
Building form and have approval from your supervisor. Raptor out when leaving the building, and raptor
in upon return.

Attendance Information

Staff Attendance

All Alief ISD employees have an important role in the education of children and in the operation of our campus.
Therefore, regular and reliable attendance is an essential job function for all employees, and is a basic
expectation of the District. The Commissioner of Education has defined excessive absence as more than is
provided in a given year by the District’s leave policy (not what has been accumulated). See page 32 of the
District’s Employee Handbook for more information.

To ensure that our students are supervised at all times and receive the best education possible it is necessary
for every employee to be in the designated location on time.

● All staff must sign IN and OUT daily using the Raptor System.
● Notify your Supervisor and Team Leader if you are going to be late or absent via text by 7:45 am.
● Absences need to be called into the absence system as early as possible.
● All staff will be required to take a half day should you exceed 2 early leave requests within a semester.

Excessive Tardiness:

● Three (3) tardies and/or failure to sign in will result in a verbal reminder.
● Five (5) tardies and/or failure to sign in will result in an email reminder.
● Ten or more tardies and/or failure to sign in will result in a written memorandum, setting a meeting with

the supervisor to set a goal related to attendance and will be documented on T-TESS Domain 4.

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Staff Leaving the Building Form (in workroom)

Teachers are able to use this form twice per semester for appointments that are scheduled for the end of the
day, beginning at 2:30 p.m. in lieu of an absence. Forms are to be submitted to your supervisor at least 24
hours in advance when possible. Teachers will make arrangements for coverage and indicate this on the form.

Discretionary Leave (in workroom)

Leave taken at an employee’s discretion that can be scheduled in advance is considered discretionary leave.
An employee wishing to take discretionary personal leave must submit a request to Mrs. Coleman-Diaz five (5)
days in advance of the anticipated absence. The effect of the employee’s absence on the educational program
or department operations, as well as the availability of substitutes, will be considered by the principal or
supervisor.

To safeguard the continuity of instruction and student learning, the following stipulations shall apply to the use
of discretionary personal leave days:

● Discretionary personal leave shall not be used:
a. The day before or after a holiday

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b. On a staff development day
c. On weather make-up days
d. On state-mandated test days
e. During the last week of school

● Discretionary personal leave requires prior written approval by the supervisor.
● Not more than two discretionary personal leave days shall be taken consecutively.
● Not more than three percent of the professional and paraprofessional staff of a school or

department shall be on discretionary leave at one time.
● Requests for discretionary personal leave shall be considered on a first-come, first-served basis.
● Not more than five discretionary personal leave days may be taken per year.
● Supervisors may deny any request for discretionary personal leave that would disrupt the

educational process at the school or the District’s ability to provide appropriate support services.

An exception to the stipulations shall be granted for attendance at a school/college graduation or wedding of
an immediate family member as defined in policy DEC (LOCAL), or in extenuating circumstances handled on a
case-by-case basis. Prior written approval by the supervisor is required.

Non-Negotiables

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Lesson Plans

Lesson plans need to be created following the Alief Components of Teaching (ACT) Model for every subject
you teach. They are expected to be turned in by Monday of the week before at 8am to the Lesson Plans
2021-2022 Folder on Schoology. Intentional lesson planning to address the needs of all learners in the
classroom are scored in Domain 1 of T-TESS. Failure to complete lesson plans and have them turned in on
time will affect your rating in this domain as well as Domain 4.

Objectives

Learning and language objectives, for all contents, should be posted in the classroom and updated daily to
reflect the content being taught in the lesson. Sentence stems should also be posted.

Student Work Displays

All classroom teachers should have a bulletin board designated to display student work which is updated every
nine weeks. This display can be either inside the classroom or in the hallway as long as it is maintained
regularly. Displaying student work gives students the opportunity to showcase their work and make meaningful
connections to the classroom community.

All About Me * NEW

Let’s get to know one another! As we make meaningful connections to AVID strategies that support college
and career, staff will create a display/collage of information about themselves outside of their classroom. It
should include college information, hobbies as well as other fun facts about yourself. Daily schedules will be
placed in the plastic sleeve provided for you outside your classroom.

PLC

All staff are expected to attend PLC meetings based on content from 3:05 to 3:50 p.m. weekly. PLC coverage
personnel should arrive to cover the classrooms promptly to ensure the classroom teachers are able to get to
the meeting on time.

Content Planning

Teachers should meet biweekly with their teammates to collaborate on lesson planning. The schedule of these
meetings should be sent to your grade level supervisor and content specialist(s). An attendance sheet should
be submitted to your grade level supervisor following each meeting.

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ELA Content Classroom Environment

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Math Content Classroom Environment

The math classroom should have the following components within it to ensure that we are achieving
our motto of at Mata we have “Math Achievement Through Actions”.

The following should be posted and occur in all math classrooms:

● Class treatment agreements completed by the class posted and referenced.
● Learning objectives, ELPs, and sentence stems posted and referenced daily
● Note taking via two or three column notes with an essential question referenced.
● Daily use of planner to record learning for the day with the reflective piece of DLIQ: D (what

you did for the day) L (what did you learn for the day) I (something that you found interesting
for the day) Q (any remaining questions about the lesson)
● Math vocabulary word wall (can be interactive).
● Anchor charts regarding the current lesson and/or reinforcement of knowledge.
● Evidence of a growth mindset and a culture of kindness.
● Small group/differentiation: Documentation of small groups and evidence/documentation of
differentiation. (Documentation should be chronological in a binder).
● No less than three stations that will be used during small group instruction. Examples of
stations include: teacher station, iReady/Prodigy Station, manipulative station, vocabulary
station, homework station, word problem station, etc.

Treatment Agreement Content and language objectives

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Sentence stems and SIOP strategies Three column notes example

Example of the word wall Example of anchor chart

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Example of small group documentation

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Science Content Classroom Environment

At Mata we do HANDS-ON!

To achieve our goal as a Science Department, the following components are to be present in every science
classroom:

1. Content Objectives, Language Objectives and Sentence Stems/Frames posted and referenced daily
and as needed.

2. Students’ desks should be in groups during science class.
3. Student discourse should be present in every classroom, unless the students are working

independently.
4. EXPLORE Science Materials accessible and organized for student use.
5. Note taking:

Setting Up Your Science Notebooks

Setting Up Your Science Notebooks: Learn the basics of setting up science notebooks with your students,
from developing student interest to using science notebooks as a tool for scientific thinking.

Step 1: Develop student interest
Step 2: Develop notebook routines
Step 3: Develop the notebook as a tool for scientific thinking

To begin the school year, you can start with the following notebook activities:
● Decorate Your Science Noteotebook-
https://www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/decorate-your-science-notebook
● Organizing Your Science Notebook-
https://www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/organizing-your-science-notebook
● Draw a Scientist- https://www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/draw-a-scientist
● Strategies for Peer-to-Peer Notebook haring-
https://www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/strategies-for-peer-to-peer-notebook-sharin
g

For more introductory science notebook activities, click on the link:
https://www.calacademy.org/educators/introductory-science-notebooking-activities

6. Current Julie Jackson Interactive Word Wall in every 5th-Grade classroom. Current Interactive Word
Wall in 6th-grade.

7. Anchor Charts from current units. Pre-Made or bought posters should be used to a minimum.
8. Small Group/Differentiation Data Binders

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9. Stations: Vocabulary, Projects, ENRICHMENT/ACCELERATION.

Special Education Department

Special Education Teachers

● Where appropriate, provide general education teachers and both APs a copy of student’s IEP goals,
classroom and/or testing accommodations, schedule of ARDed services, BIP, AU supplement, testing
recommendations and accommodation log at the beginning of the year and each time it changes such
as at an ARD. If it does not pertain to that teacher, you do not need to provide, for example, the PE
teacher would not need testing recommendations.

● If you are the case manager, work with the general education teacher to make sure students have their
accommodations in all classes unless there is another special education teacher serving the student in
that class.

● Make sure students know how to use accommodations independently including text to speech.
● Monitor students’ behaviors, grades, and address incomplete/missing assignments. Fill out failure

supplements when appropriate. Call a staffing to discuss grades and behaviors when needed.
● Provide ARDed services
● Document ARDed services
● Attend ARD meetings. Be able to discuss a statement of strengths and areas of growth for the student

and a review of progress.
● Update IEP goals concurrent with report cards, send to parents, and fill out the checklist to share with

supervisors.
● Assist with accelerated instruction as needed
● Report any discrepancies to your or the students’ schedule to the ARD facilitator immediately.
● Have a sub folder ready to include: your schedule, the students you serve organized by time blocks,

general education teachers’ names, room numbers, helpful remarks, Mata map, and paper for sub to
document services. Put the folder in a visible location and let your roommate and ARD facilitator know
the location. Update as often as your schedule or students change.
● Prepare needed ARD paperwork five (5) school days before the ARD. Use the checklist.
● Attend team meetings and trainings.

General Education Teachers

● Be flexible. All students learn differently.
● Provide in-class support teacher with anticipated lessons one week before, the same schedule as

lesson plans. They can not support the students with accommodations and modifications if they don’t
have the assignment.
● Each time you receive a copy of a student's paperwork, you will be asked to sign a record of receipt.
● Complete accommodation log at least once per week.
● Provide classroom accommodations at a minimum of what is in the ARD.

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● Come to staffings and ARD with current grades, assessment scores such as district exams, i-Ready,

i-Station, HMH, and a statement of strengths and area of growth for the student. Be able to give
recommendations to improve student’s skills. Bring pen and paper to take notes.
● No cell phones should be used during the ARD meeting.
● Provide accelerated instruction to ARDed students.
● Communication with the case manager if the current accommodations need to be adjusted.
● Communicate with the case manager and parent about academic and/or behavior concerns.
● Fill out any behavior tracking sheets (if applicable).
● If you receive an e-mail or a form to fill out from assessment personnel (diagnostician, LSSP or speech)
or our SEMS clerk please respond as soon as possible.
● If the nurse calls for an unscheduled vision and hearing screening, please send the student.
● If you have concerns regarding student’s eligibility in your classroom, please contact campus ARD
facilitator.

ARD Facilitator
● Work with the assistant principal to make support schedules.
● Perform team leader responsibilities.
● Schedule and facilitate team and post SST meetings.
● Work with the assessment team and SEMS clerk to schedule needed ARDS. Fill out necessary
paperwork.
● Facilitate all ARDs.
● Review and complete ARD paperwork three school days prior to the ARD.
● Perform ILT responsibilities.
● Assist with obtaining paperwork from previous districts for transfer students.

Instructional Paraprofessionals

When a paraprofessional is providing services required by a student’s IEP, he/she must do so under the
supervision of a certified special education teacher.

Paraprofessionals are not to develop lesson plans, introduce new topics, call parents, or have parent
conferences. They can provide info needed for the development of the IEP, assist in preparation of teacher
designed materials as needed in the lesson plans, work in small group for reteach, implement supports
directed by teachers during the direct teach portion of the lesson, and may assist in collection of data on
student mastery of material and/or behavior goals.

Paraprofessionals should spend the majority of the time on instructional duties, not on administrative duties.

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Discipline

At Mata Intermediate we take student discipline seriously and want to support you in your efforts of
creating a positive learning environment. Through the use of restorative practices and interventions
with campus counselors/CIS, we are hopeful that through our efforts of building meaningful
relationships, we can minimize disruptions and foster a positive learning environment for all students
and staff.

Restorative Practices
As our campus mission statement states, Mata is committed to inspiring academic excellence for all
learners by building meaningful relationships, fostering a growth mindset and modeling integrity
through our words and actions. We achieve this through making conscious efforts to seek out
opportunities to connect authentically with our students and employ restorative practices when
students exhibit challenging behaviors.

As a campus we have received training on restorative practices such as the 2 minute connection, Big
Sparks, restorative circles, pulse meters and treatment agreements. Teacher resources can be found
at https://stephen-murray-nedrp.squarespace.com/teacher-resources. All classroom teachers are
expected to facilitate the creation of classroom Treatment Agreements on the first day of school.
Treatment Agreements AND Code of Civility should be displayed in the classroom by Friday August
20, 2021.

CHAMPS
The Mata Intermediate Campus will be using CHAMPS common language to communicate
expectations in both common areas such as hallways/cafeteria and in classrooms. CHAMPS editable
charts for classroom use can be found @
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w0TUjAXC0CW-jcJjpuyJdPyoNociD1Xn/view?usp=sharing.

Alief Classroom Re-Entry Protocol

For various reasons, students may be brought to your classroom throughout the day. When a student
returns to your classroom from an office referral, removal by an administrator, SAC, or any other
discipline reason, please follow this protocol:

Staff Returning Student (if applicable):

1. Walk the student to the classroom and make eye contact with the teacher.
2. Smile, and say to the student, “I hope you have a great rest of your day.”
3. Once the teacher has greeted the student, leave the room.

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Teacher Receiving Student - Remember to ACT:

A - Acknowledge. Smile at the student and greet him/her/them.

C - Communicate. Say to the student something like, “Welcome back... It’s good to see you... Let’s talk
about yesterday and how we can move forward.”

● Apologize for your own part in the incident (intentional or unintentional).

● Clarify that today is a new day.

● Reiterate the rule or expectation that was broken.

● Provide an encouraging belief statement: “I know you can do it. I believe in you.”

● Respond to any student questions or statements with empathy.

T - Target a positive behavior within 5 minutes of the student returning and give feedback.

*If you have concerns about why or when a student was brought back to your classroom, discuss
this with your supervisor at another time away from the student.

Office Referrals
When you have exhausted all of the campus resources (Counselors, CIS, Mentors), have
communicated with a parent/guardian and challenging behaviors persist (level 2 or higher) a referral
to the office may be warranted.

Office Referral Procedures

Non emergencies (Level 2)

1) Fill out the entire top portion of the office referral including previous interventions (PI) and current
interventions (CI).

2) Turn the referral into the grade level box found in Ms. Morris’ office with a copy of your parent
communication log showing recent documented communication.

3) Ms. Morris will call for the student(s) to come to the office and write statements about the incident.
4) AP’s will call for the student(s) to conduct an investigation during referral processing times as dictated

by their daily schedules.

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Emergencies (Level 3 and above)

1) Call Ms. Morris (x23988) to notify her of the situation. If she is not available, call the front office. Ms.
Morris will notify the grade level AP, Ms Blanton, Behavior Interventionist, or grade level Counselor if
immediate support is needed.

2) Fill out the entire top portion of the office referral including previous interventions (PI) and current
interventions (CI).

3) Turn the referral into the grade level box found in Ms. Morris’ office with a copy of your parent
communication log showing recent documented communication.

4) AP will call for the student(s) to conduct an investigation.

Office Referral Example

Office referrals are legal documents that can be used as admissible evidence in a due process hearing. It is
imperative that when written, only the facts are recorded and opinions/emotions are left out. They must be
written in BLACK ink only. Please review the example below to ensure your referral is processed in a timely
manner. Referrals must be turned into the correct place and filled out completely to be processed. Any
referral received missing any crucial information will be returned to be corrected.

Reminders: Referrals should only reflect the offender in the incident and the victim's name should not be in the
description. Feel free to include the victim and/or witnesses names to the incident on a sticky note.

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Mata Intermediate Campus Handbook Signature and Acknowledgement Link

https://forms.gle/S74rRmHGbFr93DTQ9

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