Covington Middle School

Covington Connection

Newsletter for the week of May 12th - May 16th, 2025

Maddox's Message

Mr. Maddox

Dear Covington Families,

I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all the parents and guardians who helped make Teacher Appreciation Week so special. Whether you donated your time, sent in a small gift, or simply shared kind words, your gestures made a tremendous impact. Our faculty and staff truly felt the love and support from our community, and we are incredibly grateful.

I also want to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing mothers, grandmothers, and mother figures in our students’ lives. Your love, dedication, and daily commitment to your child’s growth are powerful and inspiring. Mother’s Day is a beautiful reminder of the strength, compassion, and guidance that so many of you provide every single day.

Looking ahead, we will soon begin collecting Chromebooks from students as we prepare to close out the school year. I’ll be sharing more details and the full procedure in the coming days so you can help ensure your child is ready.

As always, thank you for your continued support of Covington and our students.

Remember, there are always ways to get involved. Click the links below to volunteer.

Front Office Support

Afternoon Pick Up Monitor

Drop Off Monitor

Lunch Room Monitor

Friday Lunch Room Monitor

Your proud principal,

Cedric Maddox

Important Upcoming Dates!

  • May 13th - Band Spring Concert @ 6 pm

teacher appreciation week thank yous

Teacher Appreciation Week was a HUGE SUCCESS! Thank you to all who helped make it special!

thank you #2

Free physicals will be Wednesday, May 14 at the same location as the past couple of years, Community Care Health & Wellness Center 2901 Montopolis Dr.  If you are planning on going to the free physicals you need to turn in the completed pink physical form and the ACCESS sheet to Coach McPherson by May 2nd.  Transportation will be provided to the clinic, but parents will need to pick up their student at the clinic.  We will meet after school May 14.  The bus should be here by 4:45 and the physicals begin around 5:30.  If you are planning to go to your own doctor, you can do that starting now and return the completed form to Coach Mac.  He will turn it in to the appropriate people whether the student will be at Covington next year or moving on to high school.  $10 physicals are available at Next Level Urgent Care, but you must make an appointment.

  * Contact Coach McPherson with any questions.

Congratulations to our Mentor of the Year and Volunteer of the Year!!

Michael Files - Mentor of the Year

Michael Files mentors 2 students here at Covington. He has been a consistent and positive role model for our students. Thanks for all you do Michael!!

Cecilia Vazquez Volunteer of the Year

Cecilia Vazquez is not only an amazing volunteer here at Covington, she also is one of our best substitute teachers! We are so thankful for all of your contributions, Ceci!

Tutoring Schedule for Students:

Click Here for Tutoring Schedule

https://covington.austinschools.org/sites/covington.austinschools.org/files/inline-files/Covington-MS-Tutoring_2024-25.pdf

Attention families! ACE is currently NOT accepting anymore students for this 24-25 school year. Thank you - Ms. Katie

¡Atención familias! Actualmente ACE NO está aceptando más estudiantes para este año escolar 24-25. Gracias - Sra. Katie

Important Emails:

Principal: Cedric Maddox

cedric.maddox@austinisd.org

Assistant Principal: Rachel Gregory & Jason Summerville

rachel.gregory@austinisd.org

jason.summerville@austinisd.org

Counselors: Debra Austrum & Rabecca Mc Donald

debra.austrum@austinisd.org

rabecca.mcdonald@austinisd.org

Parent Support Specialist: Esther Garcia

esther.garcia@austinisd.org

FORWARD

Click HERE to learn about our F.O.R.W.A.R.D. - Restorative Practices here at Covington

Haga clic AQUÍ para aprender sobre nuestro F.O.R.W.A.R.D. - Prácticas Restaurativas Aquí en Covington

Students! Nominate a student of the month and staff member of the month!

Student of the Month

Click Here to Vote for Student of the Month!

staff of the Month

Click Here to Vote for Staff of the Month!

We will post the results here on the newsletter!

Thank you for participating.

Attendance Matters

R.E.A.L

  • Routines: Daily attendance routines can reduce stress, increase your child’s self-confidence and lay a foundation for good attendance in later grades. 

  • Engagement:  Participation in school helps your child connect with other children and adults and get excited about learning. 

  • Access to Resources:  Schools can give you access to meals, physical and mental health care and other supports, and fun enrichment activities (sports, clubs, music, afterschool and summer programs, etc.). 

  • Learning:  Children learn best from hand-on activities and through meaningful interactions with their teacher and other students.   

Colt Camp Flyer - English

Click Here to Register for Colt Camp!

Colt Camp Flyer - Spanish
Active Middle Schools - Eng

PARENTS & STUDENTS – Interested in helping make your community more physical activity friendly?

Covington Middle school is taking part in the Active Middle School Communities Project with UTHealth. This research study looks at what helps or makes it harder for middle school communities, including our neighborhood, to be physically active.

 Current parents and students (who live within the school attendance zone) are invited to participate and will receive a gift card for doing so. Find more information in the flyer and/or consent forms attached.

 Please fill out a consent form and the project staff will contact you. If you have any questions, please contact Rachel Granado or call the study staff at (512) 482-6152.

 PADRES Y ESTUDIANTES – ¿Interesados en promover la actividad física en su comunidad?

La escuela secundaria Covington está participando en el Proyecto de Comunidades Activas de Escuelas Secundarias en colaboración con UTHealth. Este estudio de investigación examina qué factores facilitan o dificultan ser más activo físicamente en las comunidades de las escuelas secundarias, incluyendo su vecindario.

Se invita a participar a padres y estudiantes actuales (que vivan dentro del límite de asistencia escolar) y recibirán una tarjeta de regalo por su participación. Para más información, consulte el folleto y/o los formularios de consentimiento adjuntos. Por favor, complete el formulario de consentimiento y el personal del proyecto se pondrá en contacto con usted.

Si tiene alguna pregunta, comuníquese con Rachel Granado o llame al personal del estudio al (512) 482-6152.

Active Middle Schools Flyer - Spanish
Akins Football Summer Camp
Austin High Event for 8th Graders Flyer
CMS Logo

Covington Counselors Corner for the

Week of May 12th, 2025

Covington Middle School Course Confirmation Forms: 2025-26

Most Course Confirmation forms for the 2025-26 school year were distributed on Friday, May 9th, during lunches. The remainder will be distributed during Advisory/Colt Time periods on Monday, May 12th. Please review the following information found on the Course Confirmation forms if you or your child would like to make a change:

“These are the courses you selected to take next school year. This is not your schedule; the courses here are random. Review these courses with your parent/guardian. If you would like to make changes, please go to this link to complete the course change google form. https://bit.ly/coltcoursechange (students must be signed into their Austin ISD account). Deadline to submit the forms is Friday, 5/16 at 5 pm. If you have any questions about your courses, please reach out to your school counselor: Mrs. Debra Austrum - 6th Grade and 7th A-L & Ms. Rabecca McDonald 7th Grade M-Z & 8th Grade. Espanol? ir a https://bit.ly/covington25

If you have questions about courses (or anything else) for the 2025-26 school year, both counselors will be on campus through June 6, 2025. If your child needs mental health support for the summer, please let us know.

No  Place for Hate

No Place for Hate Designation Awarded

Congratulations to Covington Middle School for receiving the No Place for Hate Designation for the 2024-25 school year. Thanks to Rabecca McDonald, school counselor and No Place for Hate facilitator, for all her hard work in leading this charge. 

Four Ways to Help MIddle School Students Avoid the Summer Slide

7th Grade College Field Trips - May 1, 2025

Huston-Tillotson
Texas State Logo
Huston-Tillotson
Texas State College Trip

Seventh grade students and staff had a blast this week on their college field trips to Huston-Tillotson University and Texas State University. This was a wonderful grant-funded opportunity for Covington students (and students across AISD).

AISD Summer Learning 2025

AVID Summer Bridge - Incoming 7th Grade Students

AISD AVID Summer Bridge is designed as an opportunity for students who are enrolled in AISD during the Spring 2025 semester to deepen their mathematics skills in preparation to take 7th Grade Accelerated Math in the 2025-2026 school year. (For students currently enrolled in Math 6 or Accelerated Math 6.) Please contact Hunter Willey at hunter.willey@austinisd.org for more information.

AISD Summer School - Eligible Emergent Bilingual Students

One-on-One Mini Meetings and Academic Advising

Counselors are working diligently to meet with each individual student this semester during one-on-one Mini Meetings to discuss grades, attendance, course selections for the 2025-26 school year, and how things are going at school and at home. These meetings are designed to create a relationship with the student and his/her counselor, as well as to see if there are any needs/supports counselors can provide or help facilitate to help students be more successful in their school and home lives.


Important Dates - May 2025

Mental Health Awareness Month

Jewish American Heritage Month

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

May 16 - Deadline for Course Selection Changes - Use Google form

Mrs. Debra Austrum

7th Grade & 7th Grade A-L

debra.austrum@austinisd.org

Ms. Rabecca McDonald

7th Grade M-Z & 8th

rabecca.mcdonald@austinisd.org

Avid Summer Bridge Camp
AVID Summer Camp - Esp
ps
Esther

Find resources you may need:

Your Parent Support Specialist can help find assistance when needed. Learn new things about school and how to help your child succeed. Look for parent workshops throughout the year!

Esther Garcia, Parent Support Specialist 512-414-3276 ext:54748

esther.garcia@austinisd.org

Submit your request here: https://forms.gle/H3WXDRyYz7rCckYw5

Heart Hands

Become leaders in our school!

Your input and participation in the Parent/Teacher Association (PTA)

joinpta.org and other school committees such as Campus Advisory Council (CAC)

We Need You

Become a Parent Volunteer!

Volunteers are welcomed and needed! We could use parent volunteers in our West office, Mon-Tues-Thurs-Friday's.

Everyone who volunteers will need to attend a volunteer orientation:

https://austinisd.voly.org/

Click the link below to find great resources for Special Education and 504!

Special Education & 504 Information for Parents

bat city summer camp

"Hello Covington Families, 

 My name is Fatima Lozano and I am a Program Coordinator for Con Mi MADRE. Con Mi MADRE is a non-profit organization serving both AISD and DVISD campuses where we work to deliver a social-emotional learning and college readiness curriculum to female identifying and nonbinary students from 6th grade through their undergraduate college years. We implement a dual-generational program that includes the parents; meaning out-of-school events like college trips, conferences, and fairs. We currently have open enrollment for our cohorts at Covington Middle School for our 6th-8th grade students. We have attached our link for our application. 

Please feel free to contact me at fatima@conmimadre.org

or (512) 222-6645

CMM Eng
CMM Esp
Help Starts Here - Eng
Help Starts Here - Esp
pta
pta
covington

Covington Middle School

#Colts Strong!

3700 Convict Hill Road, Austin, TX 78749

512-414-3276

https://covington.austinschools.org/