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Volume 3, Issue 4: 9/26/25
Volume 3, Issue 4: 9/26/25
Greetings Bulldogs! Happy Friday.
T-Mobile $5,000 Grant:
We are so grateful for the incredible support in the T-Mobile Friday Night Lights Contest. Because of YOU, we won $5,000 for our school! While we came up just short of making the Top 25, we are proud of the effort and spirit our community showed throughout the contest. A huge thank you to T-Mobile for the opportunity and support of our students and schools!
Thorndale Education Foundation - Thorndale Resources for Educational Empowerment (TREE):
Exciting News: Thorndale ISD now has its first Education Foundation! An education foundation is:
A nonprofit organization that serves as a charitable organization, raising funds through private contributions to support public education and related causes, often for a specific school district. These foundations are governed by a volunteer board of directors and use donated funds for various educational needs, such as providing scholarships, funding innovative programs, or purchasing equipment that goes beyond a school's standard budget.
Check out more information and learn who the founding board members are in the press release below. You can also get more information on the foundation's official website: Tree Foundation
(Save the date) TREE Foundation Community Event
Thorndale Resources for Educational Empowerment (TREE) invites you to join us for Fall Into Giving!
📆 Friday, October 24, 2025
🕟 4:30 – 6:00 PM
📍 Thorndale Fireman’s Hall | 340 E. Moerbe St., Thorndale, TX
Come enjoy inspiring stories, refreshments, and learn how TREE is working to make a lasting impact in our community! ✨
Thorndale Bond Update:
In case you somehow haven’t noticed, the high school construction is moving fast and is “off the ground”! Structural steel, CMU, building slab, utility lines complete! Pre-engineered metal building and exterior stud framing in progress. Project moving full steam ahead!
We have also already initiated the planning for the remaining bond projects that were part of phase #2:
- New elementary entry vestibule
- Elementary playground and drainage
- Connecting the hallway between the current elementary and middle school
- Current band hall improvements
- Classroom reconstruction to house the Special education program
- District signage and wayfinding
Note: the middle school fire alarm was part of the plan for the bond, but it has already been completed free of charge to taxpayers due to a safety grant TISD received!
Free & Reduced Lunch Applications:
It is SO important that students eat 3 good meals a day. Two of those can take place at school for breakfast and lunch every day. NOTE: The food is great! I eat it in the cafeteria 2-3 days a week.
I also want to take this time to remind folks that the Free & Reduced lunch applications exist if you are new to that program and if you have been on it before, you need to know that students are grandfathered from the prior year until Sept. 25th, 2025 and then they drop off.
If your child’s status has changed, PLEASE reach out to Jeni Anders, Food Service Director, at janders@thorndale.txed.net; 512-898-2030
Reminder: To continue meal benefits for this school year, please submit a new application at MySchoolApps. Don’t wait—apply today!
If you're not sure whether you've applied for this school year, contact Jeni.
Attendance Matters!:
Students can’t learn as much when they are absent from school. Thus, attendance matters! However, did you know that schools receive funding based on ATTENDANCE, not ENROLLMENT? Pretty crazy to think about, considering we don’t spend any less money just because a student is out sick or absent from school.
What can you do to help? Make sure your student makes it to school each and every day. We all get tired, and a day off here or there sounds fine, until you multiply that by 670 students. Please utilize those weekends and holidays that we have built throughout the calendar and get them here every day we are in session.
Obviously, if they are sick, we want them to stay home. No use getting others sick or being miserable at school. However, if you are scheduling routine doctors'/dentists' visits, doing so in the afternoon is very helpful, as our attendance (for funding purposes) is calculated in the morning.
Below is some shocking data that puts these absences into perspective over time:
Volleyball:
- The Lady Dogs Varsity are now 2-1 in district play!
- The JV Gold team brought home 2nd place, while JV Maroon earned 3rd at the Holland Tournament.
The JH Lady Dogs (7th & 8th) finished 2nd at the Flatonia Tournament and are now moving into the second round of district play.
Cross Country:
High School
- On September 18th, the Lady Dogs and Bulldogs competed at the Lake Belton Invitational in Temple. Our varsity girls, varsity boys, and JV boys all ran well!
Results can be found here: TX Mile Split - On September 25th, our teams ran at Robinson. Congratulations to our medalists: Jamie, Jose, Raven, Nadia, and Skielee!
🏆 The Girls Team also took 1st place at the Robinson Meet!
Full results here: TX Mile Split
Junior High
On September 24th, our JH runners competed at La Grange. Congratulations to all for a great meet—we’re proud of your hard work and determination!
👏 Top Finishers: Bridget, Joselyn, Krystal, Drew, Tate
For full results, please visit: TX Mile Split
Football:
Friday Night Football
- The Bulldogs brought home a big Homecoming win against Bartlett, 54–6!
- The following week, they fought hard but came up short against a tough Gordon team.
Thursday Night Football
On September 18th:
• 7th Grade ➤ Beat Rogers!
• 8th Grade ➤ Tough loss vs. Goldthwaite.
• JV ➤ Beat Granger!
On September 25th vs. Hempstead:
• 7th Grade ➤ Fell 22–12
• 8th Grade ➤ Battled to an 8–8 tie
• JV ➤ Pulled out the win, 22–20!
Cheerleaders Prepare the Future with Mini-Camp
We had a great turnout for our Mini Cheer Camp! Thank you to everyone who joined us. The campers performed at Friday’s pep rally and at the football game vs. Gordon—what an awesome show of spirit!
TISD Culinary Has Been Busy!
Culinary Art students have been busy and completed several units thus far:
Labs have included:
Escoffier’s Peach Melba - Poached Peaches in a simple syrup served with a puréed raspberry sauce & ice cream. This unit was done as a representation of the History of Culinary Arts & Escoffier’s Brigade System.
Famous Chef Dishes - students selected a famous chef of their choice and prepared a research-based presentation of their culinary contributions. Students chose a famous dish, were given a budget & went to HEB to purchase their ingredients. Presentations were delivered & dishes were then prepared in class.
Dutch Baby & Danish Pandekager - Culinary Arts students prepared 2 pancake variations that included the oven-baked Dutch baby & Danish crepe-style unleavened pancakes. Pandekager flipping technique was also showcased!
Knife Skills - Students have learned Knife Identification, 10 Cutting Techniques, and completed their first knife-intensive lab. Chicken Fajita Bowls with pickled red onions & a house-made Chimichurri Sauce showcased their developing knife work.
Our 8th-grade culinary class has been in the kitchen, too! They whipped up some delicious pancakes (parents, I would expect Saturday morning breakfast from them from now on!
Thorndale Middle School Science Experiments!
Each week, our 6th and 7th-grade “scientists” have been busy with labs and experiments. Whether it was learning about solutes vs. solvents, concentrated solutions vs. diluted solutions, or what better than chemical changes through cooking up marshmallows! There is no better way to help a restless 6th and 7th-grader learn than hands-on!
Thorndale Elementary Activities:
Mrs. Butts’ & Mrs. Becker’s Pre-K had an apple-solutely fun day learning all about apples!
They started Thursday morning with an apple good morning song and an apple shape hunt. In the afternoon, students learned how scientists make predictions with a sink-or-float experiment, enjoyed an apple taste test, and ended the day with a sweet treat—apple pie in a cup!
Kindergarten explored the sense of taste recently using their taste buds! You can tell by the pictures that some enjoyed their lemon more than others! :)
First grade has been studying states of matter. They enjoyed a fun experiment with ice cream, soda, and lemonade to explore the reaction of each with the ice cream!
4th grade students wrapped up their first Language Arts unit on personal narratives by trying out physical therapy that patients endured when they contracted polio. During the unit, students read a personal narrative about a 12-year-old girl who had polio. Students picked up marbles with their toes and tried out an accordion like she did. Students also learned about a teacher, Eleanor Abbott, who had polio. While in the hospital, she saw how children with polio were lonely and bored. She decided to create a game to help keep them entertained and Candy Land was born!
4th grade students wrapped up their first Language Arts unit on personal narratives by trying out physical therapy that patients endured when they contracted polio. During the unit, students read a personal narrative about a 12-year-old girl who had polio. Students picked up marbles with their toes and tried out an accordion like she did. Students also learned about a teacher, Eleanor Abbott, who had polio. While in the hospital, she saw how children with polio were lonely and bored. She decided to create a game to help keep them entertained and Candy Land was born!
In Counseling, our Word of the Month is Respect! We kicked things off with presentations exploring what respect looks like, feels like, and sounds like. Our students are already showing great insights and examples, and we can’t wait to see how they put respect into action all month long!
Bella Turned 3!
September 17th was Bella’s 3rd birthday, and the elementary school made sure she was well taken care of!
TISD Staff Shoutouts!
Previous Bulldog Bulletin’s - Superintendent’s Blogs:
In case you missed out on the 24-25 Superintendent’s blog and want to look back at any issue, here is where you can find them: Thorndale ISD
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Most sincerely,
Zack Kleypas
Superintendent
Thorndale ISD
#TISDStrivingForExcellence
“Keep improving, always, in all ways.”
