Message from the Principal

Andy Baxa

I hope you are all having a wonderful, relaxing summer. As we cruise through July, it’s hard not to notice that the break is slowly starting to wind down. You know that warning sign on your passenger side mirror that says "objects in mirror are closer than they appear"? That is exactly how the first day of school feels right now.

I truly want to encourage all of our students and families to enjoy these last few weeks to the absolute fullest. Take the trips, sleep in, and do everything you can to soak in every single moment of summer before the morning alarms start ringing again.

Behind the scenes, the McCallum team is slowly buzzing back to life. This past week, our counseling team officially returned to campus to prepare for the year ahead.

Our counseling department will look a little different this year. Our lead counselor, Marc Garcia, has decided to pursue a new opportunity in a neighboring school district and will no longer be at McCallum. We are incredibly grateful for his service to our community and wish him the absolute best. Looking forward, we are thrilled to welcome Lisa Gorzell to the team, and we will be adding another counseling team member in the coming weeks. In the meantime, our counselors are fully ready to assist students with any questions about the upcoming year. Because they are currently knee-deep in building and balancing student schedules, please be patient with their response times; they are working hard to get to every email and phone call as quickly as possible.

Finally, I wanted to provide a quick update on our ongoing campus construction projects so you know what to expect when we return.

The New CTE/Science Building: This project is moving along nicely. On the first floor, the interior walls are nearly complete, and crews have already begun framing out the interior walls on the second floor. We anticipate work on the roof and the third floor will begin shortly.

Tennis Court & Sidewalk Access: Access to the tennis courts has shifted to the Grover side of the facility. The construction team cut a new opening in the fence to allow for much safer access to the courts. Please note that the sidewalk cutting through campus from Grover to Stark Street will be officially closed once school begins.

Track and Turf Field: As many of you know, this project has faced several significant delays due to the tight physical constraints of our construction site. However, we are finally nearing the finish line. The retention ponds on the north end are nearly complete. Once they are wrapped up, crews can begin laying down the new track surface. The current plan is to have the track and field fully open to the school by early August.

Thank you for your continued patience and support as we upgrade our campus.

Go Knights!

Andy Baxa

Email: andy.baxa@austinisd.org

Main Office:  512-414-2519 ext. 71139