08/26/2025
Hello everyone!
We wanted to take a moment to update you all, since we haven’t shared anything publicly following our August 13th meeting. The reason for this is that after our initial meeting on August 8th with Assistant Superintendent Mr. Itz, he reached out to us to schedule a follow-up meeting with him requesting information from our Busy Bees meeting that took place on August 13th. That meeting was held yesterday, and now we’d like to let everyone know where things stand.
At our Busy Bees meeting, we brainstormed a list of possible ideas that might help get our organization started. Please know: these were simply ideas—nothing was finalized or decided. Unfortunately, some of these discussions unintentionally hurt or offended members of our community, and some reached out to Mr. Itz expressing their concerns. For that, we sincerely apologize.
As many of you know, our former superintendent, Mr. Billy Harlan, encouraged us all to “TCA—Take Care of Academy.” We truly believe that parents, community, and schools working together is how we best support our students and teachers. Our only goal in restarting this organization is to lift up our schools, just as neighboring districts’ parent organizations do for theirs.
One example of an idea that was brought up during brainstorming was the fact that Halloween falls on Senior Night, which takes place at the football game. Someone suggested that we might host a Trunk or Treat so families attending the game could still enjoy trick-or-treating with their little ones. It was later brought to our attention that another organization within the district went to Mr. Itz because they felt hurt by this suggestion, as it created what was called a “competing interest” with other groups that were raising funds. Again, we are deeply sorry—this was never our intention.
To clarify:
💚This idea was only a discussion, not a decision.
💚We understood that district approval would be required before moving forward.
💚It was never intended to be a fundraiser.
💚Everything needed to make this event successful would have been donation based, with no monetary gain for the Busy Bees organization.
💚We even planned to invite other organizations within the district, local churches, and the fire department to participate with us if this idea became a reality.
There are also a few other things from the meeting with Mr. Itz that need clarification. This was shared last night with the people who attended the Busy Bees meeting and joined our Remind101 group, but I wanted to share here as well in order to be fully transparent:
💚Mr. Itz stated that there is currently a perception within the community that we are AISD’s volunteer program or otherwise affiliated with the district, which has created confusion. Again, we apologize for this as it was never our intention.
💚Mr. Itz has asked that we pause our activities for now. In our previous meeting, he stated that he wanted all communication to go through a campus liaison and the campus principal. However, now moving forward, if a principal has a need, they will reach out directly to volunteers. This helps prevent principals from being pulled into multiple meetings from parents who are interested in volunteering at their campus.
💚Our page will come down since we may have used the district’s logo (the Academy A or Bumblebee) in a previous post, and we were reminded that we are not allowed to use the district’s name, image, or likeness unless we are formally operating under the district umbrella.
💚Our email address, [email protected], will be deactivated since it contains “aisd” and creates the perception that we are affiliated with the district.
💚Moving forward, if we were to hold any further meetings on school grounds, we would need to go through the Facility Rental Process. If we were a registered nonprofit (we were currently in the process), there might be a possibility of fee waivers, but at this point, I don’t believe it makes sense to pursue that process since the organization doesn’t appear to have strong support.
We hope this clears up some of the questions and concerns that have been shared with Mr. Itz. Please know that everything we’ve done has been with the heart of supporting our Hive. Thank you to everyone who has reached out with questions and concerns—we appreciate your honesty and your commitment to Academy ISD students and staff.
Mr. Itz has shared that he does want volunteers in our schools, but if our efforts create situations where one group is upset with another, then it is best that we do not continue at this time. Again, we are deeply sorry for any confusion or hurt feelings that we may have caused. 💚💛🐝
