Dear Students and Parents, The finals are used to test each child on all of the content areas that the student has mastered throughout the spring semester. Since HSS is a college preparatory school; final exams are an integral part of teaching which is necessary in order to prepare our students for future academic pursuits. Finals (25% of the Second Semester) have been scheduled for Monday the 21st through Tuesday the 22nd of the May for students in 4th-8th Grade. The Schedule will be as follows:

Yearbooks are in and will be passed out during homeroom on Friday! If you have not ordered one yet, you are still in luck! There are limited numbers of yearbooks still available for purchase in the front office. The cost is $25 and yearbooks will be given out on a first come, first served basis. There's still time, (but not much), so hurry in and buy your 2011-2012 Harmony School of Science yearbook as soon as possible!

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Dear Students, Parents and Guardians:
Reading and writing are essential to learn about ourselves and our world. Students will read a variety of books over the summer and engage the texts through writing. Harmony students can start strong in the fall if their reading habits don’t “slide” away during the summer months. Please see the attached summer reading suggested texts and choices for response that corresponds to their grade level for the upcoming school year. If you have questions, please contact your English language arts teacher or school administration. Enjoy your summer and have fun reading!
"Grade 8"
"Grade 7"
"Grade 6"
"Grade 5"
"Grade 4 and 3"
"Grade 2 and 1"
"Grade KG"
"Middle School Parents"

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May 23, Wednesday: Grade K-3; May 24, Thursday: Grade 3-4; May 25, Friday: Grade 6-8

A segment of the May 13 television news show 60 Minutes included references to Harmony Public Schools (HPS) of Texas that may have left some inaccurate impressions. Please note the following facts about Harmony Public Schools, all of which were shared with 60 Minutes before the show was broadcast: Read more at Harmony Public Schools and 60 Minutes: Setting the Record Straight

U.S. News has announced the best high schools of the nation. The 2012 edition includes data on almost 22,000 public schools, 500 of which received gold medals.

Harmony Science Academy High School - Houston is ranked #309 in the nation, making the school one of the Gold Medalists. Harmony Science Academy is also ranked 24th within Texas. Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® coursework and exams. The AP® participation rate at Harmony Science Academy is 89 percent. The student body makeup is 44 percent male and 56 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 86 percent.

Harmony Science Academy Dallas is ranked #554 in the nation, enabling the school to receive a Silver Medal. Harmony Science Academy – Dallas is ranked 50th within Texas. Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® coursework and exams. The AP® participation rate at Harmony Science Academy – Dallas is 62 percent. The student body makeup is 48 percent male and 52 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 88 percent.

Harmony Science Academy North Austin received a Bronze Medal. At Harmony Science, the student body makeup is 47 percent male and 53 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 89 percent.

You can read more here.

We will have Spring Carnival and International Day on Saturday, May 12th between 12 and 4. We need volunteers to run the booths, items needed for carnival, food from different countries, and performance from different countries. If you would like to donate, please bring them on Thursday or Saturday morning: Cans, bottles, stuffed animals, cookies, cupcakes, pop-up tents, canopies, card tables, extension cords, ice, and sunscreen. Watch for your opportunity to volunteer at this fun event! Contact Kelly Hanley, hssptoparl@gmail.com for further information. We are having 2 children's authors Don Winn and Heather Hepler come out to give a short talk and autograph books during the Spring Carnival. We would like to have you at the school for this fun activity!

Click here for Carnival Pictures

The Austin Harmony Fine Arts Department proudly announces the 2nd annual Fine Arts Festival on Thursday, May 10th from 5:00-7:30 p.m. at Shoreline Church Gymnasium (15201 Burnet Rd).
*Art Walk and hands-on activities for parents and students from 5:00-6:00 p.m.*
*The HSANA Drum Line will welcome guests on the lawn; HSS String Ensemble, HSS Honor Strings and outstanding soloists will entertain in the lobby*
*Don't miss Ballet Folklorico, hip hop dancers, Bollywood dancers and our own HSS Harmonizers Choir in the gymnasium*
Don't miss this special event honoring the musical and artistic talent at Harmony! If you have any questions, please email Ms. Nesseth at snesseth@harmonytx.org
Click here for brochure

Please come and join us as the Spanish Department hosts our annual celebration of our Mexican-American heritage. Thursday, May 3rd during 7th period (1:30-2:30pm) we will be offering a program that will exhibit our 4th through 8th grade student’s knowledge of our Mexican-American Community’s heritage.

Students from 4th through 8th grade will be presenting different performances to represent Mexican culture. The students prepared some Spanish songs, music videos and dance performances.

Additionally we will also have Dr. Hector Montenegro, President/CEO of The Montenegro Consulting Group, as our guest speaker.

We hope it will be a memorable experience for everyone!
Please come and join us!

--The Spanish Department, HSS-Austin

Click here for calendar

Harmony Public Schools has received BBB rating again by Standard & Poor's in a report dated March 16th 2012. The report stated that the outlook of the Harmony Public Schools is stable. BBB rating is the highest possible rating for a charter school operator to receive. Dr. Soner Tarim, the Superintendent of Harmony Public Schools, said: "In the midst of national and global financial instability, Harmony Public Schools System has demonstrated its ability to remain financially stable through fiscally sound organization and management. Renewing our BBB rating along with a stable outlook will enable us to save thousands of dollars which can then be used to further advance the efforts of our students, teachers, and staff members".

Tiffany and Sunitha represented our school at Texas State Science and Engineerin Fair in San Antonio on Saturday, March 31st. Sunitha Konatham got third place in Computer Science at Texas State Science and Engineering Fair.
Congratulations to her, family, and to teachers!

List of Winners

Harmony School of Science – Austin Robotics team (Students: Braxten Frazier, Omer Coban, Jared Van Pelt, Samuel Sundararaman; Coaches: Lindsay Irick-Harpold, Faruh Khalilov) has competed in HRL (Harmony Robot League) against all Harmony Schools in Texas area and got second place on overall and fifth place on Robot Game among 15 schools. Congratulations Harmony Tigers.
Click here for more pictures.

Dear Prospective Students/Parents,

As enrollment season approaches, we would like to share a couple of reminders with you.

1 - The application period for Harmony Public Schools is between January 10 and March 15 for 2012-2013 school year.

2 - All applications prior to January 10, 2012 will be considered for 2011-2012 school year.

3 – Any application received after March 15, 2012 will be in the waiting list in the order of the date in which the application is received.

4 – Lottery was drawn on March 28th, 2012.

5 – Winners are being announced.

Please note that any application received is only considered for one school year. If your child does not get enrolled, a new application must be submitted for each year.

Harmony Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or disability in providing educational services, activities, and programs, including vocational and career technology programs, in accordance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended; Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972; and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.

Click here to see the Harmony Public Schools Catalog for 2012-13 school year.

On Saturday, March 24th, our Science Olympiad team competed at our Regional Tournament at Texas A&M San Antonio. Although we did not place overall, several of our students placed in their events:

*Compute This team received 2nd place: Jagadesh and Samuel
*Texas Wildflowers team awarded 2nd place: Harshini and Jessica
*Water Quality team placed 3rd: Jagadesh and Omer
*The Anatomy team placed 3rd: Natalie and Sunitha

We are very proud of our team for working so hard for the past few months as well as the coaches who were willing to work with their students on an almost weekly basis. Thank you for all your effort!

On Saturday, February 25th, Adithya Sreenivasan of 5C represented our school at the Zone 10 Regional Spelling Bee. With close to 30 contestants, the competition was fierce - and Adithya represented Harmony School of Science - Austin brilliantly, walking away with second place! Congratulations to Adithya for doing so well! You would be amazed at some of the words he was able to spell correctly! Way to go, Adithya!

Harmony Public Schools – Austin Proclamation:

Harmony Public Schools in Austin were honored by the City of Austin and Mayor, Lee Leffingwell last night at the January 12th City Council Meeting. Mayor Leffingwell announced a Proclamation declaring Harmony Public Schools Week to be January 13 – 20, 2012. Clearly all the hard work and dedication that each and every student, staff, teacher, administrator and parent has put into making our schools successful has paid off. The Mayor emphasized Harmony Public Schools notable accomplishments over the last decade and encouraged our schools to continue the remarkable success.

Click here to watch Proclamation video
Click here to see Proclamation
Click here to read article on Impact Newspaper

HSS Austin is organizing an international Trip to Canada, Mexico, and Turkey. The trip will be a cultural, social, and entertaining experience for the Harmony family. Join us in this rewarding.
Summer Break Parent Trips (June 2012)

Cost: Turkey trip: $900 + international flight ticket
Mexico & Canada trips: $1,000 + international flight ticket
Please contact Mr. Taslama for more details
*Price includes all in-country transportation, accommodations, breakfast and dinner.

Our teachers are working hard, going beyond their schedule and trying to visit our parents in their homes. The goal of home visits is first of all to get parent feedback and ask about any concerns, to have a better communication and increase parent involvement in their child's education… This way build rapport and respect between the student, parent and the teacher which improves students' grades and behavior at school.

If you would like to schedule a homevisit please fill out the form below:
Homevisit Request Form

You may login to our school database by entering student's first and last name in the username field on the right. The password will be either last 4 digits of SSN or the student's birth date. For example, the user name and password for John Nash, born in March 14, 2002 and SSN is XXX-XX-2584 would be

Username: John Nash
Password: 2584

OR

Username: John Nash
Password: 3/14/2002

You may change the password after you login. Please remember that the more the parents are involved, the better the student performs, and Harmony online system is a great easy tool serving that purpose. Please login as much as possible to keep close track of your child's:
-Grades,
-Homework, assignments,
-Schedule,
-Attendance records,
-Discipline points,
-Test results, and
-Pay for meal and afterschool.

From Superintendent Dr. Soner Tarim To the Harmony Public Schools Community: A disappointing article on charter schools in this week's New York Times attempts to put Harmony Public Schools in Texas in a context that is not accurate, necessitating this brief response. Many of us at Harmony Schools cooperated extensively with the Times on this story over the last several months, providing documents, interviews, tours and dozens of detailed responses to specific questions in good faith. But, as sometimes happens, the end result was not entirely what we had hoped. See the rest of Dr. Soner Tarim's response here: http://harmonytx.org/news/122/letter-to-stakeholders-on-ny-times-article/

It is the policy of the Harmony Science Academy Charter School to locate and identify any child who contacts or enrolls in the Charter School who may have a disability and be in need of special education and related services, regardless of the severity of the disability, in accordance with its procedures as reflected in the CHILD FIND legal framework of the Legal Framework for the Child-Centered Special Education Process, located at: http://framework.esc18.net/. read more...