Feb.

21, 2018

Dear Small Middle School families,

Beginning at about noon today, more than 100 students walked out of lunch as a reaction
to the recent school shooting in Florida. Austin ISD provided additional police officers to
ensure the students remained safe. Officers were not in attendance to stop the event.

The safety of all our students is our highest priority, and this is an important moment to
engage our children in discussions of school safety. We encourage our students to exercise
their rights and to be civically engaged members of the community.

We do strongly believe, however, that the safest place to have these discussions is inside
our school buildings. We will continue to support our students, and to have the big and
meaningful conversations that have begun again recently.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 512-841-6700. As
always, we appreciate your support of Small Middle School.

Sincerely,


Principal Matthew Nelson
Small Middle School