Eagle News

Dear Eagle Families,

Welcome to September! It is hard to believe we are already stepping into our second month of the school year. Over the last two weeks, I have been so proud to watch our students fully settle into their daily procedures, classroom routines, and campus expectations. The energy in our hallways is focused, joyful, and full of learning!

During our recent campus instructional walkthroughs, our administrative team witnessed incredible teaching in every classroom. Our teachers are actively leveraging high-quality instructional materials, delivering rigorous lessons, and intentionally embedding social-emotional learning to ensure every Eagle thrives academically and emotionally.

Exciting News: Lunch Visits Resume Tuesday, September 15th!

We are thrilled to welcome families back on campus to eat lunch with their students starting Tuesday, September 15th. To ensure a smooth and safe environment for all students, please review our campus guidelines before visiting:

• Outdoor Family Seating: All family lunch visits will take place at our designated outdoor picnic tables. Families will not be permitted to dine inside the cafeteria with students due to space and supervision guidelines.

• Weather Awareness: Please plan ahead and prepare for warm temperatures or potential inclement weather, as indoor backup seating is not available for guests.

• Check-Out Procedure: When your child's scheduled lunch period ends, please report directly to the main front office to check out and return your visitor badge. We have lunch monitors that change duty every 30 minutes. They will be available to assist to renter the building when they transition.

Campus Safety & Dismissal Reminders

The safety of our students, families, and staff is our highest priority every day. Please help us keep our parking lot and dismissal lines safe and efficient by following these key guidelines:

• Handicap Parking: Please do not park in designated handicap spaces unless you have a valid, visible permit or license plate. We must keep these spaces open for families and visitors who truly need them.

• Car Seat Safety: Please ensure that all younger siblings and little ones riding in your vehicle are properly buckled into their car seats or seatbelts during arrival and dismissal.

• Hands-Free Drive Line: Cell phone use in active school zones and drop-off/pick-up lines is strictly prohibited. Please stay completely off your phones while in the drive line to keep your full attention on our walking students and traffic flow.

Thank you for your continued partnership, support, and dedication to our Houston Elementary community. Let’s keep this momentum going

Warmly,

Principal Tarpley

September

• September 14th- CAC Meeting at 3:30 (anyone can attend)
• September 14-18th Book Fair
• September 15th- Bright Colors for Hispanic Heritage Month
• September 15th- PTA Meeting 5:30-6:30
• September 17th- Principal Coffee 8-9am
• September 17th- Back to School Night 4:30-6:25pm (Details to come)
• September 21st- Staff/Student Holiday, Yom Kippur

Check out our new Instagram page where we celebrate all the wonderful things happening under our school's new leadership! JHouston_AustinISD

We love celebrating our Eagles on their special day! To ensure celebrations are fun, safe, and do not disrupt instructional time or violate district policy, please review our campus expectations:

• Timing: Per district policy, classroom birthday celebrations take place at the very end of the school day, right before dismissal.

• Approved Treats: If you would like to send birthday treats, items must be store-bought and individually wrapped. In accordance with our Austin ISD Wellness Policy, healthy options—such as fresh fruit cups or whole-grain snacks—are strongly preferred.

• Not Permitted: To protect instructional time, student safety, and wellness standards, we do not allow cakes, pizza, sodas, sugary juices, balloons, or piñatas.

• Unapproved Items: Please note that if any non-permitted items are brought to school, they will be held in the front office and must be picked up by a parent by 3:45 PM.

Thank you for your cooperation in making our students' birthdays special while keeping our classrooms safe and focused on learning!

As we prepare for the transition into our new building next school year, we wanted to share a few important updates to campus systems and procedures. These changes are based on feedback gathered through Principal Coffees, CAC meetings, and family survey responses.

The following changes will be made:

1. Visitor Approval & ID Requirement: Per state and district policy, and most importantly for student safety, any adult visiting for lunch must be listed on the student's approved contact list provided during enrollment and MUST present a valid photo ID upon entry. If you do not have a photo ID, entry will not be permitted—no exceptions.

2. We are excited to soon invite our families to eat lunch with their students. We will begin welcoming parent/guardians starting on September 15th. To better support student behavior, routines, and learning on some of the most challenging days of the week, parent lunch visits will now take place Tuesday–Thursday only. This means parents will not be permitted to join students for lunch on Mondays or Fridays.

3. Additionally, due to the design and capacity of the cafeteria in the new building, family seating will be located outside only. Lunch visits will therefore be weather permitting, as rain, cold temperatures, or other weather conditions may impact outdoor seating availability.

As we continue preparing for the move into the new building, additional adjustments to systems and procedures may be made over the summer and communicated prior to the start of the school year.

10:10-10:45 Prek 4

10:45-11:20 2nd Grade

11:00-11:35 5th Grade

11:25-12:00 Kinder

11:40-12:15 3rd Grade

12:05-12:40 1st Grade

12:20-12:55 4th Grade

We will also be adjusting our tardy time. Beginning this school year, students will be marked tardy at 8:00 AM instead of 8:05 AM. Breakfast in the classroom will continue to be served from 7:30–7:50 AM, with all breakfast items collected promptly at 7:50 so that academic instruction can begin. Arriving on time is incredibly important, as students who arrive late miss out on breakfast, morning meeting, social-emotional learning, and valuable instructional time at the start of the day.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

In order to ensure that our campus remains a safe, secure, and welcoming environment for everyone, we ask that you please review the following key safety guidelines from our campus safety plan.

Our Safety & Preparedness Protocols

• Crisis Planning: Each school year, all campus personnel review our comprehensive crisis management plan, which includes updated evacuation and emergency procedures.

• Practice Drills: Throughout the school year, students and staff participate in routine drills to practice procedures for evacuations, lock-outs, lock-downs, and severe weather.

Visitor & Volunteer Safety Procedures

• Visitor Badges: All visitors must check in at the front desk and wear a visible Visitor Badge on their shirt (placed near the collarbone area). Please remember to bring a government-issued ID each time you visit campus so we can check you in properly. No entrance to our campus will be permitted without a government issued ID.

• Badge Details: Your badge will list the specific area of campus or event you are visiting.

• Changing Locations: We love our volunteers! However, if your volunteer work or visit takes you to a different location than originally logged (for example, moving from the library to a classroom or cafeteria), you must stop by the main office to update your Visitor Badge.

• Staff Checks: Our staff members have been asked to help monitor visitor badges. If you are in an area not listed on your badge, staff will kindly redirect you to the front office for an update.

"The safety and security of our students and staff is always at the forefront of everything we do."

Thank you for your partnership and cooperation in keeping our Eagles safe every single day. Should you ever have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to the office.

To help keep our campus safe and minimize disruptions to instructional time, please review our procedures for visiting campus, checking students in and out, and attending school events.

🆔 Campus Visitor Policy

• Government-Issued ID Required: All visitors must present a valid government-issued photo ID and check in at the front desk every time they visit campus.

🚙 Student Check-In & Check-Out

• Signing Students Out: Only a parent, guardian, or designated emergency contact with a government-issued photo ID is permitted to sign a student out.

• Arrival for Pickup: To keep students safe and protect instructional time, students will not be called to the office until the authorized adult has physically arrived on campus. Please plan accordingly for off-campus appointments.

• Late Arrivals (After 7:45 AM): If your child arrives after 7:45 AM, a parent or guardian must walk them into the building entrance to sign them in. Please do not drop your child off at the curb.

⏰ Note Regarding Attendance & Tardies:

• 8:00-9:45 AM: Students arriving during this window are counted tardy.

• After 9:45 AM: Students arriving after 9:45 AM are counted absent for the day.

• We highly recommend scheduling medical or personal appointments at the end of or after the school day whenever possible.

🎟️ Event RSVPs & Fast-Pass Check-In

• Visitor Badges: Parents attending school events must check in at the front office to receive a visitor badge before entering the main building. Government ID is required to be presented.

• Pre-Printed Badges: To streamline entry for designated busy school events, we will send out event RSVPs in advance so our front office team can pre-print badges.

• First-Time Visitors: Please note that pre-printed badges are only available for returning visitors already in our system. First-time visitors must have their ID scanned in person at the front desk. Please plan accordingly to ensure you give yourself enough time to check in. The school only has one raptor system for check-in and there is often a long line of parents needing to check in.

Thank you for your cooperation and support in keeping our Eagles safe and focused on learning!

At Houston Elementary, we love catching our students being great! We are excited to share our Eagle Points program, a campus-wide positive behavior effort designed to recognize and reward our students for showing kindness, demonstrating leadership, putting forth academic effort, being on time, and making overall positive choices throughout the school day.

Every teacher and staff member on campus can award points to any student when they see them doing the right thing. Students accumulate these points throughout the week, watch their progress on our school leaderboard, and get to redeem their hard-earned points for special rewards in our school store! Ask your child about their Eagle Points this week and join us in celebrating their positive choices.

This month’s focus is Respect. One way to think about Respect is “seeing value in all people and things & treating them with care.” Many people feel Respected in different ways. We hope this month inspires discussions with your family about what Respect means to you and how you can practice it together! PurposeFull Pursuits Respect is 1 of 3 traits we will focus on throughout the year that helps students Be Kind. Across grade levels, students will be developing skills like perspective-taking, conflict resolution, and leadership.

Nurse Candy will be starting state mandated health screenings this month. Vision and hearing screening (PK4, K, 1st, 3rd, 5th). Spinal screening (5th grade girls). Acanthosis nigricans screening (1st, 3rd, 5th). Be sure any students that wear glasses or contacts have them at school. Any questions, parents can contact the nurse at (512) 414-3568.

Want to Volunteer?

Are you interested in volunteering at Houston? We'd love to have you! Austin ISD uses Voly for all volunteers in our school and everyone is required to sign up through the system. Volunteers must be renewed each school year. Please see below for information on how to sign up to volunteer at our school:

Volunteer Requirements and Application Process

To ensure student safety and maintain a secure environment, all volunteers must meet the following requirements:

• Complete a Volunteer Application, which must be renewed each school year.
  • The application takes approximately five minutes to complete and should be submitted as early as possible.
  • Applications can take up to five business days to process.
• Pass a background check as part of the Volunteer Application process.
• Present your photo ID at the campus to be scanned into Raptor.
• Represent yourself and Austin ISD in a professional manner and treat students, staff, and other volunteers with respect.

Additional Information:

The Volunteer Application is separate from the campus Raptor check-in process, which ensures all names are screened for safety and security purposes. All campus visitors are required to sign in and print either a visitor or volunteer badge.

How to Become a Volunteer

1. Create an Account: Visit austinisd.voly.org to sign up.
2. Complete the Application: Fill out your profile, select the schools you’d like to volunteer with, and submit the required information, including:
   • Full name
   • Email address
   • Address
   • Confidentiality agreement
   • Volunteer guidelines acknowledgment
   • Background check consent form
3. Pass the Background Check: Background checks typically take 2 hours to 5 days to process.
   • You must wait until your background check is cleared before volunteering.
   • Once cleared, you will receive a notification email confirming your approval.
4. Find Opportunities: After receiving your clearance, explore and sign up for volunteer opportunities that match your interests.