Tobias Traveler

Explorer Families:

So many great learning and family engagement opportunities are happening this month for our Explorers. We even have a few surprised planned. We know this time of year is fast paced and with events happening, our teachers are working to make ever instructional minute count. We know getting to school every day can be challenging some days, especially the short weeks. Remind students that this month we will have fun "attendance surprise" pop ups planned for students and families and they don't want to miss a single day.

Below is a quick peek into a few of the things happening at Tobias. Be sure to check out flyers below this message for more details about each event. We look forward to welcoming you to campus and celebrating students this month.

📚 November 6-13: Scholastic Book Fair
🦃 November 6th:

• Pep rally (wear Tobias colors or "Turkey Day" outfits)
• Club day
• Thanksgiving Lunches (see flyer below)

🪖 November 11th @8:30 AM in Cafe:

• 1st Grade Veterans' Day Celebration (all Veterans are invited to attend)

💗 November 13th: World Kindness Day (wear your best Daniel Tiger or Mr. Rodgers red cardigan)

🌏 November 17th: PTA General Mtg @ 6:00

🥧 November 23-27 Thanksgiving Break

💯 November 30th: Middle of Year Screeners Begin

Melissa English, Tobias Principal

-Jenne Brauchle, Tobias Assistant Principal

📆 November 2nd and 3rd: Student Holiday and Staff Workday

📚 November 6-13: Scholastic Book Fair

🦃 November 6th: Pep Rally, Club Day, Thanksgiving Lunch

🪖November 11th: 1st Grade Veteran' Day Program

💗 November 13th: World Kindness Day

🍁 November 14th Fall Fest

🌏 November 17th: PTA General Mtg @ 6:00

Fall Fest Volunteer and Support Opportunities

Save this email-- it's your Fall Festival Information Station! All the details you need for a fun filled day- and how you can help- right here in your inbox.

The Tobias Fall Festival is Saturday, November 14th. We’re partnering with the school for a student and family engagement event filled with fun, games, and time together.

The Breakdown:

• 12-12:30pm: Sensory time begins for our Foundational Learning students or by invite only for our families that might benefit from a quieter, less chaotic setting.
• 12:30–1pm.: Student PTA member early entry membership perk
• 1–3pm: Open to ALL!

It’s FREE to attend and play. You heard that right-- No tickets. No admission. Just come have a little family fun! PTA will be selling concessions to help fund our classroom celebrations.

How do we offer all this fun for free? Great question. That’s where our community comes in:

We’re collecting candy and small prizes for the game tables. Monetary donations help purchase additional candy, prizes, and concession stand supplies. Grab an extra bag while picking up candy for the trick or treaters, and don't forget to save your Halloween leftoves, too! You might've already seen Idnarb and his sidekick Netsirk, the 2 alien creatures stranded in the front office. Their spaceship runs on candy and they are in desperate need to get home. Send in the candy with the kiddos and let them gas the spaceship up!🍬👽🛸

Own a business or know someone who does? With a $50 donation, businesses can set up their own booth or game and/or have their business name featured on our Festival Partner Wall! This is NOT a vendor opportunity.

🍂Become a festival partner or make a monetary donation here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/annual-tobias-fall-festival-partnership

We also need your time-- even a little of it! There are plenty of volunteer slots and times available, and any amount of help makes a difference. Last year, we had to close activities because we didn’t have enough volunteers to keep them running. We want to keep the fun going for every family this year! With over 1,000 PTA members, we have an incredible community to call on. If you can spare part of your afternoon, please grab a shift. Take a turn helping, then enjoy the festival with your family! If you have a middle or high schooler in need of some hours, we'll gladly take them, too!

🙌Lend a hand here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508094BABAC2DA0F85-66946399-fall

Want to be part of the conversation? Join the Fall Festival Band group and share your ideas on how this can be the best Fall Festival ever!

🗣️Join our group here: https://band.us/n/a1acbdo4Fdodk

To help keep our students focused, engaged, and safe throughout the day, personal communication devices—including cell phones, smartwatches, and tablets—are not permitted to be used on school property during the school day (in accordance with district policy and state guidelines).

What Parents & Students Need to Know:

• 🎒 Keep It Off & Put Away: If your child brings a cell phone, smartwatch, or device to school, it must remain powered off (or silenced) and tucked safely inside their backpack during school hours.

• ⌚ Smartwatches: While wearable tech can be great for tracking, using them to text, call, play games, or take photos during class is strictly prohibited. Students will be asked to put smartwatches inside backpacks during the instructional day.

• 📞 Need to Reach Your Child? If you have an urgent message or emergency during the day, please call our front office directly, and our team will gladly get a message to your student or classroom teacher.

Thank you for partnering with us to create a distraction-free learning environment for all of our Explorers!

We encourage families to take time to check weekly grades with students. Weekly grades will be visible in the parent portal each Wednesday. Please see the grading policy in our student code of conduct linked below for more information.

We love seeing our families, and we know sharing lunch is a special treat! To help our Explorers build independence and adjust smoothly to the new school year, please review our lunch policies below:

• 🌟 Lunch as a Learning Opportunity: Lunchtime is valuable non-academic time where students learn crucial social skills, practice peer interaction, and build confidence and independence. We encourage limiting lunch visits to special occasions so students can fully engage in these opportunities.

• 🥗 Forgotten Lunches: If your child forgets their lunch, please drop it off at the front office before 8:00 AM or during your student’s scheduled lunch time. This helps minimize disruptions to our front office team during peak instructional hours as they handle attendance and essential campus tasks.

• 🚫 No Outside Food Delivery Services: Per district policy, campuses will not accept deliveries from third-party meal services or restaurants (e.g., DoorDash, UberEats), and there are no meal drop-off tables.

• Free Lunch for all students: reminder that Tobias is a designated "free lunch and free breakfast" campus. This does not include any extra snacks or treat purchases. Families may set up restrictions and allowances through the school cafe portal. More information can be find at the webiste linked below.

• Car riders and siblings of students in FL or ECSE will be issued "purple" passes allowing them to drop off behind the campus.
• Please know that we have a district day car on campus. Parents of our Early Learning Center are also issued
• These passes are provided to ensure staff can assist students in our FL and ECSE and district employees can drop off their students in time to go to their campuses.
• If you are a parent or staff member who is issued a purple pass, please stay in the car rider line unti you pass the first turn into the parking lot. Going around cars before this turn puts families at risk of in coming traffic as other parents are exiting the drop off and pick up zones.

SmartTAGs help you track your student getting on and off the bus. Please know that the first few days, buses may arrive later than normal. This is very typical as bus drivers are focussed on helping students learn important bus safety routines and procedures. Information on how to download the app can be found at the link below.

Texas law requires schools to conduct hearing, vision, spinal, and Acanthosis Nigricans (AN) screenings to help identify potential health concerns early. New legislation now requires parent to opt in for these screenings. Required grades for Vision and Hearing screening are: PK, K, 1, 3, 5, and 7. Required grades for Spinal screenings are: 5th and 7th grade girls and 8th grade boys. In addition to these required grades, all new to district students are required to be screened for vision and hearing regardless of grade. Some students may need to be screened during the year for special programs like special education as well as a concern for vision or hearing in the classroom. We are requesting that all parents complete the consent for screening regardless of grade. Your child will only be screened if they fall in one of the above categories. Parents will be notified of any screenings that are not passed for follow up care referrals.

Warm regards,

Nurse Ashley Armstrong

ashley.armstrong@hayscisd.net

School starts promptly at 7:30AM and ends at 3:00PM. Doors open at 7:05AM.

Students that are dropped off when the 7:30AM bell rings will be counted tardy. Students need to be in their classroom by 7:30AM. Students should be picked up no later than 3:15PM.

We will not count tardies the first 4 weeks of school. However, starting the second week of school, we will ask parents to drive around the back and drop off at the front of campus. This allows our staff to begin their instructional day with students.

If you are running late, be sure to drop off in the front. All students that arrive after 7:30, should be checked in the office with their parent. For safety and security reasons, all drop off locations will be closed promptly at 7:27 AM so that our staff may begin their instructional day.

If your student is absent and did not go to the doctor and therefore does not have a doctor’s note, the parent note for their absence must be received here in our office within 5 days. After the 5th day, it will be counted as an unexcused absence with no exceptions. You can email the note to Tes.Attendance@hayscisd.net or have it hand delivered by the student or them.

Please utilize these calendars to plan vacations or make appointments for students. Attendance plays an enormous role in student success. Please use our district calendar student holidays when planning any vacations or trips during the school year.

Transportation: transportation@hayscisd.net

Cafeteria: tescafe@hayscisd.net

Principal-Melissa English

melissa.english@hayscisd.net

Assistant Principal-Jenne Brauchle

jenne.brauchle@hayscisd.net

Counselor: LaVada Ferguson

vada.ferguson@hayscisd.net

Hays Hope Line

Nurse: Ashley Armstrong

ashley.armstrong@hayscisd.net

Hays County Food Bank

https://haysfoodbank.org/get-help/

Tobias PTA Board:

President-Kristen Lowery

Vice-President- Elvia Ratzlaff

Secretary- Gabrielle Romero

Treasurer-Kiley Pena

Communications Chair- Helen Webb

Parliamentarian- Brandi Sanchez

Principal -Melissa English

Tobias PTA Facebook Page

Membership Drive will begin in August. Come join PTA and support our school!

Email: melissa.english@hayscid.net
Website: hayscisd.net/tobias
Location: 1005 FM 150 Kyle, TX 78640
Phone: 512-268-8437