The Mustang Message

Dear Mustang Family,

It is hard to believe, but we have officially made it through the 1st 6-weeks of the school year, and boy did it fly by! We are so proud of our Mustangs and all of their hard work they have shown this grading period. Please note that report cards will be sent home for 1st-5th grade on Thursday, October 1st. If you have questions regarding your child's report card, now is a great time to schedule a parent conference if you have not already done so.

📅 Reminder: Student Holiday on Monday, September 28 📅

Just a friendly reminder that Monday, September 28, is a student holiday. There will be no school for students as our teachers and staff participate in a day of professional learning and development to continue strengthening instruction and supporting student success. We look forward to welcoming our Mustangs back to campus on Tuesday, September 29, refreshed and ready for a great week of learning! 💙💛🐴

🎤 Student Council Speeches - Families Welcome! 🎤

Our future student leaders are ready to share their ideas! 4th and 5th Grade Student Council speeches will take place on Tuesday, September 29, in the cafeteria. 5th-grade speeches will begin at 8:00 a.m., followed by 4th-grade speeches at 9:00 a.m. Families of students running for Student Council are welcome to attend and support their candidates. All visitors must check in through the front office and receive a visitor badge before entering the cafeteria. We look forward to hearing from our outstanding student leaders and celebrating their willingness to serve our school community! 💙💛🐴

🎉 Join Us for Our 1st Six-Weeks Academic Pep Rally! 🎉

We are excited to celebrate the success of our Mustangs at our 1st Six-Weeks Academic Pep Rally on Friday, October 2 at 8:00 a.m. in the gym! During this special event, we will recognize our Leading with Character winners, Attendance winners, and Honor Roll recipients for their hard work and achievements. We will also proudly announce our newly elected Student Council members to the entire school community. Families are welcome to attend and help us celebrate our students' accomplishments! Please remember that all visitors must check in through the front office and obtain a visitor badge before entering the gym. We look forward to celebrating with you! 💙💛🐴

🧹 Custodian Appreciation Day - October 2 🧹

On Friday, October 2, we will celebrate Custodian Appreciation Day and honor the incredible team that helps keep Tom Daniels Elementary clean, safe, and welcoming each day. From early mornings to late afternoons, our custodians work tirelessly behind the scenes to support our students, staff, and families. We are truly blessed to have the best custodial team in all of Kerrville ISD! Their hard work, dedication, and care for our campus do not go unnoticed. If you see a member of our custodial team, please take a moment to share a smile, a thank you, or a note of appreciation for all they do for our Mustang family. 💙💛🐴✨

A Reminder About Toys and Fidgets at School 🧸

To help maintain a positive and focused learning environment, we ask that students leave toys, squishies, NeeDohs, trading cards, and other non-school items at home. While these items may be fun, they often become a distraction to learning and can create conflicts among students. If a student brings one of these items to school, it will be collected and returned at the end of the day on the first offense. On the second offense, the item will be held in the office and must be picked up by a parent or guardian. Thank you for your partnership in helping us keep the focus on learning each day! 📚✨

🧥🏷️ Label Those Belongings! 🏷️🧥

Our Lost and Found is already beginning to grow, and with cooler temperatures and rainy weather on the way, we know even more jackets, hoodies, water bottles, lunch boxes, and other personal items may be left behind. To help lost items find their way back home, please take a moment to clearly label your child's belongings with their name. A name on an item makes it much easier for us to quickly return it to its owner. Thank you for helping us keep our Lost and Found under control and ensuring your Mustang's belongings make it safely back home each day! 💙💛🐴✨

🏥 Important Student Health Screenings 🏥

State law requires additional health screenings for students in 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th grades. Students in these grade levels will be screened for Acanthosis Nigricans, a condition that can indicate high insulin levels and possible insulin resistance, which may increase the risk of developing Type II Diabetes. Early detection is important, and parents will be notified only if positive findings are identified. If needed, a referral form and additional information will be sent home for follow-up with your child's healthcare provider. Please note that, due to scheduling and safety considerations, some students may be screened before or after the official screening date.

October 14 Health Screenings

👂👁️ Vision and Hearing Screenings will be conducted for all Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and Life Skills students.

✅ If your child wears glasses, please make sure they bring them to school on the day of the screening.

✅ Students who do not pass the initial vision or hearing screening will be retested. If they do not pass the retest, a referral notice will be sent home with information about recommended follow-up care.

Thank you for partnering with us to support the health and well-being of our Mustangs! 💙💛🐴✨

With Mustang Pride,

Katie Miller, Principal

Monday, September 28 is a Student Holiday and Professional Learning Day for KISD. While our students enjoy the day off, our staff will be learning, growing and preparing to continue giving our students their best.

We’ll see our students back in class on Tuesday!

What is Empathy?

Empathy is the ability to be aware of, understand, and be sensitive to another person’s feelings. Instead of focusing on how these feelings impact ourselves, empathy motivates us to focus on others and respond with care and compassion.

Why Focus on Empathy?

• Empathy builds a positive classroom culture. Empathy empowers students to learn to understand each other to build trust and safety in the classroom.
• Empathy strengthens community. Empathy helps students strengthen their relationships with classmates, other students and adults at school, and at home.
• Empathy prepares your students to be leaders in their community. The best leaders understand the people they lead and are able to show they care.

Empathy in Action:

• Take a different perspective. When you take a different perspective, you put aside your own feelings and reactions to see the situation through another’s eyes.
• Put aside judgment. Take a pause, and rather than express conclusions about a situation based on what you see, step back and consider other things you may still need to know or understand.
• Communicate that you understand. Instead of giving advice, respond with reflective phrases like, “It sounds like you...” or “I hear that you...” to express that you understand and care.

💙💛 Mustangs, we need YOU! 💛💙

Join the Tom Daniels Elementary PTO and be entered to win exciting rewards every 6 weeks! The more you participate and volunteer, the more chances you have to win.

Let's work together to make this school year unforgettable for our students!

September 28th: Student Holiday/Staff PD Day

September 28th: Happy Birthday, Ms. LeMaster!

September 29th: 1st Day of the 2nd 6-Weeks

September 29th: Student Council Speeches for 4th (9:00 a.m.) and 5th Grade (8:00 a.m.)

October 1st: Principal Appreciation Month

October 1st: 1st 6-Weeks Report Cards Sent Home

October 2nd: School Custodian Appreciation Day

October 2nd: 1st 6-Weeks Academic Pep Rally at 8 a.m. in the Gym

October 2nd: Schreiner Football Team on Campus from 12-1 p.m.

October 3rd: Kerrville Public School Foundation Annual Trivia Night

October 5th: World Teacher's Day

October 6th: Happy Birthday, Mrs. Miller!

October 7th: Wear Orange for CKH Leadworthy Trait of the Month: Self-Direct

October 7th: CAM Concert for 3rd and 4th Grade

October 8th: Fire Safety Presentations

October 12th: Student and Staff Holiday

October 14th: Health Screenings (Vision and Hearing)

October 15th: Chick-fil-A Spirit Night from 5-8 p.m.

October 16th: 1st Grade Field Trip to Jenschke Farms

October 17th: Happy Birthday, Officer Baldwin!

October 19th: Fall Individual Photo Retakes

October 22nd: 2nd 6-Weeks Progress Reports Sent Home

October 22nd: 2nd Grade Field Trip to Riverside Nature Center

October 22nd: 2nd and 3rd Grade Lunch Switch

October 29th: Life Skills Field Trip to Jenschke Farms

October 30th: DES Field Day

Each Wednesday at Daniels, our staff will be trying to help promote CCMR (College, Career, and Military Readiness) by wearing shirts of different colleges, careers, and branches of the military. Although attending college is a great option for students when they graduate from high school, it isn't the only option that can lead to a rewarding and successful future. Our students may be young, but their future is bright! We invite all of our Mustangs to join in on Wednesdays and wear their favorite CCMR shirt!

Please note the following procedures that will be in place to help this process go smoothly.

• Visitors MUST check in at the front office by presenting their ID and obtain a visitor's pass.
  
• Visitors will be able to eat with their student in the designated seating. No friends or classmates will be able to join.
• Visitors are not permitted to sit at the student tables with homeroom classes.
• You are welcome to bring food for your student, but it cannot be shared with other classmates.
• Visitors will NOT be able to walk with students back to their class after lunch or attend recess with them.
• Visitors MUST sign out in the Office before leaving campus.

Scheduled Lunch Times

Kindergarten: 10:45-11:15 a.m.

1st Grade: 11:05-11:35 a.m.

2nd Grade: 11:25-11:55 a.m.

3rd Grade: 12:35-1:05 p.m.

4th Grade: 12:15-12:45 p.m.

5th Grade: 11:50-12:20 p.m.

Our campus goal this year is 96% school-wide attendance. Regular attendance is extremely important. If your child is absent from school, please call or email your child's homeroom teacher and our Attendance Secretary as soon as you know they will not be attending school that day. Please include the reason for the absence. Excused absences are illness, medical appointments, or death in the family. Notes, calls, or emails must be received within 3 school days of the child returning. Unexcused absences may result in your child being placed on an attendance plan, prevent your child from being promoted to the next grade level, or may result in truancy charges being filed. Attendance is taken each day at 10:00 a.m. A student must be on campus at that time to be counted present.

Students are counted tardy if they are not in their class by 7:45 a.m. Parents are required to bring the student into the office to check them in if arriving after 8 a.m. Chronic tardiness will be addressed by administration. It is vital that students arrive to school on time. This time is important to helping develop social skills, organization skills, and learning to begin the day prepared. Students that arrive after 7:45 often come in behind the rest of the class, causing anxiety and stress on the student. Always allow time for traffic delays due to weather conditions and the first few weeks of school.

All visitors and volunteers must sign in at the front office before entering the campus. Our Raptor system requires a valid photo ID for all first time visitors. Each year this is reset. Visitors will be unable to enter the campus if they have not signed in with proper ID, even if the DES team knows you. We will not allow visitors to be released to classrooms unless the teacher has previously let the office staff know.

Parents are welcome to visit at lunch time during your student's grade level lunch time starting Monday, August 31st. We will continue to have a visitor's table.

At the conclusion of their visit, all visitors MUST sign out in the office before leaving campus.

Birthday treats must be store bought with a nutrition label. Treats from bakeries must also include a nutrition label.

Birthday treats may be dropped off in the front office. Visitors will not go to classrooms for birthday celebrations. Teachers will celebrate the last 15 minutes of the day, prior to dismissal. Flowers and balloons are not to be sent to school for delivery for any student.

If your student needs a transportation change for the day, please contact the office by 2:00 p.m. As it gets closer to 3 p.m., it can sometimes be difficult to locate students as the dismissal process begins. We understand that emergencies happen and will assist when those arise.

We also ask that students who need to leave early are picked up by 2:30 p.m. as well. This will allow our office staff to focus on dismissal and to ensure that it runs smoothly.

Thanks for your cooperation and understanding!

Breakfast and Lunch are offered on campus daily. Please check the menu frequently to see any changes that might occur.

2026-2027 Meal Prices

Breakfast Paid Student - $1.75

Breakfast Reduced Student - Free

Lunch Paid Student - $3.50

Lunch Reduced Student - $0.40

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based, tiered framework for supporting students’ behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health. When implemented with fidelity, PBIS improves social emotional competence, academic success, and school climate. It also improves teacher health and wellbeing. It is a way to create positive, predictable, equitable and safe learning environments where everyone thrives.

Kerrville ISD is utilizing PBIS on all four elementary campuses.

At Daniels, we have adopted the acronym of PRIDE. Our Mustangs are expected to show PRIDE in all they do and in all areas of the school. Students are asked to wear their badge so they can be rewarded for showing PRIDE throughout the school and by all staff members. Students are able to use their points to shop in Teacher Stores and to participate in school-wide incentives.

The safety of our students and staff remains a top priority. To support a coordinated response during emergencies, our campus follows the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) developed by the I Love U Guys Foundation. The attached graphics explain the five SRP actions and what they mean. We encourage families to review this information so we can partner together in promoting a safe school environment.