The Mustang Message
Friday, October 9th, 2026
Dear Mustang Family,
After careful observation and extensive research, I've reached an important conclusion: our Mustangs have been working TOO hard! Students and staff have been giving their all every day, so I have decided to reward everyone's hard work with a day off on Monday. Enjoy the extra day to relax, recharge, and make some memories with your family. You've earned it, Mustangs!
Next week, we will celebrate Texas College Week by promoting college and career readiness across our campus. High school seniors throughout Texas have the opportunity to apply to participating Texas colleges and universities for free during this special week. To join in the excitement, we are encouraging all of our Mustangs to wear their favorite college shirts, hats, and gear all week long! We can't wait to see our students dreaming big and showing their college pride.
Skip the cooking and support our Mustangs! Join us for our first Spirit Night on Thursday, October 15, from 5:00-8:00 p.m. at Chick-fil-A. Just mention Tom Daniels Elementary, and a portion of the proceeds will come back to our school. We can't wait to see you there! 💙💛
We also want to give a high shoutout to our PTO who provided our Mustang staff with a nice refreshment from Kerrville Nutrition to celebrate this Friday!
We cannot wait to see everyone back on Tuesday! Enjoy your weekend!
With Mustang Pride,
Katie Miller, Principal
Weekly Homeroom Attendace Leaders
Average Daily Attendance
#LeadingWithCharacter
Pink Out for Tivy Football!
School Holiday- October 12th
Scooter's Staff Member of the 6-Weeks
Congratulations to our Staff Member of the 6-Weeks, Reading Specialist Caroline Williams!
While Caroline may be new to our Mustang Family, she has already made a tremendous impact on our campus. Her passion for helping students grow as readers, her commitment to supporting teachers, and her positive attitude make a difference every single day. We are so grateful to have her as part of the Daniels Elementary team!
A special thank you to Scooter’s Coffee for their continued partnership and support of our staff recognition program. Your generosity helps us celebrate the amazing educators who make Daniels such a special place to learn and grow!
Join us in congratulating Ms. Williams on this well-deserved recognition!
🏆🏈 Happy National Coaches Day! 🏈🏆
We are so thankful for Coach Carlson and Coach Lowrance and the energy, encouragement, and Mustang spirit they bring to our campus! Thank you for cheering on our Mustangs and helping them grow both on and off the field.
We appreciate you, Coaches!
🎓⭐ Texas College Week is Coming! ⭐🎓
From October 12-16, 2026, we will be celebrating Texas College Week across all of our elementary campuses! Students and staff are encouraged to wear their favorite college shirts all week long as we promote college awareness, career readiness, and future aspirations.
Whether you're representing a university, community college, trade school, or military academy, every path to success starts with a dream and a plan for the future! 💙❤️
Join our Scorpions 🦂, Dolphins 🐬, Eagles 🦅, and Mustangs 🐴 as we explore the many opportunities that await our students beyond graduation.
Chick-fil-A Spirit Night- October 15th
Fall Individual Photo Retakes
Reb Ribbon Week is Coming Soon!
Field Day Donations Needed
Field Day is just around the corner, and we need your help to make it a memorable day for our students! 🐴🎃🍪
Our PTO is collecting donations of pumpkins and cookies for Field Day on October 30. If you'd like to contribute, please sign up using the link below:
🔗 https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090949ABAA2BABFA7-52509583-field
✅ Please have all donations turned in by October 26.
Thank you for your continued support of our Mustangs. We couldn't do it without our amazing families! 💙🧡🐴
Field Day is Coming!- October 30th
Save the Date for Book Fair!
Tivy HS Game Day Themes
Send us a Staff Affirmation!
October Leadworthy Trait: Self-Direct
What does it mean to Self-Direct?
Self-Direction is the ability and learned skill to cast a vision of future goals and then take intentional steps toward who, where, and what we want to be. Instead of focusing on things to control or avoid, we emphasize our responsibility to make positive choices related to our emotions, attitudes, and actions.
Why focus on Self-direction?
- Self-direction strengthens relationships. Self-direction helps to grow social skills and develop meaningful, positive relationships with others.
- Self-direction teaches personal responsibility. Learning to self-direct teaches students to take responsibility for their own actions.
- Self-direction helps us to regulate emotions: Self-direction empowers students to regulate their impulses and emotional responses to situations and circumstances in their life.
Self-Direction in Action:
- Practice goal setting and action planning. When we establish goals and develop action plans, we learn to take intentional steps to successfully achieve goals.
- Monitor and adjust. Provide students with regular feedback and opportunities to self-assess progress toward goals to make adjustments and improvements in their behaviors.
- Reflect and evaluate. Facilitate discussions and reflection to prompt students to examine what they do, think, and say against their goals and vision for their life and learning.
A Note from Mrs. Mohnke
Why join the PTO?
💙💛 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!
DES Staff Favorites
Mark Your Calendar: Meeting Dates for the 26-27 School Year
Spring Fling is BACK! Save the Date!
October 12th: Student and Staff Holiday
October 14th: Health Screenings (Vision and Hearing)
October 14th: Happy Birthday, Ms. Olga!
October 15th: Chick-fil-A Spirit Night from 5-8 p.m.
October 16th: 1st Grade Field Trip to Jenschke Farms
October 16th: Minon Theme for Tivy Football
October 17th: Happy Birthday, Officer Baldwin!
October 19th: Fall Individual Photo Retakes
October 20th: Happy Birthday, Miss Zirkel!
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 23rd: Kinder Field Trip to Pipe Creek Pumpkin Patch
October 23rd: Blue Out for Tivy Football
October 29th: Life Skills Field Trip to Jenschke Farms
October 30th: DES Field Day
CCMR Awareness
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!
Lunch Visitors
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.
Attendance
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.
Tardies
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.
Campus Visitors
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
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.
Transportation Changes and Early Pickups
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!
HB 1481: Student Communication Devices
Title 1 Family Compact
Cafeteria Menu and Prices
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
Mustangs Show PRIDE
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.
Standard Response Protocol (SRP)
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.