
Kelso Parent Press
November Edition
From The Desk Of The Principal
Happy November!!! Parents can you believe we are entering the third six weeks. This week marks the end of the second six weeks and report cards will be coming out again real soon. This month will be another jam-packed month of activities and excitement as we prepare for the season of Thanksgiving. Many activities will be dedicated to giving back to the community and sharing our gifts with each other. We have several parents at the center events planned so you can get a head start on what your scholar needs to know to be successful this year. As always we will celebrate and dedicate our time to exposing our scholars to Global Experiences.
Principal Shanda N. Walker
ATTENDANCE MATTERS
Last Month's Attendance Winners
Grade Level Winners
This month our Third-Grade team and scholars took home the award for best Grade Level percentage with 98% for the month of October. Scholars were surprised with a pizza party complement of the PTA and the teachers received an additional 30 minutes of lunch supported by our Wraparound Specialist Ms. Calzada.
Family Winners
Two families have been blessed so far this month because their scholar's name was pulled from a list of scholars with perfect attendance for the week. Each week the names of the scholars who have perfect attendance are collected and one name is pulled to receive a $25.00 gift card to HEB. So far our winners are:
Neimar Garcia’s Family
Arturo Ochoa's Family
Congratulations parents for ensuring your scholar(s) are present every day. If they are not at school, they are not receiving the instruction their teachers have prepared for them. Help us bring our Attendance back to the way it used to be back in the day! Perfect Attendance is an honor, and we will reward both scholar and PARENT, because they can't get here without YOU!!!
Kelso Elementary Parent Handbook
Here is the UPDATED HISD Attendance Policy
HISD ATTENDANCE POLICY
Any student served by the school district is considered enrolled in the district. A student must be in attendance for at least two hours to be considered present for one-half day and for at least four hours to be considered present for one full day. These time limits refer to instructional time, not including lunch, homeroom, passing periods, or other non-instructional time.
Absences – School Notification
Schools shall attempt to notify parents or guardians when a student has three absences.
What to do if your child is absent or tardy
Students who have been absent or tardy must present a written excuse from the parents or guardian when they return to school. Excuses for absences and tardies are:- personal illness
- sickness or death in the family
- quarantine
- weather or road conditions making travel dangerous
- participation in school activities with permission of the principal
- juvenile court proceeding documented by a probation officer
- approved college visitation
- emergencies
- or "any other cause acceptable to teacher, principal, or superintendent"
Are tardies absences?
Students must be present at least 35 minutes of the class period (or 60 minutes of a 90-minute class period) in order to be considered in attendance unless they are participating on a field trip or other activity approved by the principal.
Unexcused tardies are not converted to unexcused absences. Tardies are a disciplinary issue.
Students must be given the opportunity to make up work missed due to all absences. Reasonable time frames for the completion of assignments must be established. Please contact your child’s school for more information.
Daily absence exemptions
A student is absent if he is not actually in school at the time attendance is taken. This includes students who complete assignments at home unless the student qualifies for one of the following exemptions:- The student is participating in an activity which is approved by the local school board and is under the direction of a professional staff member of the school district or an adjunct staff member who:
- has a minimum of a bachelor's degree; and
- is eligible for participation in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.
- The student is a Medicaid-eligible child participating in the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment Programs (EPSDT). Students may be excused for up to one day at a time without loss of daily attendance.
- The student is observing religious holy days when it is required of their faith that they be absent from school.. A written request for the absence, in advance, is not required but is encouraged. A school district must excuse an absence to observe a religious holy day. Excused days for travel shall be limited to not more than one day for travel to and one day for travel from the site where the student will observe the holy days. The principal may elect to excuse additional travel days, but the student would be considered to be absent for the additional travel days for attendance accounting purposes. School districts are required to provide make-up work , along with adequate time to complete it, to students who have been excused to observe religious holy days.
- The student is temporarily absent due to an appointment with a health care professional. A note from the health care professional is required to excuse the absence.
- The student is participating in a mentorship approved by district personnel to serve as one or more of the advanced measures needed to complete the Distinguished Achievement Program.
Volunteers in Public Schools
If you would like to attend field trips with your scholar or just help out at Kelso, please go to www.houstonisd.org and apply on the VIPS website. The approval process takes at least two weeks so please give yourself enough time to complete the application and receive your approval. We would love to have you at Kelso.
Points of Clarity and Policy
Late Drop Off!
Parents in the attached handbook on page 3 the following information can be found:
Students will remain here until they are picked up by their teachers @7:25-7:30. Any student that arrives after 7:45 is deemed tardy and a PARENT must sign them in at the front office. Students will be given a tardy pass to class and a record of the tardy will be kept in Raptor for record keeping purposes. Students will be dismissed at 3:00 pm daily.
The bold and italicized part of the message is the focus of this point of clarity. Parents you MUST get out of your car and sign your scholar in if they are TARDY. All scholars are TARDY after 7:45 and they are ABSENT after 9:30.
Early Release
You will also find on this page notification concerning early release. Scholars may be picked up early daily until 2:00 p.m. After 2:00 p.m.:
No student will be dismissed early after 2:00 p.m. This is transition time for our scholars, and they are completing their instructional day.
If you need to pick your scholar up early due to an emergency, doctor's appt., dental appt. etc. please do so prior to 2:00 p.m.
Upcoming Events
November 8: Brighter Bites Distribution of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables for registered families.
November 8: PTA Parent Walk (Parents walk the halls of Kelso to share their opinion about how to improve our school)
November 9: Cane's PTA Fundraiser
November 10: Teacher Development Day (NO School for Scholars)
November 13-November 17: College and Career Awareness Week
November 13-November 17: Wraparound Week of Giving
November 14: Fall Themed Pictures
November 15: Children's Museum Comes to Kelso for a Night of Fun, Food, and Excitement
4:30-6:00
November 16: Parents Thanksgiving Luncheon (During Your Scholars Lunch Time)
November 16: Parent Workshop: Level Up! Take Your Life to the Next Level 4:30-6:30. Please register refreshments will be served.
November 17: Report Card Day
November 20-24: Thanksgiving Break
November 28: Parent Connect Parent Teacher Conferences 4:00-6:00 P.M.
November 29: Red Table Talk with Principal Walker (Virtual Event on TEAMS) 5:00 p.m.