Richardson Animal Shelter Drive

Student council is kicking off a drive to support the Richardson Animal Shelter. The drive will last from Monday, December 4th to Thursday, December 14th. Student council is asking students to bring in either item donations or spare change/coins! The money collected will be used to buy items off the list or donated to the shelter to use for medical procedures for the animals. If students bring items or coins, they can give them to their homeroom teacher.

List of items we are collecting:

• Dog treats (especially small treats for training)

• Dog toys (particularly Kongs, Nylabones, and similar "tough" items)

• Cat toys

• Leashes, collars, and harnesses

• Unscented baby wipes

• Stuffed animals for our small orphaned kittens to snuggle up with

We will be keeping track of how many items and coins each class brings. Each day there will be a count taken and displayed in the front hallway for everyone to see. The class who brings the most total dollar amount in coins and the class who brings the most items will win a prize!

Thank you for helping us support our local animal shelter!

As you visit Terrace Elementary you will notice that three of our most familiar places - the cafeteria, the gym, and the library - have new names!! As part of our Silent Auction at Multicultural Night we auctioned off the naming rights to our cafeteria, gym, and library. The three families that won have the honor of renaming these areas to a name of their choosing. For the next year, the cafeteria will be known as Elliot Huie's Eatery, the gym as Julian's Gym, and the library is named in the style of the popular children's book series Elephant and Piggie. Congratulations to our winning families!! We love the new names!

As we adjust to the start of a new school year, please keep these things in mind:

• Class STARTS at 7:50 which means that students should ARRIVE by 7:40.
• Breakfast is served from 7:20 - 7:40.
• Students who are not eating breakfast are allowed to enter the building at 7:35.
• We do not allow students into breakfast after 7:40.
• Students who arrive from 7:50 - 8:05 will receive a tardy.
• Students who arrive at 8:06 or after are considered absent for part of the day.
• If your child arrives after 9:00 he/she will be considered absent for the day.
• If your child is absent you must submit an excuse note within three school days.
• A doctor's note is required for any absence longer than three days.
• Not all absences are excused even if the parent submits an excuse note.
• Excuse notes can be uploaded directly to your child's FOCUS account or sent with the child to give to the teacher.
• We have a new cafeteria system this year. All families MUST set up a new breakfast/lunch account and apply for meal benefits by visiting schoolcafe.com/RICHARDSONISD
• Lunch numbers from last year are no longer valid.
• Dismissal begins at 3:00 for car and bus riders and 3:10 for walkers.Please be on time to pick up your children.
• We appreciate patience and kindness as we work to ensure that we dismiss all students safely. If your child is in the carpool line, please do not get out of your car and do not walk up to take students from the car rider line. This poses a safety concern and will delay dismissal.
• If you need to change the way that your child goes home, please email the teacher and copy ashley.plant@risd.org and iris.perry@risd.org on the email. Emails MUST be received before 2:30 pm. We will not change dismissal plans after 2:30.
• If your child has to leave early for an appointment, please be here before 2:30. We will not get children from class after 2:30. Additionally, we will not get students from class until the person picking up the child is here in the office. We do not allow children to wait in the office for their parents to arrive for an early pick up.

Results of the spring 2023 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, tests are available for RISD students in grades three through eight via the RISD Focus Parent Portal.

Please click here for instructions on how to access the RISD Focus Parent Portal.

LUNCH NUMBERS FROM LAST YEAR NO LONGER WORK.

ALL FAMILIES MUST REGISTER THEIR CHILDREN WITH THIS NEW SYSTEM TO GET A NEW LUNCH NUMBER AND TO APPLY FOR FREE/REDUCED LUNCH BENEFITS.

Richardson ISD is implementing a new school cafeteria payment system for 2023-24, called SchoolCafe, and will no longer be using the PayPam’s service. Any existing balances in PayPam’s will automatically be transferred to SchoolCafe once a returning family creates a SchoolCafe account. All RISD families who plan to use school cafeterias for student meals in the coming school year should create a SchoolCafe account.

Through the SchoolCafe App, a parent can:

-Deposit funds to pay for cafeteria meals for enrolled students

-Check balances or move funds among enrolled students

-Apply for free or reduced cost meal benefits

-Monitor student meal or cafeteria item purchases

Click here for instructions to download the Schoolcafe App (en espanol)

Click here for a quick start guide (en espanol)

Click here for how to apply to meal benefits (en espanol)

Parents with questions or in need of assistance may visit the RISD Child Nutrition website or contact RISD Child Nutrition at 469-593-0109 or 469-593-0102.

If you would like to volunteer at Terrace Elementary, you must complete a volunteer background check EVERY new school year. Volunteering could include helping with behavior bashes, attending field trips with your children, working in the library, helping at Field Day, Turkey Trot, or many other activities. We will not allow anyone who has not completed and passed the volunteer background check to volunteer. Please click on the link below to complete the background check. You MUST also watch the very short powerpoint at the end to complete the entire background check. Failure to watch the powerpoint will make your application incomplete and you will not be able to volunteer.

When lunch visitors begin on October 23, 2023 please adhere to the following procedures to ensure parents enjoy lunch visits with students:

• Arrive 5-10 minutes prior to your child’s lunchtime. It will take some time to get through sign-in at the office, and we want to ensure students are not late getting back to class after lunch.
• To accommodate for limited spacing and to avoid overcrowding, it is expected that the following schedule be adhered to:
• Student with last names A-L: Monday and Wednesday
• Student with last names M-Z: Tuesday and Thursday
• Friday: No Lunch Visitors
• Lunch visitors may only eat lunch with their own students. No friends will be permitted to eat with lunch visitors.
• Parents are responsible for watching their children and any younger siblings. Please be mindful of the people working in the office and keep voice levels down while on the porch.
• For capacity reasons, we ask that each student has lunch visitors no more than one time per week.
• The school requests that each visitor comply with a no cell phone policy while eating lunch with your student to ensure student privacy as well as quality time with your child. Taking pictures and/or video of students other than the lunch visitor’s own child is not permitted.
• Please help your child to follow our Tiger Pride and our cafeteria expectations that we reinforce throughout the building by ensuring that all trash is thrown away and tables are left clean for the next group.
• After lunch, children will go back to class with their teacher. Lunch visitors must sign out in the office and the students will return to class.
• Students will only be allowed to go to lunch during their lunch time. We will not take students out of class to attend lunch with siblings or at a time other than their own lunch period.

Terrace Families and Community Members, Please use the link below to join the Terrace PTA. Our PTA helps to provide programs and events for our school. Some programs and events include our annual Mean Green vs Orange Crush Kickball Game, supplement Field Day activities, provide teacher appreciation, supplement the cost of field trips for students, and so much more. Join is very easy and is only $10 per person. We would like ALL of our families to join our PTA.

The new RISD Mobile Parent App is now live for our school and available to parents of enrolled students. Created through RISD’s Blackboard system, this app allows parents of enrolled students to easily view important information related to your student’s education, like classes, assignment grades, attendance, cafeteria balance, bus stop info, an archive of messages sent from the school or district, and more. Use of this app is optional, and parents who have tested it have found it to be a useful and convenient way to keep track of their student’s information.

RISD parents were sent an emailed message that included login information and instructions to download the app and view information about enrolled student(s) within the app. The app is available for Apple and Android devices.

For more information and a QR code to download the app, please see the flyer here, or visit the RISD website here. Parents of enrolled students who did not receive a message with login information, or who need support viewing student information within the app, may contact the RISD Technology Support Center at 469-593-4357.

• Doors open for breakfast at 7:20.
• Doors open for students who do not eat breakfast at 7:35. Students who do not eat breakfast will wait outside until 7:35.
• Breakfast ends at 7:40.
• All students should be in their classrooms and ready for learning by 7:45.
• Tardy bell rings at 7:50.
• Students that arrive at 8:06 or after are considered absent for a part of the day.
• Attendance is taken at 9:00 each day.
• Automated calls regarding student absence go out at 11:00 each day.
• Dismissal is staggered and begins at 2:55 and ends at 3:10. Please look for more information from your child's teacher regarding specific dismissal information.

Parents MUST send an excuse note for an absence within 3 days of the student returning to school. These notes can be uploaded to the Focus Portal or sent with your child. Please be aware that all absences are not excused even when a note is sent. Vacation is not considered an excuse for an absence. Family emergency is not necessarily considered an excuse for an absence. You will receive an automated call regarding your child's absence even if you call the school to alert us that your child is absent. Additionally, the letters that are sent out regarding absences are automated through a 3rd party. Many of these letters are sent as warnings when a child is tardy, late, or absent a certain number of times. Please use this letter a reminder of the importance of proper attendance and ensure that your child is at school on time every day possible.

In the interest of safety & security, every visitor to a Richardson ISD campus must present a valid form of identification and be processed through the Raptor background check system each visit, regardless of previous checks. Please be sure that you have your valid identification with you every time you visit Terrace Elementary. Thank you for your patience and understanding as RISD works to ensure the safety of students and employees. Volunteer questions may be directed to the office of Strategy & Engagement.

Additionally, the front office staff will use the intercom system to ask visitors to identify themselves and the purpose of their visit before granting access to the office. This is part of our heightened security measures. Please be cooperative and patient as we all get used to these new measures. As you enter the building, please do not allow others to enter with you or to follow you through the doors as you enter or leave. Everyone who enters should ring the buzzer and speak to someone in the office before entering the school building.

Parents, staff, and students have likely noticed an increased presence of uniformed, armed officers at our school this year. RISD is working to comply with a new state law requiring armed personnel at every school, and our campus will be visited each school day by a uniformed, armed, off duty police officer. The officer may not be the same person every day, but they are here to provide a visible deterrent, help ensure our doors and grounds are secure, and support our campus safety protocols.

RISD is using rotating off duty police officers as a temporary measure while the district hires and trains campus security officers (CSO) as new RISD employees. Eventually, the district’s goal is to be able to assign an armed campus security officer to our school, and once fully staffed, CSOs will replace the rotating off duty police officers at our school. When we are assigned our CSO, we will introduce them to our school community, and they will become part of our campus staff.

If you have questions about armed officers on our campus, any of four safety-related drills or protocols, or how RISD is approaching the new law, please ask your campus principal or visit risd.org/safetysecurity and check out the FAQs.

Clothes must be worn in a way that private areas are all fully covered. Undergarments, except straps and waistbands, should not be visible. All items listed in the “must wear” and “may wear” categories below must meet this basic principle.

Student must wear (while following the basic principle above):

• An opaque top with a sleeve or strap and must cover the stomach, back, and chest area

• An opaque bottom, such as pants, jeans or the equivalent of a skirt, sweatpants, joggers, leggings, dress, or shorts

• Closed-toe shoes

Students may wear, as long as these items do not violate basic principle above:

• Fitted pants, including leggings, yoga pants, and skinny jeans

• Ripped jeans as long as underwear and private body parts are not exposed

• Athletic shorts and athletic skirts

• Religious headwear

Students cannot wear:

• Images, language or symbols that depict tobacco products, drugs, drug paraphernalia, alcohol, violence, hate speech, profanity, pornography, gang symbols, or other illegal activities

• Images or language that creates a hostile or intimidating environment based on a

protected class or group.

• Accessories that could be considered dangerous or could be used as a weapon

Focus Parent Portal is free!

Parents of enrolled RISD students are encouraged to sign up for an account or add a student to an existing account by visiting www.risd.org/focus.

Student Info at Your Fingertips

• Class schedule

• Upcoming assignments

• Current grades

• Transcript grades

• Attendance and absences

• Report cards

• Assessment results

• Online absence note submission

• More!

Focus Parent Portal is accessible through any web browser, the Focus App, or the RISD Mobile Parent App.

Have a question? Let us know: FocusParent@g.risd.org or 469-593-0811

To promote the best possible learning and social environment in Richardson ISD, students will not use their cell phones/air pods/smart watches during the school day, unless provided permission from an authorized district employee during the instructional day. The intent of the cell phone policy is to establish a cell phone/air pod/smart watch-free environment and avoid cell phones/ air pods/ smart watches distracting from learning as well as causing a loss of instructional time.

Statement of Expectations

Statement of Expectations

Campus administrators will state expectations clearly and reinforce the importance of maintaining a cell phone/air pod/ smart watch-free environment at the beginning of the

year. Administrators will monitor cell phone/air pod, smart watch violations to inform the need for reinforcement and support. Also, any headphone usage will occur based on the approval and expectations set by individual classroom teachers. RISD’s continued focus will be on the mitigation of educational distractions precipitated by the use of cell phones/air pods/ smart watches during instructional time.

Consequences

If a student uses their cell phone/air pods/smart watch during the school instructional day without the explicit permission of an authorized district employee, it will result in the confiscation of the cell phone/air pods/ smart watch and adherence to the following graduated offenses stated below. Authorized district employees who will be responsible for cell phone/air pods/smart watch confiscation will include: administrators and teachers.

1st Offense

• Cell phone/air pods/smart watch will be kept in the assistant principal’s office for the day, parent is contacted.
• Parent MUST retrieve cell phone/air pods/smart watch at the end of the day (No students will be allowed to retrieve their phone).
• Warning to students and parent about additional consequences that will happen for non compliance of cell phone-free environment.
• Offense noted on Focus with cell phone violation action code chosen.

2nd Offense

• Cell phone/air pods/smart watch will be kept in the assistant principal’s office for the day, parent is contacted.
• Parent MUST retrieve cell phone/air pods/smart watch at the end of the day (No students will be allowed to retrieve their phone).
• Student assigned school detention.
• Offense noted on Focus with cell phone violation action code chosen.

3rd Offense

• Cell phone/air pods/smart watch will be kept in the assistant principal’s office for the day, parent is contacted.
• Parent MUST pick up cell phone/air pods/smart watch (no students will be allowed to retrieve their phone).
• Offense noted on Focus with cell phone violation action code chosen.
• Student assigned 1 day of ISS.

4th Offense

• Cell phone/air pods/smart watch will be kept in the assistant principal’s office for the day.
• Parent MUST pick up cell phone/air pods/smart watch (no students will be allowed to retrieve their phone).
• In-person meeting scheduled with parent.
• Offense noted on Focus with cell phone violation action code chosen.
• Student assigned 1 - 3 days of ISS.

5th Offense

• Cell phone/air pods/smart watch will be kept in the assistant principal’s office for the day, parent is contacted.
• Warning to parent that the creation of a cell phone plan may be created for the student.
• Parent MUST pick up cell phone/air pods/smart watch (no students will be allowed to retrieve their phone).
• Offense noted on Focus with cellphone violation action code chosen.
• 3 days of ISS assigned.

6th Offense and beyond

• Violations of the cell phone policy beyond the fifth offense may result in the assignment of out-of-school suspension.
• Creation of a cell phone plan for student.
• Parent MUST pick up cell phone/air pods/smart watch (no students will be allowed to retrieve their phone).

AT TERRACE ELEMENTARY: This cell phone policy will be in effect from the time the student steps onto the campus until the student leaves the campus and/or is out of the care of the school. In addition to cell phones and air pods, smart watches are included in the Terrace Elementary Student Cell Phone Guidelines. If cell phones/air pods/smart watches become a pervasive problem in a grade level, the teachers will collect devices from students at the beginning of the day and keep them in locked storage until the end of the school day when they will be returned to the student.

Please click on the link below to access the Terrace Family Handbook.

Please be sure to label all belongings that your children bring to school including coats, sweaters, water bottles, backpacks, lunchboxes, sweatshirts, etc. We have several items in our lost and found that have do not have names on them so they cannot be returned.

All families are asked to join the Terrace PTA. The cost is $10 per person. The Terrace PTA helps to provide programs and events for our students and teachers such as our annual Terrace Kickball Game, field trip buses, Donuts with Grown Ups, teacher appreciation events, behavior bashes, STAAR snacks, field day, Turkey Trot, choir and musical performances, and so much more. Our goal is to reach over 500 PTA members this year. Please help us reach our goal by joining today!

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