Blue Jay Blast

August 8th - Welcome Walk 5-7:30 p.m.

August 12th - School Supply Drop Off 9:30 - 11:30 a.m.

August 13th - First Day of School

August 29th - Blue Jay Social 5:00 - 6:30 p.m.

Monday, August 12th, from 9:30 - 11:30 am, we're hosting our School Supply Drop-Off event. This is your chance to visit your child's classroom and get them all set for the exciting year ahead!

Please bring your child's school supplies and join us to meet their teachers, see the classrooms, and get a glimpse of the wonderful learning environment they have prepared. We're thrilled to welcome you, and this is an excellent opportunity for your child to feel at ease before the big day!

Remember, on the first day of school, parents won't be allowed to walk students in. So, make sure to take advantage of this special occasion to make your child's transition smoother and more enjoyable. We can't wait to see you on August 12th!

Car rider tags will be given to you by your classroom teacher during School Supply Drop Off on Monday, August 12th. We ask that you always hang your car rider tag from your rearview mirror during pickup as it makes the process go much smoother. Please remember that you may NOT walk up to the front door with your car rider tag at the end of the day to get your student(s). If you want to walk up to get your student(s) you need to change your student(s) to either front or back walker. Thank you for your help in this matter.

If your child is a walker and you are walking them to the front, you will notice two hug zones. You will need to say your goodbyes at the hug zones and then only students will be able to continue past the hug zone to the front doors. We need to keep the area by the front door free for students who are car riders and walkers to enter. We cannot have this area congested for safety reasons. Thank you for your help!!

The beginning of the year can be a little hectic as we become familiar with procedures for arrival and dismissal. Thank you for being patient and flexible and we navigate through these processes. Here are some friendly reminders as we head into next week:

• Doors will open at 7:20 a.m. Only students will be allowed into the building during arrival and dismissal. They will go straight to their classroom or to the cafeteria to get breakfast.
• During arrival, walkers may enter through door numbers 1 and 6. Students will NOT be allowed to enter the new building through the front. They must enter through the old building.
• Car riders will enter through the main doors, ie. door #1.
• Students must exit their car closest to the school building.
• Parents must remain in their car at all times.
• If traffic backs up in the car rider line (exit) making a left hand turn, we highly recommend turning right instead. There are several alternative routes to get you back onto Great Oaks.
• During dismissal, front walkers will be picked up at the bike rack or field by the bike rack.
• All back walkers will be dismissed from the bike racks in the back where the portables used to be. Please do not congregate near the building doors. Students will not be released to parents until they reach the bike racks.
• Please do not walk up to the front doors to collect a car rider or a front walker. If your child is a car rider you must remain in the car rider line.
• Please continue to go to the crosswalks if you park in the church parking lot or along Stonebridge. It is much safer than crossing through traffic.
• The back parking lot is just for staff, cars with yellow tags, buses, and daycare. Please do not drop off your child in the back if they do not meet one of the criteria listed above.
• If you are wanting to change your child's mode of transportation for one day, please fill out the form that can be found on the BCE website before 2:00 pm. Please don't email your teacher due to the fact that they only check email during their planning period and after school. The link on the website goes straight to the office so we can ensure to notify your child's teacher of the change.

Attendance at school is an important component in your child’s education. The school fosters intellectual development and socialization. Regular attendance enables your child to be successful.

All absences are unexcused until written documentation is received that might change the absence to excused, however, all absences count. Excessive unexcused absences may be reported to the district’s truancy officer. The easiest way to report an absence is online. Go to the front page of our website, scroll down, and click on the icon that says Report an Absence. You may also send a note to the office listing the dates your child was out and the reason for the absence. Be sure to report the absence each day your child is out. You have 48 hours to provide written documentation regarding absences.

Please refer to RRISD Student-Parent Handbook and Student Code of Conduct for additional information.

Attendance is taken at 9:00 a.m. each day .Only the following absences will be marked “excused:”

· Illness documented with a note from a doctor/parent within 48 hours,

· Death in immediate family, or

· School related event.

There are some additional reasons for an absence that would not be marked either way, including religious holidays, visiting a parent in the military, or a doctor’s note provided the day of an appointment where the child comes to school for part of the day.

Unexcused absences will be assessed for truancy measures on a case-by-case basis with consideration for the educational value, length, and frequency of trips; and, in the case of non-immediate family member deaths.

The state also mandates a process for truancy prevention, beginning when a student has three unexcused absences within four weeks.

Truancy is defined as failure to attend school on ten or more days within a six-month period in the same school year. The following steps will be taken as truancy prevention measures.

Three unexcused absences within four weeks:

· An automatically generated letter is sent to parents.

Seven unexcused absences within six months

· The Student Attendance Plan is created with the parent

10 unexcused absences within six months:

· An automatically generated letter is sent to parents,

· The Student Attendance Plan is revisited with parent,

· A home visit may be scheduled, and

· Involvement of attendance officer and/or escalation of truancy case to court, with a possibility of fines between $100 and $500.

State law mandates that students be in attendance 90% of the total school year to receive credit. Students may be retained for violating state attendance laws. Absence Corrections: An error in marked absences or tardies must be reported to Connie Swofford, records specialist, and teacher within ten days of the student’s or parent’s knowledge or within 10 days of receipt of report card.

Helping your child eat right may be easier than you think. Free and reduced-price school meals like breakfast, lunch and snacks are provided to students whose families meet certain income requirements. Apply today to ensure that your child has a healthy meal at school every day. It helps them perform better and saves you money.

Not sure of your child’s eligibility? Income eligibility guidelines are available online for each school year to help you determine eligibility based on your household size and income level. There are no restrictions based on immigration status.

Click on the link below for more information and how to fill out an application.

https://www.myschoolapps.com/Application

At the beginning of the school year parents must indicate to teachers how their child(ren) will get home every day. If a parent wants to make a temporary change in their child’s transportation, use this transportation change form or call the office to report the change by 2:00 p.m. daily. Otherwise, the child will go home per the original instructions from the parents. Email is not an efficient way to communicate with the teacher during the school day. Teachers predominantly check emails before and after school. In case of an emergency, parents may call the school office. (Don’t call the classroom – the teacher may have a substitute or may not get the message.) Messages received in the office after 2:00 p.m. are not guaranteed to make it to your student before dismissal.

Parents and/or guardians should make pre-arrangements regarding transportation after school. Students and parents should also make contingency plans just in case the parents/guardians are not at home when their child arrives.

If a child forgets something at home or becomes ill at school, we will not

allow the student to walk or ride their bicycle home.

We understand there are times when you must take your child out of school. We ask that you avoid taking him/her out when at all possible. Students miss valuable instructional time when they leave early and often activities cannot be reproduced for later instruction. For this reason, as well as safety of checking to make sure a caller is a guardian, we cannot call students out of class before you physically arrive at school. If you need to pick up your child early from school, you need to arrive at the front office before 2:30. Parents or guardians are required to present identification to sign students out. The office will contact the classroom and ask for the student to be sent to the office.

Parents arriving between 2:30 p.m. and 2:55 p.m. to check students out early, may be asked to wait until the grade level dismissal time.

Register to volunteer by completing the volunteer application form. Applicants must use their legal name as it appears on their driver’s license or passport. You MUST have a Social Security Number to complete the online form.

To improve student safety, any person wishing to volunteer in Round Rock ISD is required to complete a Volunteer Application.

• Application must be renewed each school year
• Application should be completed as early as possible
• Application takes approximately five minutes to complete
• You must hit SUBMIT (not just ‘save’) for the application to be processed
• Applications take 72 hours to process
• Once completed, present your photo ID at the campus to be scanned into Raptor
• Check the status of your application by contacting the front office at your child’s campus

Click on the link below to get started!

https://partners.roundrockisd.org/volunteer/

To familiarize yourself with all things BCE, please refer to our parent handbook (see link below). Of course if you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to call the front office at 512-464-3000. We are looking forward to a great year!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-Le1kmJxIddOp-yFnw25e-PJFbFp4K8GdoudppO7nlk/edit?usp=sharing

The PTA does so much for our school, students, and teachers! When you join the PTA, consider having more than one parent join as this helps benefit our school by showing a greater presence in our community and gives us an advantage in obtaining sponsorships and school discounts. Grandparents, relatives, friends, even your kids can be PTA members. Click here to join: https://bcebluejays.memberhub.com/

Brushy Creek Elementary T-shirts, Spirit Items, Yearbooks (pre-orders), Feather Our Nest Donations, And PTA Memberships Are Available Through Our Online Store. Click here to order now! https://bcebluejays.memberhub.com/

You can also follow the PTA on Twitter to stay up to date on what is happening on our campus and with PTA.

https://twitter.com/BCEPTABluejays

Website: brushycreek.roundrockisd.org
Location: 3800 Stonebridge Drive, Round Rock, TX, USA
Phone: 512-428-3000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rrisd.brushycreek
Twitter: @BCE_BlueJays