The Owl's Nest

What a wonderful welcome to Glenoaks! The school year 24-25 is up and running fast, and we are loving having our GO owls back in the building! I am so excited to be the new Principal here at GO and to be part of this amazing community! I realize this family newsletter is late, however, getting our school year up and running was first priority! Our Mission and Vision are listed above, so you can see our journey for this year. We want lasting success for our GO Owls!

I would like to take the time to introduce myself as Principal:

My name is Laura Galindo and this is my 14th year in education, which all have been in Northside. I am a product of Northside as well, attending Galm Elementary, Jordan Middle School, and then Communications Arts High School. I received my Undergraduate degree from UTSA, Go Runners, in Elementary Education, and received my Master's degree from Texas A&M-San Antonio in Elementary Administration. I began my career teaching third grade at John Glenn Elementary, and then moved to Adams Hill Elementary where I taught fourth grade for 11 years! I absolutely loved teaching and enjoyed every minute of it! My educational journey finally brought me to Cable Elementary as the administrator intern, and then transitioned as the Associate Principal for two years. Now, I am beyond honored to be the principal here at Glenoaks and be a part of this amazing community! I know that together, we will bring your student the best educational experience possible! I am ready to do the work necessary for Glenoaks, make a difference, and collaborate with the best staff, students, parents, and families here. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my family, my new niece Emma, playing racquetball, and being with my corgi dog, Lola (my child).

Please know that I am a first year Principal and learning new things on the job every day, but I am fully invested and dedicated to Gleonaks and growing the student success here! At anytime, please know that you are welcome to set up a time to talk to me and my Associate Principal Shawn Simmonds, or email me at any time. We are here for you GO families!

Hello GO Family! I am Shawn Simmonds, your Associate Principal. As a proud product of Northside ISD (Marshall graduate), it was such an honor to join NISD last year as AP at Glenoaks and I am excited to return this year. This is my 16th year in education. I graduated from the University of Mary Hardin Baylor, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi with a Master of Science degree in Educational Leadership. I taught 3rd and 4th grade, and served as an Assistant Principal with Corpus Christi ISD before coming to NISD. I have two adult daughters, Abby, who is a teacher in NISD and Jackie, who is a recent graduate of Texas State University. Working along side of our new principal, Ms. Laura Galindo is a great privilege and I look forward to a bright year together!

Background checks are important for all parents and families to fill out! Our district requires this check in order for you to attend breakfast, lunch, field trips, and events during the school day! It takes about 3-4 days for our front office to receive the confirmation that you are cleared. Thank you for doing this in advance!

At GO, we want you to know that School Safety is our top priority! We have trained our staff on the certain protocols we have to follow including the district vocabulary for the procedures. Students also have to practice certain drills in the event of an emergency. We want you to know that we will be asking all visitors for an ID and to sign in through our front office. You will not be allowed to enter past the security lobby unless you have signed in or received a visitor badge. This is for the safety of our staff and students.

The Texas Legislature enacted HB 114 requiring all school districts to implement mandatory disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP) placement for students found in possession of, using, selling, giving, or delivering e-cigarettes or vaping devices on school grounds or at a school-related event. This alternative school placement, required by law, is made regardless of whether the substance being vaped is a controlled substance or not. We ask that you discuss this state law with your child if you feel it is necessary. This is very important to know considering that vapes are very accessible to all students, even at this elementary age.

We definitely appreciate our parents coming in for breakfast every morning! We do ask that you bring a government-issued ID to be run through our Raptor system for a quick check, and then you will be given a Visitor sticker to wear. Our front office ladies are really great about getting the badges or names ready ahead of time, but please be patient when coming in to sign in.

Certain times throughout the year, our GO Owls will be MAP testing at school. We have already completed our first round of testing for the beginning of the year. The next time we will be testing will be in January, and then again for the end of the year in May. The MAP test is about a 2 hour test that shows us where your child is scoring on their grade level and compared to students around the nation. This helps our teachers tailor the instruction to the students more accurately. During these testing times, we ask that you make sure your child attends school and that they get a good night's rest and breakfast for those days.

It is a district requirement that we receive the CEP (Community Eligibility Provision) forms back from 100% of our families. This form tells the district the number of free & reduced lunches we have on campus which eventually ties to funding. We appreciate your support in this matter. Below you will see the QR Codes to fill out if you haven't done so already in English, Spanish, and Pashto.

Arrival

We want to make sure all students are in their classrooms by 7:45 am. Say your see you laters, or goodbyes in the foyer if you have . Please enter and exit through the main entrance doors.

Dismissal

Teachers and staff all want to ensure your child goes home correctly, and SAFELY. Please ensure your child's teacher knows how your child goes home. Any changes to transportation will need to be communicated before 2:30pm.

Remember:

Parent Pickup (car line) - one lane only. Please hang your CAR TAG (yellow sign) as soon as you enter the line.

Parent Walkups - parents can walk up to the cafeteria doors for Pre-K and Kinder, and then the rest of the grade levels will be in certain sections outside. Make sure your child lets the teacher know before they leave with you.

Dismissal time is 3:00 pm.

Keep in mind our office hours are 7:00 am - 3:00 pm.

Our district continues to ask you to make your child's attendance a priority. Research shows that school attendance leads to future success and brings numerous benefits to students, including higher academic achievements.

Texas Education Code states that the students must be present in class 90% of the time in order to earn course credit or be promoted to the next grade level.

When students are tardy to school, they are missing valuable morning time with their class. Morning meetings begin promptly at 7:45 and this time allows for students to get ready for a successful day. We will begin recording tardies to school (arriving after 7:45 am).

As a reminder, not only do absences lead to learning loss, they can also lead to social-emotional deficiencies. We encourage all parents and students to make school attendance a top priority except for times when the student is ill! We love having our GO Owls in the building every day!

The district is implementing an automated phone call system once your child has reached their 3rd absence. This is simply a warning that they have already hit a 3rd absence and parent notes should be inputted as they are turned into Mrs. Delia. Parents, we ask that you bring in any parent notes, doctor/dentist appointment notes, or excuses to our front office, or Mrs. Delia Zartuche, our attendance secretary so she can code the absences correctly.

See the information below from our district on this:

Automated Attendance Warnings will start on August 19th.

These automated attendance warnings will be sent to the parents of students who have 3 full or partial day unexcused absences. Once they accumulate 3 full or partial day unexcused absences, it will wait two days to allow time for notes to be inputted before sending.

Our wonderful counselors, Vivian Griffin and Erica Brundage have provided a needs assessment form for parents and families so that you can fill out to give more insight on what your child may need.

We want as much parent memberships as possible! PTA funds help to provide field trips, extra incentives for our students, clubs, school shirts, and school-wide programs that we can not purchase through school funding. If you would prefer to turn in a cash payment of $8.00, then turn that money into our front office ladies and you can fill out the form as well. Thank you so much for joining!

Thank you Mrs. Oser for all your work with our GT students, announcements, and more! See the button below for her weekly GT updates - there are so many cool things happening in the GO classrooms!

Thank you Mrs. Herod for bringing the Food Pantry to GO! It looks extremely organized and ready to serve our GO families! Please know that we have a tremendous amount of requests to serve families, so sometimes we will be limited in our supply! However, Mrs. Herod will be more than happy to assist you with other resources until she can refill her supply!

Parents and families, feel free to bring a birthday treat for your child to celebrate with their class. Make sure that the treats are store-bought and individually-wrapped. Please contact the teacher prior to sending the treats to ask about any students with allergies. You can do store bought cupcakes, cookies, or goodie bags with chips or juice. Balloons, flowers, or entire cakes will not be sent to the classroom. The teacher will pass it out towards the end of the day to minimize any distractions. Thank you for your support in this matter!

Follow us on X (Twitter) to see the wonderful things that happen here at GO!

Glenoaks Elementary School

Email: glenoaks@nisd.net
Website: www.nisd.net/glenoaks
Location: 5103 Newcome Dr, San Antonio, TX, 78229
Phone: 210-397-2300
Twitter: @NISDGlenoaks