Special Edition Rays Update

Rays,

We hope all of our families had a wonderful summer break. We missed our students dearly. Today, we welcomed back our entire staff and we have a great school year planned. This year our theme is Catching Ray Fever. I was told I needed to explain that when Rays swim in a group it is called a Fever. Our campus focus is on creating one Ray unit. The focus of this unit is on student growth. We are working with our teachers to set up PLCs (professional learning communities) around student growth. Our goal is for students to attain this growth through ownership of their learning and the use of language-rich instructional strategies (such as word walls, journal reflection on daily learning, and cooperative learning through conversation). We want students to leave Reagan as compassionate, inclusive, respectful individuals who are resilient problem solvers.

As we move throughout the year we have a few upcoming events we will be inviting you to around student learning at Reagan. Our first event is on September 24th. This will be a coffee with the Principal from 9-10 am. During this meeting we plan to discuss the power of Site-based meetings and our instructional focuses for the year. I will have a question/answer session as well. More information will be coming soon, but I wanted to give you the opportunity to have this on your calendar now.

We are honored to serve you and are excited to welcome all of our students back on August 14th.

Alison Pennington

Principal

X: @ReaganELemCP Instagram: @reaganelem_rays

August 6th: Kinder Signing Night for all new Kindergartners 5-7 pm

August 7th: New Family Night (1-5th grade Families) 5-5:45 pm

August 12th: Meet the Teacher Night A-M 5:00 pm & N-Z 5:45 pm

August 14th: First Day of School (Doors open at 7:10 am)

Kinder Signing Night: We are excited to welcome all new Kinder students to Kinder Signing Night on August 6th from 5-7. Students signed up for specific times on the Kinder Signing Night registration link. If you have any questions please reach out to our office at 512-570-7200.

New Family Night: We will welcome all new 1st through 5th grade families to campus on August 7th from 5-5:45. We are excited to see you. We will be reviewing the All Things Reagan presentation at the beginning of this newsletter.

Meet the Teacher Night: All Families are welcome to join us for Meet the Teacher night on Monday August 12th. We will welcome families with the last name that begins with A-M at 5 pm and families with the last name that begins with N-Z at 5:45 pm. During Meet the Teacher Night we will have school supply pick up in the MPR (gym) on the stage. There will be sponsors of our PTA set up for you to meet and we will have a membership table set up in the gym.

As we enter the new year we are continuing to grow. We love our community so much and are excited to see it expand. With growth we get to add new faces to our Reagan Ray team. We are excited to welcome the following staff members to our Ray Family:

Carol Bowers: Counselor

Shauna Allen: Instructional Coach

Rikki Hyjurick: Supplemental Reading Program (SRP)

Cassie Dixon: ICAP - SPED

Glenn Garcia: 1st grade

Caitlyn Villarreal: 1st grade

Carsyn Carter: 2nd grade

Loren Moore: 2nd grade

Hannah Pogue: 3rd grade

Kitika Tyagi: 5th grade

Chetna Patil: PK IA

Briana Xiol: PK IA

Cristina Post: PK IA

David Perry: SLE IA

Marta Hollinger: Library IA

Teacher Assignments will be sent by noon on August 12th.

The teacher(s) assigned to your child(ren) will be the teacher of your child(ren) for the 2024-2025 school year. All of our faculty members are wonderful, caring, professional educators, and they are eager to meet our Rays.

As mentioned when asking for parent input, we do not take teacher requests. Many changes occur during the summer. Teachers change grade levels. Teachers move to another campus or district, etc. We take great care in placing each child in classes to match strengths, various academic needs, teacher certification requirements, and individual needs. Teacher, administrator, counselor, and parent input are all used to place our Rays in the best learning environment possible.

We will not be making any changes to class placements. Your understanding is greatly appreciated

We will remain a closed campus to visitors during arrival and dismissal each day.

We really encourage families to begin their usual mode of transportation starting day one; however we recognize that this might be the first time you and your child have been on campus. Be assured that we will have multiple staff members out and about to support our Rays getting to and from class. We are committed to doing whatever we can to help every child feel comfortable on Day 1.

Pre-K and Kindergarten families are allowed to walk their child to class on the first day of school only. Please complete the RSVP form below to help with the check in process. If you RSVP, you are able to be checked in at the Kindergarten door by the garden. You will need to show proof of identification before entrance into the building. Our doors will close at 7:30 am and all visitors must exit our building by 7:35 am.

• Be aware that the lines will be long and the traffic will be congested. Give yourself extra time and extra grace.
• We won't have parents walk children all the way in the building. Kiss good bye at the doors.
• Please share your first day pics on our Reagan Facebook page or tag us on X @EducatorAlison or Instragram @reaganelem_rays.

Remind automatically adds you to our Reagan Group as soon as you are registered in Home Access Center. However, if you miss the email that is sent to you, you won’t know how to sign up.

If you can’t find the Remind email in your inbox, you can go to the Remind Sign Up page and type in the email address stored in Home Access Center to get signed up.

• If your student rides the bus, please make sure that you have registered them for bus services at this link. Please note, if your student rides the bus, you will need to select the bus number on School Dismissal Manager as well
• School Hours: 7:30 am - 2:45 pm
• Building opens: 7:10 am for students. Please do not drop off students earlier than 7:10 am as there will be no adult supervision
• **The first week of school we will be dismissing 10 min. early at 2:35 to help with transportation of our students**
• During the school year our Pre-K and Kindergarten students will begin dismissal at 2:40 pm while the rest of our campus will dismiss at the 2:45 pm bell.

Learn more about our campus transportation guidelines and expectations by clicking on the videos below. These videos are a few years old, but the process is still the same.

• Cross Walk Safety
• Car Rider PreK/K/1st Grade Drop Off
• Car Rider 2nd-5th Grade Drop Off

We will have a four way stop light at Gupton and Park st opening soon. Please note there is a new traffic pattern on Park Street from Reagan to Vista Ridge. Please familiarize yourself with this pattern prior to school starting. The westbound lane (coming from Vista Ridge High School) is now only one lane with a turn lane in center and two east bound lanes (going toward Vista Ridge High School).

Thank you for doing your part in ensuring the safety of all of our students during drop-off and pick-up. Your cooperation is appreciated with driving slowly in the designated direction and using the crosswalk to cross. Please remember to remain in your cars during drop-off and pick-up to speed up the process and maintain student safety. We urge you to please move your child’s seat to the passenger side of the car and practice exiting the car by themselves.

We must emphasize that these procedures must be followed:

• The only vehicle entrance to the school is via Gupton Way. The driveway out of Park Street is an exit only during drop off and pick up

• During afternoon pick-up, the driveway is a single lane until you pass the entrance to the bus lane

• Please DO NOT BLOCK any crosswalk or the bus lane

• NEVER drive on the wrong side of the driveway
• After you pass the bus lane, our driveway turns into 2 lanes. The lane on the left is for ZONE C (2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade), and the lane to the right is for ZONE A (Pre-K (and ELE), Kinder, and 1st grade)

• If you're picking up students in both zones, please pick up the student in ZONE A first, then drive down the lane to pick up the student in ZONE C
  To ensure student safety, NEVER drop off students on the side of the road. The AG barn is not a drop-off zone

• The bus lane is not accessible to parents at any time

• Double parking and/or leaving your car unattended in the drop-off lane is not allowed

• Please pull up as far as you can in the car line to speed up the drop-off/pick-up process

• All bike riders, adults and children, must walk bikes and scooters on campus for safety and proper modeling for our students

• Motorized vehicles such as golf carts, mopeds, and electric bikes need to go through the parent drop off/pick up line, or park and walk to school

To help alleviate traffic, and to ensure you secure a parking spot, we encourage parents to park at Gupton Stadium, or at the church, then walk to Reagan for any campus events, or during the first day of school drop-off.

To maintain the safety of all students on our campus, no cars are allowed to park on the grass in the highlighted yellow areas marked on the map below. Cars parking in the highlighted areas will be asked to move immediately. Please review the map below:

Our school uses School Dismissal Manager for student afternoon dismissal. School Dismissal Manager (SDM) is a secure online portal that parents use to manage their student’s dismissal instructions for each day, week, or months ahead of time. Be on the lookout for an email from School Dismissal Manager and follow instructions to login for the first time. Once you receive the welcome letter, please take the following steps:

* Read the "Parent Welcome Letter" sent to each parent/guardian from School Dismissal Manager to retrieve your login credentials (username and password)

* Login to School Dismissal Manager to set your child's default dismissal option

* Enter exceptions to your child's default dismissal option as needed (make transportation changes) before 1:30 pm on regular days or before 10:30 pm on early dismissal

We will be using SDM starting on the first day of school, which means each student will need to have their dismissal instructions entered before 1:30 pm of August 14th.

• In an effort to help all students transition back to campus, visitors and volunteers will not be allowed in the building during the first two weeks of school. We will allow all visitors and volunteers back on campus on September 2nd.

• We love having our families volunteer and visit our campus! The expectation this school year is that all visitors and volunteers must check in at the front office and have a valid Driver's License or Passport to be scanned into our system. This includes anyone who is picking up a student early during the school day.
• If the person picking up a student early is someone other than the child's parent/guardian, the front office needs parent permission before we can release them early - no exceptions. Please make sure your Home Access Account is up to date with approved individuals for your child to be picked up by other than their primary guardian.

• Once you are scanned into our system you will not have to be scanned again but will need to show proof of identity when visiting in the future.

• To volunteer on our campus you must be an approved LISD volunteer each school year. It is a quick application process and can be done on the LISD website. This must be completed to volunteer in your child's classroom, attend field trips, and help out at campus events.

• Watch our Check-in Video to learn more about our Reagan Visitor Practices.

Please contact Nurse Alona to schedule a time to drop off your child's medication for the year. Be sure your doctor's orders are current.

Alona, RN, BSN

School Clinic Nurse

Reagan Elementary Clinic

512-570-7200 (office)

512-5710-7205 (confidential e-fax

Alona.Mor@leanderisd.org

Prices:

• Student Paid Breakfast: $1.50
• Student Paid Lunch: $2.90
• Guest Lunch: $4.25

Child Nutrition Website

Complete a Free & Reduced Meal Application for price adjustments.

Click on Forms & Applications Here

If you have questions for our campus or district, there are several ways to contact us.

You can submit your questions through LISD's Let's Talk!. Click Here to Submit a Question

You may also contact the campus receptionist at 512-570-7200.

Or reach out to our Reagan Campus Staff:

shannon.mcewen@leanderisd.org the campus registrar for registration, records, or program needs

michelle.bailey@leanderisd.org for SpEd and 504questions

Jenn.agapiou@leanderisd.org for general campus questions.

alona.mor@leanderisd.org the campus nurse for information regarding immunizations, medical concerns, allergies, illness, daily medications.

Carolina.Bowers@leanderisd.org for counselor specific needs

Chelsea.Murphy@leanderisd.org Assistant Principal

Alison.Pennington@leanderisd.org Principal

We have the most amazing PTA. We would love for you to join our PTA as the funding helps to provide opportunities to further student instruction, promotes staff appreciation, and helps to improve campus facilities and community culture.

Email: reagan@leanderisd.org

Website: https://reagan.leanderisd.org

Location: 1700 E Park St, Cedar Park TX

Phone: 512-570-7200