The Owl's Nest

Happy New Year GO Family!

It is with great enthusiasm that I welcome you and your family to the continued incredible school year! I hope this message finds you well-rested, recharged, and ready for the exciting journey ahead.

At Glenoaks, we are committed to fostering a positive and enriching environment where every student can thrive. This year promises to be filled with growth, learning, and numerous opportunities for your children to shine both academically and personally. Our dedicated teachers and staff continue to be hard at work preparing for a year that is engaging, inspiring, and full of memorable experiences.

As partners in education, your support and involvement are vital to our GO Owls students' success. We encourage open communication and collaboration, and we look forward to working closely with you to ensure your child achieves their full potential.

Please keep an eye out for upcoming announcements, events, and opportunities to get involved in our school community. Together, we can make this year a rewarding and successful one for all.

Thank you for entrusting us with your child's education. Here's to a fantastic rest of the school year filled with achievements, growth, and joyful moments!

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 & Happy New Year! As we embark on a new chapter of learning and growth, we are thrilled to welcome you and your children back to school.

Our team has been working diligently to prepare an engaging and supportive environment where every student can thrive. We are committed to fostering a partnership with you to ensure the success and well-being of our students. Your involvement and support play a crucial role in their academic journey, and we are grateful for your collaboration.

Thank you for your continued support. Let’s make this second half a great one!

Feel free to send this out to anyone you know if they are looking to apply for a teaching position or an instructional assistant position! Thank you for spreading the word!

As part of our Texas mandated law and district policy, we will be conducting TELPAS testing in the upcoming month of February for all of our students in the bilingual or English as a second language program. Our academic specialists team along with our classroom teachers and language support teachers will be holding practice sessions for the students so they will be fully acclimated to the test prior to taking the test. The TELPAS test does test a student's language proficiency in the areas of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. This test takes a few days and will only test the language proficiency, not the achievement of your child. Again, this is only if your child is enrolled as a bilingual or ESL student. Be on the lookout for a parent letter that will soon go home explaining this in more detail. Thank you!

For our GO Owls in grades 3rd - 5th, we will be conducting practice STAAR Interim testing in the upcoming month of February and March to better prepare them for the STAAR test in April. Our academic specialists team along with our classroom teachers and language support teachers will be holding practice sessions for the students so they will be fully acclimated to the test prior to taking the test. The data is then shared with our teachers so they can better prepare instruction for the students. This test takes one day and allots one day for makeup testing if students are absent. Contact your child's teacher for more information on these practice assessments. Thank you!

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.

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. 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