The Hoot Owl

Can you believe summer is almost over? I feel like yesterday we were dismissing for summer and very soon, we are going to be welcoming your children into our school. We are excited about the upcoming year!

Our theme this year is Team ORE-It's Owl or Nothing. We are excited to work as a team in partnership with you and your child to ensure their success at school this year. As a feeder zone, we are going to be celebrating and recognizing the history of our feeder. We will celebrate the past, enhance the present, and look forward to the future of the OR Feeder zone. Look for our hashtag on social media #celebratingOuRstory.

For those you who do not know me, I am Tami Eldridge and I have the privilege of serving as the principal here at ORE. This will be my 11th year as principal. A little about me...

• my husband is an educator
• we have 2 sons who are both grown and married
• we have 2 grands - a three year old grandson and a one year old granddaughter
• I come from a long line of educators - both grandmothers, parents, sister, aunts and uncles,
• Bucket list item is to travel to Italy
• when I'm not at school, I'm with family or friends or on the beach

School safety is a top priority at Oak Ridge Elementary. As you well know, safety of schools has been and remains in the media on an almost daily basis. Thus, we do have regulations in place to help keep our students and staff safe. We understand that at times they can be frustrating, please know that we do what we do to keep all of our students and staff safe. Here are a few of those expectations:

• all exterior doors will be locked at all times
• entry into the building for visitors will be through the front office doors
• identification will be required when entering the main part of the building or when checking a student out of school
• if you do not have identification with you, you will not be allowed in the building
• identification must be a picture id of some sort, license, passport, etc...
• visitors will be required to wear an identification badge while in the building

Attendance is always a hot topic of schools, too. Attendance is tied directly to your child's learning. If your child is not at school, they cannot learn. Our expectation is that students come to school every day unless they are sick. (fever, vomiting, diarrhea). If they present these symptoms they do need to stay at home until they are 24 hours without symptoms. This will help keep other students at school without exposure to an illness.

Once a month you will receive The Hoot Owl Newsletter. This will keep you informed of all events and happenings at our school. It will also have a feedback section that will allow you to follow a link and ask a question or give feedback to the school. This will help us continually monitor how we are doing and if we are meeting the needs of your family.

We look forward to a great school year and building a partnership of learning with you and your family. Together we will make it the best year ever!

Infosnap codes have been sent out. If you have not taken time to update, please do so. Students will not receive homeroom teacher placement until this information is updated.

This information must be updated yearly and is important so that we have updated contact information for each student. If you need assistance, please contact Deanna Rogers at school during regular business hours.

If you did not receive your infosnap information, please check your spam email folder.

Teacher announcements will be sent on Wednesday, August 7 via email to parents. Please expect this email after 3:00 p.m. We will use the email address in the system so please make sure it is correct.

If you do not receive an email, you are welcome to contact the school on Thursday, August 8.

We will have Meet the Teacher on Thursday, August 8 from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.. We are recommending that you bring no more than 2 adults per family to limit the crowd and allow everyone the opportunity to get in and out easily.

Parents are invited to bring supplies and drop them off while you meet your child's teacher. Remember that this is not a time for parent/teacher conferences as it is a come and go event.

Please note that our school hours have changed per the state and district guidelines. Our new school hours are 7:55 - 3:10 p.m.

Doors will open this year at 7:30 a.m. We ask that you do not drop students off prior to 7:30a.m. as we have no one to supervise them prior to the doors opening.

Students are tardy at 7:56 a.m.

Dismissal begins at 3:10 p.m.

Students should be picked up by 3:30 p.m.

Visitors on campus:

Things to know about visiting our campus.

*Arrive at the front door and ring the doorbell (facing the doors to your right)

*Let the front office staff know what you need.

*Once you have communicated with front office staff, you will be buzzed into the front vestibule.

*An ID will be required to enter the main part of the building or check a child out. Please make sure you have it with you as you will be sent to get it.

Volunteering on campus:

Please remember that in order to volunteer on campus (reading to a class, going on a field trip, helping with PTO, attending class parties, etc...), parents must have completed the Volunteer Background check for the district. This must be completed each year for every school where you will volunteer so if you have students at 3 different schools, you must complete it for all 3 schools.

Volunteer Background Check

Before school starts, it is highly recommended that you register your child to ride the school whether you plan on using transportation or not. There may be times when you need your child to ride the bus because of an emergency. If they are not registered, they cannot ride. Register for bus here.

Transportation the first few weeks of school runs slower than normal. Please be patient. If we all work together, follow expectations set forth, things will get faster. Bus drivers are learning routes, students and their families and car riders are learning the process. By the third week of school, things should smooth out and get into a normal routine.

BUSSES -

The first couple of weeks busses will run 20-30 minutes behind the projected schedule. Drivers are working hard to make sure students are delivered to the right location safely so please be patient. Things to know about bus riders:

• PK and Kinder students will receive a "PK" or "K" sign added to their backpack. Please leave it on there.
• Parents will receive a bus rider sign where you will add your child's name. A person over the age of 18 must be present at the stop with the sign, in order to get the child off the bus. If no one is there, the child will be returned to school and the parent will have to come pick them up at school. The sign will be given out to parents at Meet the Teacher night.
• Good behavior is expected on the bus. For the safety of all, please review expectations with your child.
• talk to your seat mate or the students across the aisle
• remain seated at all times
• use an "inside" voice when talking to friends on the bus, refrain from yelling or screaming
• keep your hands to yourself

CAR RIDER LINE

Once we get the hang of car rider line, we will be finished no later than 3:30 most days. The first few weeks of school will be much longer, but it will get better.

Things to know about car rider line:

• Parents are not allowed to park and walk up to the porch for drop off in the morning or the afternoon.
• Students may not be dropped off in the parking lot nor near the playground fence.
• Students may not be dropped off or picked up on the outside of the covered drive-through.
• Car rider signs must be displayed in window when picking up students.
• Parents may not enter car rider line from our driveway entrance. See map below.
• Parents coming north on I-45 feeder must join the line using Oak Ridge School Road, between the hotel and Saltgrass.
• Please allow merging at that stop sign.

How does the car rider line work:

• Your child's name will be entered into a car rider spreadsheet when the staff member comes by your car. (This is from your car rider sign so please have it displayed for easy access)
• Your child will come to the front of the school to a specified location.
• Your child will then be brought to the outside of the building to one of 6 locations.
• Please pull all the way forward, even if you do not see your child.

Parents who cut the line will be asked to move forward past the car rider line and wait for your child. This will take a few minutes as we find your child and get them to the front office.

WALKERS/BIKERS

Students can be walkers ONLY IF they live in the no bus zone. This is typically the 1 mile zone of the school according to transportation. If your child is eligible for bus service, they are not eligible to be a walker. We do monitor this and will notify parents if your child cannot be a walker.

Walkers are delivered to parents in the cul de sac at the fence cut through. We expect parents to be present to get their children from this area. If there is not adult at this location, your child will be brought back to school and you will need to walk over and get them from the front office.

If weather dictates that children cannot be walkers, parents will receive notification via text message through the district notification system. At that time, parents will be able to join the car rider line or walk to the art room door to retrieve your child. This decision is based upon lighting, heavy rain, or other hazardous weather situations.

TRANSPORTATION CHANGES

If you find that you need to change your child's method of transportation, there a couple of ways to make that happen.

If you know ahead of time, the best option is to send a handwritten note to the teacher in the child's folder.

If you need to change during the school day, please email the change to contactore@conroeisd.net including your child's name, teacher name, specific change of transportation requested. This will only be put into place for the one day requested.

As a last resort, please call the front office and let them know the change of transportation.

Once the school day has started, we ask that you NOT email or text change of transportation to the teacher. This will help prevent a miscommunication due to something like the teacher being absent or not having time to check email during the school day.

ALL CHANGES MUST BE MADE BY 2:30 P.M.

Each year parents who need breakfast/lunch assistance are asked to renew their application. Breakfast and lunch are not free this year. For students to receive free or reduced lunch, parents need to complete the online application and be approved. If you need assistance with the online application, please call the school and ask for Mrs. DeAlencar. She can assist you with this application.

As offers come in from different organizations to assist students with back to school clothes/supplies, Christmas gifts, food, etc...only those families who are on free/reduced lunch will be eligible to receive these services. Please use the link below to update your application:

https://www.myschoolapps.com/

Breakfast and lunch menus can be found at the link below:

Menus

Any and all medications that need to be administered during school hours must be delivered to the nurse by an adult. Parents will need to sign in the medication and it must be in the original container. Students may not transport medication to and from school.

Parents can begin dropping off medication starting August 5 from 8 - 3:30 daily or at Meet The Teacher Night on August 8.

All communication from the school is sent electronically. The Hoot Owl will be sent out a minimum of once a month at the beginning of each month. This newsletter will be sent in English and Spanish. If you wish to have a paper copy of correspondence sent home, please reach out to our school secretary and she will ensure a copy is sent home with your child. Her name is Viri DeAlencar and she can be reached by calling the main number of the school or by email at vdelancar@conroeisd.net.

Quick reminders and/or important announcements will be sent via text to the numbers on file. Please make sure we have up to date numbers so you receive the messages.

Your child's teacher will also be sending communication home regularly. If you do not hear from the teacher, please feel free to reach out and inquire as to what your child is learning. We are working to strengthen our lines of communication this year.

We are asking our teachers to ensure that they have a fall and a spring conference with every parent. It is preferred that these be in person, but teachers are open to Zoom and phone calls. Please make this meeting an important part of your year so that you can stay current on your child's learning progress.

Officers for the 2024-2025 school year will be:

Co-Presidents: Jodi Fuller and Christie Sturgeon

Vice President: Marlene Mondragon

Treasurer: Heather Smoot

Secretary: Stephanie Lindsey

Parliamentarian: Robin Alexander

Social Media Manager: Heather Lott

Volunteer Coordinator: Jenny Baugh

Members at Large Maryam Norouz

Summary from 23-24 School year of PTO involvement - (this it not inclusive, just some larger events)

• purchased the amazing windscreen signs on our front fences
• sent all students, PK-4, on field trips - paid entrance fee and transportation cost
• purchased specialty items for PE, music, art, computer, and library
• purchased shirts for War Eagle Challenge for fourth graders
• sponsored Fall Family Night
• continued funding our amazing garden
• treated teachers special throughout the year with luncheons and other gifts

With all that they do, they are looking to increase members for the 24-25 school year and will be hosting a membership drive during the first month of school. Please consider joining and being a part of the meetings and activities hosted by PTO.

If you wish to help in an area, please contact Jodie Fuller or Christie Sturgeon. They will get you plugged in immediately.

elmsmommy@gmail.com jodiemryan@icloud.com

We will continue lunch reservations for this school year. They will open the week of August 28. A link will be sent shortly. There will also be a button on our website that will take you directly to make a reservation. Our school website can be found here.

Parents will meet their child in the lunchroom and go to room 300 to enjoy lunch. We want to allow this to be a special time with your child so we have created this location for you.

We would like to get a jump on car rider signs for the 24-25 school year. All car riders need a new sign this year. If your child will be a car rider OR could potentially be a car rider, please use the link below and order car rider signs. We will have these ready at Meet The Teacher for those who request them early. Otherwise they will be sent home the first day of school. Make sure and order the number of signs you will need in the event you change cars or people who pick up children.

Car rider sign request

All students will receive a SMART Tag for their backpack. This tag is used for transportation purposes. Students who ride the bus scan on and off the bus. More information will be coming to parents about how you are able to track the bus and get notified when the bus is running late.

AUGUST

8 - Meet the Teacher

14 - First day of school

SEPTEMBER

2 - School holiday

18 - Read for a Better Life Kick Off

19 - Parent Information Night 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.

26 - Fall Pictures/Canes Spirit Night

27 - Moving with Moms 7:00 - 7:45 a.m.

OCTOBER

11 - Student holiday

14 - School holiday

17 - Spring Creek BBQ Night

26 - OR Feeder Trunk or Treat

27- November 1 - Red Ribbon Week

NOVEMBER

1 - Class pictures/retakes

4 - Student holiday

5 - Student holiday

7 - Fall Festival 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.

11 - 3rd grade Veterans' Day Program

25 - 29 - Thanksgiving Holiday

DECEMBER

12 - 2nd grade holiday program

20 - Early Release

23 - January 3 - Winter Break