Stewart Stampede

Dear Stewart Families,

I hope everyone is doing well. We have had a great start to the new school year! Students were excited about being back on campus and seeing all their friends. Teachers have been spending time getting to know your children and establishing procedures. Our dismissal process improved each day. Thank you so much for your patience as we teach your children the process and ensure a safe and efficient dismissal.

Most of our car riders were on time yesterday and today. Thank you so much for your efforts to make it happen. Instruction begins at 8:00AM. Your child should arrive no later than 7:55AM in order to get to their class and prepare for learning. Students must be in the building no later than 7:50AM if they want to eat breakfast. Students are counted tardy if they are not in the classroom when the 8:00AM bell rings. We know there are adjustments to be made during the first few days of school. Thank you for helping with this.

I appreciate you taking time to read this newsletter. We have made some changes to our procedures based on the recent surge in COVID cases in our community and Montgomery County. I have included information regarding these changes to keep you informed to how we are responding on campus. Please know that we implement procedures that we believe are in the best interest of our students. Our overall goal is to keep students and staff safe and well. Please feel free to contact me through email or by phone if you have any questions or concerns.

If you want to see updated information about the positive COVID-19 cases in our county, district or campus, please click on this link.

https://apps.conroeisd.net/covidimpact/

Take care.

Dr. Julie English

We are seeing increasing numbers of students with multi- symptom illness (headache, fever, sore throat, congestion, cough and vomiting. We are urging parents to keep symptomatic students home and seek medical attention to rule Strep/COVID or other childhood illness.

Parents can schedule FREE COVID testing with CISD for your students via your child’s SSO Portal. You will sign to the portal and click on the COVID Central App, then click on “schedule a test”. This testing site is available M-F from 8AM-6PM and Saturday 8AM-4PM.

If your child does test positive for COVID, please contact Nurse Patty via phone (936-709-4215) or email (pharper@conroeisd.net

We recently met with our district leaders regarding the surge of COVID cases within our school district. This has caused us to make some adjustments on campus to keep students and staff safe and our doors open.

We will not be requiring anyone to wear a mask but we are encouraging you to consider sending your child to school with a mask. The decision to wear a mask or not, is a family choice and we will continue to foster a culture of respect for all. We do have PPE on campus that is available for staff and students. If your child wants a mask but did not bring one from home, we will have them available outside the nurse's office and by the bus entry door. Additionally, we will continue to allow students to wash their hands frequently and use sanitizer.

We began the school year with some distance in the cafeteria while eating lunch or breakfast. This week, we are working on new procedures to add additional distance between students during this time of the school day. Additionally, students will continue to cohort as much as possible while in the building.

At this time, we will be limiting visitors on campus. We hope this is just temporary as we wait out the current surge. All meetings will be conducted through Zoom for ARD's, 504's, parent conferences and our upcoming Parent Information Nights. We are also planning to postpone the Watch Dog's Kick-off for now. We will slowly resume all our in-person activities as soon as we are able.

Each time we learn of a confirmed case of COVID, you will be sent a general notification letter if your child was in close contact with the positive person. This includes staff members, teachers or another student in their class.

If you need additional information, please feel free to contact me. You can also check out the "Roadmap to Reopening" on the CISD website https://www.conroeisd.net/roadmap-to-reopening/.

Currently, our plan is to welcome parents/guardians to our campus after Labor Day to eat lunch with their child. With the surge in COVID cases, we may have to delay this plan. I will keep you posted as we get closer to September 7th.

We are also limiting the food and items that can be brought into the school. If your child brings a lunch, please double check that they have their lunch with them before they come to school. We realize that there may be that rare circumstance that your child might leave a lunch at home. If that is the case, you may bring it up to school to give to the receptionist. Please note that we have one receptionist in the front office and it is a challenge to handle lunches throughout the school day. We also want to limit the number of interruptions into the classroom. As a reminder, breakfast and lunch from the school continues to be free this year. We will make sure they have something to eat.

Also, please continue to send your child with a water bottle. We have touchless water fountains to allow them to refill their bottle if necessary.

We have been getting several questions regarding online learning and assignments while students are out sick. Currently, we are not able to teach through Zoom or provide instructional videos for students who are absent. We do not have the option for temporary online learning this year. If your child is out sick, we will do our best to have an assignment they can access through Canvas (grades 3-6) or SeeSaw (grades k-2). Students will still be counted absent and they will have the opportunity to make up missed assignments when they return. Your child's teacher will help coordinate the completion of missed work.

8:00 AM - 3:10 PM

Doors open at 7:30AM

Parents are allowed to send birthday treats for their child and the class. We are unable to serve homemade treats. All birthday treats must be purchased from a store or bakery and MUST be individually wrapped.

We love warm weather! Here are just a few reminders as you're shopping for school clothes. These are in addition to the dress code that is included in the Conroe ISD Student Code of Conduct.

1. Shorts must the be mid-thigh length.

2. Mid-drift and halter tops are not allowed.

3. Muscle shirts are not allowed.

4. Spaghetti straps or straps that are not at least the width of two adult fingers are not allowed.

5. Jeans with rips or holes that are above the mid-thigh are not allowed, unless there is a patch under the rip or fray.

6. Sandals and flip flops are not allowed at school. Toes may not be exposed.

7. Work out type yoga pants or leggings are allowed ONLY if the length of the shirt/top reaches the top of the thigh.

8. Hair must be a natural color. Pink, blue, green, purple...is not a natural hair color and therefore not appropriate for school.

9. Undergarments should not be visible.

10. Make-up is not allowed. Our Mustangs are natural beauties!

A complete dress code requirement list will be sent to you during the first week of school.

Our school nurse is on campus. You are welcome to bring medications to the school before school begins or during the Meet the Teacher event.

Please remember that students should NEVER transport medications to school themselves.

Dismissal tags will be attached to your child's backpack. This tag has a unique barcode that we use to scan your child as they exit the building. This is a safety procedure for us so we know how each child left the campus every day. Please help us by ensuring the tag remains on the backpack so there are no delays during dismissal.

If you need to change the way your child goes home during the school day, please email Angie Creech at acreech@conroeisd.net before 1:30PM. She can only make changes from a written or emailed request. Please refrain from emailing your child's teacher to change the way they go home during the school day as they may not see the communication until we are finished with dismissal.

Early pick up must take place before 2:15PM.

Below are some reminders regarding Car Rider Arrival Procedures:

· Stewart doors open at 7:30 AM. Students must be in their seat by 8:00 AM in order to not be counted tardy. We encourage all students to get into the car rider line before 7:50 AM. After 7:50 AM, the car rider line tends to get busier and this causes traffic congestion for all Stewart families.

· We have two car rider lanes here at Stewart (The Blue Lane and the Maroon Lane). We encourage students in grades Pre-K to 1st to utilize the blue car rider lane (lane closest to the school). We encourage students in grades 3rd to 6th to utilize the maroon car rider lane (lane closest to the parking lot). Parents with students in all grade levels may utilize any colored lane they would prefer to. Since less cars travel through the maroon lane, the maroon lane will be the lane that gets in and out of the car rider line the fastest.

· When dropping off your student(s) in the blue car rider lane, please ensure they are only exiting the right side of the car, not the left side of the car. This will ensure that your student(s) are safe when exiting your car.

· When dropping off your student(s) in the maroon car rider lane, please ensure they are only exiting the left side of the car, not the right side of the car. This will ensure that your student(s) are safe when exiting your car.

· When you make the last turn in the car rider line and your car is either in the blue lane or the maroon lane drop off zone, please do not let your student(s) get out of your car by themselves. Please have your student(s) wait until a Stewart staff member opens your car door.

· When you make the last turn in the car rider line and your car is either in the blue lane or the maroon lane drop off zone, please have your student(s) prepared to exit your car. Please have their backpacks, lunch kits, and water bottles ready to go before a Stewart staff member opens your car door.

· After you have dropped of your student(s) and are ready to leave the school, all cars must turn right. During car rider arrival time, all cars must turn right onto Woodforest Parkway North.

Below are some reminders regarding Car Rider Dismissal Procedures:

· Stewart classroom instruction stops at 3:10 PM. Stewart car rider dismissal begins at 3:10 PM.

· Please remember to have your yellow car rider tag viewable on your dashboard of your vehicle. If you forgot or can not find your yellow car rider tag, please be prepared to show a Stewart staff member your driver’s license so that we can verify that you’re a person that can pick up your student.

· If your student(s) are signed up to be a car rider, families may not park in the grass area in front of the school or at the church and walk up to the building to pick up their student(s). Families must get in either the blue or maroon car rider lane.

· We have two car rider lanes here at Stewart (The Blue Lane and the Maroon Lane). We encourage students in grades Pre-K to 1st to utilize the blue car rider lane (lane closest to the school). We encourage students in grades 3rd to 6th to utilize the maroon car rider lane (lane closest to the parking lot). Parents with students in all grade levels may utilize any colored lane they would prefer to. Since less cars travel through the maroon lane, the maroon lane will be the lane that gets in and out of the car rider line the fastest.

· When coming to pick up your student(s) and you’re turning onto Woodforest Parkway North (by Woodforest Church) from Fish Creek Thoroughfare, you are in the blue car rider lane. The blue lane is the lane that takes you around to the closest side of Stewart. When a Stewart staff member comes to your car to get your student(s) name(s), please ensure that you stay in the blue car rider lane throughout the entire car rider line process. Please do not change to the maroon lane because it may seem to be shorter. Lane switching will cause car rider issues that will in return make your time to pick up your student(s) much longer.

· When coming to pick up your student(s) and you’re turning onto Woodforest Parkway North (by Exxon or off of Central Pine) from Fish Creek Thoroughfare, you are in the maroon car rider lane. The maroon lane is the lane that takes you around to the closest side of the parking lot. When a Stewart staff member comes to your car to get your student(s) name(s), please ensure that you stay in the maroon car rider lane throughout the entire car rider line process. Please do not change to the blue lane because it may seem to be shorter. Lane switching will cause car rider issues that will in return make your time to pick up your student(s) much longer.

· After you have received your student(s) and are ready to leave the school, all cars must turn right. During car rider dismissal time, all cars must turn right onto Woodforest Parkway North.

Below are some reminders regarding Biker-Walker Dismissal Procedures:

· Stewart classroom instruction stops at 3:10 PM. Stewart Biker-Walker dismissal begins at 3:10 PM.

· Only families that live within walking distance from their house to the school may be eligible to sign up for Biker-Walker. The only eligible 7 neighborhoods within the school community are the ones that live on the same side of Woodforest as Stewart is located (Kinnerly Peak, Forest Heights, Greatwood, Chesswood, Muirfield Pointe, Pinnacle Ridge, and Biltmore). These eligible neighborhoods cannot ride the bus like our other neighborhoods in our Stewart school community.

· For grades Pre-K to 1st, please remember to have your Biker-Walker Tag viewable. If you forgot or cannot find your Biker-Walker tag, please be prepared to show a Stewart staff member your driver’s license so that we can verify that you’re a person that can pick up your student.

· Grades 2nd to 6th students may walk or ride their bike home by themselves. If you want your younger siblings in grades Pre-K to 1st to walk or ride their bikes home with their older sibling, each family must fill out and sign a Biker-Walker Permission Release form. This form must be turned into the school.