We've had a wonderful start to the school year and the kids are settling in and doing great. We are just about full this year and have 615 students enrolled! I'm thankful that we have had a little break in this heat and have been able to have some outdoor recess time. Please take a few minutes to read through this newsletter for some important information from PTA and some different events coming up in September. Here are few reminders that will help our front office out:

• If you are running late and arrive after 8:05, parents need to walk students in the building and sign them in for the day. Only the main office doors are open after 7:50 am.
• If you are changing the way your child goes home from school, please email the teacher as early as possible to let them know about the change. Best practice is at least one day in advance.
• If you need to pick your child up early for an appointment, please come prior to 2:30. We will not release students between 2:30-3:10 unless there is a true emergency or a pre-arranged agreement with the principal.
• If your child forgot their lunch and you need to drop it off, please bring it to the office by 10:30 AM.
• We do not allow food delivery services to send lunch to your children at school.

We have our first early release day on Wednesday, 9/20. Please reach out to your Day Care, Babysitter, etc. to be sure students are picked up at the right time.

12:55 - Pre K, ECSE, Pre K Siblings, Day Care Buses

1:00 - Walkers

1:05 - Car Riders

Please be sure to sign up for your Parent Focus Account. This will give you access to all kinds of importatnt student information. Most importantly, you will have access to your child's grade.

Northlake was awarded a grant from The Exchange Club of Lake Highlands, and we will be getting two AVID staircases! Please click on the survey below take a vote to let us know if you have a college you would like to have represented on our AVID stairs.

Showcase your talents at this year's Reflections contest!

Reflections is an Art Competition where students can submit original artwork in a variety of categories: Visual Art, Literature, Music Composition, Photography, Film Production, Dance, and Special Artist (Kids with 504 submit from any of the 6 categories). The work must be completed by the student alone and be inspired by this year's theme, "I am Hopeful Because..." The deadline to submit entries is Friday November 3rd. For any questions, to request category rules, or any other assistance you may contact Gaby Sotelo holguingaby@gmail.com or visit the website https://risdpta.membershiptoolkit.com/reflections

The district has updated the Elementary Dress Code. Please be sure your students are dressed appropriately for school each day. Please let me know if you have any questions.

• Parents, staff, and students have likely noticed an increased presence of uniformed, armed officers at our school this year. RISD is working to comply with a new state law requiring armed personnel at every school, and our campus will be visited each school day by a uniformed, armed, off duty police officer. The officer may not be the same person every day, but they are here to provide a visible deterrent, help ensure our doors and grounds are secure, and support our campus safety protocols.

  
  

  RISD is using rotating off duty police officers as a temporary measure while the district hires and trains campus security officers (CSO) as new RISD employees. Eventually, the district’s goal is to be able to assign an armed campus security officer to our school, and once fully staffed, CSOs will replace the rotating off duty police officers at our school. When we are assigned our CSO, we will introduce them to our school community, and they will become part of our campus staff.

  
  If you have questions about armed officers on our campus, any of four safety-related drills or protocols, or how RISD is approaching the new law, please ask your campus principal or visit risd.org/safetysecurity and check out the FAQs.
  

Parents are welcome to come visit duing lunch and eat with their students. We ask that you sign up for a day at time using the sign-up genius below. In order to keep students safe and to accommodate everyone, please read through these reminders for visiting Northlake for lunch:

• Sign up for your visit using the Sign Up Genius.
• No Siblings, due to limited space on the stage.
• You may eat lunch with your child only.
• Please do not take pictures of your child while at lunch.

The school day is from 7:50-3:10

• The building opens at 7:30.

• Breakfast is served in the classroom from 7:30-7:50.

• Your child is tardy at 7:51 and will receive a tardy pass to get to class.

• Your child is late for school after 8:05 and a parent will need to sign them in at the office.

• If your child arrives to school after 9:00 AM they are counted absent for the day.

• If you child is absent for any reason, please be sure to send a note to school on the day your child returns, letting us know the reason for the absence. Any excuse notes must be received within 3 days of returning to school in order to receive an excused absence.

If you have any questions regarding attendance, please email our Student Data Specialist, Ms. Martinez at melinda.martinez@risd.org.

If you would like to volunteer at Northlake Elementary, you must complete a volunteer background check EVERY new school year. Volunteering could include helping with class parties, attending field trips with your children, working in the library, helping at Field Day, or many other activities. We will not allow anyone who has not completed and passed the volunteer background check to volunteer. Please click on the link below to complete the background check. You MUST also watch the very short powerpoint at the end to complete the entire background check. Failure to watch the powerpoint will make your application incomplete and you will not be able to volunteer.

We are so fortunate to have a wonderful PTA. We have an amazing PTA Board and are gearing up for a great year ahead. We need your help! We are working hard to grow our PTA membership. It costs $8 to join PTA and there is no time commitment needed. We always need volunteers at PTA school events such as Carnival, Multi-Cultural Night and Buddy Fun Day. But, we are flexible and you can work as much or as little as your schedule allows.

You can find more information out about our PTA on their . Thanks in advance for supporting our school!

It's so good to see all the kids in their spirit shirts! We ran out of a few sizes and have another order arriving this week. If you ordered a shirt and haven't received it yet, it will be sent home later this week. A big thank you to PTA for helping us pass out our spirit shirts. If you would still like to purchase a shirt, please be sure to send your order form with $2 to your child's teacher. We will continue to take orders through the end of this week.

Parents must apply for their child/children to receive free or reduced breakfast and lunch. Last year everyone received free school breakfast but this year families must apply to receive free or reduced breakfast. The application must be completed as soon as possible to ensure that there is no interruption to their meal service. This application needs to be filled out every year. Please click on the picture or link below to get to the lunch application.

Students are welcome to pack a nutritious lunch from home or a lunch may be purchased in the school cafeteria. If your child happens to forget their lunch from home, please drop it off in the front office by 10:30 AM. This will ensure that the lunch will reach your child by their lunch time. Please refer to the RISD Child Nutrition website for menus, pricing and payment options.

In the interest of safety & security, every visitor to a Richardson ISD campus must present a valid form of identification and be processed through the Raptor background check system each visit, regardless of previous checks. Please be sure that you have your valid identification with you every time you visit Northlake Elementary. Thank you for your patience and understanding as RISD works to ensure the safety of students and employees. Volunteer questions may be directed to the office of Strategy & Engagement.

Additionally, the front office staff will use the intercom system to ask visitors to identify themselves and the purpose of their visit before granting access to the office. This is part of our heightened security measures. Please be cooperative and patient as we all get used to these new measures. As you enter the building, please do not allow others to enter with you or to follow you through the doors as you enter or leave. Everyone who enters should ring the buzzer and speak to someone in the office before entering the school building.

September 18 - Paw Prints go to P.E. - 6:00

September 20 - Early Release Day - 1:00 Dismissal

October 5 - Elementary Night - LHHS Football Game

October 6 - No School

October 9 - No School

October 19 - Fall Carnival