Back to School Parent Guide

We are thrilled as we prepare for the 2024-2025 school year. Our school theme for year 11 is "THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME" and we plan on making sure you feel right at home at Richard J. Lee Elementary. We cannot wait to see you and to have you as part of our "FamiLEE!" Please continue reading for all of the latest information you need for a successful start to the school year.

Best,

Chantel Kastrounis

Principal

@NetZeroLee

Please click here to learn more about your school Principal.

Ms. Yegge l Mrs. Kastrounis l Ms. Buchanan

Join me in welcoming the following educators to our Richard J. Lee Elementary FamiLEE:

• Jacy Quezada- Art Designer
• Hany Rosiana- Specical Education Designer
• Sheila Ansah- Special Education Paraprofessional
• Menaka Vallarasu- Special Education Paraprofessional
• Zeal Mehta- Special Education Paraprofessional
• Joy Waldrop- Dyslexia Specialist
• Shayla Fortenberry- Learning Coach
• D'ann Felux- Learning Coach
• DianaLyn Perkins- Learning Coach

We can't wait for you to meet them and welcome them to our Lee community.

We are overjoyed to travel through Lee neighborhoods to welcome you back to school. Please mark your calendars for Monday morning. You can wave from your house or join us at one of our 10 stops. We are ready to remind you how special it is to call Lee Elementary your HOME! Click here for a map of our route. Please keep in mind that times are approximate as traffic and construction could delay us.

We'll see you in-person for our Meet the Designer Night on Monday, August 12th. Come say "HI" to the Lee Designers (staff), and see your classroom for the coming year. If you purchased school supplies, you can bring them to school and leave them in your classroom. If you ordered your school supplies through our Lee PTO, they will be delivered to your classrooms.

Returning families...It is time for Address Verification. This is done, annually, to ensure all enrolled learners live in our attendance zone and so that we may assign your learner a spot in a classroom.

We have made this process easy. Simply email an image of your July or August electric, water, or gas bill to LeeEnrollment@coppellisd.com . Please put your child's name(s) and student ID in the subject line.

• If you have moved, and are still in our attendance zone, you must submit your new lease or closing statement in addition to your utility bill.
• If you have updated shot records, you can email those to us, as well.
• Every family must verify their address before your learner will be assigned a classroom. If you do not verify our address, you will not receive a personalized invitation from a Designer inviting you to Meet the Designer Night on August 12, from 5:30-6:30 pm.

Your child must be present on the first day of school, August 14th, in order to ensure their spot at Lee Elementary. We cannot hold spots for learners starting after the first day of school.

We will communicate with you by 4:00 PM on Friday, August 9, where your learner will go on the first day of school. Thank you for your patience as we reorganize some of our classes due to enrollment numbers and reduction of classrooms. Remember that we do not honor parent requests for specific designers. We will phone you, before 4PM on August 9, if your child's house is being adjusted. For our new families, we do our best to place family members in the same house.

If you do not receive an email by 4:00 PM on August 9, then there is an issue with your enrollment or residency verification. Please email LeeEnrollment@coppellisd.com if you do not hear from us Friday evening. We will work our hardest to get this cleared up before Meet the Designer Night.

Your child must be present on the first day of school, August 14th, in order to ensure their spot at Lee Elementary. We cannot hold spots for learners starting after the first day of school.

Want an EASY way to get all of the school supplies your learner needs for Back to School? Sign in on our PTO website and purchase them on our Spur Webstore.

If you are new to Lee or missed the deadline to order school supplies, PTO has a LIMITED SUPPLY of extra kits for sale. You can order them on the Webstore and they will be delivered to your child's class on August 12.

Here is the 2024-2025 School Supply List by grade.

I am so excited to care for your learner at school this year. To set up for success:

• Please make sure to discuss any health conditions with Nurse Annah directly. Email me at arose@coppellisd.com
• Please make sure to keep an extra set of clothes in your learner's backpack for spills, mud, accidents, etc. They are often more comfortable in their own clothes than in ones that come from the clinic.
• If your learner has had any diarrhea, vomiting, or a fever of 100 degrees or higher in the last 24 hours, they cannot be at school or a school function.

Durham School Services is the district's transportation provider, not Lee Elementary. All questions about transportation should go to 972-304-8012 or transportation@coppellisd.com. New and current families request bus transportation as part of your enrollment/re-enrollment forms. Copies of these forms are emailed to families if you requested bus transportation for your eligible children. Bus routes, pick-up times and locations will be communicated, from Durham, to families for the 2024-2025 school year no later than August 14, 2024. Information about CISD Bus Service and answers to questions can be found here.

All learners will have a district-issued iPad for school use. You are encouraged to participate in this annual program, otherwise you are responsible for the full cost of repair or replacement of the device. Information about the CISD Device Protection plan can be found here.

Let's make this the best 1st Day of School ever! We are ready to welcome you and start the school year. Here are a few reminders to make sure you are ready to go:

• Send your learner with a refillable water bottle LABELED with their name. You may also send them with a small healthy snack, if you like.
• For returning CISD students, send your learner with their charged CISD iPad and charger.
• Be sure your child's educator knows how they will get home.

ALL parents can walk their child to class the morning of the 1st day of school. You may park, enter, and exit through the front door of the school. We will not permit entrance from the cafeteria doors due to bus drop off in the back of the school. On the second day of school, please follow our arrival procedures.

Kindergarten parents, please read this important information about the first week of Kindergarten.

Morning arrival will have TWO places for drop off. Please yield to any bus and do NOT let your child out of the car unless a staff member is there.

• Remember that it is illegal to be on your phone in a school zone.
• After the first day of school, please stay in your cars and follow the guidance of our staff on duty.
  

Learners being picked up early for an appointment need to be signed out of the front office before 2:45. Please be extra watchful of our walkers going home to Sage Hill during afternoon dismissal .

• Remember that it is illegal to be on your phone in a school zone.
• Remember that we do not permit parents to wait at the front of the building at dismissal time. Our learners will come out in organized lines to help with a safe and timely dismissal. You will be asked to go back to your car or to the Sage Hill Crosswalk. This includes rainy days.
  

Don't forget to hang you car tag for easy identification.

CISD has developed a one-stop resource for families to prepare for the first day of school on Wednesday, Aug. 14. CISD’s Parent Hub is available at www.coppellisd.com/parenthub and offers beginning of the school-year resources, school supply lists, and information on school breakfasts/lunches, transportation and more.

Please plan accordingly and send your child to school prepared for the school day. What does this mean? Please do not bring their iPad, lunch, jackets, water bottles, or school projects to school after you have dropped them off or they have arrived at school. This is a disruption to the school day and the efficiency of our office staff. We also only want people at our door who have an appointment or a need to be on campus. Safety is a PRIORITY here!

Be advised, we WILL NOT accept drop offs and will, unfortunately send you away. Please don't get upset if you have to be reminded by our front office staff.

You CAN bring lunch with you when you join us in October for FamiLEE Friday Lunches.

Learners have to learn the routine of eating school lunch. Starting October 4, guests can join their learners at lunch on Fridays. Please sign up by 3PM on Thursdays so that we can have a visitor badge prepared for you ahead of time. We will have the sign up link/form posted on our campus website at the end of September. Why are we waiting until October? This gives our campus, cafeteria, and custodial staff time to put practices and procedures in place. You will be impressed in October when you see how responsible our learners are!

NEW Campus and District link for excuse notes for 2024-2025:

Coppell ISD has requested that families use the link below to share absence excuse explanations for documentation: https://forms.coppellisd.com/Forms/AbsenceNotification.

Campus email address for campus attendance questions:

You may still use the leeattendance@coppellisd.com email address to communicate questions or concerns about attendance with Lee administration and front office staff, but only the link listed above for attendance excuse notes.

CISD Attendance Information

Cross one thing off your to-do list, and complete your Volunteer Background Check NOW! This is a step that has to be re-done each year. Go to https://www.coppellisd.com/page/visiting-and-volunteering for the CISD Visiting and Volunteering practices.

We want safety first and for you to be able to volunteer when our campus is open for volunteers.

We invite you to connect with Richard J. Lee Elementary online by checking out our school website at www.coppellisd.com/lee .

Also, engage with us on social media by "liking" or "following" us at:

• Richard J. Lee Elementary on Facebook
• @NetZeroLee and/or #rjlyear11 on Twitter
• @FamiLEErjl on Instagram