Fernandez Elementary Campus Updates
Bulldog Community Newsletter
August 29, 2022
A Message from Principal : Our Greatest Hopes for our Kids
Greetings Bulldog Families! I hope you are all doing well, and that your kids had a great first week of school! We are excited to have our students back, and I want you to know that our first week of school was a great success. I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for patience and understanding as we launched our new dismissal plan. With your support, we made a lot of progress. Our dismissal ended at 4:00 PM on Monday. By Friday, all of our kids were dismissed by 3:20. Thank you.
If you haven’t been exposed to our campus mission, vision and beliefs, please take a moment to review them below:
Mission: Speak love by teaching with courage, commitment, and compassion.
Vision: Our students will believe they are capable and important.
Core Beliefs:
- Each student deserves a quality education which honors their voice and prepares them to engage, contribute, and succeed.
- Students' levels of health, safety, engagement, challenge, and support are directly linked to their academic achievement and future success.
- Meaningful relationships among students, families, educators, and the community are vital to student success.
- Fernandez Elementary is essential to fostering community and developing engaged citizens.
For our staff, these aren’t just words and sentences. We spent a lot of time crafting what you see above, and it establishes our purpose as well as our behavior towards you and our students. Along with another component called the Learner Profile, our mission, vision, and beliefs create what we call our Strategic Framework. Our Learner Profile is listed below:
Profile of a Northside ISD Learner - Learners will be creators, leaders, collaborators, communicators, innovators, critical-thinkers, and solution-finders.
The learner profile captures our greatest hopes for our kids. I have three kids of my own: Taylor, Frank, and Benjamin. They all have very different personalities and strengths. They are individuals with different needs. Despite this, my wife and I have some common goals we want for all of them. Academic excellence is key, but our hopes and dreams for our children extend beyond this important aspect of schooling. We want them to feel safe and happy. We want them to have good relationships. We want them to find work they can delight in. We want this world and this community to be better, in part, because of the contributions of our kids. The NISD learner profile supports this. Thoughtfully created by a variety of stakeholders, including parents, community members, and educators, the NISD Learner Profile is more than a desirable outcome. It is a call to action for all of us to be intentional about teaching and nurturing the whole child. At Fernandez, we will consider the Learner Profile when we plan, teach, and interact with our students. This world and this community will be better because of our students. They will be better because of your children. We are excited to partner with you in this exciting work, and look forward to all of the possibilities for our community this year.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve and support your students. It is not something we take for granted.
Yours in service,
Mr. Johnson
Elementary School Hours
School end time: 3:00 p.m.
Students are tardy after 7:45 a.m.
Fernandez Weekly Attendance Averages
2022-2023 Drop-Off and Pick-Up Procedures
At 7:40 we will secure the campus and will be happy to escort your child to their classroom when you drop them off.
Just a few reminders for Morning Drop-off and Afternoon Pick-up...
Morning Drop-Off
You may drop off your child at the front of the school starting at 7:00 a.m. and they will be greeted by faculty as they enter the campus. Students are able to eat breakfast in the cafeteria, then wait in their grade level hallway for their teacher. Faculty and staff will be on duty every morning to monitor students.
We welcome you to join your child(ren) for breakfast in the cafeteria by checking in at the front office. Please be sure to bring identification if you wish to join your child(ren) for breakfast. After breakfast, your child(ren) will go to their grade level hallway to wait with their classmates as parents leave the building. For the safety of all students, we ask that parents not walk student(s) to their classrooms during this time, as teachers are preparing to receive your child and their classmates. Students who arrive late will be able to finish eating their breakfast, but parents must exit the building before 7:40.
At 7:40 a.m. we will secure the campus as teachers and students start the instructional day.
Afternoon Dismissal
The school day ends at 3:00 p.m. Dismissal begins between 2:45-3:00 p.m.
PreK - 1st grade and their siblings will be dismissed in the front of the school
ALE and 2nd - 5th grades will be dismissed in the back bus loop
If you need an additional dismissal tag, please request an extra tag through your child's teacher.
If at any time there are changes to how your child will be going home, please contact the front office (210) 397-1900.
We appreciate your continued support as we maintain safety and security of all students and staff at Fernandez.
REMINDER: Please hang your dismissal tag on your rearview mirror to help expedite the dismissal process.
All students receive free lunch this year! Please scan the QR code to complete the CEP Application.
Having lunch with your child
We welcome parents to have lunch with their child in the cafeteria during their class designated lunch time. Please sit at the visitor's table located under the flags near the cafeteria entrance. Due to safety concerns, other students are not permitted to sit at the parent lunch table without their parents. Food should only be brought for your child.
Having lunch with your child is a special occasion and we understand wanting to capture the moment. Please refrain from taking pictures with other students in the background to respect student privacy.
Please help our students follow our campus PBIS Bark Expectations. See image below for the Cafeteria BARK Expectations.
Extra Curricular Activities
All Bulldogs in PreK thru 5th Grades are expected to adhere to the DRESS CODE outlined in the NISD Student Parent Handbook.
Campus Security & Safety
Upcoming Fernandez Events
September
5 - Labor Day Holiday, No School
7 - PTA General Meeting, Parent Orientation & GT Orientation Night, 5:00-6:30
15 - Individual Picture Day
21 - Early Release Day, 11:45 a.m.
23 - Progress Reports go home
28 - Back to School PTA Membership Dance, 5:00-6:30