Riojas Elementary School
August 17, 2022
School Hours: 7:35am - 2:50pm
PTO - Thank you
Thank you so much to our PTO for the first day meal! Teachers were very grateful for the Chick-fil-a lunch boxes!
RIOJAS PTO ROCKS! www.riojaselempto.com
First Day Pics
Parents, please make sure your teacher knows how your child will go home for the rest of the school year.
Changes for How Your Child Goes Home
Safety is extremely important and our dismissal system is strategically designed to ensure each child gets home safely. Changing how your child goes home creates a ripple effect in our system.
- If you have told the teacher your child is a "car rider," then you should be in your car and in the car line for pick up. Please do not change your mind at the last minute, and park/walk up.
- If you are planning to meet your child outside the school at the end of the day (parking and walking up), please tell the teacher, your child is a "walker."
- 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th grade "walkers" are allowed to walk out to meet a parent or walk/bike home.
- Kinder and 1st grade "walkers" go out with a teacher and gather at a specific area along the brick wall.
- ALL parents meeting students should wait for their child in the grassy area of the "front yard."
If due to unforeseen circumstances, you must change how your child is going home during the school day, please contact our school office AND notify the teacher. Please do this only in extreme situations and contact us before 2pm in order to give us time to adjust.
Arrival at Riojas
You are able to drop students off on both sides of our main drive in the car lane. See the diagram above. Please follow these procedures:
- Allow cars who parked in the lot to join the line and exit the parking lot.
- Do not switch lanes before dropping off your child.
- Please try to exit the parking lot without changing lanes. This means you may have to drive through the neighborhood to get to your destination.
- Do not use the bus lane to drop off in the mornings.
- You can help us make this process smooth and easy by doing these things:
- Make sure your child knows how to unbuckle their seatbelt independently.
- Arrive early! If you wait until 7:25 or after to pull into the drop off line, you will be waiting awhile.
- Have your child gather their belongings, put loose items in their backpack, and say your goodbyes when you enter the drop off line. That way, when you reach the drop off spot, it is a quick exit!
Park and Walk Up to the Front Door
You can help us make this process smooth and easy by doing these things:
- ALWAYS walk your child all the way across the crosswalk, preferably holding their hand. I have seen many near misses over the years when drivers were not paying attention to the crossing guard!
- Once your child enters the building, either turn and go back to the crosswalk, or step to the side to allow other students to enter. Please do not block the front door.
- Please respect the crossing guard when asked to wait. We have to keep the cars moving.
- As you leave the parking lot, carefully rejoin the car line dropping off students and follow the exit rules. Do not change lanes. Parking in different areas of the parking lot can make it easier to exit the way you prefer.
- If you park on the street, you must use one of the crosswalks. Due to the amount of traffic, it is very unsafe to walk across Crispin Hall. Park near the crosswalk if you are trying to save time or steps.
- Do not park in the red zones around our entrances/exits. This decreases visibility for cars exiting the car lane.
- Do not use our bus lane for drop off or park in those red zones. Buses cannot enter/exit safely if cars are in the way.
Arriving on the Bus
Things to Know:
- Use the link below to find your bus route.
- Have your child at the bus stop 5 minutes early, just to be safe.
- Students are required to wear a seat belt at all times.
- Busses will drop students off at the side of the building. Staff members are stationed there to supervise the unloading of the busses, and to ensure students safely enter the building.
Do not linger around our side doors or front doors. It is a safety concern for staff and students to have adults peering in or waiting outside our side doors.
New Fence
Thank you for understanding and walking around.
Dismissal
Please be patient with our staff and your neighbors. Dismissal on the first days of school can be slow and we will become more efficient after a few more days.
Bus Riders
Students riding the bus will be released first at 2:48pm and staff on duty will assist them in lining up and loading the buses. Bus routes and busses are usually slower on the first few days of school. Be patient and be early at the bus stop, just to be safe. All 2nd grade students and younger must be met at their bus stop by an adult.
Walkers/Bike Riders
Students who will be walking/biking home will be released next at 2:52pm. They will exit the building and must meet up with siblings and family outside, in the "front yard" grassy area of the school, adjacent to our flag poles. Kinder and First grade students who are "walkers" will meet siblings or parents near the white wall by the playground/front yard of the school.
Parents, please make a plan and PRACTICE your plan for meeting your "walking home" students. Do not plan to meet students near the bus lane or across the street from the school and ALWAYS use our crosswalks.
Car Riders/EDP/Day Care
At 2:54pm teachers will walk students to the gym for EDP/Daycare pick up and then to the Car Line pickup area outside the cafeteria.
Car Lane
We will dismiss students on the awning curb side only (different than the morning). The line gets long. Stay safe and be patient. If you are parking at dismissal time, you may go around the stopped car line cue in order to go find a parking space.
- Do not walk up to the car lane area to pick up your child.
- Stay in your car.
- Practice loading and buckling in with your child.
If you will pickup your child in the Car Line, please have your car sign visible all the way through the car line. Please let your teacher know if you need more than one sign.
I hope to see you at school sometime soon,
Christi
Door Dash & Uber Eats, etc.
District Safety - Standard Response Protocol
Visitors and badges
As many of you are aware, with our 2014 Bond Program, our District created safe and secure front entry vestibules at every campus. These vestibules force all parents and visitors to go through our front offices to gain entry to our classrooms and the rest of our building. While in the front office, all visitors must sign in using our Raptor system either as a volunteer or a visitor and must wear a printed badge at shoulder level while in our buildings. This helps our staff to know who is allowed to be in our hallways. Additionally, our staff members and all middle and high school students are required to wear their district-issued badges to help with identification.
Monthly Drills
We hold scheduled drills to prepare our students and staff to react accordingly to an emergency. These include shelter in place, lockout, lockdown, weather, and fire drills. I know they can feel disruptive, and sometimes students may not take them seriously. Still, we know that repetition and training can be imperative during an emergency. We ask that you remind your students to take all drills seriously to prepare them for an emergency.
District Police Officers
Pflugerville ISD is fortunate to have an in-house police department. This department is staffed with commissioned police officers who are trained for the school environment and take part in emergency drills specific to schools. As part of their regular training schedule, this past week, our police officers partnered with other local law enforcement agencies at one of our high school campuses for multiple active shooter drills. These drills allow our officers to practice responses and work with our supporting agencies during an emergency. I want to commend our partners - City of Pflugerville Police Department, Travis County ESD #2 Firefighters, Travis County Constables, and Texas Highway Officers - who participated in this drill. It was a great collaboration to ensure all agencies are prepared to support each other in an emergency situation.
Security Officers and Safety Procedures
Additionally, our safety department employs multiple security officers to support our Police officers and campuses and to conduct safety checks in our buildings. District staff and police officers also attended a Standard Reunification Method (SRM) training this summer in cooperation with the I Love U Guys Foundation. SRM training is essential in an event where the District needs to reunite parents with their children after a crisis.
District Safety and Security Committee
Texas Education Code (TEC) 37.109 mandates that each school district in Texas establishes a Safety and Security Committee as established by the Texas School Safety Center. PfISD has established this committee. Committee membership includes District and campus administrators, department directors, Board of Trustee members, local emergency management officials, law enforcement, fire, emergency medical services, teachers, parents, and other community stakeholders. Earlier this summer, the District Safety, and Security Committee updated our Emergency Operations Procedures (EOP) for the District. We share this EOP with law enforcement and campus and district leadership to ensure that everyone is coordinating and working together during any emergency. The committee will meet at least once a semester.
Locked Doors – Classroom and Exterior
PfISD will continue to require that all classroom doors be locked at all times. In addition, this year, we will conduct frequent random checks to ensure that teachers maintain those locked doors. We will also do daily sweeps of all exterior doors to ensure they are secure and not being propped open for any reason.
Below is a parent handout (in English and Spanish) that provides an overview of the Standard Response Protocol we use in Pflugerville ISD. We encourage you to download the flyer and familiarize yourself with the terminology so that you can help support your students and your schools.
PTO Update
2022 Fill the Boot Fun Run - October 19th
Riojas Elementary PTO is looking for Business Sponsors for our 2022 Fill The Boot Fun Run, happening October 19th. We hope to provide over 950 students with T-shirts featuring YOUR company name or logo at no cost to our school and students, providing continuous advertising year-round. Please reach out to Amanda Dean, our Vice President of Fundraising, at amanda@texasdeanfamily.com to discuss which ad you are interested in purchasing today!
Check out the T-shirt Fact Sheet and Business Sponsorship Form documents below.
PTO News and Updates can be found on the Riojas PTO Website and sign up for their newsletters, too!
Riojas Elementary School
Counselor: Misty.Hagerman@pfisd.net
Assistant Principal: Leslie.Vazqueznieves@pfisd.net
Principal: Christi.Siegel@pfisd.net
Website: https://www.pfisd.net/Domain/28
Location: 3400 Crispin Hall Lane, Pflugerville, TX, USA
Phone: 512-594-4100