The Howl - Our Parent Newsletter
January 2, 2024
Our 2023-24 Theme
January 2, 2024
Dear Carter Coyote Families,
We hope that you had a great winter holiday and a wonderful start to your New Year! We are looking forward to having our Coyotes return to school tomorrow, January 3! Some upcoming events this month include STREAM Curriculum Night on January 25, 2nd 9 Weeks Report Cards, and Middle of the Year MAP testing that will show students' progress.
Morning Arrival to School
AM Car line--ARRIVE as Early as 6:45: There is absolutely NO pedestrian drop-off traffic crossing our busy car line in the morning. This is for the safety of everyone.
Campus Safety
Dear Carter Families,
As your principal, I remain committed to the safety and security of our campus and would like to request your cooperation and support with our students, which includes some important reminders about our visitor check-in process and consequences for failing to adhere to these procedures.
It’s important to understand that the visitor check-in process is in place to safeguard the well-being of everyone within our school community. Allowing unauthorized individuals into the school or using the wrong entrance poses a potential risk to the safety of our students and staff. All campus visitors must check-in at the campus front office. Throughout the building, all students and staff members must have their badge visible and should also use primary entrances.
The district has shared that some students on other campuses are violating the visitor check-in process and allowing individuals to enter the campus through side doors and back doors. Beginning on Wednesday, January 3, 2024, any student permitting individuals into the school without proper check-in or through the wrong door will face disciplinary consequences, which will result in a three-day out-of-school suspension and/or other measures deemed necessary by campus administration.
To maintain a safe and secure learning environment for all, we kindly request your support in reinforcing these security measures with your student. Please contact me at limrie@lcisd.org if you have any questions or concerns. We appreciate your partnership in upholding our safety standards.
Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Leann Imrie
Principal
Carter STREAM Curriculum Night - Jan. 25!
Leveling Schools Message from LCISD
Lamar CISD is in the process of reviewing leveling options for some elementary campuses, resulting in attendance boundary changes for some current elementary schools.
The district’s process is to collect feedback from parents regarding attendance boundary options through a survey sent directly to parents via e-mail. We specifically look to include stakeholders from the potentially impacted campuses/areas.
To ensure that you receive the survey and have an opportunity to provide feedback, please ensure that your current contact information is available in Skyward by January 3.
This survey will be sent on January 17 and will remain open until January 31. The results will be presented to the Board in February.
📘 Reserve your 2023-24 Yearbook Now!
This is the direct URL: https://www.balfour.com/texas/richmond/don-carter-elementary-school
✨ From the Carter PTO
Save the date for Carter PTO Family Game Night and Silent Auction on Friday, February 23. Join us for fun, food, and the chance to bid on some amazing auction items! More details to follow after the break.
We need your help! We are looking for volunteers in the copy room. If you regularly have a few hours a week to support your child's teachers by making grade-level copies, please email us at doncarterpto@gmail.com. Thanks!
Traffic Around Our School
Crosswalk:
Drivers who park on Glass Peak Lane and drop students off are causing an unsafe traffic situation! Drivers from other neighborhoods or sections of Stone Creek park on both sides of the road causing a very tiny lane for residents to access and exit the neighborhood. Please do not park and block the road on Glass Peak Lane for the safety of EVERYONE!
On Rainy/Bad Weather Days (Repeated Information):
During inclement or stormy weather such as hard rain or rain with lightning, rainy day dismissal will be called and ALL walkers will go home by a different mode of transportation according to their rainy day plan on file with their homeroom teacher. Callouts to parents go out no later than 2:15 pm via our Skyward messaging system.
Next step if your child is a walker? Email your child's teacher with their Rainy day plan if you have not already done so.
Walkers To and From School:
If your student is walking to and from school, they must be crossed by our crossing guard. We have had many reports lately that some students are running across the road without waiting for the crossing guard. Please talk to your student and make sure they understand this is not a safe practice.
Thank you also to parents who pick up their student on time, and plan transportation changes with the office before 2 PM. We are working extremely hard to help students get to their dismissal locations each and every day. Your patience and understanding are extremely important for smooth operations of our large (980+ students) campus.
Bus Update
Please remind your student about bus expectations below. We want everyone to have a safe ride to and from school.
From Mrs. Delcid, Carter EB Coach:
Library: News from Mrs. Garrette
Counseling: News from Mrs. Patel & Mrs. Hernandez
From the LCISD Special Education Department:
Quick Reference Section
Student Code of Conduct
Important District Changes to the Student Code of Conduct That Will Affect All Students
Among some of the most important changes are:
1. Being in possession of a Vape or E-cigarrette will result in automatic removal from the home campus to the Alternative Learning Center for a period of time TBD.
2. Being in possession of a knife of any length will result in automatic removal from the home campus to the Alternative Learning Center for a period of time TBD.
3. Cellphones: Cellphones and personal electronic devices including smartwatches must be turned off and stored in backpacks unless given specific permission by a teacher to use for an instructional purpose. The district has outlined specific required consequences for violation of personal technology policy: See page 100 in elementary student handbook.
Link to Elementary Handbook and Student Code of Conduct: HERE
Link to the Parent and Guardian Standards of Conduct: HERE
Smart Tag Information
Parents Please Sign up in Smart Tag Portal for Your Child's Required ID Badge
Smart Tag is a MUST: If your child loses their Smart Tag, they will need to bring $5 to buy a replacement. Wearing a Smart Tag is an LCISD requirement and a security issue. Our students no matter what grade level have to get used to wearing it daily.
ALL students K-5 will receive a colored lanyard that identifies their House. Thank you, PTO!!
Registering for the Smart Tag Parent Portal is a vital safety measure that should be completed by ALL parents. Additionally, your child will use their ID Badge to purchase lunch and breakfast, on the bus, and library book check-out. Bus routing information will only be available in Smart Tag Parent Portal. The Smart Tag Parent Portal will show updated bus route information for your student before the first day of school.
The Smart Tag Parent Portal link can be found HERE
General Transportation Information
Transportation in General
Repeated Information Below:
- AM Car line--ARRIVE as Early as 6:45: There is absolutely NO pedestrian drop-off traffic crossing our busy car line in the morning. This is for the safety of everyone.
- ⛔After 7:15 AM, your student is considered tardy. If you pull into the car line at 7:10 or later, you WILL most likely be tardy. Starting Monday, September 11, cars will be routed from the car line into the parking lot at 7:15. At that time, cars must park and bring their child(ren) into the office to check-in and receive a tardy slip. ⛔
- PM Car line: PM car line is becoming very efficient. If you come to pick up your child in Car line after 3:00 PM, you may have to park and come in to the office to check out your child.
- AM and PM Car line: Refrain from using your cell phone on school property. We have seen an uptick in cell phone use while in the car line. Per elementary handbook, cell phone use in the car line is prohibited.
- Crosswalk: Please DO NOT park on Glass Peak Drive OR along Stonecreek Estates Drive on either side of the bridge and walk your student to the crosswalk--this road is not a parking lot. Lately an over congestion of cars parking near the intersections is causing an obstruction of a clear view for our walkers, bikers and crossing guard, particularly on the other side of the bridge where there is no longer staff assisting students and no crossing guard. Additionally, cars trying to come in and out of the neighborhood at Glass Peak Drive are blocked by cars parked to pick up or deliver walker students. The crosswalk is for students who are in the walk zone to Carter and do not have bus service due to their close proximity to the school.
- Pre-K and Kinder students: Students in this age category must have someone waiting to pick them up at the bus stop or cross walk otherwise they will be returned to school, causing inconveniences for you and your child.
Arrival and Dismissal Areas for Car Line, Bus, and Walker/Bikers
Tardies and Late Pickups
We attribute our achievement success to several factors, one being bell to bell teaching! Here at Carter Elementary School, our students can go straight to the gym/grade level pod at 6:45am and begin getting ready for learning activities to start at 7:00!
Any student not in class at 7:15am will be counted tardy. Students will be routed to the front office to get a tardy slip before being released to go to class. We know that it is important for students to acclimate to new routines so we will begin counting tardies on Sept. 11th.
Our announcements start promptly at 7:15am, therefore all our students need to be in class for the pledges and to hear important daily information.
If you drop your child off in the morning, the best time (with minimal wait) is between 6:45am - 6:55am. At 7:05am, traffic picks up tremendously. If you turn into the carpool area at 7:10am or later, you run the risk of being late.
We understand that you have absolutely no control of the pacing of the carpool line on any given day. For this reason, we strongly suggest you access our carpool lane during the earlier minutes (6:45am - 7:00am) so your child has time to exit the car, enter the building and make it to class before the tardy bell rings.
It is very important that students are at school everyday, on time and stay for the entire day. Just as tardies impact learning over time, early pick-ups also cause students to miss instruction. Tardies and Early Pickups are recorded by the front office staff electronically. If you must pick up your students early for appointments, our cut off time is 2:00pm.
Full Price & Free and Reduced Cost Meals - Breakfast and Lunch
Please click the link below to apply for Free and Reduced-Cost Meals, Breakfast/Lunch Menus, and all things about Child Nutrition. Students will be charged for all meals unless you apply and qualify for free and reduced-cost meals.
https://www.lcisd.org/departments/support-services/food-service
Uniform Information
Below, please find the uniform colors and uniform clothing items that can be worn for the 2023-2024 school year:
Bottoms: Solid color navy blue, black, khaki or blue denim pants, capris, shorts, skirts, skorts or jumpers. Leggings/tights worn alone as well as embellished and distressed jeans with rips and tears are not allowed.
Tops: Solid color, collared (polo style, no logo) shirts in red, white, navy blue (dark blue,) black or hunter green (dark green.)
Maroon, gray, olive, kelly green, royal blue and light blue are not Carter approved uniform shirt colors.
School and PTO approved Carter ES spirit shirts are allowed daily, such as the once a year Carter themed shirt.
Leggings/tights worn alone as well as embellished and distressed jeans with rips and tears are not allowed. Additionally, basketball shorts, roller shoes, shoes that light up and backpacks on wheels are not allowed.
If a student is not wearing the proper uniform, they will be sent to the Nurse to either call home or receive a change of clothes, as our inventory allows.
Important Documents at Your Fingertips
Important Dates to Remember
January 2 - Student Winter Break Holiday
January 3 - First Day Back after Break & College Day! Wear your college attire
January 4 - Report Cards Released in Skyward Family Access
January 5 - House Spirit Day--go All Out in Your House Colors!
January 5 - Report Cards available to families in Skyward Family Access
January 9 - Police Officer Appreciation Day
January 15 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday for Staff and Students
January 25 - STREAM Curriculum Night, 4:30-6:30 pm
January 31 - 100th Day of School
Don Carter Elementary School
Leann Imrie, Principal
Mandy Casey, Assistant Principal
Aerika Dial, Assistant Principal
Website: www.lcisd.org
Location: 8500 A Meyers Road, Richmond, TX, USA
Phone: (832)223-5500
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DonCarterES/
Twitter: @cartercoyotes