Show your love of learning at Bush Elementary by wearing red, pink, or white and/or any heart motifs on Monday. Students will be celebrating a safe Valentine's Day on Monday, February 14.

Bush Elementary will have COVID testing available every Thursday for students, faculty, and staff. Parents must pre-register their child by 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday in order to be tested on campus. This testing is completely voluntary and free and requires the student's parent/guardian to first provide a one-time digital consent at https://bit.ly/HISDC19Test .

Once a parent has registered their child, then the child will be tested each time Fulgent comes to campus to provide COVID testing. If you no longer want your child to be tested, you may opt out by emailing your child's teacher to let them know.

Date: Friday, February 11

Photo Texas Photography Houston is coming back to campus on Friday, February 11 for Class Photos. All orders are Prepay and Photo Texas does not email proofs. During the Prepay period, you can choose Ship to School for FREE or Ship to Home where shipping charges will apply. Order your Child's Class Photo NOW! The Prepay Link for Class Photos remains active for 1 WEEK after Picture Day. Any order received after the Prepay period is considered a late order and is shipped to the address provided. Shipping charges will apply. Please contact Customer Service for assistance placing late orders.

Students must be in dress code for class picture day.

Bush Elementary is sharing this information about the district and your child’s campus with you as part of its obligations under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA). Federal Report Cards for the state, the district, and each of the district’s campuses are now available on the Texas Education Agency’s website at: https://tea.texas.gov/Finance_and_Grants/Grants/Federal_Report_Card/.

Information on these report cards includes:

• Part (i): General Description of the Texas State Accountability System On April 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) waived the accountability, school identification, and related reporting requirements for the 2020-2021 school year.
• Part (ii): Student Achievement by Proficiency Level This section provides information on student achievement on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) performance for mathematics, reading/ELA, and science by grade level and proficiency level for the 2020-21 school year. These results include all students tested, regardless of whether they were in the accountability subset.

• Part (iii)(I): Academic Growth USDE waived reporting requirements.
• Part (iii)(II): Graduation Rate This section provides information on high school graduation rates for the class of 2020.
• Part (iv): English Language Proficiency This section provides information on the number and percentage of English learners achieving English language proficiency based on the 2021 Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) data.
• Part (v): School Quality or Student Success (SQSS) This section provides information on school quality or student success, which is college, career and military readiness (CCMR) for high schools and average performance rate of the three STAAR performance levels of all students, regardless of whether they were in the accountability subset, for elementary and secondary schools without a graduation rate.
• Part (vi): Goal Meeting Status USDE waived reporting requirements.
• Part (vii): STAAR Participation This section provides the percentage of students assessed and not assessed on STAAR for mathematics, reading/ELA, and science.
• Part (viii): Civil Rights Data Part (viii)(I): The section provides information from the 2017-18 Civil Right Data Collection (CRDC) surveys, submitted by school districts to the Office for Civil Rights, on measures of school quality, climate, and safety, including counts of in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, school related arrests, referrals to law enforcement, chronic absenteeism (including both excused and unexcused absences), incidences of violence, including bullying and harassment.
• Part (viii)(II): This section provides information from the 2017-18 Civil Right Data Collection (CRDC) surveys, submitted by school districts to the Office for Civil Rights, on the number of students enrolled in preschool programs and accelerated coursework to earn postsecondary credit while still in high school.
• Part (ix): Teacher Quality Data This section provides information on the professional qualifications of teachers, including information disaggregated by high- and low-poverty schools on the number and percentage of (I) inexperienced teacher, principals, and other school leaders; (II) teachers teaching with emergency or provisional credentials; and (III) teachers who are not teaching in the subject or field for which the teacher is certified or licensed.
• Part (x): Per-pupil Expenditure This section provides information on the per-pupil expenditures of federal, state, and local funds, including actual personnel expenditures and actual non-personnel expenditures, disaggregated by source of funds, for each school district and campus for the preceding fiscal year. To be updated by June 30th, 2022.
• Part (xi): STAAR Alternate 2 Participation This section provides information on the number and percentage of students with the most-significant cognitive disabilities who take STAAR Alternate 2, by grade and subject for the 2020-21 school year.
• Part (xii): Statewide National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) This section provides results on the state academic assessments in reading and mathematics in grades 4 and 8 of the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress, compared to the national average of such results.
• Part (xiii): Cohort Rate of Graduates Enrolled in Postsecondary Education This section provides information on the cohort rate at which students who graduated from high school in the 2018-19 school year enrolled in the 2019-20 academic year in (I) programs of public postsecondary education in Texas; (II) programs of private postsecondary education in Texas; and (III) programs of postsecondary education outside Texas.
  
• Part (xiv): Additional Information – Chronic Absenteeism This section provides information on the Chronic Absenteeism per EDFacts definition: percent of unduplicated number of K – 12 students enrolled in a school for at least 10 days and absent for 10% or more days during the 2019-20 school year.
  

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is back! Students are encouraged to wear their “Go Texan” Western clothes to school on Friday, February 25th in support of its return. Please make sure they leave their horses, guns, and lassos at home!

COVID-19 vaccines are now available for children ages 5-11. If you choose to vaccinate your child, please email a copy of the vaccination record card to dguider@houstonisd.org or send documentation to Nurse Guider so she can update your child's immunization record.

If you test for your child/children for COVID, please do not send him/her to school until you have received negative results.

Please make sure Nurse Guider dguider@houstonisd.org has a copy of your child's proof of 2 doses of an approved COVID vaccination if you choose to vaccinate your child. Any student who has received 2 doses of the vaccine will no longer need to quarantine if the student is considered an exposure via contract tracing.

If your child does test COVID positive, then he/she must quarantine for at least 5 days regardless of vaccination status. If your child is COVID positive and showing symptoms, then he/she must stay home at least 5 days and until symptom free.

Children that are sick, regardless of a temperature, need to stay home. Previously, the nurse’s message was if there’s no fever, but sniffles and a sore throat, the child could be at school. Now, those symptoms qualify as a presumed positive COVID case. Please do not send your child to school if exhibiting any of the symptoms below.

COVID-19 symptoms:

• Feeling feverish or a measured temperature greater than or equal to 100.00 F
• Loss of taste or smell
• Cough
• Difficulty breathing
• Shortness of breath
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Chills
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Shaking or exaggerated shivering
• Significant muscle pain or ache
• Diarrhea
• Nausea or vomiting

For the health and safety of ALL students, faculty, and staff, it is very important that children stay home when they are ill. Students who have thrown up during the night or who are running a fever cannot be sent to school. If your student complains of and exhibits any COVID19 related symptoms, they will be sent home.

Throughout the school year, this section of the newsletter will highlight key points from the Bush Parent Handbook. School begins at 7:30 a.m. Students arriving after 7:40 a.m. are tardy. Students arriving after 9:00 a.m., without a doctor's excuse, are marked absent.

Here are some quick reminders about our Bush Elementary dress code. Shirts must be solid colored red, white, or navy. The only t-shirts allowed are Bush Elementary t-shirts. Dress code pants are navy, khaki, or blue jeans. The pants must not have any holes, rips, tears, or designs on them, just simple plain blue jeans, navy pants, or khaki pants. Exercise pants, sweatpants, and yoga pants are NOT part of the Bush dress code. Leggings can not be worn as pants, only under skirts or jumpers. Please click on the link below for the complete dress code guidelines.

2021-2022 Dress Code Guidelines

Morning supervision of students starts at 7:20 a.m. At that time students are brought into the building and are seated in grade level lines. Morning bus lane drop off is reserved for our 5th Grade Safety Patrols and our students in our self-contained special education classes. These families have a special printed pass to enter the bus lane for morning drop off. All other students arriving by car must be dropped off in the carpool lane. The first bell rings at 7:30 a.m. and the students are tardy at 7:40 a.m. when the morning announcements begin.

We have started a new year so let's start the year by following our morning arrival procedures and being on time for school every day.

Please plan to pick up your carpool and walker students before 3:15. Our students are dismissed at 3:00 and our walker area has been finishing before 3:10 on most days. If you arrive after 3:15, please come to the front office to sign your child out as a late pick up.

Please abide by the No Parking signs on the streets around our school and our neighboring schools. Several parents have received parking tickets from HPD in the past because they were parking in a No Parking zone. When cars park in No Parking zones, it is difficult for our busses and vans to turn into our bus lane.

We're asking for the parents of walkers that park their cars on the other side of Westerloch across from the school to NOT u-turn by the carpool lane entrance once they've picked up their child(ren) and are heading home.

We have seen many students and some parents walking across the street not using the crosswalks. This is extremely dangerous and we ask that all walkers and bike riders use the crosswalks. Westerloch Dr. and Parkway Plaza Dr. are very busy streets during morning arrival and dismissal. If you cross between parked cars, ongoing traffic cannot see you.

We are so happy to see so many of our students riding their bikes to school. Please remember that all students are required to wear a bicycle helmet when riding their bikes to and from school. We want to keep all of our Bobcats safe. Also, please send your bike riders with a bike lock to secure their bikes to the bike rack.

If your child is absent from school, please make sure you send in a note explaining the absence date(s) and reason for the absence upon return to school. We will need this note even if you're at home quarantining or a Positive COVID-19 case. Please email your absence excuse note to the homeroom teacher and our registrar, Ms. Rosales at arosale3@houstonisd.org

If a note is not received within 3 days, then the absence is recorded as unexcused.

On September 10, HISD School Choice opened up the system to apply for the PK lottery for next school year. The Bush PK program is only for families that are already enrolled at Bush Elementary and have another child who will be 4 on or before September 1, 2022. Students must meet PK eligibility requirements such as being economically disadvantaged or qualifying as English as a Second Language.

The site will accept applications from September 10, 2021 - March 10, 2022. Families will be notified by HISD School Choice on April 7, 2022 if their child was accepted into Bush Elementary's PK program or if their child is on the waitlist. Go to HISDChoice.com to apply. Bush Elementary's PK program is only one class with 22 students that must be comprised of siblings of currently enrolled Bush students. The only way to apply for and be part of the lottery for Bush Elementary's PK program is to apply online at the address shared above.

Safety continues to be our top priority, and while we love our furry visitors, we ask that you keep them at home during arrival and dismissal. We have several students, faculty and staff members who are allergic to dogs and cats and students who are very afraid of dogs. Please keep them at home.

Please do not plan to pick up your child after 2:30 p.m. from the office. To ensure a safe dismissal, students will not be called to the office to be picked up after 2:30 p.m. Thank you for helping to make dismissal safe for all our students.

Help your child celebrate their birthday and support the library and other programs that enhance the educational experience of Bush students by joining the Birthday Book Club.

Your child will be given a personal "Happy Birthday" greeting during the morning announcements and Paw Prints shout out from Ms. Rose! The donation will be recognized with a nameplate in a new book from the library. A group photo of all the other BBC members with the same birth month will also be displayed in the library display case.

It only costs $20 for a Birthday Book Club Membership (Add Electronic Marquee display for $10 more). Please visit www.BBEPTO.com for more details or to make your purchase.

Enrollment Schedule:

February – July Birthdays: Enroll through January

Is your child interested in chess? Join our former BBE Chess coaches for virtual chess lessons! Sign up here and mention BBE PTO and they will donate a portion of your tuition back to our PTO! The cost is $160 (plus fees) for 15 lessons. Lessons will be 1 hour long and in small groups. Please sign up at the link or email thinkchessus@gmail.com with any questions. Sessions will begin NEXT WEEK!

The PTO Board wants you! The PTO is looking for volunteers for next school year. The PTO Board consists of over 20 different positions, all with a focus on the quality of education at Bush Elementary. We welcome working and non-working parents and guardians from all different grade levels and backgrounds. We encourage you to find a position which sounds interesting to you and one in which you feel you can contribute your unique talents and skills towards the betterment of Bush Elementary. If you would like more information about any of the positions you can read about them on the Job Descriptions page of our website, or email our PTO President at presidentbbepto@gmail.com . If you are ready to submit your application for a position on the PTO Board for the 2022-2023 school year, please complete this form.

Order your 2021 - 2022 Yearbook Today!

$30 (Price will increase to $35 on March 12th)

Go to www.bbepto.com or CLICK HERE TO ORDER

No Yearbooks will be sold after March 20th, so please order now!

Yearbook Dedications

Do you have a graduating 5th grader? Give them a shout-out in the yearbook! Dedications are $20 for 25 words or less. Order on the website at www.bbepto.com before March 5th. (Dedications are available for 5th graders only.)

5th Grade Parents

We are continuing to collect 5th grade students' pictures. Send you child pictures (1 baby, 1 current picture). This is such a fun surprise for the kids at the end of the year.

Pictures can be sent to your child teacher or 5th grade coordinator fifthgradebbe@gmail.com.

We are looking for some pictures for the yearbook. If you have any, please share them with us! Please send no more than 5 photos for all events to bushptoyearbook@gmail.com and label pictures with your child's grade.

Unfortunately due to some new restrictions in place, the School Store On-The-Go will not be available until further notice. At this time our online school store is still open and items will be delivered to the classrooms on Fridays. Visit the store at www.BBEpto.com

Thank you to all who participate in our Nothing Bundt Cakes fundraiser! The fundraiser was a great success and we are thankful for the support of our local Nothing Bundt Cakes on Memorial- please support them as well! The cakes will be delivered this Thursday. Students will take the cakes home to enjoy them after school. Don’t forget to snap a picture of your family enjoying the bundts and send it in for yearbook!

Updated policies on field trips, COVID-19 Quarantine and more effective January 3, 2022

https://www.houstonisd.org/readysetgo

The Houston Independent School District is closely monitoring COVID-19 pandemic and is in contact with the Centers for Disease Control, Texas Department of State Health Services and Houston Health Department to ensure all students and staff members are safe and updated with the latest information. For more information please visit, https://www.houstonisd.org/healthalerts

HISD's COVID-19 protocol has been updated in regards to terminology use and reporting. At all HISD campuses, this means that when there is a positive case in your child's homeroom class you will be notified in writing by the principal. The message you will receive is below. Please note that this message will be sent after the nurse has worked to identify close contacts, is simply for notification, and does not require further action (i.e. quarantine). I want to thank you all for your diligence in ensuring that students are wearing their masks and that we are all remaining healthy.

Sample Message: This message is to inform you that an individual in your child's homeroom has reported testing positive for COVID-19. Your child has not been identified as a close contact and there is no action required of you at this time. This notification is for your awareness only. Due to privacy requirements, we cannot release the name of the COVID-positive individual or details that may identify them; however, it is important for you to know this individual is self- isolating until they are cleared to return to our campus. As a reminder, HISD has health and safety protocols in place to help prevent the spread of illness. We are asking our staff and families to do their part by adhering to these protocols, and not reporting to their worksite or sending their student(s) to school when they are ill. We appreciate your continued support as we work together to ensure the safety of our students and staff.