NETTE SHULTZ ELEMENTARY Family NEWSLETTER

Mid-August 2024

A Message from Mr. Preston

Greetings Mustang families,

The school year is off to a fantastic start! It is a joy seeing our students back in school learning, working hard, and having fun. Our teachers and staff have been working hard practicing procedures and behavior expectations in classrooms and throughout our school. The behaviors and leadership skills we emphasize with students at school are referred to as "The Mustang Way."  These are the habits that will help children be successful both in school and in life. Examples of the Mustang Way include choosing honesty, using good manners, being inclusive, and helping others. We discuss these behaviors each week on morning announcements throughout the school year. 

Each grade level is scheduling parent meetings after school to help our families learn more about their child's experience in school in the coming months. Teachers are in the process of completing beginning-of-year assessments for all students, which will be shared with families in the coming weeks. Parent-teacher conferences will be scheduled following the end of the first grading period in October. Parents and guardians are encouraged to contact their children's teachers if they have questions about their progress. Student academic work will soon be shared in weekly Tuesday folders; please sign and return these to school each week. 

All Shultz families are invited to our Grandparents Night the evening of Tuesday, September 10th from 5:30 to 7:00 pm. Classrooms will be open the first hour of the event for open house, and the PTA Book Fair will be set up in the gym throughout the event. We are proud to welcome back the Denton Storytelling Guild, whose members will be sharing their storytelling gifts in the library!

During morning arrival, remember that all students, regardless of grade level, can be dropped off by car from 7:10 to 7:40 am at either the Emerson driveway at the south of our campus or the Hanover driveway on the north side. We encourage more families to choose the Emerson drop-off option, as the car line is much shorter. Students dropped off at both locations will enter through the front of the school.  

As a reminder, there is no educational reason that a student will ever need to bring a personal electronic device to school, including smartphones, smartwatches, or related accessories. We encourage parents/guardians to keep personal electronic devices at home. Parents choosing to send devices to school with their children should communicate with their teacher, and devices must remain turned off and in the student's backpack from when they enter the building during arrival until they leave the building at dismissal. Students are never allowed to use personal electronic devices to play music, take pictures or video, watch videos, or use social media while on campus. 

Our first early dismissal day of the year is coming up on Friday, August 30th, with students being released at 12:00 pm. As in recent school years, teachers and teams will be spending time after dismissal engaging in collaboration focused on instructional planning, developing common assessments, and planning for intervention for students needing additional support. 

We appreciate our families, as always, for their outstanding involvement and support! Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with us. 


With Mustang pride,

Matt Preston, Principal

A Message from Mrs. Galindo

It has been an amazing start to our 24-25 school year! 

Thank you for all of the smiles in the morning and at pickup! We truly enjoy getting to see you each day. 

As a campus we have developed "The Mustang Way" expectations for transitions, cafeteria, restroom and dismissal. Below are the posters we have around our school to help remind students of our expectations. Feel free to ask your child about how they show the Mustang Way in these different areas!

IMPOrtant Reminders

Below are a few reminders about attendance to help you throughout this school year. If you have any questions about attendance, please feel free to call me or Mrs. Avila in our front office. 

ABSENCES: Students who have been absent must present a written excuse from the parent or guardian within three (3) days. The three-day period begins on the day the student returns to school. All absences require a doctor’s note and/or a parent’s written note. Please do not turn in notes to the classroom teacher. Remember that submitting an absence note does not guarantee that an absence will be excused. Our school attendance clerk, Mrs. Avila, will contact families if the absence cannot be excused. 

📱 💻 Parents should upload absence notes here: School Absence Note  💻 📱

TARDIES: A student will be counted tardy if he/she is not in the classroom when the class starts at 7:40am. Excessive tardiness at all levels may result in a referral to the district attendance officers. Excessive tardiness is considered a Loss of Significant Instructional Time and is prosecutable in court in the same manner as unexcused absences. If a student has a medical appointment and attends any part of the school day either before or after the appointment and submits a doctor’s note upon his/her return, the absence will not count against him/her. 


All volunteers are required to submit a new background check application each school year.

Parents/guardians, other family members, and community volunteers must complete a Denton ISD volunteer application, which includes a background check, if they wish to volunteer their time as field trip chaperones, mentors, or for other classroom or school activities involving working with children. New volunteer applications must be completed every school year. Applications can be submitted beginning July 1st for the upcoming school year. They can take 10-15 business days to be processed, so we recommend completing these applications as early as possible. 

Follow this link to complete the Denton ISD volunteer application.

Nurse notes

Dear Mustang Families,

 

If I haven’t had the chance to speak with you in-person or on the phone yet due to a student health room illness visit, I hope that remains the case going forward! I have, however, enjoyed getting to know those of you and your children who I have had contact with during the first weeks of school, so please feel free to stop by at any time just to say “hello” or for any health-related questions or concerns. We have already seen the increase in beginning of school-related illnesses that is typical this time of year, so I wanted to inform or remind you all of the instances when not to send your child to school and illness guidance as it relates to school . The information can be found at the following links: When To Keep Your Child Home From School and Respiratory Virus School Guidance, which is also on the Denton ISD website under the ‘Health Services’ tab . This is, of course, for the health and well-being of our students, staff and families. Thank you all for your diligence with this, please reach out with any additional questions.

 

To keep you informed, as part of the Texas Department of State Health Services requirements, I will begin health screenings later this month and will continue through October.  Please see below what grades will participate and what screenings they will have:

 

If your student wears glasses or contacts, it is important that they wear them daily to prevent an unnecessary health referral.  If your student has hearing loss and is under the care of a physician, you may submit documentation to skip the referral process.  If your student does not meet the screening requirements, you will get an email from me with a referral for additional health screenings.

 

Female students aged 10, or in their fall semester of 5th grade, will have spinal screenings completed in October.  Please watch for an email from me with more information closer to that time.

 

If you would like more information regarding required health screenings, please visit the following websites:

             Vision  https://www.dshs.texas.gov/vision-hearing-screening/vision/vision-screening-requirements

             Hearing https://www.dshs.texas.gov/vision-hearing-screening/hearing-screening-program/hearing-screening-requirements

             Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment https://rfes.utrgv.edu/Risk.htm

             Spinal https://www.dshs.texas.gov/vision-hearing-screening/spinal-screening-program/screening-information-procedure

 

Take care,

 

Lauren Garner, RN, BSN

Nette Shultz Elementary School Nurse

Lgarner2@dentonisd.org

(940) 369-4507


If you are interested in volunteering this school year to support your child’s teacher and our school, we invite you to complete this form.

The information you provide on this form will be shared with our PTA, our teachers, and other staff who need volunteers throughout the year. As volunteer opportunities come available during the school year, we will reach out to you. 

Before they can begin, volunteers must be processed through the Denton ISD volunteer application, which includes a background check. Instructions and a link to the application can be found here: https://www.dentonisd.org/volunteer. Please allow up to two weeks for the district to process your application. Even if you completed an application last school year, a new application is required before you can volunteer this year.

Thank you for the gift of your service!


Early Release Student Engagement

Dear Families,

 

Denton ISD will provide engagement for students on the upcoming early release day, August 30th, 2024, from 12:00 pm until 3:00 pm for elementary children. The Extended School Day program will coordinate with each campus to provide engaging activities for students while teachers are participating in Professional Learning Communities. In addition, Denton ISD transportation will be provided at both the early release time (12:00pm) and the regular release time (3:00 pm) for all eligible elementary bus students. If you indicate on the form that your child will ride the bus, please notify the ESD office 24 hours prior to the Early Release Day if there has been a change in pick up plan.

 

Parents must sign up each month to participate.  If your student currently attends ESD, you do not need to sign up. 

If you have any questions regarding this, please contact the Extended School Day office at 940-369-0080.

Participation in this opportunity will require completion of the form below. All forms must be submitted no later than midnight on Saturday, August 24th, 2024 to participate.

 

English
https://forms.gle/4xyKU7WzancPjHqAA