Rainy Day Dismissal

Walkers

All walkers will be dismissed to their usual walker locations even on rainy days, unless you’ve communicated other arrangements.  If you wish to pick up your walker in a car on rainy days, please call the front office to notify your child’s teacher prior to 2:30pm or email your child’s teacher prior to 12:00pm. 

• ALL PreK-1st grade walkers and siblings will be dismissed from the front foyer doors.

• 2nd - 5th grade walkers will be dismissed to the Hughes parking lot side near the bike racks. 

If the conditions are not safe for students to exit the building, then all walkers will be held until it is safe for students to exit. 

Car Riders

All car riders will be held inside the building on rainy days and proceed to their usual car loops as names are called. *CAR SIGNS are a necessary part of our dismissal procedure. Please hold them up until you get a signal from our staff member, as it is quite challenging to see clearly when it is raining with the reflection. 

• Pre-K-1st grade students and their older siblings will be held inside the K-2 hallway and exit through the picnic table area and proceed directly to their cars when their name is called.  

• All walk-up parents will be directed to the front foyer doors for dismissal.  NO students will be dismissed to adults who choose to walk up to the picnic table area as this is our car rider dismissal location on rainy days.  

• 2nd-5th grade students will be held in the gym and exit through the gym door directly to the back car loop when their name is called. 

If your child is a car rider, please DO NOT plan to walk and pick up your child on rainy days as this slows down the dismissal process. If you plan to park and walk up to get your child, you will need to call ahead of time and make arrangements for your child to be dismissed with the walkers. 

Thank you for your patience on rainy days. This can add several minutes to our dismissal process. Our number one priority is getting our students home safely. 

Monday Message Translation

Did you know that Google Sites can be translated into hundred of languages? One of the reasons we use this Google Site as our method of communication to families is to accommodate the various languages that families speak. If you are viewing a Google Site, you can always use the "View" menu in the toolbar and select translate to view this newsletter in your preferred language. 

Bring your ID

Friendly reminder that any time you are coming to campus, please bring your ID with you! Whether you are coming to check your child out, eat lunch with them, volunteer to read to a classroom, or ask a question in the front office, you must have your ID to check-in through our secure vestibule. 

Summer Reading Challenge

We will begin pulling students this week who are returning GES stars who met the Summer Reading Challenge of maintaining their EOY reading level into August. These students will have the opportunity to visit the Book Vending Machine to celebrate their hard work over the summer. 

GCISD Receives High Marks in Efficiency Audit Required for VATRE

At its August 12 meeting, the GCISD Board of Trustees was presented results of an Efficiency Audit, which is required by the Texas Education Code prior to a school district conducting a voter-approved tax ratification election (VATRE). 

The audit analyzed GCISD's academic, financial and operational performance in comparison to similar districts. Auditors highlighted that GCISD received an "A" in the state’s accountability ratings, an "A" in the state’s financial ratings, and demonstrated an average daily attendance higher than both peer districts and the state average. 

According to the auditors, “When all of the data was pulled together for the report, we concluded that, with respect to all of the eight peer districts, GCISD efficiently uses its resources and would be good stewards of increased tax revenue as a result of this M&O tax rate increase, but that would be for voters to decide in November.”

Read the full story here and learn more about the VATRE at www.GCISD.net/VATRE.

Fee Notifications

On September 16, the district will activate fee notifications in Skyward for the 2024-2025 school year.  These fees support classes they are assigned to by providing funds for materials used by the students and to enhance and enrich their learning experience. Fees may be paid with a credit or debit card through Skyward. To pay by cash or check, please bring your payment to the front office and turn it into the campus bookkeeper. Ensure your child’s name and the class fee you are paying are attached to your payment. If you have questions regarding a class fee, please contact the teacher of that class. 

GES Guidelines for Success

We wanted to share with you our campus matrix and expectations. We have three main success guidelines or family values that we follow throughout all areas at GES. They are: to be helpful and kind, to be safe and to be respectful. We hope that you could take time to talk about these with your students and help ensure that together we are teaching our children the characteristics of being excellent citizens. Here is the matrix we use for all areas on our campus. Thank you for partnering with us!

Visit GCISD’s VATRE Information Page

GCISD has launched a webpage at www.GCISD.net/VATRE to provide the GCISD community with information about the upcoming voter-approved tax rate election (VATRE) that will be on the November 5 ballot. Voting dates and explanations about the VATRE, why the board has called the election, how it would impact GCISD’s tax rate, and how this election differs from the bond are available. This page will  include details of informational meetings as soon as plans are finalized. The district will also continue to share information through the district’s regular communication channels. Stay informed by visiting www.GCISD.net/VATRE.

Snack donations

For some of our families, providing a nutritious snack each day to assist their GES star’s performance throughout the day does not happen consistently because of food insecurities. If you are able, please donate individually packaged Goldfish or pretzels to the front office in order to help us provide that snack for students that arrive at school without it because of the insecurities. This would not pertain to students that simply forgot a snack that day. If your Star forgets his/her snack often, sending multiple days worth of snacks might help. For questions, please feel free to contact Angela Horn at angela.horn@gcisd.net or 817-251-5740. Thank you for your continued generosity and thoughtfulness.

Campus Dismissal

Friendly reminder that school dismissal is at 3:00pm. We have already expedited our car lines and are complete with students dismissal prior to 3:15pm. Students who are not picked up by the time car lines are empty will be brought to the front office. We begin calling parents first and then emergency contacts. Parents who arrive late will need to come to the main entrance and sign their child out with front office staff. 

If you are unable to make it to dismissal on time, please give the office a courtesy call. This will ensure your child does not worry if they know you are running late and have already reached out. Please ensure you have multiple emergency contacts who could pick up your child in the event of an emergency. 

Printing Free and Reduced Application Letter

Parents: Did you know that you can print the results letter for your free and reduced price meal application? Simply visit this link and enter the student’s ID and the last name. If you have questions about the free and reduced price meal application, please email child.nutrition@gcisd.net. 

iReady

The i-Ready diagnostic assessment for reading and mathematics will be completed by your student in the next two weeks. Your child’s teacher will provide more information with the  specific days on which this will take place. This diagnostic replaces the resources the District previously used for universal screening at the beginning, middle and end of the school year. 

What is i-Ready?

i-Ready is an online program that will help us determine your child’s strengths and areas for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. i-Ready allows us to meet your child where they are and provides us with data to inform instruction.

The i-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions based on student responses. Each item a student receives is based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier ones. The purpose of this is not to give your child a score or grade but to determine how to best support their learning.

i-Ready Instruction provides students with lessons based on their individual strengths and areas for growth. These lessons are interactive and provide strategic support to keep your child engaged as they learn.

We encourage you to watch this video to better understand i-Ready. We will continue to share information with you regarding student progress results and how you can also be a valued partner in your student’s learning. 

Lunch Visitors

Beginning in September visitors may join us for lunch with their child if they are signed up in advance HERE. Please be sure to share our Sign-up link with your family members who wish to come eat with your child. Also, it is critical that anyone coming to lunch with your child, if not accompanying the guardian, is on your child's emergency contact list. 

Lunch guests will sign-in through our secure vestibule with a valid ID, stop by the front office to check-in and receive a visitor badge, and then meet their GES star at the entrance to the cafeteria. Families will have the option to sit outside in the picnic table area for lunch or in our cafeteria at an empty table near the windows. Parents are welcome to bring in outside food when having their lunch with their child. We ask that you please be courteous to the rest of the community and limit lunch visits with your child to no more than one per month so that all families have the opportunity to visit. We appreciate your cooperation. 

Each family needs only 1 slot reserved. For example, Mom, Dad, and sister may all come eat lunch with Nancy. Only Mom needs to be registered as 1 visitor to reserve 1 picnic table together. When it asks for quantity of visitors, please select just 1. Lunch visitors may only eat with their child or student. You may not invite friends to sit with you when coming for lunch. 

Volunteer Background Check

We LOVE our volunteers at GES! This year we are encouraging all families who plan to come to campus and interact with students to go ahead and complete the background check. Volunteers must complete this EACH YEAR beginning in August! It can take 1-2 weeks for your background check to clear. If you plan to be a guest reader, volunteer at a class party, chaperone a field trip, volunteer with PTA, open car doors with our Dad's Club, etc. you will need a completed Background Check!  

The following link takes you to the online Volunteer Handbook and background check: https://www.gcisd.net/o/gcisd/page/volunteer-background-check 

In order to volunteer at GES, or around GCISD, all volunteers must:

1. read the Volunteer Handbook (this replaces the previous face to face volunteer trainings held on campus)

2. watch the appropriate video included in the handbook

3. electronically sign the verification Google form for each campus you plan to volunteer

4. complete the volunteer background check. A link is included in the handbook.

When you are ready to volunteer at GES, feel free to call the front office at 817-251-5735 to verify that both of the required steps have been recorded as completed. We appreciate your support as you complete these steps and volunteer to work with our GES students.

Follow us on Facebook

If you are on Facebook, we would love for you to follow our Grapevine Elementary Facebook page if you're not already. We post activities and campus life in addition to helpful reminders. We would love for you to follow our story!