Students will be able to enter the building at 7:30 a.m. Children dropped off before 7:30 a.m. are unsupervised. It is HIGHLY suggested that students do not arrive on campus BEFORE the doors open at 7:30 a.m. Students who arrive between 7:30 a.m. – 7:40 a.m. are required to go directly to their grade level hallway and wait until the first bell rings. Staff will monitor the students. Students eating breakfast will go to breakfast upon arrival. At 7:40 a.m. all students will enter their classrooms.

Parents are asked to adhere to the expectations of the Hug Zone at morning drop off. Please hug your children and say goodbye in front of the school away from the entrance. Families and students will not wait in the foyer.  If you must wait with your child, please do so outside. Please be mindful of the traffic flow at all times.

Dismissal time is 3:10 p.m. Students must be picked up on time. Parents are expected to follow the dismissal traffic expectations. If a parent arrives after 3:20, they will need to come into the office and sign out their child.  If a student is not picked up by 4:00 and no contact can be made with a parent or designated guardian on the emergency card, the principal may contact the Dallas Police to ensure that the child is not left at school unattended.We need you to help us ensure the safety of all children. Please refer to the dismissal information document provided by the school.

In the afternoon, students will dismiss to carpool by alphabet. Last names A-L will dismiss in the front carpool lane. Last names M-Z will dismiss in the back carpool. Walkers will dismiss out the front door. Bus riders and daycare students will be escorted to their busses by a staff member.

Students may ride their bicycle to school, park it outside in the bike racks, and lock it with a personal lock.  School personnel are not responsible for damage of such property.  Once on school property bicycles must be walked, not ridden.. It is strongly advised that all bikes are locked at the bike racks. Please bring all helmets inside to store in lockers. 

Our traffic pattern is unique and can get very congested at arrival and dismissal.

The circular drive has two lanes:

*The left lane is a pull through, moving lane.  Do not park or let students in and out of cars in the left lane.  

*The right lane is used to drop off and pick up students.  Please do not park and exit your vehicle in the drop off/pick up lane at any time of the day.  Students should be dropped off and picked up from the curb on the right.  We must keep the flow of traffic moving during arrival and dismissal.  Talking on handheld cell phones and/or texting in a school zone is against the law.; this includes the circular driveway during the arrival and dismissal of students.  Please honor the “No Left Turn” City of Dallas traffic sign posted as you exit the front drive.  Also, please honor the “No Left Turn” City of Dallas traffic sign posted as you travel east towards the entrance of the front drive.

All drivers must adhere to the expectations as explained in our arrival/dismissal map shared in the first Tuesday folder, and here. Please practice patience as you follow the traffic rules. Our children need our attention for their safety.

A picture ID is required to pick a child up from school. Only adults listed on the child’s emergency form may take the child from campus. Students will not be released from the office after 2:40. If you need to pick up children early for an appointment, please do so before 2:40. The student will not be released from the classroom until after the parent has arrived and presented the necessary identification.

All students are required to be regular and punctual in attendance. Please refer to the district handbook for absence and truancy information. Parents must send a note with the student on the day the child returns to school, or up to 3 days later. This note must contain the student’s full name, teacher’s name, date, and reason for the absence. According to Texas Education Code 25.092, a student must be in attendance at least 90 percent of the time a class is in session in order to receive a full credit – 162 days.  Absences shall be aggregated on the basis of 90 percent of the days in a given school year.  A student who attends fewer than 90 percent of days in a school year may not receive credit.  It is the decision of the attendance committee, inclusive of the building principal, to conclude that absences have been based upon extenuating circumstances.

Phone calls from the school and school district often are sent through an automated system. If a student is marked absent in the system, an automated call will be sent to the primary number on file. Please listen to the message before calling the school.

Students are expected to be seated in the classroom at 7:50 a.m. Students arriving between 7:50 a.m.-8:05 a.m. will be documented as tardy. Significant tardy issues will be addressed by the administrators.

Upon late arrival, a student must go to the main office to receive a tardy slip to take to their classroom teacher.   A child is marked tardy between 7:50 and 8:59;   

• Present if they are with you in your room at 9.
• Absent if they are not with you in your room at 9.
• Tardy if they arrive between 7:50 and 8:59 with a tardy slip

Teachers will contact parents of students with multiple tardies.  Significant tardy issues will be addressed by the administrator. 

It is important that the emergency contact information in Focus is up to date and correct. The contact information in Focus is used when determining who should have access to your student in the event the parent cannot be reached. Email the SDS with changes that need to be made as needed.

For the safety of all students, parents must complete and UPDATE the emergency card for their child/children.  This card is utilized often by the office staff in the case of health emergency and in times of dismissal when someone other than the parent/guardian arrives to interact with a child.  A child will be released to a name(s) on the emergency card ONLY.  It is the responsibility of the parent to ensure that individuals listed on the emergency card present a form of identification and that they are actually listed on the emergency card.

Breakfast and Lunch prices, menus, and other information are available online. Parents can prepay for their child’s meals with a check or cash at school, or on paypams.com.

Getting students in and out of the cafeteria in a timely manner is a complicated task as our cafeteria is at capacity during most of the lunch time. In order to set the routines and procedures, there are no lunch visitors the first three weeks of school. We encourage parents to be involved but ask parents to eat lunch with their children only on special occasions as space is limited.

If you are dropping off lunch for a student, there is a cart in the foyer. Please follow the directions on the wall above the cart and leave the lunch on the cart. We will take care of it at lunch time.

Our aim is for each student to reach the goal of self-discipline and self-responsibility. Students are taught what is expected of them in the classroom, on school grounds, on the bus and in common areas of the building. Students know the consequences for inappropriate behavior and the rewards for appropriate behavior. Our goal is to build a community with mutual respect for students, staff, and parents based on the PBIS model (positive behavior intervention system).

We strive to prevent bullying, however, should an incident occur, we identify and intervene immediately upon the knowledge of the situation. We follow the RISD guidelines for bullying as identified in the Richardson ISD Code of Conduct. Please review that document (link attached on page 1) to be informed about the process.

Each grade level will have a specific grading system and homework plan. Your children’s grade level communication plan will be presented at the beginning of the school year. Grades reflect the alignment of curriculum, instruction and assessment. Grades will be an average of projects, classroom and homework assignments.

Teachers input grades electronically.  Progress reports are sent home twice during the nine week grading.  Report cards are sent home at the end of each nine week period. Please contact teachers during their conference times to inquire about questions or concerns.  Progress notices are sent out for the first time to only students that are failing and at each time thereafter they are sent out to all students.  

A parent who wants to schedule a conference with a staff member should contact them for an appointment. Generally, a teacher will be able to meet with parents or return calls during his/her conference period or after school within 24 hours of a work day. It is advised to always contact the teacher about a situation/question before asking another staff member or administrator. In most cases, the teacher has more knowledge of a situation or event and can help a parent in a timely manner. Teachers are expected to supervise their learning environments and cannot visit with parents for any length of time during the day, except during their conference period, before (prior to 7:30 a.m.) or after (after 3:20 p.m.) school hours. Teachers will not answer their desk phones during school hours while working with students. Communication between parent and teacher is an important piece of a student’s success. The progress of the child is communicated to the parents by progress reports, report cards, written notices, conferences, and telephone or email communication.

Communication between parent and teacher is an important part of the individualized instruction program.  The progress of the child is communicated to the parents by progress reports, report cards, written notices, conferences, or telephone communication.  Teachers are expected to supervise their learning environments and cannot visit with parents for any length of time during the day, except during their conference period, before (prior to 7:40 a.m.) or after (after 3:15 p.m.) school hours.  Schoolwide parent conferences will be set in October after the first report card goes home.  Parents should contact the teacher to make an appointment for any additional conference.  

Each teacher assigns a locker to every student in the class, two students per locker. All students are expected to keep any personal belongings such as coats or backpacks in them. Students  are not allowed to bring locks of any kind to use on the lockers.

Lockers are property of the district and may be searched at any time if an administrator bases the search upon a reasonable cause/suspicion.  Students may not use locks on their lockers.  Objects, such as rolling backpacks must be kept inside the classroom if the locker door is unable to be closed.

Due to heightened safety and security measures across all schools please be aware that we will be utilizing increased safety measures when buzzing visitors into the building, as well as using our Raptor system to print badges. During large school wide events, this may take longer than in the past for all to be checked in to our system. We appreciate your patience and support as we continue to work to keep our students and staff safe.

When a student complains of being ill, his/her temperature is taken and the nature of the discomfort is determined.  If the temperature is about 100.0, parents are contacted to come and pick up their child.  A child must be free of temperature without medication for 24 hours before returning to school.  If a child vomits, parents may be contacted to come and pick up their child and keep them home for 24 hours.  If a student suffers a minor injury or accident, first aid is administered.  In the event of a serious accident or injury, parents are notified as soon as possible and necessary personnel are contacted.  This may include other emergency personnel, like an ambulance service or police.  

Students are not allowed to have medicine in their possession at any time.  This includes over-the-counter medicines like aspirin and cough drops.  All medicine brought to school must be stored in the clinic and may only be administered by a school employee with a completed “Request to Administer Medication” form on file.  All prescription medication must have a prescription label with the student’s name, the name of the drug, and correct instructions for current dosage

RISD Student Cell Phone Guidelines: To promote the best possible learning and social environment in Richardson ISD, students will not use their cellphones during the school day, unless provided permission from an authorized district employee during the instructional day. The intent of the cell phone policy is to establish a cell phone-free environment and avoid cell phones distracting from learning as well as causing a loss of instructional time.

A violation of this policy will result in the confiscation of the device by a school representative.  The device will only be returned to the student’s parent.

Spring Valley Elementary parents and Local School Council adopted the wearing of a uniform.  On Fridays we wear the Spring Valley Gator Spirit shirts and jeans.  In addition, the following standards should be adhered to:  

• No oversized, undersized (too tight) or sagging clothes
• Gym shoes must be closed-toe shoes with rubber soles, must fit securely, and must be appropriate for school activities. For students’ protection, no flip-flops are allowed.  No shoes with wheels are allowed
• No jewelry that requires body piercing, except earrings, is allowed
• No haircuts/hairstyles/hair colors that disrupt the learning process are allowed
• Hair color and styles may not be distracting to the learning environment
• No headphones/radios, pagers, or laser devices are allowed on school property
• Shorts must be knee length

Uniform dress choices for shirts are navy blue, dark green or a white polo style.  For bottoms students may wear pants, skirts, jumpers or shorts that are khaki or navy blue.  

Parents may provide non food items for the students in the class to celebrate their child’s birthday. These can be pencils, erasers, treat bags, etc. Please place the items in your child’s backpack and communicate with the teacher so they can be passed out at the end of the day as students are dismissed. The items may also be brought to the office to be delivered. Birthday party invitations may be passed out at school if the entire class receives one.

Birthdays are special to children of all ages and at Spring Valley, we recognize the importance of the day. However, school district policy prohibits individual parties, as well as candles, helium balloons, or “foods of minimal nutritional value”. Students celebrating a birthday may bring cookies or cupcakes to school to share with their classmates at the very end of the school day in order to avoid conflict with state lunch regulations. If you plan to send treats, please notify the teacher and send one for each student in your child’s class. Personal party invitations may not be distributed at school. 

There will be three classroom parties during the school year:

• Winter Party – held before the winter break
• Valentine’s – held  the Friday closest to Valentine’s Day
• End of year – held the last day of school.  

Parties may begin no earlier than 45 minutes before the end of the instructional day at 2:15

Students may not bring personal items to school without teacher permission. This includes electronics, sporting equipment, toys, and games. It also includes items that may distract the learning environment such as trendy toys, playing cards, etc…Teachers may take the item causing a disruption. They will contact the parent to discuss the disruption and retrieval of the item(s).

All visitors to the building must enter the main entrance and show proof of identification.  Using that identification a visitor’s badge will be printed.  This badge must be worn while walking the building.  If a visitor does not have a sticker or has not signed in the office, he/she will be escorted back to the main office and asked to follow proper procedure.  Badges will need to be returned in the office at the end of your visit.  We must keep all children safe at Spring Valley!

Visits to individual classrooms during instructional time are permitted only with approval of the principal.

Pets can be unpredictable. Please be careful with them on school grounds and they must always be on a leash. Pets are not allowed inside the building for any reason.

We welcome volunteers to help with school activities and designated field trips.  The district now has an automated volunteer application system.  Prospective volunteers can access the Volunteer Application by navigating to the RISD website at www.risd.org – then click on Community – Volunteer Opportunities.  At this point, volunteers can elect to proceed in English or in Spanish and the online form will be accessible for individuals wishing to volunteer in RISD schools for the current academic school year. The information submitted will be used to perform a criminal background check as well as documenting information that will allow Spring Valley to contact approved volunteers for a specific need.  A letter from the District will be mailed to your residence indicating your status of acceptance as a volunteer.