ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FAMILY HANDBOOK 2024-2025​

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 the cafeteria and wait for their teacher to pick up the class. Staff will monitor the students. Breakfast is available in the cafeteria from 7:30 a.m.-7:45 a.m.

Parents are asked to adhere to the expectations of the Hug Zone at morning drop off. Please hug your children and say goodbye at the covered area of the school. Please be mindful of the traffic flow at all times.

Students arriving after the 7:50 a.m. bell must be signed in to the office by an adult. Absences and tardies are monitored and parents receive communication via mail with notifications of attendance issues and truancy information. Please help us keep our truancy numbers low by having your child at school on time.

All students must wear a RISD badge around their neck, all day, every day. RISD will provide the badge. Campuses can issue (2) replacement badges at NO CHARGE. After the 2nd replacement, a charge of $2.00 per badge will occur.

Pre-K dismissal time is 3:00 p.m.  K-6^th dismissal time is 3:10 p.m. Students must be picked up on time. Parents are expected to follow the dismissal traffic expectations. We need you to help us ensure the safety of all children. Please refer to the dismissal information document provided by the school.

Children and adults on bikes or scooters must WALK with their equipment on school grounds at all times. It is strongly advised that all bikes are locked at the bike racks. Please bring all helmets inside to store in lockers.

All drivers must adhere to the expectations as explained in our arrival/dismissal map shared in the first principal communication beginning in the summer.  Please practice patience as you follow the traffic rule, which include families staying vehicles at all times during arrival and dismissal. 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 2:45, due to the end of the day dismissal routines and procedures. If you need to pick up children early for an appointment, please do so before 2:45. The student will not be released from the classroom until after the parent has arrived and presented the required 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. Parents may also enter the absence information in Focus instead of sending a note. 

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.-8:59 a.m.  will be documented as tardy. Significant tardy issues will be addressed by the administrators. Individual plans for students with significant tardies will be developed with parental involvement. 

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 our Yale SDS with changes that need to be made as needed. laranda.johnson@risd.org  

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 School Cafe.

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 in the Roadrunner Café.

If you are dropping off lunch for a student, you may drop it off in the front office prior to your child’s scheduled 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. A goal of Yale is to  build a community with mutual respect for students, staff, and parents.

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.

Yale has a grading policy that will be communicated at Curriculum Night. Grades reflect the alignment of curriculum, instruction and assessment. Grades will be an average of projects, classroom and homework assignments.

A parent who wants to schedule a conference with a staff member needs to 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 workday. 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.

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 Verkada 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.

Parents of any student who must take prescription or nonprescription medicine during the school day must complete a Parent Physician Request for Administration of Medication form which is available in the clinic. All medicine must be kept in the school clinic.

A child who is ill or whose temperature is 100 degrees or above in the last 24 hours should not attend school. When the nurse calls, please come pick up your child or send someone listed on the emergency card immediately. Students must be fever free without medication for 24 hours before returning to school. Parents must send a note with the student on the day the child returns to school.

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. RISD 24-25 Cell Phone Policy. The Cell Phone Policy includes smart watches and air pods.

At Yale, all students are expected to arrive on campus with their cell phone turned off or on silent and put away in their backpack. Air pods are to be out of sight in a backpack. *Headphones from the school supply list used during class for learning are allowed.

Clothes must be worn in a way that private areas are all fully covered. Undergarments, except straps and waistbands, should not be visible. All items listed in the “must wear” and “may wear” categories below must meet this basic principle. RISD Guidelines

Students must wear (while following the basic principle above);

• An opaque top with a sleeve or strap and must cover the stomach, back and chest area.
• An opaque bottom, such as pants, jeans, or the equivalent of a skirt, sweatpants, joggers, leggings, dress, or shorts
• Closed-toe shoes

Students may wear, as long as these items do not violate basic principle above:

• Closed-toe shoes
• Fitted pants, including leggings, yoga pants, and skinny jeans
• Ripped jeans as long as underwear and private body parts are not exposed
• Athletic shorts and athletic skirt
• Religious headwear

Students cannot wear:

• Images, language, or symbols that depict tobacco products, drugs, drug paraphernalia, alcohol, violence, hate speech, profanity, pornography, gang symbols, or other illegal activities
• Images or language that creates a hostile or intimidating environment based on a protected class or group

Accessories that could be considered dangerous or could be used as a weapon

Parents may provide store bought cupcakes, cookies, or other individually wrapped items for the students in the class to celebrate their child’s birthday. Please communicate with the teacher so they can be passed out at the end of the day as students are dismissed. The items may be brought to the office to be delivered. Paper birthday party invitations may be passed out at school if the entire class receives one. 

There will be two parties during the school year. These are prior to the winter break and Valentine’s Day. The PTA organizes and executes these parties with parent volunteers. The principal will set the number of volunteers per classroom and communicate it to the PTA room parent representative. All Parents and volunteers must have completed and cleared a background check before attending. All visitors must enter the building through the main door, present a valid picture ID, sign in, and receive a visitor badge.

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).

Parents and/or visitors who enter Yale must proceed directly to the office, present a valid picture ID, sign in, and receive a visitor badge. All RISD schools use a system that scans visitor information and cross references a database to ensure the safety of our students. No one will be allowed in hallways at any time without a visitor badge. Only those individuals designated on the Emergency Card will be allowed access to your children provided they can display proper identification. For student and staff security, teachers have been instructed to report the presence of any visitor not wearing a visitor badge provided by the school.

Visits to individual classrooms during instructional time, such as Mystery Readers, 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 held by an adult. Pets are not allowed inside the building for any reason.

Volunteers must complete and pass an online background check every year. There are NO Exceptions. Please apply early to be guaranteed approval in time for an event you would like to attend. Any parent wishing to volunteer at Yale must complete the online application. You must go to https://risd.voly.org to complete the process.