Stay In-the-Know: This Week’s Top News You Can’t Miss

• There are some rules to follow for lunch visits and checking your child(ren) in and out of school during the day – read more below
• The first Campus Advisory Council meeting of the year will take place this Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 3:30pm
• Pay your enrichment fee and PTA dues below and make sure to join us on September 18th for our first General PTA Meeting at 9am in the Community Room 
• All volunteers need to complete a background check to be able to volunteer this year! Link below

Casis Weekly (9/8/26 – 9/11/26)

• News from The Principal — Lunch Visit Reminders, First Campus Advisory Council Meeting, PK4 Vision Screenings, Gifted & Talented Info Session, Checking Students In & Out During the School Day, Student Handbook & Success Guide, Emergency Drills on Campus, Character Strong Implementation & Practices, Important Dates, Traffic Safety Procedures
• PTA News — Konstella, We Need Volunteers, Volunteer Background Checks, Last Year’s Yearbook, Forest Club, Casis Garden, New Buddy Program, Fire Ant Flags, Casis Dads, Back to School Fees, PTA General Meeting, Casis Carnival, Thank You Volunteers

Have something you want to include in the Casis Weekly? Please send information to PTA VP of Communications Emily Peavey by Wednesday to be included in the following Monday issue.

NEWS FROM THE PRINCIPAL

LUNCH VISIT REMINDERS

Parents will be able to come and visit their children during lunchtime, beginning Tuesday, September 8, the day after Labor Day. As we welcome parents back onto campus this school year, please be reminded of the following lunchroom visit guidelines:

• Children must remain in the cafeteria with their class during lunch.
• Due to space, bringing younger siblings is discouraged.
• Due to space and large class sizes, be aware that there are a limited amount of seats for adults. 
• Parents may bring lunch for their child(ren) only.
• Parents may not just drop off lunches – must be present.
• Parents must check-out in the office immediately after their child’s lunch time.
• Parents may not stay with children during their outside recess time.

CAMPUS ADVISORY COUNCIL (CAC)

The Casis Campus Advisory Council (CAC) generally meets every 1st Tuesday of each month at 3:30pm. Our first meeting this year will be Tuesday, September 8, in the Community Room. This group of staff, parents, and community volunteers assist in making site-based decisions about various school topics. The CAC acts as an advisory to the campus Principal. There is also always an opportunity on the agenda for non-members to have citizen communication. We are thankful for the parents and staff members who participate on this council, as we discuss important matters that concern our learning community and school district.

PK4 VISION SCREENINGS

Having good vision is essential to student learning and success. The Austin Founder Lions Club is assisting AISD with screening the vision of our Pre-Kindergarten students this school year. This screening will take place at Casis on Tuesday, September 15. After this initial screening, if any students need additional vision testing from an outside professional, the family will receive a follow-up packet with more guidance. If families have questions or need additional information about this screening service, please reach out to our School Nurse, Bailey Manning, at 512-414-7169. 

GIFTED & TALENTED INFORMATION SESSION 

Thursday, September 17, at 8:30am – 9:30am in the Casis Community Room, there will be an Information Session for parents who are interested in learning more about Gifted and Talented (GT) services provided at Casis Elementary, as well as the AISD Nomination/Identification process. All interested parents should plan to attend, as this will be the only scheduled session for this school year. The Gifted & Talented referral window is now open and will remain open until October 16. To learn more about GT services in AISD and to submit a referral, click here for the English link. Additional languages can be found here. Thanks in advance to our campus GT Advocates and presenters, Jonathan Padgett (2nd) and Vickie Price (3rd) for leading this information session. 

CHECKING STUDENTS IN & OUT DURING THE SCHOOL DAY 

We certainly understand that students will have occasional appointments during the school day. For the safety of your child(ren) and for accountable documentation purposes, please know and adhere to the following campus protocols:

• Students will not be sent to the office prior to parent arrival.
• Plan accordingly and arrive early enough to anticipate some delay in your child(ren) coming to the office.
• If picking up towards the end of the day, please try to arrive at the office by 2:30p.m., as it often becomes much more challenging to contact classrooms and/or find students so close to the dismissal time.
• When bringing your child(ren) back to school, please accompany them to the main office to check them back into school.
• A note documenting the reason why the student missed part of the instructional day should be submitted to the Attendance Clerk (hard copy delivered or emailed to casis@austinisd.org). You may also use this link to: Report An Absence Note.

We appreciate everyone’s cooperation and compliance with the above safety and security standards.

STUDENT HANDBOOK & STUDENT SUCCESS GUIDE 

Please see the most updated editions of our campus Student-Parent Handbook (26-27) and the district Student Success Guide (26-27) for this school year. In alignment with AISD, both of these documents act as guidelines for our school community practices and policies. Please review and reference them throughout the 26–27 school year.

EMERGENCY DRILLS ON CAMPUS 

Student and staff safety are a top priority in the district and at schools. At Casis Elementary, we will have monthly rotating drills that practice safety measures that are taken, in the event of campus emergencies. Here’s a visual poster that is in every classroom, explaining all of the drills that will take place during the school year: Safety Poster. If parents happen to be volunteering or visiting during any of our monthly drill exercises, they will be expected to participate and follow the group that they are closest to at the time. It’s important for students to be aware of our safety measures and to participate in these practice drills. Please know that staff members are expected to speak about the topic of safety, using child-friendly language and terms, so as not to cause undue anxiety or stress around these required drill activities. For more information about safety protocols in AISD, visit: AISD Emergency Management website.

CHARACTER STRONG IMPLEMENTATION & PRACTICES 

AISD and Casis Elementary will continue implementing Character Strong, the district Character Education and Behavioral Support program. This program is meant to provide students with the necessary skills and strategies to be the very best humans that they can be in the world. Students will hear morning messages and receive lessons from their teachers about topics like respect, gratitude, honesty, courage and more. Teachers will be providing weekly lessons and sending home monthly information to families about the different program topics learned each month. The lessons derive from a program called, “Purposefull People”. Here’s a Family Introductory Letter about Purposefull People. Each month we will cover a different Character Strong topic and resources will be shared to help families have meaningful conversations at home about the learned trait. Here’s an Overview of the monthly topics that will be taught. The Character Strong trait for the month of September is Respect. Here’s the Family Connection Newsletter – Respect for this month’s theme, as well as a list of recommended books for both school and home: Respect Book List. We are so excited to be ‘Character Strong’ at Casis Elementary!

IMPORTANT DATES 

September – National Hispanic American Heritage Month

Tues., Sept. 8 – CAC Meeting at 3:30pm (Community Room)

Mon., Sept. 14–Fri., Sept. 18  CelebrateFreedom Week (Texas)

Mon., Sept. 21 – Student Holiday (Yom Kippur)/Staff PLED Day

Mon., Sept. 21 – Fri., Sept. 25 – AISD Teaching Assistant Appreciation Week

Fri., Sept. 25 – Administrators Coffee at 8:00am (Community Room)

PTA NEWS