Hello, Evening Star Families!

We are beyond excited to welcome you to the 2024-2025 school year. As August draws near, so does the anticipation of starting a new school year. We cannot wait to welcome all of our ESE Owls to our nest on August 14th, our first day of school.

Throughout the summer, our staff has been preparing for the upcoming school year. They have attended numerous trainings, such as High Reliability Institute, Differentiation, Writing, Math Fluency, Conscious Discipline, and many more. Their commitment to professional growth ensures that we can continue to create a rich and rigorous learning environment for every little owl.

Our special partnerships with our families and our staff's focus on continued professional development continue to set ESE apart from others. The culture we have created over the past five years is deeply rooted in the core values we created together when we opened our doors in 2019. Our core values shape the way we learn, grow, and interact with each other. Integrity, teamwork, growth, empathy, and enthusiasm are the cornerstones on which we will continue to build our students' character and foster an environment of respect, understanding, and high academic success. Our little owls are able to achieve their full potential by being empowered to soar beyond greatness in every way. Evening Star Elementary is the place to be! Collectively, we are committed to helping shape the minds of our little owlets so that they will positively impact the world around them.

As we start our sixth year, we are looking forward to continuing to watch our little owlets run through our school doors every morning because they are excited and ready to learn. Our classrooms will continue to be filled with curiosity, a contagious enthusiasm for learning, an infectious joy for our time together, and an inclusive environment where every owl is loved and celebrated. This year will be one of the best years yet! Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to be part of your child's educational journey. Thank you for your commitment and partnership as we make ESE the place everyone wants to be! Together, we will continue the legacy of excellence that started with the original Evening Star school in 1884.

Back to School Information and Details:

Open House is Monday, August 12th. We are excited to see all of our families in person at Open House! It is the perfect time for you to: find your child’s classroom, meet your child’s teacher, drop off your child’s supplies, deposit lunch money, and join PTO. You will receive a welcome email from your child’s 2024-2025 homeroom teacher on the morning of August 12th containing a reminder regarding Open House times, information about their room number, and a Google form link for you to complete regarding specific information about your little one. We will have staff available to assist you and guide you in the right direction on Monday, August 12th. We ask that you help keep our lawn beautiful by keeping vehicles on the pavement and parking in the designated parking spots. Please attend the session by the First Initial of your child’s LAST NAME. We have designated times for grade levels due to limited parking and the sheer size of our student body. You will also receive a postcard reminder in the mail the week of August 5th.

Kindergarten Open House Times: ● 12:00-12:45 p.m. Last Names A-G ● 1:00-1:45 p.m. Last Names H-O ● 2:00-2:45 p.m. Last Names P-Z

Sensory Friendly Open House - Invite Only ● 3:00-3:45 p.m.

1st-4th Open House Times: ● 3:45-4:20 p.m. Last Names A-G ● 4:25-5:00 p.m. Last Names H-O ● 5:10-5:45 p.m. Last Names P-Z

On July 19th, our Director of Transportation, Jason Salmons, emailed information regarding bus transportation. We want to ensure you are ready for a new school year by confirming your transportation needs. Please log into the BusQuest app and verify your student's bus information. To download the BusQuest app, follow these instructions shared at bentonvillek12.org.

If your address differs from what is shown in the BusQuest app, please contact our school registrar, Mrs. Tammy Webb at tawebb@bentonvillek12.org.

If you need to change your bus service, make the changes in the app and submit them. For example, if you no longer need bus service, mark your student as not having bus service and click submit.

Before the first day of school, please check the BusQuest app often for the latest bus stop times. These times could change as additional students are added to the route.

Reminders: ● If your kindergartener rides the bus, a parent must receive the student at the bus stop. Until the bus driver gets to know you, please have your driver's license ready so the driver can verify your name. ● Parents can complete the Kindergarten Bus Release Form to indicate another adult or older sibling will pick up the kindergartner at the bus stop. Designated adults will also need their driver's license each time they pick up the child. ● Once school starts, please ensure you have the BusCompass app for daily bus operations. This app lets you know when the bus is within three bus stops of your child’s stop and allows you to receive delays or bus number changes. To download the BusCompass app, follow these instructions.

Email our Transportation Department with any questions you may have at BusRequest@bentonvillek12.org.

The first day of school is August 14th. Watch our school’s Facebook page for a 10-day countdown with additional information and fun facts about ESE prior to the first day of school. We will highlight some of the many reasons ESE is the place to be!

Students may enter the building at 7:00 a.m. and make their way to their designated gathering place outside the classroom. The first bell will ring at 7:22 a.m., and the tardy bell rings at 7:30 a.m. If you arrive after 7:30 a.m.,

parents must park and check students into the office. Students may enter classrooms at 7:22 a.m. Dismissal from classrooms for walkers, car riders, and bus riders will begin at 2:30 p.m. For the first two weeks of school, all ESE staff members will be available to help students find their classrooms and get settled. Parents may walk their students to class only on the first day of school. Beginning on August 15th, students will need to walk to class on their own.

If your child is a car rider, for the safety of every child, we ask you to remain in your vehicle when picking your child up from school. All car riders will be issued a 2024-2025 unique number for the ESE car line. ALL car riders must have the temporary 2024-2025 ESE Car Rider Pass with this unique number displayed on their front dash. Two copies will be provided to families at Open House. If you do not have your 2024-2025 ESE Car Rider Pass, you will be asked to show a photo ID before we will release your child from school. Plastic car rider tags will be issued by September 2nd. We ask parents not to park in the designated handicap spots. These spots are reserved for only those who are authorized to park there. In the morning or the afternoon, if you need to pull around to the parking lot from our car line, we ask that you park in one of the nine open spots in the front row on the other side of the handicapped spots or in any of the other available spots throughout our parking lot. Car riders, please be patient with us. It will take a couple of weeks to establish our dismissal routine. Please be advised that our car line can take over an hour for the first few weeks. Here is a short video outlining our car line procedures: ESE Car Line. If you have never had the opportunity to participate in our car line, you are highly encouraged to view the video linked above. Some additional reminders include: ● Only students who live within our designated walk zone will be permitted to walk from the school doors to meet their parents at the school-designated locations. ● Only right turns onto Pleasant Grove Road are permitted during the hours of 7:00-7:30 AM and 2:30-3:30 PM. If a car turns left onto Pleasant Grove Road, it shuts the entire car rider line down. Thank you for doing your part and helping us keep our car line moving safely and quickly. ● Please keep our crosswalks clear.

One final, but very important reminder: It is against the law to use your cell phone in a school zone. Our school zone spans from the Scissortail neighborhood down W. Pleasant Grove Road/Haxton Road past Gaston Road. This includes our car-rider line. Thank you for being courteous in the car line and protecting all of our owlets!

In addition, all K-4 building principals and district officials request your cooperation during the morning drop-off times between 7:00 –7:30 a.m. Your child’s safety is our top priority! Should parents have a need to be in the building between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., please check in through the office and be prepared to show photo identification. Teachers and staff are happy to meet with parents by appointment. Again, we cannot reiterate enough how important your child’s safety is to us, and so for that reason, we appreciate your support.

To ensure the safety of all children, we will send your child home the same way every day unless you notify our front office staff before 2:00 p.m. Additionally, a transportation and procedures letter will be provided at Open House. This letter contains detailed information about campus security, morning/afternoon car riders, bus riders, Discovery, walkers, tardies, and our district lightning procedure. If you have questions regarding your child’s after-school dismissal status, please contact the school office at 479-360-7400. The office is open daily from 7:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. if you need help or have any questions.

Here's to a successful and fulfilling school year ahead, brimming with joyful learning experiences, unforgettable memories, and personal growth for every owl who walks our hallways. As a united team, we will continue to positively impact the young minds entrusted to our care. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to our children's future. Moreover, thank you for sharing your precious children with us!

Sincerely,

Principal Ashley Williams

Additional Information

Enrollment Verification: Beginning August 1st through August 25th, your child’s online records will be available for you to verify through Etrieve. To complete the required profile verification and back-to-school forms, simply log on to Forms-Online Forms (Etrieve) or visit our Student Services page at https://www.bentonvillek12.org/page/student-services. New ESE Families - if the system does not allow you to log in this week, please try again next week. Also, all new families will need to complete all of the annual online forms for their students’ files. This step is necessary in August at the beginning of each school year. Once you have submitted your forms, you can simply log into Etrieve to see what you have submitted in full to Mrs. Webb. If you notice the message “ended” this means your form has been automatically filed. If there is a message noted as “in progress” this means Mrs. Webb is in the process of reviewing your documents. It is always helpful to check the Drafts section of your Etrieve account. Sometimes a box gets missed, or a form simply needs to be submitted in order for our team to process your little one’s forms.

Bentonville Schools no longer requires proof of residency on an annual basis. However, if you’ve had an address change, you will need to provide proof of residency to update our records through Etrieve Forms-Online Forms. It takes only a moment to review and confirm your child’s records, but it’s critical you do so by August 25th. The Residency Verification form is mobile-friendly. Should you have any questions, our school registrar, Tammy Webb is available to help. Feel free to email her at tawebb@bentonvillek12.org.

Annual forms for elementary students in Bentonville Schools include the following. ● Chromebook Use Agreement ● Consent & Agreement (Student Handbook) ● Family Emergency Card ● Health History ● Profile Verification

Breakfast and Lunch Information: Beginning with the first day of school, students will be charged if they choose to get a cafeteria-provided meal. ● Breakfast costs $2.05 each day. ● Lunch costs $2.85 (K-6) or $3.05 (7-12) each day. ● Visit bentonville.familyportal.cloud to add money to your child’s account or click on the “Guest” button to find out if your family is eligible for free and reduced-price meals. ● To Add Money Online: Utilize our portal (bentonville.familyportal.cloud). If you are new to our district, you will need to click “Register.” ● Free & Reduced Paper Meal Application - Click (English) (Spanish) ● Need help? Call Annette Bunton at (479) 254-5095.

Every minute of instruction we have with your little one is vital and helps ensure their success in the future. We look forward to seeing the halls filled with our ESE Owls on August 14th.

School supplies: Click HERE to view the school supplies list for the 2024-2025 school year.

District Website: Stay up to date with events and news. Check out our District Website and our School Website. You can also download the Bentonville Schools App using your App store.

ESE Media Sources: Throughout the school year, we will use various media sources to communicate all the great things happening in our building. We would love for you to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. ● Facebook: Evening Star Elementary ● Instagram: eveningstarelementary ● ESE Website

PTO Social Media Platforms: ● Facebook: Evening Star Elementary PTO ● Instagram: eveningstarpto ● ESE PTO Website

PTO Information: Our PTO has some great opportunities planned for our ESE Families!. ● 2024-2025 ESE Yard Signs and PTO Memberships: Show your school spirit! Secure your ESE yard sign by joining the PTO. Your membership gives you voting rights in the PTO and helps to support the 2024-2025 Evening Star PTO initiatives, like the Pie Supper, ESE Gives Back, Walk in my Shoes, ESE Staff and Teacher Hospitality (includes ESE Staff and Teacher Hospitality Week), the Spring Fling, and much more!

Evening Star Elementary School