Thursday, July 30, 2026

Back to School 2026

I had a wonderful couple of weeks off! I stayed local this summer, spent time organizing projects around the house, and enjoyed making memories with my family. Now I'm refreshed, recharged, and incredibly excited for #RJLYear13. I'm especially grateful that YOU are part of our TEAM, and I can't wait to see all we'll accomplish together this year!

It has been a busy couple of weeks back with our office team together.  We have been working behind the scenes to set up the 2026-2027 school year.  Class lists are being generated and assigned in eSchool, residencies are being verified (thank you Kristi and Linda for your help). We had our Administrator's Academy last week and our Leadership Retreat yesterday, so there is a great deal of information to share from CISD.  Our new hire, Tracy, is learning all things Coppell ISD and will have a crash course with CK tomorrow afternoon.  All this to say... we are ready for an incredible year... so LET'S GO TEAM SPURS!

DID YOU KNOW:

  • S'more communication from CK was sent out to parents about "all things beginning of the year?"  Here is the link if you want to include it in your introduction email to parents.  Content is continually added and updated giving parents ONE PLACE TO GO.
  • technology is SPICY and sending out emails that entice you to click on them so you have to take technology training?  DON'T FALL FOR THEIR SILLY GAMES.  I do not need you to send me money or meet with me.  We don't need your credit card info.  Just beware... especially our new Spurs- this is the season for those phishing scams.  No one wants MORE training.
  • Samira has created these math weekly planning documents to aide you in lesson design?
  • there is an update to our campus dress code?  Jeans can be worn on Tuesdays (with new CISD Ed Foundation Shirt) and on Friday's with a campus shirt.  SORRY!  This was communicated at our Admin Academy from Dr. Shivers. Please read the updated dress code in our handbook. 
  • you have new tech boards in your spaces?  We will have campus training during Back to School, but here is information for those who want to get a jump start: 

STARTING LINE UP
We are so excited to welcome our new hires to Lee Elementary.  

Tracy will be teaching in Y3.


I am excited to begin my first year in Coppell ISD and to join the Richard J. Lee Elementary School community as a third-grade teacher. I bring 22 years of teaching experience, having taught students from Kindergarten through 4th grade. I hold a Bachelor of Science in Education with concentrations in Elementary and Early Childhood Education, and I am also STEM certified. Outside of the classroom, I have been married to my husband, James, for 18 years. Together, we have four wonderful sons and one bonus son: Gabriel, Noah, Reznor, Jack, and Nicholas. Our family also includes Axel, our energetic four-year-old Golden doodle/Aussie doodle. In my free time, I enjoy traveling, attending baseball games, and spending time at the beach. Most importantly, I cherish making memories with my family and friends. I am truly thrilled to continue my educational journey at Richard J. Lee Elementary School and look forward to building meaningful relationships with students, families, and colleagues in this amazing school community.
Carmen Maia will be our ESL Paraprofessional.
My name is Carmen Maia, and I'm excited to join the team at Lee Elementary. I’ve worked at Mockingbird Elementary for the past three years, and was the Para for ESL students during the last two years.  Across all my time teaching, I have worked with children for more than fifteen years. On a personal level, I am originally from Brazil and have been in the US for over thirty years.  My husband and I have been in Coppell since 2009, and we have two children who came through CISD, both of whom have already graduated from college.  Outside of work, I enjoy reading, listening to music, playing pickleball, and doing yoga. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone at Lee and working with all the new learners!
Manisha Kaushik will be our Active Learning Paraprofessional
HER PICTURE AND BIO WILL BE ADDED NEXT BLOG

WHAT IS HAPPENING THE WEEK WE COME BACK?
For those of you that like to plan, here is an outline for our back to school days.  If you are not sure where to be, and when to be places, please ask. Special Education, Specials, and paraprofessionals, if you get different information than listed on my outline from your department heads, please follow their directions. Bring your charged technology each day. We also were SUPER INTENTIONAL to give you as much time as we could in your spaces to be able to be ready for the first day, but be aware we have required content to deliver from CISD.  The two district days EARLY in our week may stress you when you want to work in your room.  We've got you- and blocked out hour long lunches and time every place we could. 


CISD's Convocation is Thursday, August 6, at the Coppell High School arena. We suggest you carpool because traffic can be a challenge. There will be a variety of breakfast items at tables in the CHS Commons cafeteria area starting at 7:30 a.m., and those who pre-ordered a Convocation t-shirt will be able to pick up their shirts. The program will begin at 8:30 a.m.  We added a 30 minute buffer to our schedule to help with the traffic after Convocation.


RJL ROADSHOW
We can't wait to see you on our first day back.  We will kick our week off with our annual bus tour through our neighborhoods.  Dress is casual as we will be hopping on and off of the chartered bus.  Please bring signs, balloons, and your school spirit- it will be loads of fun!  PTO will provide you with lunch and cool drinks when we return to campus.  You may wear shorts for this event.



ALL STAR ROSTER
Here are house and grade assignments for this year. We are excited with the houses and grades we have built.  The * indicates your house and grade leadership representative.  Underlined names are new team members this year. 


START TO DO FOR ALL STAFF:
  • Check out responses on this form if you want to make any changes to our Faculty Favorites.  If nothing has changed, cross this task off of your "to do" list.  Please note that if you update your shirt size at this time, we may not be able to accommodate the change for our Back-to-School shirts, as orders have already been placed.
  • Start reviewing the RJL Campus Handbook. This gives you ALL the ins and outs of Lee Elementary.  You will want to be logged into your CISD google account to access linked documents.  We request you read the handbook by August 14.  New/changed items are highlighted in yellow.  Any new district policies that are in the 2026-2027 CISD Employee Handbook supersede our campus handbook. All staff can submit time for flex credit when they complete reading the campus handbook.    
  • Complete CISD compliance courses by August 17.
  • Add the Lee Staff Calendar to your Outlook Calendar. 
    • Go to your Calendar in Outlook
    • On the left hand side, click Add Calendar
    • Select your account with your email.
    • Type in "Lee Calendar" and select the email with leecalendar@coppellisd.com
    • Click Add

BACK TO SCHOOL SAVE THE DATE
Please ignore communications from CISD about MTD being at 4:30.  Feedback from our PTO and parents is that they need 5:30 due to work schedules.  Please make sure that your space is inviting and presentable for our guests.  All displays do not need to be complete for this event.  You have permission to wear jeans and your Team Lee spirit shirt this night.


Swing by the cafeteria and back car loop before or after meeting your families to enjoy a gourmet popsicle from Frios. Frios is generously donating 15% of their sales to the RJL PTO.


FLEX HOUR REQUIREMENTS FOR 2026-2027 


JEANS ON TUESDAYS
Want to wear jeans on Tuesdays?  Order this year's CISD Ed Foundation t-shirt by July 30 at noon.  You can pick it up at Convocation on August 6.  You can still order (since I am sending this out after the deadline) and your shirt will arrive in September.

KEYS FOR THE NEW YEAR
If you need a key for a classroom, storage room, design studio, or cabinet, please use the RJL Key Request Form. Once the key has been placed in your mailbox, be sure to test it and let me know right away if it doesn't work. You can also find the form linked on Lee Links for easy access. Come chat with Angel if you have any questions.



DATES TO REMEMBER
July 29- Leadership Retreat
July 30- New Hire Breakfast
Aug 3- Bus Tour (AM) and Campus Day (PM)
Aug 4- District PL
Aug 5- District PL
Aug 6- Julie's Birthday 
     Convocation (AM) and Campus Day (PM)
Aug 7- Kara's Birthday
     Campus Day
     Classroom welcome email sent by 4 PM to verified students 
Aug 10- Meet the Designer (5:30-6:30)
Aug 12- First Day of School
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