Operational Updates

Morning Tardy Infractions Begin

Both Lower and Upper school campuses will begin distributing morning tardies and infractions beginning Monday, August 28th.

• Upper School Scholars will receive tardy infractions if they are not inside the front doors by 7:50 AM.
• Lower School scholars who are late are required to have a parent sign the tardy log outside the Lower School receptionist.

Parking Prohibited in Neighboring Lots

Unless otherwise communicated for events, parking or cutting through neighboring lots (Petco, Fred Loya, etc.) is prohibited. SAPD Citations may be given to vehicles parking or idling on our neighbors' private property during morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up.

Help us be good neighbors to the residents and businesses that we share resources with!

Your Attendance Counts!

Here’s why:



• Our campus funding is dependent on scholars attending school.
• Every day your scholar attends school, our campus receives over $50 in state funding. This is the source of most of our funding--and you can support it just by having your scholar in class and on time.

How you can help us:

• If your scholar is out sick, please send an email or doctor's note to our attendance mailbox at ghwhattendance@greatheartstxschools.org for each day(s) your scholar is out sick.
• Please be sure to have your scholar in their classes when attendance is taken each day at 9:30 AM.

EduKits Available

Limited extra Edukits are available for sale for Kinder ($145.92), Second Grade ($110.71), Third Grade ($128.16), and Fourth Grade ($128.23).

First come, first served. Cash or check only. Pick up at LS lobby between the hours of 8:30 AM- 2:00 PM.

Lining Up for Pick-Up

Our campus is so thankful for the support of SAPD officers managing the safety of our campus both during the day and at the critical traffic-heavy bookends of our school days. While their assistance this week may have been unexpected in enforcing our 3:15 PM "line-up" rule, we will take the opportunity to remind you that as good neighbors, we can heed the concerns of our community by:

• Only forming pick-up lines before 3:15 PM (as stated in the Lower School Handbook)
• Listen and follow your traffic captains 
• Your cooperation strengthens our neighborhood bonds.

Please note: Additional SAPD officers will be on campus during afternoon pick-up.

End-of-Month Spirit Days

Student Spirit days for students in Kindergarten to 4^th grade will be the last Friday of each month that we are at school. Students in K-4 may wear any school-sanctioned spirit shirt, which includes previous year's Spartan shirts, Fiesta shirts or field day shirts. Spirit shirts must be worn with uniform bottoms and be tucked in.

Student Spirit days for students in 5^th Grade is every Friday. 5^th Graders can wear any school sanctioned house shirt that can be purchased through the PSO or their intramural shirt. House points are awarded for students who wear their house shirts on house Friday’s. 

Please add the following dates to your calendars so that your scholar can show their Spartan pride 😊

• Friday September 29^th
• Friday October 27^th
• Friday November 17^th
• Friday December 15^th
• Friday January 26^th
• Friday February 23^rd
• Friday March 22^nd
• Friday April 19^th
• Friday May 30^th

Dismissal Reminder & Update

Lower School Sibling Backpack Tags

Faculty will be placing a yellow zip tie on the handles of student back packs that normally go to the upper school for dismissal. We are doing this so that faculty can have a visual when students are being dismissed to ensure that students are making it to where they need to be.

Late Pick Up Charges Begin

Charges for late pickup will begin on Monday, August 28^th. Carline will be closed at 4:10 each afternoon on full days and 2:10 on early-release Fridays.

All students MUST be picked up by 4:10 p.m. (2:10 p.m. on early release days) unless they are enrolled in an after-school activity. After 4:10 pm (2:10 pm on early release days), parents must park, enter the main entrance, and sign out their student(s).

Late fees will apply at a rate of $1/minute. All students should be picked up within 10 minutes of the scheduled end time for clubs, tutoring, or sports. Any student not picked up by this time will fall into the above policy. Siblings of students in clubs, tutoring, or sports may not “hang out” on campus until their sibling’s extracurricular activity is over. No student may be unsupervised on campus after school. Any student unattended will be checked into Athenaeum/HW Club. See page 68 in the family handbook.

Apply for Free & Reduced Lunch!

Great Hearts participates in the Free & Reduced Lunch (FRL) Program. Your family may qualify for breakfast and lunch meals at a minimal or no cost. You can submit an application at https://linqconnect.com/public/meal-application/new?lang=English

This state application is still required even if you applied and qualified for preliminary assistance with the campus over the summer. 

If you have any questions, please email Meals@GreatHeartsTXSchools.org



Advocacy Corner

Texas Education and Legislative Updates

The Virtue of Citizenship: Learn how to advocate for our classical public charter schools through the Parent Advocacy Leadership sponsored by the Texas Public Charter School Association.  You will learn how to do advocacy actions like this video created by a GH Arlington PAL alum. Apply now between September 11 – 22 to join the next cohort of charter parent advocacy champions! The fall cohort will meet virtually on the second Wednesday of each month between October and December. 

Charter schools across Texas achieved huge wins for students during the 2023 legislative session that ended in May.  The major victory was the passage of House Bill 1707 – a bill that stops cities from discriminating against public charter schools in zoning and permitting. This is expected to put millions of dollars back into the classroom where they belonged instead of on unnecessary red tape. This was a hard-fought win for charters and the Texas Public Charter School Association, who worked on this bill for four sessions over the span of eight years. 

What else? TPCSA helped put the brake on bad laws. They worked with key lawmakers and staff to ensure that none of the 19 anti-charter bills filed by opponents received a committee hearing — much less that they passed.

What’s Next? The Legislature adjourned in May without passing a school finance package. A special legislative session will likely be called this fall – probably in October – to tackle increases to the state’s rate of per-pupil funding, teacher pay, and more. TPCSA is also working on a bill for the special session to address charters’ unequal facilities funding.          

Stay up to date on critical charter school bills and action alerts from the Texas Public Charter School Association (TPCSA). TPCSA is the statewide organization representing Texas charter schools to state leaders, lawmakers, and state agencies. 

All parents can stay informed by subscribing to TPCSA’s emails and alerts. To receive TPCSA emails and alerts, please click this link. 

To learn more about charter advocacy, contact GH’s Family Advocacy Manager Bridie Chaudoir at bridie.chaudoir@greatheartstxschools.org