Community,

It’s a Great Day to be a Gladiator!

As we move toward the first day of school, it is important you are aware of some adjustments to our plans for the beginning of school.

The rain has put a damper on the movement of the portable buildings. Although we have one of the buildings on site, we are no longer confident the portables will be ready for the first day of school. This is because the movers can’t split the portables while it’s raining without the chance of damage to the inside of the portable. The ground conditions also make it more difficult to manipulate the portables on a trailer. In addition, Oncor will be working with us to ensure we have adequate power to hook up the portables. They are also at the mercy of the rain.

We considered getting generators. However, given all of the variables it is best to move forward with “Plan B”.

We want to be sure to have a place for our students Monday. Mr. Chambers, Mrs. Thomas and I have met and are moving with the following plan.

This plan is temporary.

We will be housing the 3 fifth grade classes and one resource class in the library/computer lab at Stafford. Mr. Chambers will add temporary walls to divide the rooms.

This temporary plan should last no longer than September 7th. I spoke with John Bennett, the Construction Manager at Risk. He will be waiting on Atmos to secure the gas lines for demolition. He does not foresee demolition starting prior to August 31st and he can wait until September 7th if we need him to.

We are aware of concerns about rainy days while children are walking to the cafeteria and gymnasium. The portables will have walk-ways to the sidewalks to minimize walking on the wet ground. Those walk-ways will be gravel or wood; depending on how close they are to the portables. In addition the students will use the hallways as a passage to the front door to get to the cafeteria to decrease the distance walking outside during inclement weather.

We have a 60% chance of rain for the beginning of the week. I have ordered umbrellas for each staff member and each student at Stafford Elementary. We paid for it to be sent to us so we can receive them by Friday. We spoke to the company to make sure they will not be back-ordered. Our students should have umbrellas to use Monday morning. The umbrellas will stay in the classrooms with the teachers until needed by the students.

We appreciate Mr. Chambers and the Blue Crew working hard throughout the night to help get rooms ready.

We are blessed to have the rain. We are also blessed to be providing our students with better facilities.

I appreciate the patience of the community while we are growing our facilities to meet the needs of the students.

Please contact me at 972-483-1815 if you have questions or concerns.

It’s a Great Day to Be a Gladiator!

Thank you,
Lee Joffre