Crosby Superintendent explains new schedule

Hello East Harris County and Crosby ISD families,

The 2023-2024 Academic Year begins on Monday, August 7th. We are anxiously awaiting the return of our students. Our District Leadership Team has worked all summer preparing for the start of classes. We hope your family’s summer break has been wonderful and refreshing. We’re ready to teach and learn!

There is a lot that’s new this year, so let’s go into some detail about some of the biggest changes. The first thing to know is that the 2023- 2024 Academic Calendar is a hybrid calendar, starting and ending the year with 5-Day Instructional Weeks and with 4- Day Instructional Weeks running September 8, 2023 – April 12, 2024. All of August will be a traditional structure with students in class Monday through Friday. This is a good stretch for students and staff to acclimate to the back to the school routine. Once we pass Labor Day, students begin to have Fridays as Student Holidays. This four-day schedule continues through April 12th, which is approximately 27 Fridays. We switch back to a five-day week from April 15th though the last day of school on May 30th. The change back to a five day week avoids interfering with the testing season. We have a color coded calendar on our website www.crosbyisd.org/backtoschool so parents can print it out and post on their refrigerators at home.

Also this year, school hours are changing at all campuses. Let’s start with Crosby High School and Crosby Middle School. Hours on those two secondary campuses will be 7:10am until 3pm. For our elementary campuses and Crosby Kindergarten Center, hours are 8am until 3:50pm. Our days are extended by 20 or 25 minutes, as we exceed the state mandate for required instructional minutes. Our hybrid Academic Calendar is nearly the same number of instructional minutes we’ve implemented in the last few years.

We are pleased to offer our families childcare options on Fridays during our 4-Day Instructional Weeks. Crosby ISD has partnered with The YMCA of Greater Houston to launch childcare for students ages five and up at Crosby Elementary School on Fridays. Registration links are being sent out. We are happy to be able to offer 50% off the standard rate for one full day of childcare. Simultaneously, we are launching programs at Drew Elementary and Barrett Elementary, to offer high impact tutoring and after-school programs. Families of preselected students have been contacted already regarding their eligibility of these exciting new programs. These offerings are free, because Crosby ISD was awarded a grant as part of the 2023-2024 21st Century Nita M. Lowey program. The grant will support our creation of academic enrichment opportunities outside of regular school hours.

We have also worked this summer to ensure Crosby ISD families who need food assistance have many options during the 2023-2024 School Year. We want to thank the Houston Food Bank for being huge supporters of our efforts in Crosby and Barrett Station. Here is what families can expect this year:

1. The Houston Food Bank will supply breakfast, lunch, and snacks for our students involved in the YMCA and 21st Century childcare programs. The meals include breakfast, lunch, and snacks on Student Holiday Fridays.

2. An expanded Backpack Buddy program. The Food Bank will provide an extra day’s worth of food on Thursdays for students who qualify for the Backpack Buddies program. They will receive three days’ worth of food to take home for the long weekend.

3. We are opening a “School Market” in conjunction with the Food Bank. The market will be set up at Crosby High School every Thursday. The school market is set up like a small grocery store on campus, where families can easily access the items for home. The best part is that the “School Market” will be run by our students for our students and their families.

We are closing in on the first day of school, and we’re throwing a party to welcome our families. Don’t miss our FREE Back to School Bash on Saturday, August 5 from 9am-1pm at Crosby High School. Students of all ages and their families are invited. We’ll feature free backpacks, free haircuts, food trucks, student performances, a petting zoo, a bounce house, soccer fun with the Houston Dynamo, and more than $10,000 in grocery gift card giveaways.

Finally, I wanted to share our District theme for the 2023-2024 School Year. We are Moving Forward! There’s no looking backward. We are throwing away our rear-view mirrors. We are ready to create the future now, while celebrating our Crosby and Barrett Station traditions. We hope you join us on this year’s adventure.

We are Moving Forward! Go Coogs!