School Supply Fees for 25/26 School Year!

Did you forget to pay the school supply fee - no worries, it is open again for the school year. We have already started to order supplies, so please take care of this ASAP. If you need assistance, reach out to Ms. Vreeland or Ms. Pitts.

Click here to open the Zilker School Store.

Thank you every one for your support in this and allowing our teachers to get the exact items they prefer for success and ease in their classrooms with our students. As a school, we will only request money this one time for all supplies and field trips. We hope this one and done approach makes it easy on everyone.

Teachers will be sending emails to let you know class placement on Wednesday, August 13 by 5:00. If you are registered, you should get a welcome email, if you do not, please contact the school at Zilker@austinisd.org

Ms. Pitts will also have the school open on Saturday, August 16 from 10:00-12:00 if you want to practice walking to class more. No teachers will be there, and all classrooms will be locked, it is just a time for additional practice walking to class.

Due to ongoing construction for our new secure vestibule, both of these sessions will be through:

Google Meets Link: meet.google.com/shi-ydhj-cdq

Back to School Information:

New Information for 2025/2026:

TARDIES - Students will be counted tardy if they are coming in the front doors after 7:40. If your child gets 5 or more tardies, guardians will be required to come into the vestibule and sign the students in on a personal sign in sheet, stating the reason for the tardy. After 5 tardies, you will not be allowed to just drop your student off without coming inside as well.
No Personal Communication Devices - this isn't too new for Zilker, but will also be enforced for watches, in addition to cell phones. They must be in backpacks at all times through the day, until students leave campus. We recommend leaving them at home. If you need to get a message to your student during the day, please call the office.

Arrival

School Times will remain the same 7:40-3:10.
Drop off begins at 7:15 for the cafeteria and students are released to class at 7:30.
Class starts precisely at 7:40 with a community building morning meeting, so it is important for all students to be on time. See new tardy rules above.
7:30 is the BEST DROP OFF TIME!!!!

Students will need to be dropped off as walkers in the front of the school or as car riders in the drive off of Rundell. Please do not park on the side of Rundell and drop-off/walk your children to the door. If you want to walk your children to the door, please park on a different street to ensure safety of all our students.

In order to ensure the highest level of safety and knowing who is in our building at all times, we are not allowing visitors in the school to drop off students, even on the first days of school.
On the first day of school and all days, students will be dropped off at one of two locations: the front of the school or the side of the school by the cafeteria. The front is for walkers only, while the side can also accommodate car drop off. See map below for a visual.

Have a nervous kiddo? No worries - we will have plenty of staff ready with smiles to help walk them to class. If you are confident about it, they will be more confident.

Dismissal
Students have a variety of ways to get home: bus, after school care, independent walker or pick up. Please note, we do not have a car line.
After school care (YMCA, iKids) will be transported to appropriate locations by school personnel. At 3:10 we will unlock three gates: back off of Ann Arbor, side by cafeteria, and side by library - parents may then go to pick up their child from their teacher's exterior door.
All adult pick ups must show the Panther Pick Up pass you received at Meet the Teacher or an ID and then receive the pick up pass for future times.
Independent Walkers - These students need a signed form or email turned into the teacher and are released at 3:10 to walk to the designated location that your family has agreed upon. Please know they will be leaving class alone while families/adults are entering campus to pick up their students.

More Back to School Information

-Please ensure students have appropriate shoes to participate in daily physical activities.

-We have water fountains throughout campus and in classrooms, so though you may send water bottles, if your child forgets it one day, no stress, we still have plenty of hydration facilities.

-Throughout the year, visitors will always be required to sign in at the office to visit for lunch etc... At times when we have special events, we will send RSVP forms and this helps to expedite the process. But for the RSVP to work, we have to have your ID already scanned into the system. So we always ask for patience at these events.

-Student Birthdays - we do not allow items to be sent to school to celebrate students birthdays. These items will be sent back home and held in the office if they are sent.

-Custodian/Legal Documents - it is the responsibility of the family to turn in any custodian or legal documents to the office. A rule of best practice is to turn in a new copy each year to ensure it is tracked appropriately.

-Cell Phones/Watches - Student cell phones/watches are required to stay in their backpacks at all times. If you need to get a message to your child, please call the office and we will take care of it.

-Medications - please check with the school nurse to get these turned in and/or updated.

We encourage all families to take advantage of the healthy, tasty meals offered at school! Austin ISD receives money for each meal served; the more meals served at school the more funding our district has to invest in the quality of our food, maintain local jobs, and support the Texas economy.

All school lunch accounts must be created through School Cafe.

As in previous years, students will dine using their meal account status: free, reduced-price, or paid. For the second year in a row, students with a reduced-price status will receive free breakfast.

Thanks to the PTA team we have new Fall merch available NOW on the Zilker Spirit store.

We'll have a merch table set up at the 8/15 Meet the Teacher event. Buy in-person or order now and pick-up at the event.

Mark your calendars now for this school year to ensure you plan your trips accordingly:

Community Connection