White Marsh Elementary School

This will be a short week, as we get ready for our Thanksgiving Break.

Students will come to school on Monday and Tuesday; there is no school for students Wednesday - Friday.

Have a great week- Happy Thanksgiving!

When schools look at Chronic Absenteeism all absences are counted, both lawful and unlawful. Students missing more than 10% of school days are considered chronically absent. Students missing this amount of school fall further and further behind.

Square One artwork and information was sent home recently. A reminder that if you would like to order, Square One orders are due by 11/25 and can be placed online.

Thank you for your support!

Calendar Survey - School Year 2024-2025: The SMCPS Calendar Committee is seeking input in the development of the 2024-2025 school year calendar. Please respond to this Calendar Survey to provide your input.

• Direct Link to survey-- https://bit.ly/SMCPS24calendar

Please do not park on the shoulder of Thompson Corner Rd. near the bus exit. Recently, car rider vehicles parking too close to the exit have caused a hazard for buses leaving our lot. See the diagram below.

The WMES Winter Concert is scheduled for Thursday, December 14, 2023 at 10:00 am.

Our 3rd grade and 4th and 5th Grade Chorus students will all be performing! This concert will be held in the gym at 10:00. Doors will open at 9:40 am, and guests will enter through the rear gym door. There will be no evening performance.

WMES students will be invited to view the performance at a separate time, and will not be permitted to leave class to attend with family members.

We are looking forward to having an opportunity for our Bears to perform for you!

Dec 4 WMES Site Based Volunteer Training, 9:30 am

Dec 5 Character Tea

Dec 5 Picture Re-take Day

Dec 5 Dress for Success Day!

Dec 8 2 hr. Early Dismissal

Dec 13 Battle of the Books, 3:45 - 4:30 pm

Dec 14 Winter Concert, Grades 3-5, 10 am

Band and Strings students are asked to bring their instruments to school every Wednesday! Sincerely, Mr. Guy

SMCPS has put together a list of commonly used resources so that families have a better understanding of what they are and how they are used in our schools. Take a look at the SMCPS Instructional Terms and Resources.

In order to volunteer and/or chaperone at WMES you must do the following annually:

1) register to be a SMCPS volunteer

2) attend a WMES Site Based Volunteer Training.

The SMCPS Volunteer information can be found on the WMES Family Links document, and the next WMES Site Based Volunteer Training can be found on the WMES website by accessing the calendar.

St. Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) is requesting your permission for your student to use the Internet and other computer resources in school. It is important that you and your student review this information. Click here to access The Acceptable Use Agreement.

Please remember that our school day begins at 9 am and ends at 3:45 pm. Early sign-outs and late arrivals contribute to missed instruction. In addition, students need to be present all day, every day, in order to participate in the Bear Crawl each month. Please support the importance of the academic day by only having your student miss school when absolutely necessary.

I (Principal Steele) had the privilege of meeting with all students recently. We talked about expectations for school, and our school rules: Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Ready to Learn. We also talked about the reasons we were called the Strong and Mighty Bears, and that it takes hard work to earn that title. Another important component of our discussion was student attendance. They learned that one missed day of school equals about 7 hours of instructional time lost. They were able to calculate that just missing 2 days per month it would add up to about 20 days or 140 hours of missed instruction! WMES is working to address our chronically absent (missing 10% or more of instructional days) population. Thank you for your support!

Be looking for a paper version of the WMES Family Handbook to come home the first week of school. In addition, we have created this electronic version of the WMES Family Handbook for you to view. It has important information about school policies and practices, including Volunteer Information, Breakfast and Lunches, School Celebrations, and more!

We have created a document for families with links to important system and school information. Check out this link and be sure to bookmark it! We will update it periodically so that you can have quick access to needed information.

If you would like to chaperone or volunteer in any way, you must be an approved SMCPS volunteer. You must re-apply every year. In addition, WMES requires all volunteers to participate in a Volunteer Training each year prior to working with students. Once scheduled, those trainings are on the WMES School Calendar. Trainings last approximately 20 - 30 minutes.

For our new families, and reminders for our returning families-

There are lots of ways we will communicate with you. Once school begins, you should receive a weekly email with the WMES Smore Newsletter for the week. (It will come on Sunday evenings; contact the Main Office if you don't receive the newsletter.) Be sure to review it every week; it is kept up to date with important information for you and your student. We also communicate via Twitter, and our PTA has a facebook page. If you have not elected to receive texts from SMCPS, please do so! This is our fastest way to communicate in the event of a delayed bus, or other important information. Finally, our teachers also have a variety of ways to communicate with our families; you will receive more information the first week of school.

• Student Laptops and Chargers

• Accountability Newsletter

• Print and Resource Accountability for SMCPS Students

From the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE)-

Chronic Absenteeism: Students are chronically absent when absent 10% or more of the school days while enrolled at that school. For example, a student who is registered to attend a school for 30 days and who is absent 3 of those 30 days is considered chronically absent.

WMES will follow up with chronically absent students through the Pupil Services Team, Pupil Personnel Worker, and the Department of Student Services. In order to reduce the number of our students with Chronic Absenteeism, incentives to encourage good attendance include participation in the Bear Crawl, Running Club, and School Dance.

SMCPS Text Alerts are a great way to get information quickly. They are not sent often, and usually only in the event of an unexpected school delay or closure. On occasion, WMES will send a text alert about a late bus, substitute bus, or school event. Click the link for information about registering for text alerts.

Julia Steele, Principal

Email: jwsteele@smcps.org
Website: wmes.smcps.org
Location: 29090 Thompson Corner Road, Mechanicsville, MD, USA
Phone: (301)472-4600
Twitter: @wmes_smpcs