White Marsh Elementary School

Hello, White Marsh! Happy Summer!

First of all, I would like to welcome our new Bears and their families to our wonderful school! We are so excited to meet you! I am also excited to see our returning Bears...they always seem to grow so much over the summer!

If you have driven by our building lately, you may have noticed lots going on! Our office is open, though, with summer hours. If you need to stop by, please call first to make sure someone is in the office. See more information about the construction activity below.

The days of summer are ticking by, and it's going to be mid August before we know it! A reminder that school opens for students on Wednesday, August 23. Our Open House is tentatively scheduled for Monday, August 21. More information will be shared in the coming weeks.

-Mrs. Steele

Have you changed your phone number? Would you like to make changes to your emergency contacts? Is your child's daycare (if applicable) the same?

If you have any changes that the Main Office needs to know, now is the best time to tell us! Reach out to Mrs. Cox at kjcox@smcps.org, or call us (301.472.4600) with any changes.

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.

It's been a busy summer in our building! We are in the process of having the old windows removed, and new windows installed! This is quite a task to complete during the short summer break, but the construction crews have been hard at work!

The plan is for work to be completed before students return! Take a look below at some of the progress!

Stay tuned for possible changes to the upcoming school year's calendar. Here is a link to the proposed calendar changes, which will be presented to the Board of Education, and will still require approval from MSDE.

Proposed Amended Calendar DRAFT: 2023-2024 SY -PDF

If you would like to provide feedback on the draft SY2024 calendar amendments, please complete the online survey.

Does your student know where their laptop is? Be sure to keep them in a safe location. Student laptop and charger summer care and upkeep can be found in this newsletter.

Looking for things for your student to do over the summer? Check out the SMCPS Summer Recovery site for ideas.

Want to get a head start on School Supplies for next year? Our school supply list is posted on our website.

Here is a link to the SMCPS Back to School Resources page. Here, you can find information about Buses, Breakfast and Lunch, and much more!

• Student Laptops and Chargers

• Accountability Newsletter

• Print and Resource Accountability for SMCPS Students

The windows for both Pre-Kindergarten Registration and Kindergarten Registration are now open. It is time to register!

*If your student is currently in Pre-Kindergarten at LMDES, you do not need to register them for Kindergarten; they will roll over to WMES automatically.

Pre-Kindergarten Registration

Kindergarten Registration

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