The Cardinal Connection
August 22nd, 2023
At J.O. Wilson Elementary School, we are SOARing to success every day in every way by creating an environment in which joy, pride, positive interactions, and growth mindsets lead students to comfort in taking risks, self-advocating, and facing adversity.
Important Dates:
August 24th: Ice Cream Social and Teacher Meet and Greet 2PM-3:30PM
August 26th: Serve Your City 11AM-4PM
August 28th: First Day of school for students in grades Kindergarten-5th grade.
August 28th: Cardinal Kiss and Go begins on the first day
August 31st: First Day of school for students in Pre-K3 & Pre-K4.
September 4th: Labor Day...No School for Students and Staff
September 5th: First Day of After-Care Programming
September 21st: Back to School Night 6:15PM-8PM
September 23rd: DCPS Back to School Block Party
A Few Reminders For Day One
Cardinal Families,
We are so excited to welcome our Cardinals back for their first day of school next week. With this being said we would like to provide our families with a few reminders to better assist us in having a strong opening. Please see below.
- Kindergarten through 5th graders start school on Monday, Aug. 28th
- PK3 and PK4 through students start school on Thursday, Aug.31st
- Families are not able to enter the building to take students to class. We will have adults in place this week to ensure that students are getting to class safely.
- Reminder, doors open for entry at 8:15 AM. We are asking families whose students are not eating breakfast at school to arrive starting at 8:30 AM if possible. This will allow us to facilitate breakfast in the cafeteria more expeditiously.
- Student dismissal starts at 3:15 PM and students are dismissed from the playground, field, and black-top area.
- We kindly request families not to park in the coned areas located on K Street during the arrival and dismissal. These areas are designated for Kiss and Go in the morning and our school buses in the afternoon.
We are excited to welcome Mr. Dylan Amankwaah to The Cardinal Family!
Hi J.O. Wilson family! I am Dylan Amankwaah. I am the new Communities In Schools Site Coordinator here at J.O. Wilson ES. I am a product of the DMV, originally from Ghana. Growing up, I found my calling in serving the community, especially our future leaders. I have been mentoring, tutoring and coaching in schools in D.C. and the Hampton Roads area for about 5 years. I am also a semi-professional soccer player for Alexandria United FC. Being in and of the community is an important aspect of my personal and professional life. I was most recently at Anacostia High School where I worked closely with the administration to bring a High Impact Tutoring programming to the school. It's now time to take on a new challenge. I know I'm in the right place here at Wilson. The welcome I have felt from those I have met has been so warm. I am beyond excited to get to know all of you and really become a part of the school community. I am ready to do my part to make sure we have a brilliant school year. I'll see you soon. Go Cards!
Join Us For The Cardinal Family Ice Cream Social and Staff Meet and Greet
On Thursday, August 24th, from 2PM to 3:30PM, we are kindly inviting the JOW school community to attend our ice cream social and staff meet and greet. This event is taking place on the school playground/black top area and is the perfect time to learn what class your student will be in for the coming year and meet your student's teacher as well. Come out and join us for a sweet treat from Rita's! We will be providing school supplies to families as well as selling school swag.
If you are unable to attend, you can call the main office starting at 11AM and our front office staff will provide you with your student's class assignment only. Come join us for a great time and fun-filled event. See the flier below for more details.
What Is The Cardinal Kiss and Go?
The Cardinal Kiss and Go is a super easy and convenient way for families of students in grades Kindergarten through 5th to drop their students off during morning arrival without having to park. Families simply pull in the Kiss and Go lane, which is marked off with orange cones and located in front of the main entrance of the school on K St to drop students off. You don't even need to get out of the car, it's just that convenient.
We want to thank all families who utilized this convenient way of dropping our cardinals off at school last year. We thank you, thank you, thank you, for helping us to make this a success. Please see below for a few reminders to help us make this process even better.
A Few Cardinal Kiss and Go Reminders...
Kiss & Go Do's:
To keep the lane open for Kiss and Go, parking is prohibited in the orange cones on K during morning drop-off.
- Plan ahead. Encourage your children to gather their belongings in the car before arriving in the Kiss and Go lane.
- Proceed as far as you can in the coned-off section in front of the school on K Street
- Remain in your vehicle. A Kiss & Go staff person will open the car door & help your child exit the car.
- Exit the Kiss & Go lane with care. Please pay attention to the flow of traffic on K Street before exiting the coned section.
Kiss & Go Don'ts
- Do not drop off students in the middle of K Street. Remember, PEASE no double parking at any time.
- Do not allow students to exit the car on the driver's side of the vehicle in the Kiss and Go lane.
- Do not drop off PreK3 and PreK4 students at Kiss & Go. PreK3 and PreK4 students use a separate entrance and have to be walked to the door by an adult.
Cell Phones Are Not Permitted At School...
While we understand and acknowledge the need for students to have cell phones in this day and age, cell phone use is prohibited at J.O. Wilson in classrooms, restrooms, and school offices, unless otherwise stated by a teacher or staff member. During the instructional day and during after school programming cell phones must remain out of sight and in silent mode. Over the past few years we've seen a rise in students using cell phones to send inappropriate text messages to their peers, cyberbully, Google answers, take pictures of others without permission, pay more attention to social media notifications than to class, as well as receive phone calls during the school day from parents.
Parents, we kindly ask that in the event that you need to reach your student to please call the main office. Also, if there is an emergency and your student needs to contact you, we will ensure that the student is permitted to use the school phone. Please see below for our cell phone policy for the school year 23/24.
Cell Phone Policy and Reminders For Families
- Students are not allowed to use their cellphones during the school day or during the after-school program. If students need to call parents ,they must go the main office and use the school phone. If parents need to reach students with messages or emergencies, parents must call the school main office.
- Student cellphones must be placed in their bookbags. Cellphones cannot be in back pockets, pockets, in hand or any where they are visible.
- Cellphones ringers , alerts, and alarms should be turned off.
- Cellphones which are visible or students who are caught using their cellphones will bring their cellphone to the front office, sign-in their cellphone and place it in a protective drawer.
- 1st Incident - Student will receive a warning and will be reminded to put the phone away.
- 2nd Incident- Student will receive another warning and reminded of the cell phone policy and asked to put the phone away. Parent may receive a phone call reminder as well.
- 3rd Incident - Parent/Guardian must pick up the phone during normal office hours
- 4th Incident - Parent/Guardian must pick up the phone and the student receives a referral.
5. Refusal to surrender a cellphone or repeated violation of the above cell phone policy will result in disciplinary consequences
**When students bring cellphones, air pods, earbuds, or any personal electronics to school, the student and parent assume all risk for damaged, lost, or stolen items.**
The J.O. Wilson School Uniform
At J.O. Wilson, the expectation is that all students will be in uniform everyday unless there is a special event taking place. The school uniforms consists of black or grey bottoms (shorts, pants, skirts) or burgundy plaid skirts. Burgundy, gray, white, black, or J.O. Swag shirts are permissible tops. For safety reasons, we ask that students wear close toe shoes at all times. Please see the graphic below for details.
School Visitation for School Year 22/23
For the coming school year 23/24, J.O. Wilson will continue to limit visitors. Very similar to last year, this means there will be no parent/guardian entry for drop-off or pick-up. Visitors will be allowed to attend pre-planned assemblies, school events, coordinated meetings etc. Whenever possible, meetings with parents, guardians, and community members will be conducted both in person and virtually.
Does Your Student Require Dietary Accommodations?
DCPS Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) is no longer requiring a new dietary accommodation form for each school year! You must submit a new dietary accommodation form only if:
- Your student is new to DCPS and requires dietary accommodations, or
- There are changes to the students’ current dietary accommodation form on file with Food and Nutrition Services.DCPS Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) is no longer requiring a new dietary accommodation form for each school year!
Please note that all dietary accommodation forms submitted in school year 2019-2020 and forward will continue to carry over. DCPS does not serve meals that contain pork, peanuts, or tree nuts. It is our pleasure to serve vegetarian meals in every school, every day. If your student requires vegetarian meals (will not contain meat, poultry, or fish, but may contain dairy and/or eggs), you do not need to complete a Dietary Accommodation form.
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To request a dietary accommodation, please follow these steps:
Step 1: Complete the appropriate Dietary Accommodation form for each child in your household that needs a dietary accommodation.
- Medical Dietary Accommodations Form (For medical accommodations such as food allergies. Requires medical provider’s signature.)
- Milk Substitution & Philosophical Dietary Accommodations Form
Step 2: Submit the completed dietary form to dietary.forms@k12.dc.gov (preferred), to your school’s cafeteria or by mail to:
DCPS Food & Nutrition Services
c/o Nadine James - Dietary Accommodation Form
1200 First Street, NE 9th Floor
Washington, DC 20002
Fax: (202) 727-2512
Step 3: Food and Nutrition Services will contact you via e-mail to confirm receipt of the form.
Step 4: Our Dietitian will contact you by phone or email with any follow-up questions or to discuss the modified menu if necessary.
If your student has a severe or life-threatening food allergy, we also encourage you to work with your school to develop a section 504 plan. Please contact your school directly or email 504@k12.dc.gov.
Before completing a dietary accommodation request form, please note:
- Dietary accommodations are tracked centrally via student ID number. If your student transfers to another DCPS school during the school year or less than 4 weeks before the start of a new school year, the form does not need to be resubmitted to us, however, we strongly encourage you to alert us so accommodations can continue without interruption at your destination school. Please email us at dietary.forms@k12.dc.gov.
- Forms must be complete before accommodations can be met, including parent/legal guardian signatures and licensed medical provider signatures (when applicable).
Please select the dietary form for which your student requires a medical dietary accommodation: English | Español | አማርኛ| Tiếng Việt | Français | 中國人
Please select the dietary form for which your student requires a milk substitute and philosophical dietary accommodation: English | Español | አማርኛ| Tiếng Việt | Français | 中國人
Early Dismissal During The School Day and for After-Care
As a reminder, if you have to pick up students for an early dismissal, please ensure that you do it prior to 2:30 pm as the office gets extremely busy after this time. We ask that you please schedule appointments so that they do not conflict with your child's instructional day. Every instructional minute counts towards your cardinal's academic success.
For After-Care early dismissal, we kindly ask that parents please wait until 4:00 PM, as students are transitioning and getting settled into their after-care locations and staff persons are still settling the students in to start after-care programming. We thank you for your patience and understanding.