Community Cardinal Correspondence

We are excited to be gearing up to begin the 2024-2025 school year here at Villa Cresta Elementary School! We can't wait to welcome your children to our hallways and begin a year of learning and adventure.

This year Villa Cresta is welcoming many new faces to our staff. We have new to Villa Cresta and new to teaching. Welcoming new faces and experiences helps to grow all of us as we share ideas and learn new strategies. Join us in welcoming our new staff to the school community and we hope you give them all a huge Villa Cresta welcome.

We encourage you to join the Villa Cresta PTA who work all year long to support our students, staff, and community. They are an integral part of our successful school culture and climate. Watch for their communications as well as follow their facebook page which highlights staff, shares upcoming school events, and celebrates our students! We have a wonderful PTA and we want to keep it strong. Please join PTA and consider attending PTA meetings and/or volunteering for the numerous events that are sponsored throughout the school year.

Finally, we would like to ensure you know our front office staff as we kick off this school year. Our front office staff Ms. Donna Gosnell, Ms. Jamie Vilcarino, and Ms. Renee Livingston are your first point of contact when calling Villa Cresta. They work hard to support our community and get you the information you need. They are excited to return for a great year and we hope you find them helpful when you call or come to the office.

Our administrative team is returning and we also are excited for this school year. We have been together for several years and all have a background in school and positions across Baltimore County. We all agree that the students, staff, and families at Villa Cresta are wonderful to serve and we look forward to continuing our work this coming school year. We can't wait to see everyone at our events throughout the year.

Students and parents are welcome to come to our open house Sneak-a-Peek at your seat where students can walk to their classroom to see where to go on the first day of school. Parents will have an opportunity to see the classroom and find the dismissal location if your child is not a bus rider. This is an open house event with no formal presentation, just an opportunity to make your child feel at ease before the first official day of school.

Thursday, August 22 from 2:30pm - 3:30pm

We look forward to welcoming our 1st to 5th grade students at 8:30am on Monday, August 26th for the first day of school. Classroom assignments were posted to the FOCUS portal on Friday, August 9th. If you do not have a FOCUS account, see below for directions to obtain access. This is where you will find important information throughout the school year.

Preschool, Prekindergarten, and Kindergarten families please follow the gradual entry schedule as your first days of school look a little different as we gradually welcome our youngest learners.

Back to School Night will be on Monday, September 16th from 6-8 pm

At this event parents will receive a presentation from the classroom teacher on curriculum, classroom routines and procedures, and any necessary grade level expectations. We will offer two sessions so that families with multiple children can attend two different classroom presentations.

Doors Open at 5:45pm

Session 1: 6pm - 6:45pm

Transition

Session 2: 7pm - 7:45pm

Please note that these are formal presentations which will begin at 6pm and 7pm. To ensure you receive all necessary information please be in your child's classroom at the start time of each session. Those who cannot attend, information can be shared with you from your child's teacher after the event.

Finding Important Information All Year

Visit our school website at villacrestaes.bcps.org for all you need to know for back to school including class supply lists, teacher directory including emails, administrative correspondence, PTA information, and more.

Informational emails sent are posted to the school website for you to access at any time. Please make use of this resource to assist you in learning more about our processes and staying on top of important information. It is vital to ensure you have an updated email registered with our front office. Emergent emails for early closings, late busses, etc. are not posted to the website but strictly go through phone and email.

https://villacrestaes.bcps.org/

If you haven't already done so, parents should create a parent portal in FOCUS. This is where families can access teacher assignments, bus assignments, and other important information. Directions for creating this account and visuals of navigating the account are posted on the Villa Cresta ES website and also linked below.

Creating a Parent Portal

https://cdn5-ss3.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_160239/File/Technology%20Info/Creating%20a%20Parent%20Account%20in%20B2C.pdf

FOCUS Screenshots to Navigate this Account

https://cdn5-ss3.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_160239/File/School%20Communications/Focus%20Screen%20shots.pdf

We want to remind you of some basic logistics of our arrival and dismissal procedures. It is important to understand that Villa Cresta was not built to be a school with a car rider drop off or pick-up loop. We were originally designed to service a walking and bus riding school. Over the years, several administrators have reached out to have the school campus assessed for an addition of a car loop. This is not possible with our landlocked location, so we have created and follow specific arrival and dismissal procedures to aid our families. It should be noted that when everyone works together and demonstrates patience and kindness, we are able to successfully welcome and dismiss our entire school population within the 15 minute schedule. We thank you in advance for working as a school community to safety engage in the arrival and dismissal process for our students.

Arrival

Doors open at 8:30 am for students and doors close at 8:45 am. Students are marked tardy after 8:45 am unless they are on a late bus.

Arrival Locations:

• Prekindergarten/Kindergarteners will enter through the kindergarten doors located in the front of the building near the parking lot by the trees.

• Preschool families should drop off at the teachers back door located near our side parking lot.

• First graders will enter through the front doors.

• Second graders will enter through the front doors or third-grade hallway door.

• Third graders will enter through the third-grade doors or the front doors

• Fourth graders will enter through the side fourth--grade hallway door.

• Fifth graders will enter through the back fifth-grade hallway door.

Any students who walk from the front of our community can enter through our front doors if that is the closest access point but please be aware entering through other access points will help alleviate crowding at any one location. Additionally, any upperclassman walking a kindergarten student to class may enter through the kindergarten doors.

Dismissal

Dismissal will be at 3:30pm with walkers dismissed out their exterior classroom doors. Students should be picked up no later than 3:45pm.

Students in preschool, prekindergarten, and kindergarten to grade 5 will be dismissed out their classroom doors. Second grade students will all dismiss from the open space doors located in the back of the building. (See map below for visual)

Bus rider families, please be mindful that the first few weeks of school arrival times at the bus stop vary as schedules are worked out in the transportation office. If a bus leaves unusually late, we will send our messenger calls to keep you informed. It is important to have an updated phone number on file.

Bus stop information is located in the parent portal. Please be sure you have set up your account to view this information.

In September parents will receive detailed information regarding expectations for bus riders. Until then, if your child is a bus rider, please review the following bus rules with them so they are prepared for the first day of school.

• Remain seated while the bus is in motion.
• Keep all body parts inside the bus.
• Use inside voices and appropriate language.
• Keep hands and feet to self.
• No eating snacks and drinking beverages while on the bus.
• No throwing objects.
• No vandalizing the exterior or interior of the bus.
• Follow all directions given by the bus driver.

Universal Breakfast

Again this year all students will be served a universal breakfast in the classroom upon entering each day. Breakfast will be free for all students. Students are not required to take breakfast, but it will always be offered. As students arrive, multiple breakfast stations will be set up for students to grab breakfast and go to their classrooms.

Lunch

All students will receive free lunch again for the 2024 - 2025 school year. Students will receive their PIN numbers the first day of school and are able to go through the lunch line daily and make their lunch selection. Encourage your students to take advantage of receiving lunch. Our cafeteria staff prepare some wonderful selections including salad boxes, fresh subs, and of course we still have pizza days!

Lunchtime for students is an important social time of the school day for our students to develop friendships, learn socialization skills, and to engage in lunch bunches with teachers, support staff, and various school staff. While we do have cafeteria rules and staff to monitor student safety, we do hope that students find this time to engage in the social aspect of lunchtime.

Due to our capacity limits, parents/guardians are NOT permitted to have lunch on site with their child. We cannot host visitors in our cafeteria or other locations in the building. At times families want to have a birthday lunch with their child, stop by as a surprise, or check in when the student had a difficult morning. Please know that to maintain the safety of all students these visits are not permitted.

The staff at Villa Cresta Elementary School are excited to welcome you to a new school year filled with opportunities to learn and engage! This year we are continuing to focus on ensuring that our students have the support they need to be successful in school, including strong attendance. A child is identified as chronically absent if they are absent 10.0% or more of the school year. The state expectation for attendance is 94%. Based on the research regarding chronic absenteeism, BCPS and MSDE consider any day missed as an absence counting towards the identification of your child as chronically absent. Please send in a note when your child returns from an absence so that your child’s absences can be accurately recorded.

Getting into the habit of daily attendance is important. It helps to:

• reduces stress
• makes it easier to connect with friends and teachers

• supports learning

Our staff is also committed in helping our families if they are experiencing difficulties with attendance. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us so we can meet with you to brainstorm supports and provide potential resources to assist your family.

In elementary school years and even into middle school, birthdays are exciting and very special days for children. This is why we announce birthdays each morning on announcements. Many of our teachers also recognize the special day with a sticker, birthday crown, special helper of the day, and more. This is just a small way to recognize your child's special day. School however is not the appropriate place to celebrate birthdays with parties and large celebrations. This distracts from the learning environment and is not inclusive to all of our students. Balloons, flowers, cupcakes, pizza, etc. will not be permitted in the classroom or cafeteria for birthdays or other celebrations. We must be mindful of student allergies and families who elect not to celebrate these events.

While food is not permitted, many families have elected to donate a book to the classroom library or a game, ball, hula hoop, etc to the recess bin in the classroom in your child's honor. If you wish to send in a small token to each student to honor the day, items such as pencils, erasers, stickers, and notepads are exciting non-food rewards.

In the event you wish to recognize your child's special day with a token for the whole class, please check ahead of time with the teacher to ensure the item is acceptable and to provide advanced notice for scheduling purposes. Families will not be permitted to arrive with items without scheduling with the teacher in advance.

Below is a listing of BCPS approved non-food celebration and reward ideas to celebrate your child's special day!

Villa Cresta Elementary School follows Superintendent's Policy and Rule 5470, Wellness which states: The Office of Food and Nutrition Services will establish procedures for healthy party ideas for parents and teachers, including non-food celebration and rewards ideas. Additionally, foods and beverages should not be consumed for educational purposes, except as defined in the general curriculum, or when indicated on a child's IEP or 504 Plan. Unless a classroom snack is requested of you from the classroom teacher, please do not send any type of shared snack or food to your child's classroom. We have many students with specific health and dietary needs as well as allergies that sending and consuming outside food items could result in life threatening allergic reactions. Thank you for your understanding and collaboration.

*Please note that this does not apply to the snack/lunch you pack for your student to eat at lunch or assigned snack time in our early childhood classrooms.

Please do not send deliveries to the school for students, as deliveries are disruptive to the educational program. Balloons, flowers, and similar items delivered to school will not be delivered to your child's classroom to avoid disruption to the instructional day. At the end of the day, the student will be allowed to pick-up their item privately in the office. If your student in a bus rider, this may result in a call for you to pick up your child and their item as we will not send balloons or items too large for a student to safely manage on the bus.

Students and teachers cannot hand out individual invitations to out-of-school birthday parties or get-togethers before, during, or after the instructional day. The delivery of these items by school staff many times result in peer conflict and hurt feelings of those not invited. Student directory information is not able to be shared with families such as mailing addresses or phone numbers.

If generic invitations are provided for all students, teachers will do their best to place one in each students take home folder.

All students were sent home with their devices from last year. Students need to bring their charged device to school.

It is important for families to know that missing or damaged devices and missing chargers will result in an invoice sent home to families.

Students new to Baltimore County Public Schools (kindergarten or transfer students) will be assigned a device within the first two weeks of school.

Website: https://villacrestaes.bcps.org/
Location: 2600 Rader Avenue, Parkville, MD, USA
Phone: 443-809-5275
Facebook: facebook.com/VillaCrestaPTAparkville