Rising Sun Elementary Tiger News

Welcome to the Rising Sun Tiger News -Family Edition for Rising Sun Elementary. Each Sunday, this email will be delivered to your inbox with information about what is happening at Rising Sun Elementary. We hope to be able to provide you with important information on a regular basis to help you support your student. Please feel free to email us with any questions!

Tuesday, September 3

First Day of School for ALL students!

Wednesday, September 4

1:45 Dismissal

Wednesday, September 25

Open House - 5:30-6:30

The first day of school for all Cecil County Public Schools is Tuesday, September 3rd. We strongly encourage your student to arrive/dismiss from school via the route they will be using during the school year.

Rising Sun Elementary School Hours are as follows:

Homeroom 8:45-9:00am (Students marked "tardy" after 9:00 and will need to be signed in in the main office.)

Instruction Begins 9:00am

Dismissal Begins 3:25 (Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri)

Dismissal Begins 1:45 (Wednesday)

By now, you should have received an email stating your child's homeroom teacher. If you did not receive either a letter or an email, please call the main office.

New for the 2024-25 School Year, ALL students, regardless of income level, receive a free breakfast. Unless students qualify for Free School Meals, lunches will need to be purchased by students.

Breakfast and lunch are served daily. Families will have to fill out FARMs applications in order to qualify for Free School Meals EACH YEAR. To complete the application online, please click the link below or scan the QR code.

https://www.myschoolapps.com/Application

Parents are encouraged to take advantage of our computerized School Cash online payment website to add funds to your child’s meal account. All meal account checks should be made payable to RSES Food & Nutrition and should not include payment for any other school activity. Please include your child’s name and “meal account” in the memo section of the check. Parents are expected to rectify negative balances in their child’s account. These negative balances do not clear at the end of a school year and also carry over from school to school within the county.

Costs:

Breakfast - Free for ALL students

Lunch $2.90 (Reduced cost= Free)

Milk $ .55

To add funds to your child's meal account, please visit: https://ccps.schoolcashonline.com/

County menus are planned around a four-week cycle. Menus will be distributed during the first week of each month and are also available on the Food Services website. Free and reduced lunch service is available throughout the year upon request. The information is confidential and will be used only to determine eligibility.

The CCPS Textbook Review Council is a county level committee composed of staff and parent representatives across the county. When a new textbook is being considered for adoption, it is first piloted by teachers of that course. The council will then meet to review text information and student data by the instructional coordinator and content area teachers who were part of the pilot process. Council members then have a month to review the book and submit feedback, questions, and their recommendation regarding adoption or rejection of the text to the Board of Education. This thorough vetting of available texts through the piloting and review process means we are bringing forth the best candidates of texts for our students.

Rising Sun Elementary School is currently seeking parent representatives to serve on this committee. If you are interested, or have addition questions, you can contact Mrs. Isaac by phone or email at 410-378-4493 or sisaac@ccps.org

Throughout the year, we have families reach out asking about how they can contact families for things like play dates or birthday party invites. According to county policy, we can't distribute party invitations in school but we can collect the contact information from those families that wish to share it. If you would like your contact information added to a family directory, please complete the form below. The only information that will be shared is the information that you add to the form. So, if you only want your email address shared, only fill in that piece of information after the required questions. Your information will only be shared with the families in your child's class. Additionally, if you choose not to share your information for the directory, we will not be able to share the class directory with you. **If you have multiple children, please complete a form for each child. This will allow us to efficiently sort the information for distribution. ***

The form will close on Friday, September 27, 2024. After that time, you will not be able to add your information to the Family Directory.

Click here to complete the Family Directory form.

All of the bus information for students returning September 3rd was sent out via email last week. If you did not receive this information, please first check your SPAM folder, then contact the main office. This information is to be a reminder of the bus information for those students that are using bus transportation. The times are subject to change due to traffic and road conditions as well as students being added or deleted. As a reminder, I encourage you to download the free “WheresTheBus” parent app at www.ccps.org/86 to know when your student’s bus will arrive.

This app utilizes GPS technology on our school buses to allow you as a parent to know when your child’s bus will arrive at their bus stop right from your phone or computer. The system also provides the CCPS Transportation Services Department and bus contractors with additional capabilities to even more effectively manage the bus fleets. It is important to note that in order to maintain information security, you will need to provide your child’s student ID number, date of birth, and provide email confirmation before you will be able to utilize the app. Please carefully read the information below before completing the app registration:

• You should register at www.wheresthebus.com prior to trying to access the app. This works most effectively on a computer and not a cell phone.

• IMPORTANT: Please note the following prior to accessing the online registration: o You will need to know your student’s ID number and date of birth in order to register. Contact your child’s school if you need assistance in finding this information. o If you have more than one student in CCPS, be sure to enter ALL students' names and ID numbers when you register. The app will not allow you to add additional students after registration is complete.

• Visit the website www.wheresthebus.com and select “Set up an account” under “Parents” then select Cecil County Public Schools from the District drop-down menu.

• Upon completing the login information, you will receive an email confirmation.

• You can download the WheresTheBus app from Android and Apple app stores, and will be able to login with the information that you provided during registration.

If you have difficulties in downloading the app or completing the online registration, contact Customer Support at support@wheresthebus.com. The support team will reply within twenty-four hours.

Any student arriving to school NOT by bus, should be dropped off in the car rider loop. You do not need to register as a car rider for drop-off. The doors will open at 8:40am and students will be directed to the cafeteria to wait for the bell to ring. Please do not dismiss students from your car until staff members are present. Students may not be dropped off in the parking lot or bus loop. Doors will close promptly at 9:00am. If you arrive later than 9:00am, please park in the front lot, not the bus loop, and follow signage to the main office to sign your student in.

Car Rider Loop

• Parents wishing to utilize the car rider loop for dismissal must fill out the Car Rider Loop Sign-up Form. This form will be available during the back to school social.
• Students are not permitted to be picked up in the car rider loop unless a legal guardian has filled out the proper form.

Office Sign Out

• Students may be signed out from our office until 3:15pm (1:35 on Wednesday) for early dismissal. After 3:15pm we ask that you wait in the cafeteria, not the main lobby. After 3:15, any parent pick up students signed out will be held in the classrooms and be dismissed after all buses have been dismissed. This is for the safety of our students and staff members.
• Sending in a note with your student regarding early dismissal is recommended as this helps the teachers with relaying homework and other classroom news before the student leaves for the day.

Attention Volunteers!

We look forward to having volunteers come into our school to help the students and staff. For safety reasons, all volunteers helping in school are required to attend an orientation every year. At the orientation, new volunteers will complete a background check form that, if approved, is valid for 2 years.

The Orientation time being offered is:

Tuesday, 9/24 @ 2:30pm in the Cafeteria

Thursday 9/26 @ 8:00am in the Media Center

After the Orientation, and when your background check is approved, then we will be happy to have your help! We will contact you when you are approved so you can contact your child’s teacher to discuss when you would be able to come into school to volunteer.

We are excited to have your help here at school and look forward to seeing you at an Orientation!

Questions or RSVP: Contact Jo Ann Sowers jsowers@ccps.org

Welcome back, Tigers! I am looking forward to another great year at RSES as your School Counselor. Please reach out if you have any student concerns or questions for the upcoming school year. I am available by phone - 410-658-5925, email - krragan@ccps.org, or conference by request.

Hi all! I wanted to introduce myself before I get started with important information. I am the new school nurse, Heather Hartnett. I am transferring in from Conowingo Elementary. Prior to that, I worked at Exceptional Care for Children with intensive needs children. I absolutely love doing community nursing and working in pediatrics! I am very excited to be at Rising Sun Elementary. This is truly a dream come true.

With the start of the new school year, I want to remind all parents:

• Medications must be brought to school with a completed authorization form by an adult. Authorization forms are available in the school office at any time. Students may not keep medications in their backpacks. This includes Tylenol, Motrin, allergy medication, and cough drops. Please do not send medications in backpacks, as you risk the medication getting into tiny hands at school! Help me help our kids stay safe!
• I will be available at the meet and greet to collect any forms, hand out forms, and collect medication prior to your child’s first day of school.
• No more than a month supply of daily medication can be kept at the school. You will have to replenish daily medication as it runs out. I will send reminders home with your child as needed.
• All immunization records are due to school by the first day. If you have questions or have misplaced any form, please contact our office or stop in so that we may replace it.
• It is very important to notify the School Nurse of any known allergies so that information can be shared, confidentially, with your child's teacher and our kitchen staff as needed.

RSES School Nurse - Mrs. Heather Hartnett, hnhartnett@ccps.org

The PowerSchool Parent Portal and App will re-open on the first day of school, September 3. Parents are required to change their account password when first logging in for the school year. To do so, parents must visit the PowerSchool Parent Portal login page (https://cecilcountysis.powerschool.com/public/) and log in using their current account credentials. If the user is unsure of those credentials, a Forgot Username and Forgot Password link is available to complete the initial login process. Upon logging in, they will be sent to the password reset page to complete the password change process. Passwords must be at least 12 characters in length and must contain at least 1 uppercase letter, 1 lowercase letter, 1 special character, and 1 numeric character.

App users must complete the process using the online portal and after successfully changing their password, users can log into the app to resume using this tool.

Looking for resources to support your child at home? Check out the Math Engagement at Home ideas below.

• EnVision Family Engagement Overview

• EnVision K-5 Family Engagement Website

• K

• 1

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• 5

Special Education Citizens Advisory Committee: New Year, New Topics! Please join us for our first SECAC meeting of the year. September 26, 2024, from 6:00-7:30 pm at the Administrative Services Building 900 North East Road. We want to hear from you!

Once again, Rising Sun Elementary will be hosting the YMCA for Before and After Care right at the school. If you are looking for childcare before and after school, checkout the flyer below to see what the YMCA has to offer to our students.

If your child is in need of immunizations, please see the flyer below.

Email: mrmartino@ccps.org
Website: https://www.ccps.org/rses
Location: 500 Hopewell Road, Rising Sun, MD, USA
Phone: (410)-378-4493
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Rising-Sun-Elementary-School-335513993505830