Clearspring Howl

We are so excited to welcome back our teachers to school tomorrow to prepare for the beginning of the school year. We hope everyone is enjoying the last week of summer together. As we all prepare to get back into the routine of school we recommend starting to consider getting students in the habit of their school year bedtime routines. We know how hard it can be to get going in the morning and we want all our students to feel rested and ready for the day.

For the first day of school, we are asking that all students travel to and from school the way they will be travelling each day. We know there is an urge to drive students to school on the first day but having each of our students start their school routine from day one is very important. Parents are welcome to follow the bus to see their students walk into the building on the first day as we know first days of school are special, especially for our pre-k and kindergarteners.

Thank you to everyone who came out to get their teacher scratch off ticket. We loved meeting so many of you. If you weren't able to make it, you can come into the office early this week to get your student's scratch off. Please don't call the office for this information. All teachers will be sending their welcome postcards this week.

Our Sneak Peek on Friday is open to all students and their families to visit their classrooms and meet their new teachers. You may also bring in any school supplies and donations, such as hand sanitizer, tissues etc with you on Friday so your student isn't carrying too much on the first day.

We look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Please find information regarding transportation to and from school below. Unfortunately, we are still waiting on our Magnet Bus Routes, the moment we receive them we will send them out and update our website.

Department of Transportation Letter (English) (Spanish)

What you should know about riding the bus (English) (Spanish)

2024-2025 Clearspring Arrival Bus Routes

2024-2025 Clearspring Departure Bus Routes

2024-2025 Clearspring Magnet Arrival Bus Routes

I am aware that our Magnet Bus Routes are not super accessible for all of the schools we pull from and have reached out to transportation to see if there is anything that can be done to make them better support the families we have this year.

Lunch is provided at a cost of $2.55 per meal. The application for free and reduced meals is below.

• MySchoolBucks is an optional service for parents to view recent purchases and make prepayments to a student's school meals account for breakfast, lunch, and à-la-carte meals online, using a credit or debit card.
• Parents can manage their child's school meal payments by creating a secure online account.
• Payments to student accounts through MySchoolBucks is an option and not a requirement.
• Please note that there is $2.49 transaction fee charged for each credit/debit card payment made with MySchoolBucks. Funds can continue to be added to student meal accounts at no charge by bringing cash or checks directly to school cafeteria managers.

MCPS is excited to adopt Amplify CKLA PreK-5 and Amplify Boost Reading K-5 across English Language Arts classrooms for the 2024-2025 School Year. There is a lot more information to come in the coming weeks, yet we wanted to make sure you were able to begin understanding how to best support your students.

Please see the letter below.

Donation request

The health room is looking for donations of gently used sweatpants size 5t-8/10 and new socks and underwear. If you've done some summer cleaning and are able to donate any sweatpants or have the opportunity to throw an extra pair of socks into your shopping cart, the Clearspring Health Room would really appreciate it.

Medication/Treatment Orders from your Health Care Provider

The medication/treatment authorization form(s) specific to your child's health/medication needs must be renewed at the beginning of each school year.

Maryland regulation dictates that we determine expiration dates as follows: (1) one year from the dispensing date on the pharmacy label or, (2) the expiration date on the medication package, whichever comes first.

To ensure your child's medication/treatment needs are met at the start of the school year submit medications/supplies, and completed forms to the health room on or after Friday, August 23, 2024. Please contact the health room in advance to ensure availability of School Health staff. Please be sure to include the appropriate medication forms, MCPS 525-13 (for oral medications, creams or inhalers) or the MCPS 525-14 (for epinephrine auto injectors, (treatment of anaphylaxis).

School health staff will review physician orders/medications. It is the parent/guardian responsibility to ensure that medications/orders are compliant with state regulation. Please do not send your child to school with medications. Per MCPS regulations, it is the parent/guardian responsibility to deliver physician orders/medications directly to School Health staff.

Thank you for your cooperation!

FREE AND REDUCED-PRICE MEALS SYSTEM (FARMS) APPLICATIONS Apply online NOW so students receive free meals on the first day of school! Households meeting identified federal income standards are eligible for free school meals. MCPS encourages all families who may be eligible, to apply. To receive this benefit, a new FARMS application must be completed every school year. Please submit the online FARMS application through www.MySchoolApps.com. Students not newly qualified for free meals will be charged the following meal prices. Only one application is needed for all students in a household.

Meal prices: Breakfast—$1.30; Lunch—$2.55 (Elementary), $2.80 (Middle and High) Students who qualify for reduced-price meals will receive meals at no charge!

Students use their MCPS ID number when receiving a meal, so confidentiality is maintained and no child is overtly identified as receiving free or reduced-price meals. Funds can continue to be added to student meal accounts at no charge by bringing cash or checks directly to the school cafeteria managers. There will be an increase in the transaction fee from $1.95 to $2.49 per transaction associated when adding funds to student meal accounts using the online My School Bucks software. For more information and How-To videos, visit the Division of Food and Nutrition Services (DFNS) website: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/foodand-nutrition/meal-payments/#FARMS MORE INFO HOW TO VIDEOS

Don't forget to joing the PTA this year. We look foward to working together with our amazing PTA to continue to make memorable experience throughout the year. You can reach out to your PTA Board anytime with comments, questions, suggestions Clearspring.PTA@gmail.com

Visit the website: https://ClearspringPTA.com/

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