At Amidon-Bowen Elementary School, students will be accepted, appreciated, nurtured, and challenged according to their individual needs. Through their education at school, students will gain the skills, strategies, and desire necessary for continued learning. They will also develop a strong sense of responsibility for themselves and toward each other, their community, and the Earth's resources.

At Amidon-Bowen Elementary School, staff will use various sources of data to drive instruction and promote individual growth. We will foster collaboration among adults in service of our students. We will align resources to support our students and their needs; foster their unique identities, and create and sustain a responsive, inclusive, diverse, safe, and welcoming school community.

Hello Families!

Happy New Years! We sincerely hope that everyone had a great winter break with friends and family.

The school, much like you, is tracking potential winter weather for Monday, January 6th. We follow DCPS weather policy which can be found here. Decisions to close or delay open schools are made by the Mayor. DCPS will communicate weather closings on local news, the DCPS website, and DCPS Social Media. The school will send out any relevant updates via the Remind App as well.

Related to weather, we try to have students participate in outdoor recess as often as possible. When the feel like temperature is below freezing, we do implement indoor recess and also in door dismissal. Please help us keep students healthy by sending them with weather appropriate outerwear such as coats, hats, and gloves.

We are also pleased to have a parent facing calendar now on our website (Thank you to the PTA for ALL of their hard work keeping the site updated). Please be sure to add the Amidon-Bowen webpage (https://www.amidonbowen.org/) to you places to see upcoming events as they are scheduled.

Instructionally, we are also about to begin our K-5 Middle of Year (MOY) testing. This is a great chance to see how much out students have grown and to reflect and adjust to ensure students are all making progress toward their full potential. We will share the scheduled testing windows. Please help us by making sure students get a good night of rest and are at school on time for testing.

As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions, concerns, or feedback at bruce.jackson2@k12.dc.gov.

Respectfully,

Leadership Team

Please provide some feedback on suggested budget priorities for next school year using the below form:

Budget Input - Parents/guardians

In addition, come and talk with Principal Jackson at the Principal's Coffee on January 14th, 2025 at 8:30am.

Do you have a child who will be of age for Pre-K 3 or Pre-K 4 next year that doesn't already go to Amidon-Bowen ES? If so, it's time to apply for a Pre-K seat via the MySchoolsDC lottery!

The lottery application is now open and must be completed by March 3rd, 2025! Even if you live in boundary, all NEW pre-K families must apply via the lottery.

Visit the MySchoolsDC Website here.

Indoor Dismissal Policy (Kindergarten - 5th Grade) - Whenever rain, snow, or temperature dictates it, we will shift our indoor dismissal location to the gym instead of the cafeteria. Parents will still enter the playground through the side gate but will report to the gym entrance doors. At 3:15pm, the gym doors will open and parents will pick their students up from their grade level lines and exit back out to the playground. This will allow for a more orderly cafeteria for our aftercare students. Pre-K dismissal will remain the same.

Volunteering/Field Trip Chaperone - In order to volunteer on campus at events or to chaperone a field trip, all individuals need to be cleared by DCPS. Please consider getting cleared now because the process does take some time, and we are not allowed to send chaperones on trips without completed clearances (there are no exceptions here). Directions on the process can be found here. If you have an active clearance, please email the clearance letter to Ms. Green (kirstin.green@k12.dc.gov) and Principal Jackson (bruce.jackson2@k12.dc.gov) so we can ensure our records are up-to-date.

Breakfast/Lunch Menu - Interested in what's for Breakfast or Lunch? Here is a link to the menu for the month!

January 14th - Principal's Coffee (Topic: Budget Priorities for SY 25-26) @ 8:30am

January 15th - LSAT Meeting @ 5:30pm

January 17th - No School for Students

January 20th - School Closed

January 23rd - 5pm - ECE Parent Discovery Night (for incoming Pre-K families)

January 27th - No School for Students

January 28th - 7pm [Virtual Only] - ECE Parent Discovery Night (for incoming Pre-K families)

Website: amidonbowen.org
Location: 401 I Street, SW Washington, DC 20024
Phone: 202-724-4867