Greetings Southwest Academy Families,

Happy Thanksgiving week! As we begin Week 14, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude for our amazing SWA community. Your support and partnership mean so much to us, and we’re thankful for all the ways you help make Southwest Academy such a special place for learning and growth.

A quick reminder about this week’s schedule:

• Wednesday, November 27th: Schools and Offices close 3hrs. early
• Thursday, November 28: Schools and Offices closed for Thanksgiving.
• Friday, November 29: Schools and Offices closed for Thanksgiving holiday.

Week 13 Highlights:

• Math Bingo Night: A fun and engaging evening! Thanks to everyone who helped make it a success.
• Scholastic Book Fair: The book fair was a hit! Many students picked out new books to get excited about.
• Donuts with Dudes: It was great to see so many families participating and enjoying this special event.
• American Education Week: We had a fantastic week of grade-level visitations, connecting with families and showcasing the great work happening in our classrooms.

Quarter 1 Grade-Level Awards:

Congratulations to all students who earned recognition during our Quarter 1 Grade-Level Awards! It was wonderful to see their hard work and dedication celebrated. A big thank you to all staff who helped organize and make the event a success!

Food Drive:

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated in our Food Drive! The generosity shown by our staff and students has been incredible. The drive will conclude today, and we are excited to support those in need in our community.

Winter Sports:

Tryouts are still underway and will wrap up by Tuesday next week. Best of luck to all of our student-athletes! We look forward to announcing the teams shortly.

Let’s make this a productive and positive week as we prepare to enjoy the holiday with loved ones. Wishing you and your family a safe, joyful, and restful Thanksgiving!

With gratitude,

Mrs. Bomar

Please click the link: Focus Parent Portal and within you account, there's a Schoology link which allows you to view your child's current grades. Progress reports will be available this Friday, Sept. 27th.

Download the Talking Points app for quick and easy communication with your student's teachers.

Southwest Academy is a uniform school. Students should be in uniform daily. Please review the photo below. Students are not permitted to wear crew neck sweatshirt if they are not the color of their uniform shirt. If they need an outer layer, they can wear a sweatshirt that zips, a cardigan, long-sleeved t-shirt or a denim jacket.

Students will also be permitted wear Southwest Academy shirts.

This is Mrs. King, PTSA President, with a few reminders and announcements about upcoming events.

First, this is a reminder that World’s Finest Chocolate money is now past due, and as we do not have outside funding, we must have this money returned in order to continue operating. If you have not turned in your money, please do so ASAP. Money can be returned to the Main Office or you can call me to arrange a pickup (443.799.5708) or pay electronically to PayPal (swaptsa@outlook.com) or swaptsa.givebacks.com We still have a few boxes of chocolate available for anyone who wants to take a box. FYI- Due to a scheduling issue, we are now going to Dave & Buster’s in a limo (not Bowlero, but bowling will be included with D&B's). If there are any students that would now be interested in getting that prize, you must sell 7 boxes to qualify. Thank you!

Finally, PTSA memberships are available now. Adult memberships are $10 per person and student memberships are $5 per person. Anyone can join. You can pay by cash, check, or money order. You can also pay electronically via:

*PayPal (swaptsa@outlook.com) or

*Givebacks (swaptsa.givebacks.com) our one stop shop.

Our October Staff Heroes of the month are..... *DRUMROLL PLEASE*

Ms. Bright: ELA Department Chair

Ms. Evans: SPED AA

Ms. Smith: Math Para

Ms. Paige: IEP Facilitator

Our October Student Heroes of the month are..... *DRUMROLL PLEASE*

6th grade: Javion B., Jose L.

7th Grade: Kaylan D., Georsey S.

8th Grade: Vacho K., Joey S.

Congrats to this month's winners!

SWA students did an amazing job 1st Quarter! Here's the data 📊

29% -A * 28% - B 24% - C 11% - D 4% - E 80% - P

Congratulations to our Southwest Academy Team who has successfully completed all Safe Schools Online Training and ALICE. They were awarded Chic-Fil-A gift cards by BCPS Office of School Safety.

Mr. Martin, Mr. Suber, Mr. Leslie and Mr. Newman

We have partnered with BSN/Sideline Sports to offer merchandise options for students and staff. Order now and get an additional 20% off of your purchase. Use the link below to purchase.

Hello Tigers!!! The Winter Sports Season begins soon. Students can participate in Allied Bocce, Cheerleading or Boys/Girls Basketball. Tryouts for Allied Bocce will be held on November 20 and 22 from 3:00-4:00pm. Tryouts for Cheerleading will be held on November 19, 20 and 21 from 3:00-4:30pm. Tryouts for Boys/Girls Basketball will be held on Friday, November 15; November 19-20. Students must attend all tryout days. Once tryouts have concluded students will be notified through Schoology about their status on the team. Unfortunately, we cannot select all of the students that attend tryouts and being the best player does not automatically secure a spot on the team. The coaches will evaluate students in several ways. Some of the things we will be looking for are grades, attitude, behavior in school, skill, interaction with other students, coachability, and the ability to follow directions.

Parents must also upload a copy of the sports physical that states “student is cleared to participate in sports without restriction.” If the physical does not say those words, it will NOT be accepted. Lastly, parents must also upload a copy of the health insurance card. If insurance is needed, it is available at a discounted rate, contact Coach Cooper at rcooper@bcps.org for more information. Also remember that students must have at least a 2.0gpa and no more than one “E” in the previous quarter, the first quarter for the winter season. GO TIGERS!!!

For the 2024-2025 school year, there will be an intense focus on cross-curricular vocabulary instruction. In core content classes and on the morning announcements, students will be introduced to a word and given the opportunity to make connections with the word within their content, with the expectation of greater comprehension as well as increased MAP reading scores.

Help us reinforce this focus by asking your student what word is for the week and having them use the word at home. Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes progress.🙂

Nov. 27

• Thanksgiving Holiday Begins at the end of the school day; Schools and Offices Close 3 hours early

Nov. 28

• Thanksgiving Day; Schools and Offices Closed

Nov. 29

• Thanksgiving Holiday; Schools and Offices Closed

Dec. 2 and 3

• Lifetouch Photos

Dec. 12 @ 7:30am -8:30am

• Coffee and Conversation - use the QR code to sign up