Eagle Express

Yellow Springs will conduct our annual Drill Day on Friday, September 20th. This is a day when our school practices all of the different emergency drills so that students know where to go and/or what to do in case of an actual emergency. We have found that conducting all the drills at one time reinforces for students that they are just drills and allows them to differentiate between them. Administration and staff, will talk with all students and explain to them each drill prior to the drill occuring.

On our Drill Day we will be practicing the following emergency responses in accordance with state laws:

• Lockdown
• Evacuation
• Reverse Evacuation
• Shelter
• Drop, Cover, and Hold
• Severe Weather
• Avoid, Deny, Defend

As a reminder you can find more information on FCPS' Standard Response Protocol below.

Standard Response Protocol Information - English

Standard Response Protocol Information - Spanish

If you have any questions regarding this day or the drills we will be completing, please feel free to reach out to your child's teacher or Mrs. Wrzesinski.

As always, we thank you for your support and partnership.

Warm regards,

Hannah Feldman & Lisa Wrzesinski

September

18 - 4th Gr. Field Trip

19 - 2 hr. Early Dismissal - dismiss at 1:40 PM

19 - Quarter 1 mid-term

20 - Drill Day

20 - 3.5 hr Early Dismissal - dismiss at 12:10 PM

25 - PTA Mtg. 6:30-7:30 PM, virtual

October

2 - K Field Trip

3 - No School - Rosh Hashanah

7 - 4 hr. Late Start (school starts @ 1:15 PM) - Evening Conferences

8 - 4 hr. Late Start (school starts @ 1:15 PM) - Evening Conferences

9 - 3.5 hr. Early Dismissal - (dismiss at 12:10 PM) - Afternoon Conferences

Our goal each year is 96% attendance or better. The calendar is color-coded for your ease of reference:

• 96% or higher = green
• 93.1% - 95.9% = yellow
• under 93% = red

Our goal this year is to ensure that every student attends school regularly. The evidence is clear: children with good attendance are more likely to be successful in school. High attendance rates are linked to high student achievement. This is true for every grade – elementary, middle, and high school students. Every day a student is absent is a lost opportunity for learning. Too many absences not only affect achievement for the absent student but also can disrupt learning for the entire class.

Research shows that students who consistently miss school are at risk of lower academic achievement, failure and even dropping out of school altogether. If your child is healthy, she/he should come to school. There are many reasons for children to miss school, and some are unavoidable such as illness. Most children miss a few days of school each year without long-term consequences. However, when they miss many days, the effects are almost always negative.

Missing 10%, or more than two days a month, of elementary school can impact a child’s learning, social development and take them off track for developing attendance habits critical to success in school and later in life. We don't want your child(ren) to fall behind in school and get discouraged. Please ensure that your child(ren) attends school every day and arrives on time. Clearly going to school regularly matters!

Let us know how we can best support you and your children so that they can show up for school on time every day. We want your child to be successful in school!

Here is how we've been doing! The calendar below is color-coded for your ease of reference:

• 96% or higher = green
• 93.1% - 95.9% = yellow
• under 93% = red

Yellow Springs Elementary is excited to partner with family and community members who are interested in joining efforts to support our students and school with their time and talents by way of volunteering.

This year, FCPS has enhanced the volunteer process to prioritize the safety and security of our students, staff and community. As a result, we have added additional training to be completed by all volunteers across the county. These trainings will ensure our volunteers are equipped with the necessary information they need to partner with our schools.

Effective Monday, July 15, 2024, family and community members interested in volunteering should begin the volunteer process by visiting our new FCPS Volunteer Webpage. Applicants will be directed to:

1. Register for a guest account on Unified Talent (instructions available online)
2. Complete and pass two training modules on Unified Talent.
3. Complete the registration application in the Volunteer Center.
4. Await school approval on application.
5. Sign-up for volunteer opportunities facilitated by individual schools.

The volunteer training and registration process is completed annually for each school year. Volunteers must complete the process before being signing up for volunteer opportunities, which includes chaperoning field trips. FCPS encourages family and community members interested in volunteering to complete the process early as processing times have increased.

For technical support in Unified Talent, volunteer applicants may contact unifiedtalent@fcps.org. For all other volunteer related questions, volunteer applicants may contact: FCPSVolunteers@fcps.org. FCPS is grateful for the generous support from our family and community volunteers.

Free and Reduced Meals - All Free and Reduced Meal applications must be updated each year. Eligibility from last year will expire on October 3rd. After that time, if the application is not renewed and approved, children will be charged for meals. Please click here to apply for this benefit before October 3rd.

Basecamp is a new mental wellbeing platform for FCPS students and their parents/guardians.

Check out all Basecamp has to offer.

New this year we are initiating an Eagle Eyes Program! Our teachers are vigilant in monitoring students during recess. This means that there is little time for them to interact and engage with them. Our hope in creating an Eagle Eye cadre is to provide students with positive adult interaction and additional monitoring during this fun time of the day.

In order to become an Eagle Eye, you must complete the volunteer training (see above) and sign up for a time slot(s). When you arrive at the building for your volunteered time, just sign in at the office, pick up your Eagle Eye lanyard, and go enjoy the fresh air and fun with the kids!

Again this year, the front office must be notified of any dismissal changes by 3 pm, and for the safety of our students we will, again, only be accepting these changes in writing this year. Please either send a note with your child or email dismissal changes to yses.attendance@fcps.org before 3 pm. This will ensure our front office staff gets these notes to students in a timely manner.

The same as last year, students must be picked up by 3:00 pm if you would like them through the front office. After that time, you will need to get into the Car Rider line to pick up your child. Thank you for your assistance in ensuring our dismissal process is as smooth as possible.

Our building design plans and site plan have been approved both by the Board of Education and the City of Frederick. We are on our way!

Next up: the construction documents will be provided to the Board of Education for approval at their October 23rd meeting.

To visit the FCPS page, please click here:

https://www.fcps.org/capital-program/yses-replacement

Inspiration from our kids:

“It’s like my teacher says, people can change and you know what, I believe you can change and I’d really like it if we could be friends.” -3rd grade YSES student

Community Resources and Support

Eviction Prevention: Rental and Energy Assistance

Food Distribution: Frederick Rescue Mission

If you are looking for immediate mental health support for yourself or a family member and aren’t sure where to begin, you can dial 211 to reach the Mental Health Association’s resource line. It is staffed 24/7 365 days a year and they do not charge for the service.

In need or school supplies, food, a bed or other assistance? We would love to help however we can. Please contact your counselor listed below.

Lunch Bunches:

The Counseling Program at Yellow Springs includes opportunities for students to have small group lunches with the counselor and their peers to build friendships, organization, sportsmanship, leadership, anger, anxiety management skills and more.The counselors are also able to provide a limited number of individual checks ins and short term brief counseling for your student. Please use the following links to express interest based on the age of your student. Our fall groups will be formed and begin meeting in October.

Grades 3-5 Lunch Bunch or Individual Check In Interest Form

Grades K-2 Lunch Bunch or Individual Check In Interest Form

Weekend Lunch Program:

Yellow Springs is able to offer a limited number of families supplemental food and snacks for the weekends. We call it our Power Pack program. A “power pack” is a bag of non-perishable food, meant to supplement weekend meals on designated Fridays while supplies last. If your family has the need or would benefit from receiving the food offered in this program, please use this form to express interest.

Counselor Contact -

Corinne Carr, corinthian.carr@fcps.org - Grades PK-2

Laura Hanlon, laura.hanlon@fcps.org - Grades 3-5

Reminder - you can find all your child's grades on Schoology. Here are 3 videos on how to check your student's grades in Schoology.

https://youtu.be/tzjtwBsdJzg

https://youtu.be/HmnSLWmGrDc

https://youtu.be/94tfoBN32ME

Schoology Ambassador: Heather Hyatt, heather.hyatt@fcps.org

Please consider joining the PTA for YSES, we would love to have your support! Joining does not obligate you to volunteering, but we would love that as well.

Click here to join the YSES PTA

PTA Meeting

Our first PTA meeting of the year will be on Wednesday September 25th at 6:30pm. The meeting will be virtual.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83002627606?pwd=6VP5RRumVA5luaiohvSxgd1UMe0l8e.1

Meeting ID: 830 0262 7606

Passcode: 424916

Student Directory

We are still getting our directory set up and would love to include your families. Please fill out the form so your information can be included!

PTA Student Directory 2024-2025

Interest Survey

The PTA is looking for your input and ideas for the 2024-2025 School Year. Please complete this short survey and help us support YSES!

https://forms.gle/7khb44UQF6i6cX7T6

Citizenship Services

The Asian American Center of Frederick is offering citizenship services, from help applying for citizenship, to taking citizenship & English classes.

For English, click here

For Spanish, click here

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

SHP is an all-volunteer 501(C)(3) non-profit that builds twin beds and delivers them, FREE of CHARGE, to families in Frederick Co Maryland whose elementary, middle and high school kids ages 4-17 are sleeping on the floor, a couch or with their parents/guardians or siblings. Beds include NEW EVERYTHING: frames, mattresses, blankets, sheets, and pillows. In the last 5 years, the SHP chapter has delivered 1430+ beds to 766+ families in Frederick Co.

See the fliers for more information.

English Spanish

Yellow Springs Elementary

School Hours: 9:15am-4:15pm

Front Office Hours: 8:15am- 4:45pm

Email: Hannah.feldman@fcps.org

Website: https://education.fcps.org/yses
Location: 8717 Yellow Springs Road, Frederick, MD
Phone: 227-203-1080