Gator Families
Please ensure your child wears a coat, hat and gloves to school. It is going to be extremely cold. If you need any of these items, please contact latroy.fowlkes@fcps.org. We would be more than happy to support you in any way that we can. I also recommend writing your child's name on their winter apparael as our lost and found items begin to stack up.
I am very proud of our students and their tremendous effort. We recently took the middle of year diagnostic assessments that measures student's growth on reading and math grade level content. Our students were relentless in their work, used scratch paper, and many of our students made signficant gains, even surpassing the growth students are expected to make by the end of the year. I love our students and the tremendous work and kindness they exhibit. Please encourage your child to continue being respectful, responsible, and relentless.
Week of January 27th
Monday: Dental Clinic at MoES
Tuesday: Mobile Dentist at MoES
Thursday: Spelling Bee Make Up Day #2
Friday: Alice McReynolds, lead custodian, Retires
Week of February 3rd
Thursday: K & 5th Awards at 9:30, 1st and 3rd Awards at 11:00, 2nd and 4th Awards at 12:30
Friday: 6:00 - 8:00 PTA Event
Week of February 10th
Friday: Grade Level Kindness Parties (details will come from child's teacher)
Week of February 17th
Monday: No School
Friday: 2 Hour Early Dismissal Day (1:35)
Week of February 24th
Tuesday: Fire Drill
Thursday: Interims Sent Home
Thursday: 5th Grade Families: Incoming 6th Grade Parent Night at MoMs (6:30pm), Snow Date 3/4 @ 6:30pm
Morning Drop Off
–Begins at 8:45am, when the bell rings.
–Drop off before 9:13 am. If staff no longer on the sidewalk, drive to the front office for a late slip (students need to be in class by 9:15 am).
Drop off on the sidewalk only. Do Not drop off students on grass. First car will be prompted to move to the first line on the sidewalk to allow more cars to drop off their children.
–We are encouraging the independence of our students so please help them learn to unbuckle their car seats when pulled up to the sidewalk. If you need assistance with unbuckling your child, please turn on your flashers, stay in your car, and staff will help to safely get your child out. This will save time and speed up our process as parents won’t leave their car, unbuckle, return to car, etc.
–Please do not pull in the middle and park unless directed by staff. Students who are car riders must be dropped off in the line and exit their car on the sidewalk. Pull all the way forward. This ensures a SAFE process for all of our students.
-Never drive around a car in line unless directed by staff
–If you need to enter a building, you will need to come through the front of the building.
Afternoon Pick Up
–Dismissal Begins at 3:35 pm from the gym
–Students will be dismissed from the gym to a designated number on the sidewalk. This is based on your location in line. Students and cars will need to pull to that spot and be loaded from the sidewalk.
-Please stay in your car. Staff will assist students if necessary.
–If your child is running late, you will be asked to pull into the middle and then directed by staff to rejoin the line to exit the parking lot.
ATTENDANCE MATTERS
We want your child here! No tutoring or make-up work will ever replace the experience of your child being in class!
Help your child get to school by doing these things: Click Here
-Absence/Doctor notes can be emailed to moes.attendance@fcps.org or sent in with your child once they return to school. This email is checked daily but due to the high volume of emails received daily, you will not receive a reply other than an automated message. If you have a specific question regarding attendance and need an immediate response, please call the Front Office at 227-203-1520, or email our Attendance/Registrar Secretary at Jennifer.leitzel@fcps.org .
Many students may have received a new phone or electronic device over the holidays. Some students are exploring new sites and chats. Please supervise your child's online activity. This isn't because you don't trust them, this isn't because you are overbearing, this is because you care about him/her.
Group chats start innocent and then someone begins putting down someone else, excluding that person from the chat and bringing others into the chat: THIS IS BULLYING
Students impersonate another student: THIS IS ILLEGAL
Students compare themselves to others, begin feeds of related topics, student self-image goes down: THIS RESULTS in SIGNIFICANT MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS INCLUDING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS
There are people out there on these chats and programs not your childs age: THIS is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS to YOUR CHILD'S SAFETY
Our children are vulnerable and we MUST protect them. Set restrictions, discuss your expectations, open the lines of commnication that they can speak to you on what is going on, and MONITOR your child's devices. If issues come into school regardless of when the issue took place it becomes a school disciplinary issue. My concern is your child's well-being and how to protect them. Let's work together to ensure our kids stay safe!
Occasionally, inclement weather and other safety or health conditions require FCPS to close, delay opening or dismiss early.
Closing and delay decisions involve careful evaluation of a variety of factors in a short time period. Whenever possible, decisions are made by 5 a.m. for morning closings and delays (with communications by 5:30 a.m. posted on the web, FCPS TV channel 18, and via FindOutFirst to Facebook and Twitter) and by 10 a.m. for early closings, announced soon after.
Email and text message delivery typically take longer than the FOF posts to Facebook and Twitter take, though the FCPS FindOutFirst service publishes them all--email, texts, Facebook and Twitter content--at the same time. Notification on other media's stations may be later; always check to see that the reference on other media is to FCPS MARYLAND, as there is also a Frederick County Public Schools district in Virginia!
Because weather can change quickly and forecasts aren't always certain, it's rarely possible to determine delays or closings the night before. But we always make the decision as soon as we can be sure of the weather and travel conditions, and we begin communicating the decision right away.
FCPS doesn't usually announce that schools are open or operating on schedule, only that they are closed, delayed or dismissing early. If we haven't announced otherwise, schools are open on time.
Regardless of what FCPS decides, if you believe weather conditions are hazardous or unsafe, you have the right to keep your child home from school. Student absences because of hazardous weather conditions are lawful and excused.
How to Find Out
FCPS notifies about 30 local and regional TV and radio stations plus our own media outlets about systemwide school delays and closings. It is not possible to guarantee that the news media will announce this information promptly or accurately. For the fastest, most reliable information, check the following:
- www.fcps.org
- Social Media: FCPS on Twitter and FCPS on Facebook (usually posted via FindOutFirst)
- Email/Text Messages: email and emergency-only text messages (published the same time as the Facebook and Twitter notices)
- FCPS TV: Comcast Channel 18 (Frederick area)
Note: FCPS social media and fcps.org are the fastest ways to get emergency notices. Email and text notices can take longer because of the volume of messages that require acceptance from a wide variety of Internet Service Providers.
All emergency notices come from FCPS Public Affairs Department. Emergencies include schools closing due to weather, power outages or the like. SMS text messages are sent only when schools are unexpectedly closing. [Public Affairs does not typically send immediate email about lockdowns, most of which are precautionary and brief.]
“It is unlawful for students to possess or use any weapon on school property. Students who have or use a weapon on school property will be suspended from school, and the police will be notified of the incident. A weapon is any object designed to harm another physically or an object which is used in a way that can physically harm another. This school is committed to providing each of you with a safe environment, and we will do all we can to carry out that responsibility including, if necessary, conducting searches of student lockers.”
We are hosting a winter book fair this year the week of Feb. 10th-14th! If you are able/willing, please sign up to help out!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090D4AACAF23A7FD0-53620334-moes#/
Community Phone List (English)
Community Phone List (Spanish)
FCPS Special Education Family Resource Center. Save the date. Mark your calendars! February 21st, 1:00pm-4:00pm at 250 Madison st Frederick MD 21701.
- If a family has an unexpected financial change, in their income, they can apply for FARM (Free/Reduced Meals) any time throughout the year at https://linqconnect.com/main.
- If at any time during the school year you experience a change of income and would like to fill out an application for Free/Reduced Lunches, please reach out to Mrs. Arnold at andrea.arnold@fcps.org and she will be happy to assist you.
- In order to help get lost coats/jackets back to the students, please practice putting your child's name on an inside tag so they can be returned to them.
- Please refrain from picking up your child from the front office after 3:15. Classes are preparing for dismissal and busses are arriving after 3:15. After that time please use the car rider line, around back, for pick up.
- Dismissal Changes: Please call before 3:00, when possible, to make changes your child's normal dismissal routine.
- Our doors open at 8:45am and students should be in their classroom by 9:15 when the bell rings. Being in the classroom before the bell rings allows the students to prepare themselves for the day, eat breakfast if they choose to and socialize with their classmates.