Eagle News

Thank you for your incredible support with our students’ STEM Fair projects, and for attending STEM Night! Your engagement and encouragement made this event a huge success,. We loved seeing our students’ creativity and hard work on display. A special thank you to Ms. Hazlip and her committee for organizing this fantastic event. We appreciate the community's dedication to fostering a love of science, technology, engineering, and math!

We'd like to celebrate a few of our classes with strong attendance since the last publication of the Eagle News. Congratulations to Ms. Allwine's and Mr. Favero's classes for perfect attendance during the week of March 3, 2025. Congratulations to Mr. Richards’ class for their impressive attendance during the week of March 10, 2025. Keep up the great work! Consistent attendance supports student success.

We will publish the next Eagle Newsletter on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. If you need anything before then, contact me at Toi.Davis@pgcps.org or 301-985-1898.

Consistent attendance and on-time arrival are essential for student success. When students miss school, they miss valuable instruction and learning opportunities that can be difficult to make up. Being present and on time each day helps build strong academic habits and ensures they stay on track.

Newly identified families of students who have missed 10% or more of the school year as of the end of February will receive attendance letters in the mail during the week of March 27, 2025. If you have any questions or need support, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Let’s work together to prioritize attendance and student success!

The PGCPS Office of Communications and Community Engagement will continue to deliver timely communication that achieves our goals of safety, equity, and excellence.

Communication Tools

The Office of Communications and Community Engagement uses five key tools to reach audiences:

School Messenger

○ Email

○ Text/SMS

○ Robocall

Websites

○ PGCPS (www.pgcps.org)

○ PGCPS en español (www.pgcps.org/es)

Newsletters

○ Engage PGCPS (families and communities), weekly

○ Acción PGCPS (Spanish-speaking families and communities), weekly

○ Partner PGCPS (business, faith-based and nonprofit

groups), monthly

Social media

○ Facebook (@PGCPS)

○ Facebook en español (@PGCPSenespanol)

○ Twitter (@PGCPS, @DrMonicaCEO)

○ Instagram (@PGCPS)

○ LinkedIn

○ YouTube

PGCPS-TV

○ Verizon 38

○ Comcast 96

○ YouTube

○ Video-on-demand

Grade levels have planned field trips for students to enjoy between now and the end of the school year. Please double check your status to ensure you are an approved volunteer. should you want to volunteer on a field trip or at the school.

The steps for the approval process are below.

You must complete the volunteer approval process for each academic school year. To reinstate your SafeSchools account for SY '24-25, you will need to complete an updated registration form which can be found by clicking this LINK.

You can complete Returning Volunteers renewal applications in just four easy steps!

1. Use the email address you originally registered with and your existing volunteer identification number (VIN) to complete your application for the 2024 -2025 school year.
2. Click the green plus + sign below the Register Volunteer column to enter/edit your volunteer details that may have changed from the previous school year.
3. Read and sign the disclaimer statement.
4. Submit your application.
5. You will receive an email from SafeSchools in approximately 48 hours with the training plan for SY '24-'25.

Library Transformation Update

All library books have been packed up and removed from the media center. All other content has been removed, distributed, and discarded. This week, the old shelving will be removed and the media center painted.

I would like to thank the following individuals for volunteering or assisting with the removal and pack up of library materials and other content stored in the media center.

Christine Becraft

Megan Brisch

Glynda Brown

Maliheh Fakhar

Alison Hamer

Dorothy Hazlip

Joannett Johnson

Jaime McGaughey

Ada Moore

Kara Mundy

Danielle Tiley

Media Classes during the Transformation

All media classes will continue. Students can access digital content or ebooks through DESTINY (destiny.pgcps.org). Students are encouraged to use several ebook databases available on DESTINY such as SORA, TRUEFLIX, TUMBLEBOOK LIBRARY, TUMBLEMATH, and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC FOR KIDS.

2024-2025 PTA Executive Board2024-2025 PTA Executive Board

President: Kara Mundy

Co-Vice Presidents: Julia Rupert and Bernadette Jerome

Treasurer: Megan Brisch

Secretary: Merlyn Torres

Visit our website (https://www.upespta.com) to learn more about the PTA, how you can get involved, and to join the UPES PTA Listserv.

Have a question, suggestion, want to join a committee, or looking to reach out to the PTA team? Contact us: UPESPTABoard@gmail.com

Restaurant Night

The Habit Fundraiser – Wednesday, March 26th

Please join us for The Habit Restaurant Night! 20% of the restaurant sales will go towards the University Park Elementary PTA! If ordering in person, show the flyer or offer on phone to cashier when ordering or enter code GIVEBACK when placing your order at the in-restaurant kiosk, the app, or habitburger.com

Where: 4502 Van Buren Street, Riverdale Park, MD 20737

When: Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Time: 4:00pm to 9:00pm

See you there!!

Committee Updates and Volunteer Opportunities

Media Center Volunteer Days – Help Us With the Renovation!

Join us for two hands-on volunteer days to help complete the new Media Center!

Tuesday, April 1 | 3 PM – 6 PM – Furniture Build & Assembly
Wednesday, April 2 | 10 AM – 1 PM – Book Reshelving & Final Staging

No special skills needed—just a willingness to help! If you can’t make it, share this with someone who might be able to.

Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0445ACAD2CA1FF2-55670143-media

Azalea Classic: Registration OPEN! – May 10

Despite the cold and threat of more snow, spring really is just around the corner - and so is the Azalea Classic! If you have not registered you and/or your family yet, please do so here: https://runsignup.com/Race/MD/UniversityPark/AzaleaClassic

If you're interested in volunteering, you can learn more about the various volunteer needs (packet pick up, course marshals, etc.) and sign up directly on the race website: https://runsignup.com/Race/Volunteer/MD/UniversityPark/AzaleaClassic

We're busy soliciting local businesses for sponsorships for the race. If you have any connections, such as a contractor who has recently done work at your house, etc., that you would be willing to make an introduction to or share sponsorship information with, please reach out to upesazaleaclassic5k@gmail.com for more information. A big thank you to our sponsors who have already confirmed: Rise Investment Partners, JTCC, and Councilmember Eric Olson!

March 19-PTA Meeting-6:00 p.m.

March 31-Eid al-Fitr* (starts at sunset 3/30) – Schools and Offices Closed

April 4-Grading & Reporting Day for Teachers – 3-Hr. Early Dismissal for Students

April 14-21-Spring Break

April 22-School Resumes

May 16-Teacher Planning Half-Day – 3-Hr. Early Dismissal for Students

1. School finder...know what school your child belongs to… Buscador de escuelas... sepa a qué escuela pertenece su hijo... http://gis.pgcps.org/schoolfinder/

Registration requirements...know exactly what you need to register your child... / Requisitos de inscripción... sepa exactamente qué necesita para inscribir a su hijo...

https://www1.pgcps.org/registration/

2. Lunch...apply for free/reduced meals... / Almuerzo... solicitar comidas gratuitas/reducidas... https://www.myschoolapps.com/ |

Email: upark@pgcps.org
Website: https://www1.pgcps.org/universitypark/
Location: 4315 Underwood Street, University Park, MD, USA
Phone: 301-985-1898
Facebook: facebook.com/UniversityParkElementary-PGCPS
Twitter: @UPSoaringEagles