TuES News Family Newsletter

Happy Friday Tuscarora,

Thank you to the many families who attended the PTA Bingo Night last evening. We especially thank you for supporting our Tuscarora Parent Teacher Association (PTA) through your time last evening and getting to know more about what our PTA does for Tuscarora.

Family Conferences are upon us, if you have not yet scheduled your conference, use the link in the newsletter to sign up for a conference. These are the conference days assigned by Frederick County Public Schools; our desire as a community is to remain connected and in communication all year long support the success of the students. As a reminder, conferences are for the adult family members, this is not a time for your student(s) to be present for the conference. Conference times are short and we ask that all be on time so every family has an opportunity to discuss progress with their classroom teacher.

Have a wonderful weekend - we will see you at 8:30 AM on Monday - the very last day of September, we can't wait to learn who will keep the Battle of Ballenger Creek Attendance Trophy!!

Carrie Zimmerman

Tuesday, October 1: October PTA Meeting 6:30 PM

Thursday, October 3: Schools Closed for Students and Staff

Monday, October 7: Parent Teacher Conferences At Night; School Day is 12:30 PM (Arrival) - 3:30 PM (Dismissal)

Tuesday, October 8: Parent Teacher Conferences At Night; School Day is 12:30 PM (Arrival) - 3:30 PM (Dismissal)

Wednesday, October 9: Parent Teacher Conferences; 3 1/2 Hour Early Dismissal (Dismissal at 12:00 PM)

Friday, October 18: Schools Closed for Students

Friday, October 25: End of Term 1; 2 Hour Early Dismissal (Dismissal at 1:30 PM)

Monday, October 28: Schools Closed for Students; Teacher Work Day

Tuesday, November 5: Election Day - FCPS Schools & Offices Closed

Tuesday, November 26: 2 Hour Early Dismissal (Dismissal at 1:30 PM)

Wednesday, November 27 - Friday, November 29: Thanksgiving Holiday; FCPS Schools & Offices Closed

Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS) has updated expectations for use of personal mobile devices (PMD). These are devices NOT provided by FCPS which include: cell phones, headphones, smartwatches, smartphones, speakers, and/or cameras. Non-FCPS issued laptops are NOT permitted. Exceptions will be made under special circumstances, including but not limited to documented accommodations.

For more information visit the FCPS Student Code of Conduct

Conferences with classroom teachers will be held on the evening of October 7, October 8, and the afternoon of October 9.Thank you for partnering with us to support your child’s education. Tuscarora Elementary will be holding Parent-Teacher conferences on October 7 (4-8 PM), October 8 (4-8 PM), and October 9 (12:30-4 PM).

To sign up for a conference, please go to https://www.ptcfast.com/schools/tues .

If you would like your conference to be virtual, please enter this in the special request field. Your child’s teacher will send you the conference link.

In order to get your student(s) to and from school each day, we need to know what this will look like. Confirm how your student(s) arrives at school and how they depart from school on a regular basis while at Open House, Monday, August 19 4:00 - 5:00.

Clarification about each modality is listed below:

A walker is a student who walks on/off school property to/from their home or care provider.

A car rider is a student who arrives/departs from a vehicle that enters/exits the school through the car rider line; the driver ALWAYS remains in the vehicle.

A bus rider is a student who arrives/departs using FCPS transportation and the Tuscarora bus loop. Bus Information will be available on or before August 10.

Please visit the TuES Family Handbook for additional specifics to our arrival/departure times, procedures and how to make a change if needed.

Hello from the PE Team,

Please and thank you for continuing to have your children wear sneakers/tennis shoes on their Physical Education (PE) days! This allows your children to be the most active and safe during our lessons in Physical Education class.

We wrapped up our soccer/kicking unit (2nd-5th) and locomotor movement unit (PreK-1st). We will continue to revisit various concepts/games from those units throughout the school year.

However we are moving on to our throwing/catching units (2nd-5th grade) and rolling and tossing units (PreK-1st grade). We will continue to go outside for class (weather permitting) until Mid-November, so please have your child/children bring jackets/sweaters to PE class if they need them.

Finally, We are super excited to welcome Cameron Lauer to our PE team. Mr. Lauer will be our student teacher from Towson University! He will be teaching with us from Mid-October until Mid-December.

Thank you for your continued support,

Mr. Hahn and Mr. Keimig

Thursday, November 21 6:00 - 8:00 PM Tuscarora Math Night

Thursday, January 9 6:00 - 7:30 PM Tuscarora Literacy Night

Thursday, January 9 7:00 - 8:00 PM Tuscarora Feeder Concert at Tuscarora High School

Thursday, March 13 6:00 - 7:30 PM Tuscarora STEAM Night

Thursday, April 10 6:00 - 8:00 PM Tuscarora Multicultural Night

Thursday, May 15 Field Day (during school hours)

Tuesday, May 20 7:30 - 8:30PM Tuscarora Feeder Grade 4 & 5 Spring Band Concert at Tuscarora High School

Wednesday, May 21 7:30 - 8:30 Tuscarora Feeder Grade 4 & 5

Spring Orchestra Concert at Tuscarora High School

Carryover Meal Benefits from the 2023-2024 school year are expiring on Thursday, October 3, 2024. Students who do not have a 2024-2025 meal benefits approval will have to pay for school meals beginning Friday, October 4.

The FNS office continues to process applications every day and utilizes the Maryland state database to automatically approve families who qualify for direct certification based on certain state assistance programs. As a reminder, Medicaid benefits do not automatically qualify families; only some families will receive direct certification based on Medicaid. Even if a student was approved last school year based on Medicaid, that may not be true for this school year.

On September 17, 2024, the FNS office sent “Parent Notification of Meal Benefits Eligibility Expiration” letters by email to parents of students with meal benefits expiring on Thursday, October 3, 2024.

Have you checked out our new website? All upcoming events, membership and the new member directory can be found there! Email us at Team.Tuscarora@gmail.com with any questions or feedback.

The PTA will be offering numerous after school clubs for students this year. We currently have two options for the fall:

iSTEAM will be offered on Tuesdays starting 9/24

Magnus Chess will be returning on Tuesdays starting 10/15.

We are looking at iCOOK and an ASL club for students in the Spring. If you have questions or suggestions for any other after school clubs, please reach out!

TUSCARORA TUESDAYS start on Tuesday, September 17 at Red Robin. The PTA will be hosting a restaurant fundraiser at different local restaurants on the third Tuesday of every month. A percentage of sales will benefit the PTA so we can support field trips, teacher appreciation and great school events! Any members of the PTA will be entered into a monthly raffle to a gift card to that month's Tuscarora Tuesday restaurant.

Our next PTA meeting will be Tuesday, October 1 from 6:30-7:30 in the Media Center. We will review the budget and plans for the year, as well as discuss tips to get the most out of parent-teacher conferences.

Parents whose children are daily car riders may request an additional car tag for a second vehicle by completing this form. We are unable to provide more than 2 car tags per family. This is only to request a second tag for families that already have an assigned family carline number.

https://forms.gle/MJgGQFi4Ab1q33FdA

Anyone who wants to volunteer in FCPS must complete the FCPS required volunteer training. The process to be a volunteer can take up to 72 hours once training has been complete to be eligible to volunteer. Check out the FCPS Volunteer Handbook to get started today.

FCPS is committed to systematically building school library collections that encourage a love of reading, are aligned to national and state guidelines, and adhere to local policies and regulations. This year FCPS will begin using a new feature that allows parents/guardians to select titles their children are not permitted to check out from the school library. This option will be managed through the platform that FCPS uses for its Library Management System, Library Solution for Schools (LS2). To opt-in to this feature and create an account, parents/guardians should complete this Opt-in form to initiate the process. Once submitted, additional instructions for account creation will be provided via email and the account will be activated within three business days.

Every student deserves a safe and supportive space to learn and grow. In Frederick County Public Schools, one of our core goals is the safety and well-being of all students. FCPS fosters an environment of respect, responsibility and trustworthiness.

Recently, several school districts in our region, including Frederick County, VA, and nationwide, have been addressing concerns related to vague social media posts. We want to assure you that there are NO safety threats to our schools.

If you have any safety concerns, please report them immediately to school staff and/or local law enforcement.

FCPS Communication Methods During Crises:

• Emergency Alerts: We use FOF/SchoolMessenger for emails and text messages with real-time updates.
• Website Updates: Information is posted on fcps.org.
• Social Media: Official FCPS channels on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) provide timely updates.
• Local Media: Important updates are shared with local news outlets. Please note the difference between FCPS, Maryland and FCPS, Virginia.

Thank you for helping us keep our community safe.

Email: TUES.Attendance@fcps.org
Website: https://edu.fcps.org/tues/home

Phone: 227 - 203 - 1260
Location: 6321 Lambert Drive, Frederick, MD 21703
Twitter: @TuES_Pack