News-to-Know

Email: nadam@ccboe.com
Website: https://ryon.ccboe.com/
Location: 12140 Vivian Adams Dr, Waldorf, MD 20601
Phone: 301-645-3090
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JPRyonES/
Twitter: @JPRyonES

We hope everyone has the chance to enjoy the extended weekend as we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. All Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) schools and offices are closed Monday, Jan. 22. Students will return to school on Tuesday, January 23.

As we continue through the month of January, students will be taking the I-Ready assessments in reading and mathematics. Please speak with your child about the importance of working hard and persevering through each question!

As a reminder: Thursday, January 18 is the end of the second marking period! Report cards will be available on ParentVue January 29.

We are looking forward to a great week,

Nicholas Adam - Principal

Jen Toone - Assistant Principal

Kayla Hawkins - Assistant Principal

The J.P. Ryon Lightning Bolts did an awesome job during the CCPS Instant Challenge Day yesterday! Our students had creative ideas and worked very hard to complete each challenge. They received multiple compliments on how well they performed! Our entire school is proud of how far the team has come! Just a few tweaks and lessons and the Lightning Bolts will be ready for the regional tournament on February 24!!

January

• January 22: Semester Break Schools closed.
• January 23: 3rd Grade & 4th Grade Field Trip to CCPS Science Center
• January 29: Report Cards Posted on ParentVue.

February: National Black History Month

• February 2: Groundhog & Job Shadow Day
• February 7: 2-hour early dismissal — NO Pre-K Program
• February 13: CCPS BOE Meeting
• February 14: Valentine’s Day
• February 15: Title 1 DADvisory meeting @ 6:00 PM
• February 16: 2-hour early dismissal
• February 17: Random Act of Kindness Day!
• February 19: President’s Day. School/Office’s Closed!
• February 22: Bus Driver’s Appreciation Day!
• February 24: Destination Imagination Tournament
• February 26: Interims Reports Issued — Third marking period

March

• March 1: Read Across Charles County Day!
• March 4: MISA testing (5th grade)
• March 9: HITS Expo
• March 10: Daylights Savings Time (turn clocks forward 1 hour)
• March 12: CCPS BOE meeting
• March 13: 2-hr early dismissal
• March 16: CCPS Elementary Math Challenge
• March 19: First day of spring!
• March 25-29: Spring break week!

Please note on days that schools are delayed either one or two hours, breakfast will not be served. Please allow time for students to eat at home before leaving for school.

• Call the 24-hour information line at 301-934-7410 or 301-932-6655.
• Check the CCPS website at www.ccboe.com
• Follow on Twitter @ccps
• Check for Facebook updates at Charles County Public Schools.
• Text Messages from CCPS: Parents/guardians can opt-in to receive text message alerts from CCPS through School Messenger. Parents/guardians must have a cell phone number listed on their child's emergency notification card. To opt-in, text Y or YES to 67587. Users will then receive a confirmation text. Parents who change cell phone numbers during the school year must contact their child’s school to update their information. Text STOP to 67587 at any time to stop receiving text message alerts from CCPS. Standard text message rates by cell phone carriers apply. This feature is available only to parents and staff, as the system uses data included in CCPS records.
• Notification by Charles County CNS: Receive free email and text message notifications from the Citizen Notification Service (CNS). Visit http://www.charlescountymd.gov/CNS to sign up. Select Charles County Public Schools notifications.
• Notification by press release: CCPS will post a weather alert press release any time school status is affected by inclement weather. Subscribers receive our press releases by email the instant they are posted to our website. To subscribe, visit www.ccboe.com/pr and enter your email address in the "Subscribe" box.

Due to allergies, students and their parents/guardians are not allowed to bring to school and distribute any outside food products unless the products are commercially manufactured, individually wrapped in singe serving sizes and marked with the ingredients and the nutritional facts label. Parents/guardians must obtain permission from their child's teacher or school administrator prior to bringing outside food for distribution so that the teacher/administrator can review the timing and impact on the school day, the benefit and fairness to students, and other considerations. For more information about this policy please review page 22 on the CCPS School Calendar. To request approval to bring commercially manufactured, individually wrapped in singe serving sizes and marked with the ingredients and the nutritional facts label - please contact your child’s Assistant Principal:

• Ms. Jen Toone – Assistant Principal for grades Pre-K through 2nd: jtoone@ccboe.com
• Ms. Kayla Hawkins Assistant Principal for grades 3rd through 5th: khawkins@ccboe.com

All changes to a student's regular dismissal arrangements must be made in writing and submitted to the main office. Please note the following:

1. Only a student's legal parent or guardian may pick-up a student from school.
2. Anyone other than a student's legal parent or guardian must have written permission from the student's legal parent or guardian in order to pick-up the student.
3. Being listed as an emergency contact on the student's emergency care card only authorizes the school to contact the listed persons in the event of an emergency and the student's legal parent or guardian can't be reached; and
4. Anyone picking up a student (other than as a daily car rider with a car rider tag), must present photo identification. School staff can't accept a photo of a driver's license.

We appreciate families who notify the school of student absences due to illness or family commitments. Please note that make-up work will be provided to students upon their return to school. During an absence, students are always encouraged to complete DreamBox and MyPath lessons, read and practice math facts.

Students will not be called for early dismissal after 2:30 PM. If possible, try to schedule appointments during the morning, as this does not impact the regular dismissal process. Parents needing to pick up students for medical appointments or other reasons must show a state issued ID before entering the school building and report to the main office and present identification to office staff.

Please send both Ms. Claassen (dclaassen@ccboe.com) and Ms. Walthour (ywalthour@ccboe.com) any transportation changes by 1:00 pm. Please also include your student's classroom teacher as a courtesy on the email.

Medication at School

Students may not transport medication to and from school; parents/guardians can drop off medication during school hours. Additionally, a completed and signed medical authorization form must be on file for medication to be dispensed. Please contact Nurse Harty, school nurse, charty@ccboe.com with any questions or additional information.

Student Illness

According to the CCPS Endemic SOP, revised August 17, 2022, “students who are sick or sent home from school must remain out the day of illness plus at least 24 hours. The student should be symptom-free without using symptom-treating medication for at least 24 hours.” If you have student-specific questions, Please contact Nurse Harty, school nurse, charty@ccboe.com if you have questions.

CCPS requires all visitors to provide a government-issued ID prior before entering any school. All schools are equipped with a video and camera system to monitor all visitors arriving at schools. Any visitor must press a doorbell and show photo identification to enter any school or CCPS buildings. Visitors must sign in at the main office using the visitor management computer system, which scans photo identification. The system also compares visitor information against the National Sex Offender Registry.

Use this Link to Access the Title 1 Parent Resource Center

https://sway.office.com/dwgPfzmnLJNSI6na?ref=email

Wednesday, February 7, 2024, and Friday, February 16, 2024, are 2-hour early dismissal days! The dismissal time for these days is 1:30 PM. Any changes in your child's default method of transportation home, must be made by 11:00 AM. As a reminder, please send these changes to both secretaries, Mrs. Claassen at dclaassen@ccboe.com and Mrs. Walthour at ywalthour@ccboe.com, and your child's homeroom teacher.

• CLICK HERE to access the 2023-2024 School Supplies list for J. P. Ryon Elementary School.
• CLICK HERE to access the CCPS Parent Handbook/Calendar on the CCPS website.
• CLICK HERE to access the CCPS Cell Phone Policy and additional resources for parents.
• CLICK HERE to access the Student Code of Conduct.

Charles County Public Schools is committed to providing all individuals an educational environment that is free from sexual discrimination. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 states that no person in the United States shall, on the basis of gender, be excluded from participating in, be denied the benefit of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity that receives federal financial assistance. Sexual discrimination includes sexual harassment, sexual assault and sexual violence and is characterized as unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that interferes with an individual’s ability to learn, study, work, achieve or participate in school activities. If any individual wishes to file a complaint of sexual discrimination, they should contact the school’s Title IX Coordinator, Assistant Principal Hawkins or Assistant Principal Toone, at (301) 645-3090 or speak to any school-based administrator. All complaints may be resolved either informally or through a formal investigation process set out in Superintendent’s Rule 5116, found here: Title IX - Charles County Public Schools (ccboe.com). The Rule also outlines supportive measures available to the parties through the Title IX Coordinator or school-based administrator, including counseling, mental health services referral, extensions of deadlines or other course-related adjustments, modifications of work or class schedules, escort services, mutual restrictions on contact between the parties, changes in work locations, leaves of absence, increased security and monitoring, and other similar measures determined by school officials to be legally permissible and necessary to protect the safety or educational or employment activities of a party.

The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age or disability in its programs, activities, or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Kathy Kiessling, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 Coordinator (students) or Nikial Majors, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 coordinator (employees/ adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, MD 20646; 301-932-6610/301-870-3814. For special accommodations, call 301-934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event. CCPS provides nondiscriminatory equal access to school facilities in accordance with its Use of Facilities rules to designated youth groups (including, but not limited to, the Boy Scouts).