Hello from your first EMS Weekly Update of the 2023-2024 school year! We are so excited for Open Houses to take place tomorrow, Monday, August 21, 2023.

• 7th grade will be from 8:00 to 9:00 am.
• 8th grade will be from 9:30 to 10:30 am.
• 6th grade will be from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

You must attend the appropriate grade-level open house due to parking, grade-level building preparation, and teacher availability. If you can print your schedule at home or access it on a smartphone, have it ready for Open House. You will be able to follow your schedule and meet your teachers. Copies will be alphabetically available in the cafeteria if you cannot print or access your schedule. Below is a quick link sheet with important forms to be completed and services available at each Open House.

All students in K-12 have been issued a SMCPS laptop and charger. The laptops and chargers are the property of SMCPS and come with the same responsibility as any other school-issued resource. Parent(s)/Guardian(s) and students should visit the SMCPS Website to review the SMCPS Student Handbook, Code of Conduct, and the device accountability resource document, which all outline information in regards to reporting damage, costs incurred for damage or loss, and the consequences for damage to school issued property. As of August 2023, current pricing can be found here. The Acceptable Use Policy must be signed electronically by all SMCPS families. Please complete this form as soon as possible.

In preparation for the start of the school year, students need to locate their laptops/chargers, run updates, and make sure they are ready for school. The slideshow below will be reviewed with all students at our back-to-school assemblies.

ALERT: Beware of Phishing Attempts on SMCPS Student Accounts:

In recent weeks, phishing attempts have been targeted at SMCPS student accounts using methods outside of SMCPS managed services.

Phishing is a method where malicious individuals attempt to trick you into providing them with information about you and your online account information. These methods can take many forms, so staying vigilant for anything that seems out of the ordinary when online is important.

Additionally, please note that SMCPS IT support will never contact you on Discord, Steam, or any other application that is not managed by SMCPS and will never ask you for your account password. If you are contacted on any outside application stating to be SMCPS IT, please DO NOT respond, block/report the individual and inform your site administration so that it can be escalated. Contact your building-level tech or the Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) at your first leisure for more information.

This year, free breakfast will be available for all students who would like one. Students will eat in their homeroom class. Grab-and-go breakfast stations will be in the following locations: sixth grade in the main gym, seventh grade in the cafeteria, and eighth grade in the back hallway. Free and reduced lunch meals will only be available for those who qualify using the Meal Benefit forms for SY 2023-2024. More information and resources can be found here. Please make sure to complete this form as soon as possible! Use this link to put money on your child's lunch account.

We are excited to start the school year on Wednesday, August 23rd!

The administration will dismiss all students from the buses at 7:05 am. Students who want breakfast should go to the appropriate grab-and-go location to get their breakfast and then go to homeroom. Students who do not want breakfast will go straight to homeroom from their buses. Don't stress; staff members will have homeroom lists to help students find their homeroom teacher in the morning.

Please review the SMCPS Dress Code Policy when planning your first day of school outfits! All parts of the Dress Code Policy must be followed.

7th-grade parents - if you have not already turned in your child's immunization records, please do so as soon as possible. On Wednesday morning, the nurses will start calling parents to inform them if their child is ineligible to attend school due to not being up-to-date with immunizations. Please contact our nurses with any questions: Lauren Hall (lmhall@smcps.org) or Brittany Krum (bnkrum@smcps.org).

We are so excited to start another successful school year! Wednesday, August 23rd, will be an A DAY.

Bus schedules and other transportation information can be found on this website.

The top parking lot of EMS is utilized for parent drop-off. Please stay in the appropriate lane for student drop-off, as staff members are coming and parking. Students are to go to the corner of the parking lot, closest to the field, to drop off and walk across the crosswalk and down the sidewalk to enter the doors closest to the gym. Students should not be dropped off before 6:55 am since we do not have staff on duty before that time. Students will wait at the gym entrance until 7:05 am when students can enter the building. In the afternoon, the bus loop will be utilized after buses are gone for parent pickup. Parents must show their ID to the EMS staff member walking their child to the car for the first week. It must match a person on their contact list or from the car rider form. Please wait patiently, as we will have as many staff as possible to check IDs. After the first week, staff will track attendance pickup in the cafeteria and dismiss students to the parking lot once all cars are parked. Please complete this Every Day Car Rider or Walker Form if your child will be a regular car rider or walker.

Please also review the SMCPS cell phone policy. School personnel have the right to limit the use of electronic communication devices that impede the instructional climate in the school, create a disturbance, or disrupt the school environment. When students are allowed to use their phone, there should be no phone calls, Face Timing, taking pictures, video recording, or volume so loud others can hear. Any observed or reported improper use of an electronic device contrary to regulations shall result in the confiscation of the electronic device by the site administrator or designee.

Our Fall Picture day will take place on Wednesday, October 25th. More information to come soon!

Website: https://schools.smcps.org/ems/
Location: 22790 Maple Road, Lexington Park, MD, USA
Phone: 301(863)4016
Twitter: @ems_smcps