Cedarmere Scene September

Regina Matthews, Principal

Michael Beal, Assistant Principal

Achieving Greatness Together

Dear Cedarmere Families,


I am so thankful to have our students back for instruction 5 days a week! Our teachers were so excited to meet all of their new students for this school year. Although we are back in our schoolhouse, we know there are still many things that are still not back to normal. Our students are in school each day, wearing masks and still trying to socially distance from each other. Nevertheless we are persevering and working hard to ensure your children are still receiving the highest quality of education, that Cedarmere has always provided. We are a TEAM (Teach, Equip, Accelerate and Mobilize) children for the 21st century.


Our school mission statement, SPP and mitigation plan is located on our school website cedarmerees.bcps.org. Please also visit our website for up to date information on important events about Cedarmere.

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From Nurse Kick

Illness


We need parents/guardians to continue to screen their children daily and keep them home when they have any symptoms of illness. Symptoms of Covid can be mild and are the same as a common cold or allergies. Please read the information below carefully.


You should seek emergency medical care (call 911) if there is difficulty with breathing or the skin is turning blue. Anyone with even one of these symptoms must stay home and you should seek medical advice for testing for Covid.

Fever (100 F or above)

Sore throat

Vomiting or diarrhea New or severe Headache

New onset or worsening of cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.

Loss of taste or smell


Rapid/ quick tests provide results within 15 minutes. It is recommended that if the results are negative, they should be confirmation by a second test, known as a PCR, that is sent out to the lab (takes a day or more for result).


You should remain home until you have all testing results, no fever for 24 hours without anti fever medications and symptoms have improved.



Please notify the school nurse at 410-887-6944 if your child is being tested, has been exposed to or tests positive for Covid. Please keep them home until you have received guidance from the nurse before they return to school.


You will need to plan to have an adult pick up your child within 15 minutes when they become ill at school. Please make sure we have your current contact information.


Other important reminders

Please have your child bring in a set of clothing to keep in their lockers no matter what their age is! Besides bathroom accidents, clothing can be soiled by mud, food or be torn!

It is important to drink water all day and we encourage all to bring a water bottle daily. Please send only water, no fruit juice or other drinks.

Arrival and Dismissal Procedures

When students arrive in the morning by car or bus (or walking) they are to go in through the door that coincides with their grade level. Pre Kindergarten students may enter in the center door everyone else is as follows:


Side Right Door: CALS, K, 2nd and 3rd Grade

Side Left Door: 1st, 4th and 5th Grade


Carpool:


Parents have been doing a great job with driving through the carpool lane and allowing staff to retrieve their children. Please wait for a staff member to open the door to safely escort them out of the vehicle. Students should not be getting out of the car from the back seat driver side, this is very dangerous, and it makes it hard for our staff to keep them safe. In addition parents who are not using the carpool should not pull into the parking the lot, this creates intense congestion and you may be stuck in the parking lot until the carpool line is open.


Early Dismissal:


Parents school dismisses promptly at 3:15pm. If you need to pick up your child early, please remember that early dismissal ends at 2:45 pm. We must enforce this for a safe an orderly dismissal. If your child is to be dismissed early, please call the office and or send a note (in writing or via email) to your child's teacher.


It is also very important that your child is aware how they are going home each day, and their daily routine should be consistent. Please make sure that if you need to change your child's daily dismissal procedure, it is important to CALL THE OFFICE or email Ms. Brown cbrown2@bcps.org (please be sure she acknowledges your email). Often times if you inform the teacher, via email they will not read the email in a timely fashion because they are teaching their students throughout the day.

EARLY MCAP TESTING FOR 4TH AND 5TH GRADERS

This Fall, our students in the 4th and 5th grade will be taking a state assessment in English Language Arts and Mathematics. This assessment is mandated by the state and will measure skills from their previous grade level. This assessment and all state assessments are referred to as MCAP (Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program), as they are under the overarching assessments given by the state.


Please look for more details from Mr. Beal our Assistant Principal on the exact dates your child will be taking the MCAP. Please also click the links below for more details.

VIRTUAL LEARNING PROGRAM (VLP)

Regular admission to the BCPS Virtual Learning Program is currently closed. However, if you would like to apply for special permission for your child to be a part of the VLP and receive 100% virtual instruction please click the link below, that will take you to the VLP website. If your child does not qualify for VLP and you would like information for Home and Hospital and or Homeschooling, you will find information as well on the vlp website. Lastly, you can email vlp@bcps.org for information.

PLEASE JOIN OUR PTA!!

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Please see the letter below from our AMAZING PTA President and Vice President

Dear Cedarmere Elementary Families:


The Cedarmere Elementary School PTA would like to welcome you to a new year at our school. For those of you who are unfamiliar with us, we are a volunteer organization made up of parents, teachers, administrators, and support staff who are all dedicated to the successful education of our children. The PTA works hard to help make the school year `both enjoyable and exciting for students, teachers, and parents.


We are looking forward to meeting families, parents/guardians, and grandparents that would like to get involved with our PTA this school year. Everything we do is based on volunteers and we are looking to you to help make a difference in the lives of our children. We encourage you to get involved. If you are able to give some time, day or evenings, at school or from home, please join us! Many hands make the job easier. Every hour helps!


Help us make the 2021-2022 a great school year! Our group will meet every other month to discuss events, and plan fundraisers to enhance all programs. This is a wonderful way to find out what is happening at our school from the PTA's perspective and to share new ideas. We hope you will share your thoughts and ideas and help make this a wonderful year at Cedarmere! You can always reach us at thecedarmerepta@gmail.com or find us on Facebook @cedarmerepanthers.


We look forward to seeing you at school in-person and virtual, meetings, events, and fundraisers. We look forward to getting to know you!


Sincerely,

Amy Rogers-President

Erin Drake-Vice President

Treasurer (Vacant)

Secretary (Vacant)

Please see the links below, for the PTA membership form and the event schedule.

IMPORTANT DATES FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER

Important Dates:


  • 9/16 - No School for Students (Professional Development Day for Teachers) - Yom Kippur

New Faculty to our Cedarmere Family

Ms. Pearson - Kindergarten from Randallstown ES

Ms. Stakem - Kindergarten from Randallstown ES

Ms. Powers - Third Grade from Anne Arundel County

Ms. Coreas - Fourth Grade Teacher (New To BCPS)

Ms. Patterson - Fifth Grade from Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Ms. Francis - SEL Teacher from Halstead Academy

Ms. Torok - IEP Facilitator (Previous Consulting Teacher with BCPS)

Ms. Hyde - Special Educator - Kingsville ES

Ms. Navarro - Intervention Teacher - Mays Chapel ES

"Great Minds, Great Thinkers, High Achievers!"



Mission

Teach – We will teach children to become independent critical thinkers.

Equip – We will equip students with the necessary academic social and emotional skills they need to be productive citizens.

Accelerate – We will make sure that our students have the capacity to accelerate among their peers to be globally competitive.

Mobilize – We will mobilize students by ensuring that each individual child has equitable access to customized learning.





Core Beliefs

We believe in respecting individuality and diversity of all members of the learning community.

We believe instruction must be relevant to our students’ cultures, interests, perspectives and lived experiences.

We believe all students can achieve high academic outcomes and therefore, all teaching and learning must be rigorous and reflect high expectations for all students.

We believe it is necessary to collaborate with families, community members, teachers and staff members to accomplish the mission of Cedarmere ES.

Cedarmere ES

17 Nicodemus Road, Reisterstown, MD 21136

410-887-1100

Twitter: @Cedarmere

Facebook:@CedarmerePanthers