Hello Lutherville families!

What a wonderful first week of the school year. Thank you for working through the early dismissal with us Wednesday. Outside of that, it has been such a pleasure to see this school come to life with the energy and relationships at the heart of teaching and learning.

We are elated to begin, again, our transformative educational journey with our students. Fittingly, outside our classrooms this week are habitats for our monarch caterpillars, which will transform into butterflies in the weeks ahead. Be sure to ask your children to tell you about our fuzzy friends -- some are already forming chrysalis's!

As a reminder, school is closed on Monday and Tuesday, September 6th and 7th! We look forward to seeing our students again on Wednesday.

Please do take the time to read on for some important information

-Mr. McComb

A note from Nurse Vita:

The COVID Pandemic has had a huge impact on routine health care. One aspect of preventative health care that has been affected is childhood immunizations.

In order for a child to attend a Maryland School their immunizations must be up to date.

The Maryland Department of Health mandates that if a child is not current with their immunizations, he/she must obtain the needed immunizations before 20-calendar days from his/her first day of school. If the child has not received the required vaccines, the child will be excluded from school until they receive their shots. This year the exclusion date for incomplete immunizations will be September 18th.

I have included the following helpful information:

--Maryland’s Dept of Health Required Immunizations for the School Year 2021-22

--Baltimore County’s Dept of Health Immunization Clinics Flyer

If you have any questions, or if I can assist you in any way, please don’t hesitate to contact me. The Health Suite’s telephone number is 410-560-9886. My email address is svita@bcps.org.

Attached, please find our community summary of our School Progress Plan for this school year. This plan was drafted by a group of 12 faculty who came together in July to reflect on data and revise our previous plan to align to our current context.

The plan looks at both academics and the school environment, identifying action steps and the school culture structures needed to support them. In academics our plan focuses on a frequent rhythm of assessment and adjustment to student needs. Our safe and supportive schools section focuses on nurturing a sense of community and belonging for all students.

We are continuing to plan and pursue the potential for moving lunches outside when weather permits, but we need support. We've had a handful of parents reach out but it will take more volunteers to make this sustainable this fall. If you know a neighbor, family member, or community member who would be helpful and available, please encourage them to complete this form to share their interest.

In conferring with Nurse Vita and teachers, we're looking at purchasing and using mats that may better resist damp grass and more easily cleaned than towels (and preclude us from 5-year-olds navigating a lunch tray and towel)

Thank you to families who sent in paper updates for contacts for their students in to the office. Those are being input as received. We are pleasantly surprised that BCPS has provided a way for families to make these updates themselves through the Parent Focus Portal.

The Annual Student Information Review Form and optional Parental Privacy Preferences Opt-Out Form are both now available in the portal to be completed. Parent directions for completing the forms are located in the Focus Schoology group, Enrollment. Parent instructions for accessing the Parent Portal are located in the Parent Portal folder in the Focus Schoology Group.

A huge "THANK YOU!" to our community for your patience and partnership and we get students into the routines and procedures of arrival and dismissal. If your child is a bus rider, they should have a color-aligned bus tag on their backpack. If your child is a car-rider, we're in the process of assigning permanent car-rider hangtags and backpack tags as we receive Car Rider Registration Forms (these were in the transportation mailing but we're glad to provide another if needed).

We're doing our best to keep the car loop line from spilling into York Road and appreciate all the parents who have their kids ready to hop out in the morning and ready to buckle and go in the afternoons. We want to clarify an alternative, which would be to make your child a "parent pickup." This is for families interested in parking their vehicle (or walking) and coming to meet their child at the rear Recreation Room door. There may be parking available along Division Ave to make the process quite convenient. Please contact the office if you would like to change your dismissal routine.

Email: smccomb@bcps.org
Website: https://luthervillees.bcps.org/
Location: 1700 York Road, Lutherville-Timonium, MD, USA
Phone: 410-887-7800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Local-Business/Lutherville-Lab-Elementary-School-578308486196045/
Twitter: @LuthervilleLab