Lutherville Lab Report

What's gone down & what's coming up at the leopards' lair.

September 22, 2023

Lutherville Families,

Another full week at Lutherville Lab! This week I enjoyed spending more time in classrooms and seeing our wonderful students and teachers in action and meeting with grade level teams to supporting planning and implementing our new ELA curriculum.

Tuesday evening the Lutherville Lab Equity Guiding Coalition met to continue our work toward helping Lutherville become an equity-driven learning organization. The commitment and partnership of parents, community members and staff toward that end is encouraging and timely. Thursday evening was the first meeting of the Central Area Boundary Study committee. Please read more on that below.

Also, we're hiring! We were granted a position to relieve our 4th grade classrooms and are diligently searching for the lucky teacher to start (or restart) their career at Lutherville Lab. If you have a connection with a higher education teaching program or a teacher who may have been on leave and is ready to return to the classroom, please do connect us! We're also looking to hire a few more student aides. These difference makers work student hours and support students whose IEP needs call for that adult support. The position pays $18/hour and is a great fit for folks with children in the school system.

A reminder that school is closed for students on Monday. We wish a meaningful fast to those in our community recognizing Yom Kippur.

If anyone was planning to attend the 6th Annual Nancy Kennedy (Cockeysville / Padonia) Health Fair that was scheduled for this Saturday, it is postponed due to anticipated inclement weather.

Calendar Reminders:

9/25: No School for students

9/27: Food Truck Night @ St. Paul's

In partnership,

-Mr. McComb

Scenes from the Week

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Morning Meeting jokes getting laughs in Mrs. Weisbecker's classroom

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Mrs. Myers first graders working hard on mathematics.

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Mrs. Navarro's first graders enjoy a story from their mystery readers -- Zohan's family!

Hispanic Heritage Month

September 15th - October 15th is Hispanic Heritage Month!

In recognition of this month, for the education of all students, and for celebration of our Hispanic students, Lutherville Lab is taking a few steps this month and we invite you to partner with us.

Next week we will begin greeting students with music that has Hispanic roots. We have an initial playlist, and invite our community, and Hispanic families in our community especially, to send in kid-friendly and school appropriate songs with Hispanic roots that we can add. We plan to use this playlist to greet students at entry, play during arrival and morning work, and perhaps at other times of the day (indoor recess, quietly during independent work time, as appropriate at the teacher's discretion). We encourage all families to see the playlist as an opportunity to strengthen the home-school connection and consider playing it in the car or at home in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. The McCombs were rocking out to Gloria Estefan's Conga in the car earlier this week.

We will also unite in the shared experience of reading Island Born by Junot Diaz across all classrooms. Teachers will differentiate conversations to align to learning standards for students, and use the text, which will be a mirror, window, and sliding glass door for different students. Author Junot Diaz, 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner, is a Dominican-American author. If you are interested in an adult novel for yourself that connects to Island Born, the Dominican Republic, and heroes, I recommend In the Time of the Butterflies, a historical fiction novel by Julia Alvarez, which I used to read with my high school English students.

If your family identifies with Hispanic culture, we encourage you to consider sharing your culture with your child's class. You could share family photos, photos from travels, photos, or recipes from your favorite Hispanic dish, family experience story, traditions in which your family participates, traditional Hispanic songs and dance, games, sports, or teams from your home country, a map or flag from your home country.

Please let your child's teacher know if you would like your artifacts back at the end of the celebration. We look forward to learning more about our Lutherville Lab families!

Central Area ES Capacity Relief Boundary Study

All community members are encouraged to remain informed about the work of the Boundary Study Committee. Lutherville is represented by parents Kim Harcum and Jeff Hindes and staff member Denise Gillispie, as well as myself, Principal McComb.

The first meeting materials, video of the meeting, and initial options presented to the committee are available at this website. The committee's primary considerations as outlined in Rule 2180 are "Efficient use of capacity in affected schools" and "Maintaining or increasing the diversity among schools to reflect the diversity of the region and the school system."

When materials are posted to that site, you can see the initial proposed shifts and track the potential impact on Lutherville Laboratory. At 2:21:30 or so on the video you can see representatives from small groups share summaries of their groups conversations. The Lutherville group, paired with Timonium, shared the concerning impact both proposals have, negatively impacting the diversity of our school, which we treasure.

When the committee reconvenes in October we anticipate receiving updated options reflective of the concerns raised through the group discussions. All in our community are encouraged to stay informed and take opportunities for public comment as you feel moved. The link for comment is also available on the website.

Member by Oct 1st = Eligible for Prize Drawing

Thank you to everyone who has joined the PTA so far! As a reminder, we will be doing a drawing after Oct 1st for all active members. One member will win $40 of Lutherville Lab spirit wear of their choice and one member will win a leopard of their choice (from our Build-a-Leopard event - more details to come). Do not delay, please join today! (Membership form attached or complete online here.)

Communication About Oct PTA Events

*** NEW! ***

Next week your student will bring home a PACKET of golden yellow flyers for all Oct PTA events. Rather than one flyer at a time we're sending them all at once. Please look in your child's green folder for instructions on how to participate in our four events - For the Love of Art, Fall Family Night, Reflections and Build-a-Leopard & Movie Night. This will include instructions on how to pre-order a leopard - due by Oct 4th.

Facebook and Instagram are also great places to find out more and see pictures!

Upcoming PTA Events & Opportunities to Help

Please join us for our next two events, Food Truck Night (please sign up to help via this SignUp Genius link) and For the Love of Art. Hope to see you soon!

[insert attached images - FTN first then For the Love of Art please]

Grade 5 Parents -- Magnet Information

BCPS Magnet Programs announces the 2023-2024 dates for its Magnet EXPO!, magnet application meetings, magnet showcase events, and magnet application deadline. School principals are asked to share the magnet application flyer with school staff and parents by posting a copy in back-to-school newsletters.

Downloadable copies of the Magnet Program brochure will be available from the BCPS Magnet website. Flyers advertising the magnet application, brochure and upcoming events will be distributed to students in Prekindergarten (4-year-olds) and Grades 5 and 8 in early September. Information about accessing the online magnet application will be posted to the BCPS Magnet Programs’ Web site on Tuesday, September 12, 2023.

The Magnet EXPO! will be held on Saturday, September 30, 2023, at Delta Hotel Hunt Valley, 245 Shawan Rd., Hunt Valley 21031, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The magnet application deadline for the 2024-2025 school year is Friday, November 3, 2023. Magnet applications may be submitted online until 1 p.m.

Please be reminded that it is the responsibility of the parents to submit the application. School staff should not submit an application on behalf of any parent.

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Fall Family Night! -- Seeking Families for Cultural Fair

We are looking forward to another excellent Fall Family Night on October 17th!

Central to our Fall Family night is the Cultural Fair in the gym, which is such an important way that we seek to celebrate and highlight the beautiful diversity of our community.

We are seeking families that are interested in sharing elements of their home culture with our school community. If you are interested in sharing through a demonstration, artifact, display, food, teaching some of the language, or another idea -- please contact Shaimaa Hussien at shimaahussien86@gmail.com to register!

Additionally, Mr. Weigle is planning ahead for student art displays at Fall Family Night and is seeking volunteer support to prepare student artwork for display (matt, hand, and take down).

Please reach out to him at tweigle@bcps.org if you are able to make any of the following dates/times to support:

Tuesday, October 10th, from 4:25pm-5:30pm (matting art day)
Monday, October 16th from 4:25pm-6pm (hanging art day)
Tuesday, October 17th from 7:30pm-8:30pm (taking down art, we could be done by 8pm)