Lutherville Lab Report

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

August 5th, 2022

August Greetings Lutherville Families!

We are gearing up for Back to School Season! A mailed copy of the attached Community Letter was prepared today and is attached for your reading.

We're very excited for this year -- to build on last year's foundation and continue to grow and move forward as a school. More on that to come, but I know that right now, we're all excited about teacher assignments!

Our understanding is that this will be publically available to families on August 15th through the Focus Parent Portal. In addition to teacher assignment, bus stop and time information is available through the portal (faster than we could even get it out to you). We are asking parents to use the Parent Portal to access this information this summer. There are guidance documents attached to this letter, if needed.

Another important update for this year is that Lutherville will no longer have universal free breakfast and lunch. Please read more on that below and take action as needed for your family.

To help us plan for a smooth and safe dismissal the first days of school, please complete the LL Transportation Survey ASAP. This allows us to share information for all staff on dismissal duty and ensure that students are in the right place to head home at the close of the day as we establish the routine. If you are able to complete before 8/25, you'll be able to pickup your bus-rider or car-rider tags at Sneak-a-Peak. If you aren't able to complete prior, you can complete at Sneak-A-Peak, but we may not have bus tags ready for your child until the first day of school.

We know there is a lot to manage this time of year, and we're all still squeezing the fun out of summer, so here is a quick family to-do list to be ready for the school year:

1. Establish or Visit your Parent Portal Account for teacher assignment and bus info

2. Complete the transportation survey to help us with dismissal

3. Complete medical forms as needed (these must be done each year)

4. Gather school supplies for your child(ren)

5. Add funds to www.MySchoolBucks.com or apply for a household meal benefit, as needed.

We look forward to seeing our little Leopards at Sneak-a-Peak at Your Seat on Thursday, August 25th. To stagger crowds and in hopes of providing some parking, we are asking families with last names A-M to visit from 4:30 - 5:00 and families with last names N-Z to visit from 5:30 - 6:00. If your schedule does not allow that flexibility, please come when you can.

We'll see you soon!

-Mr. McComb

The McComb children making memories at Wonderland Pier in OCNJ. We hope you made great memories with your family this summer as well!

School Meals Update!

During the pandemic, the USDA made it possible for school nutrition programs to serve all students free breakfast and lunch through “waivers.” Congress did not extend these waivers for the upcoming school year, so meals are no longer available free of charge to all students across the country. Lutherville is designated as a school qualifying for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP)and School Breakfast Program (SBP). These are the “standard” meal programs for schools that do not qualify for additional support. The cost of meals this year is $1.40 for breakfast and $2.90 for lunch.

To put funds on your child’s account to purchase meals, visit www.MySchoolBucks.com. You can also add funds through this site for snacks. Don’t worry about lost lunch money ever again!

Families may be eligible for assistance to reduce the cost of meals, but must complete an online Free and Reduced Meal Application, to determine eligibility. To apply for assistance with the cost of school meals, please complete the Household Meal Benefit Application (HMBA) by visiting www.myschoolapps.com. If applicable, please complete your meal application as soon as possible to expedite process. The information you supply is confidential, and applications will be processed upon receipt.

FOCUS Parent Portal

It is important that all parents are connected to the student information system through the parent portal. Please use this link to access the portal and click “sign up now” if you haven’t already. Additional support documents are linked to this newsletter.

Through the parent portal, families can:

Access teacher assignment and student schedule
Update student privacy preferences
View transportation (bus stop) information
View report card information
In the fall, you'll receive information from BCPS on the opportunity to update emergency contacts through the Annual Student Review Form, this will be through the Portal as well.

School Supply List

The 2022-2023 School Supply list is available and posted to our school website as well as attached to this newsletter. As a reminder, if purchasing these supplies presents a financial hardship, we may be able to support. We want all our leopards supplied for a great year!

Attention Families of Incoming Kindergartners!

Are you and your child excited, anxious, looking forward to meeting other kindergarteners and their families? The Lutherville Lab Parent Teacher Association (PTA) would like to invite you to pop in at the playground behind the school for popsicles on Tuesday, August 23rd from 4-6 pm. There's no need to RSVP, just come by whenever suits your schedule! Questions can be directed to luthervillelabpta@gmail.com.

In addition to this event you might be wondering, what does the PTA do?

The PTA is an advocacy group for students at LL. We are a group of volunteers - parents and teachers - who work collaboratively to support school initiatives, plan community events and advocate to the Baltimore County Public School system (BCPS) for the needs of our students. Volunteers can donate funds, time and ideas to make our school family as strong as it can be. More information will be coming soon but in the meantime:

- Joining the PTA is simple and easy - simply follow this link to purchase a $15 membership (renewable each year).

- To follow us on Facebook please click here.

We hope to see you on the 23rd!

Event Information