Sy27 Week 6

Good afternoon-

Thank you for reading our weekly newsletter. Our staff works hard to put all of the most important information in this one message so you can best stay informed.

We have one of our biggest events of the year this week. Our sixth graders are excited to go to Outdoor Ed! The weather looks amazing and I know our kids will have a blast learning about one another and the great outdoors. Please see updated information below and if you have any questions, message Adrienne_R_Heon@mcpsmd.org.

Enjoy your evening,

Stephen Reck, Principal

In this message, I will address the following topics:

1. Outdoor Education (Grade 6)
2. Eastern Region High School Programs Showcase (Grade 8)
3. Open House
4. PSAT Testing (Grade 8)
5. Philadelphia Field Trip (Grade 8)
6. MCPS School Closures and Consolidations Study
7. Athletics
8. Attendance Reminders
9. Grade Level Assignments Summary
10. Upcoming Important Dates & Events
11. PTSA Updates
12. MCPS Announcements

This year’s trip is quickly approaching. 🙂

The deadline to submit permission slips and payments has already passed. Please be on the lookout for personal communication, both emails and papers sent home with students, about items that may be missing. If missing items are not turned in before the start of our trip, your child’s ability to join us for this memorable experience may be affected.

To access a detailed packing list, please refer to our Outdoor Ed website (linked here). For additional trip information, please refer to our parent night presentation (linked here).

Here is a message from our school nurse about how student medication is handled during the trip.

Current 8th grade students and their families are invited to learn about the new MCPS Regional Center Programs and explore the high school options available in the Eastern Region.

The Eastern Region consists of Sherwood, Paint Branch, Blake, and Springbrook High Schools. You can find details about the four high school's showcase events by clicking this link.

Please join us for our annual Open House event on Monday, October 12, 2026. This is an opportunity to observe classrooms and instruction. As teachers are actively delivering instruction, they will not be able to engage individually with parents. Our parent/teacher conferences will be held November 23 for one-to-one engagement or you can email your child's teacher any time.

To expedite your sign in process on the day of open house, please know your child's schedule and pre-register to visit our building.

We are offering two windows to visit, a morning session during periods 1 through 3 (8:47 to 10:45a) and an afternoon session during periods 6 and 7 (1:26 to 2:30p). We are offering times outside of arrival, lunch, and dismissal to ensure a positive, orderly, and safe experience for all. We also ask that if you park in our bus loop, you remove your car from the bus loop between 10:45a and 1:26p so that our students can enjoy recess during lunch.

You can register at this link. Please email Mr. Reck with any questions about this event.

MCPS is mandating that on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, all students in Grade 8 will take the PSAT 8/9 exam during the instructional day. The PSAT 8/9 exam:

• Acts as a national and external common academic measure that may be considered (alongside other measures / indicators) as part of the comprehensive review process for MCPS criteria-based regional academic programs,
• Provides students with early access to College Board college and career planning resources,
• Establishes an early academic benchmark to support instructional planning and high-school course planning,
• Establishes longitudinal baselines for measuring student reading, writing, and math growth throughout high school.

Prior to taking the exam, students in Grade 8 will participate in a “Digital Readiness Check.” During this check, basic student information (student name, school, state, grade, date of birth, etc.) will be provided to College Board, the provider of the PSAT. Also, during this check and with prior consent from a parent/guardian, students may complete an optional College Board Student Survey. Information collected through this survey is used for group reporting, research to ensure the assessment is fair for all student groups, and more.

If you have any questions about this exam, please contact Caitlin Street, Assistant Principal.

Students received a Field Trip Packet on Thursday, September 3rd. There is a lot of good information in it. If you have not seen it and you are a parent of an 8th grader, please ask your child. We will be visiting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Wednesday, November 11th. There are so many great things to see in this city that correlate with our U.S. History curriculum this year.

The entire packet is attached above as a PDF. Students must return pages 3 and 4 in order to attend. Please email Mrs. Woodward (gina_p_woodward@mcpsmd.org) with any questions.

This school year, MCPS will review elementary and middle schools across the county. The goal is to review schools and determine whether — and which — school closures or consolidations should be recommended by the superintendent to the Board of Education.

An MCPS-directed community engagement session will be hosted at RPMS on October 21, 2026 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. This is our opportunity as a community to have their voice heard before any recommendations are provided to the Board of Education. If you cannot attend in person on this night, you are welcome to attend any other in-person session or one of the virtual Zoom sessions.

For more information about this initiative and the dates/times of all information sessions, please read more by clicking this link.

The girls’ softball team dominated and came away with the win yesterday against Loiederman MS, 26-5. Meanwhile, both the girls' and boys' cross country teams defeated Loiederman this week. Congrats to all of our Dolphin athletes!

Coed Cross Country Schedule 2026

Tues., Oct. 6 vs. Farquhar MS

Tues., Oct. 13 @ Argyle MS

Wed., Oct. 28 @ Forest Oak MS

Girls’ Softball Schedule 2026

Tues., Oct. 6 vs. Gaithersburg MS

Tues., Oct. 13 @ Loiederman MS

Wed., Oct. 21 vs. White Oak MS

Wed., Oct. 28 @ Forest Oak MS

Boys’ Softball Schedule 2026

Tues., Oct. 6 @ Farquhar MS

Tues., Oct. 13 @ Gaithersburg MS

Wed., Oct. 21 @ White Oak MS

Wed., Oct. 27 vs. Gaithersburg MS

Also, Winter registration for boys' or girls' basketball opens October 27, 2025, at 12:00 noon

DID YOU KNOW? This year, over 80 RPMS students are already classified as chronically absent by the state of Maryland's metric of missing over 10% of school days. As a reminder, whether an absence is excused or unexcused, it counts the same--as a missed day of instruction--in the eyes of MSDE and MCPS.

School attendance is one of the biggest indicators of student success. However, RPMS understands that illness and family obligations are unavoidable. If your child is absent from school, you can submit an excuse note here. If you are looking for help in improving your child's school attendance, our counseling team is available to help.

This year, we streamlined this communication to one document for all 3 grade levels. Clicking on the links of interest on the first page will take you directly to a specific grade.

Oct 05 to 07 - Outdoor Ed for Group 1 Students, 6th grade only

Oct 07 to 09 - Outdoor Ed for Group 2 Students, 6th Grade Only

Oct 12 - Open House

Oct 16 - School Closed for Professional Development

Oct 29 - Make Up Student Picture Day

Nov 02 - End of Q1, School Closed for Grading Day

Nov 03 - School Closed, Election Day

Nov 23 - Parent Teacher Conferences

Nov 23 to 25 - Early Release Days

Nov 26 to 27 - School Closed - Thanksgiving

We are in need of a NAACP liaison for PTSA. If you are interested please email christina_h_sessa@mcpsmd.org

Restaurant fundraisers:

• October 14- Jersey Mikes all day

• November 16- Brew Belly 5-9pm

• March 10- Sardis/Olney Station

• May 12- Playa Bowl 5-8pm

Please join the PTSA! Just follow this link to create your free Givebacks account:

https://www.givebacks.com/causes/rpmspta