Clearspring Howl

This Week's Message

Thank you for making sure your students are ready for school each day in the appropriate clothing for outdoor recess, checking folders and communicating when needed. It's going to be another great week at Clearspring.

🍎 Cafeteria Accounts

You can send in a check, cash or add money to your student's cafeteria account at myschoolbucks.com.

Clearspring Meal Viewer

2025–2026 Districtwide Culture and Climate Survey

MCPS invites parents/caregivers to share your experiences and thoughts on academics, communication and overall satisfaction with your school and the district. We want to improve our teaching and make our schools and district a more welcoming place for all students, staff and families.

Surveys are now available in eight languages:

To complete the survey, you will be asked for your child’s student ID number. You can find this in ParentVUE → Student Information.

Your responses are confidential—the student ID is used only to connect your input to the right school.

Use the handout with the QR code or via MPCS website here

Currently Clearspring has a family response rate of 5.6%.

The MCPS Capital Improvement Programs (CIP) was approved last night by the Board of Education. Our Cluster Coordinators Joanna Woessner and Danni Ibarra, and many parent and student advocates, including our own 4th grader, Dilan Bakal, attended and provided testimony on why Damascus High School must remain on track for a full rebuild. We are pleased to share that the CIP was officially approved by the BOE and will now move forward to the County Council for final approval.

It was shared that the decision regarding the use of Crown HS as a holding school will not be voted on until the March 2026 Board of Education meeting.

Share your WINTER Family Traditions, Hobbies & Events with us!

WINTER will be upon us shortly and and we'd love to highlight your family's traditions, hobbies and holidays during this season. Do you love winter sports? Snow Days? Matching Pajamas? Lighting Candles or putting up lights? Share a photo with us so we can celebrate all of our amazing families. Photos shared will be shown on morning announcements, slideshows within the building and in our Husky Howl. We can't wait to see your photos!

Upload Your Family Photo Here

Earlier this summer, a report from the Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General highlighted that both MCPS and state officials have important work to do in modernizing parts of our employee background check processes. We are beginning that work in earnest now through a countywide “surge” effort to ensure all employees’ clearances are up to date. Please be reminded that every individual working with our students today has already completed a criminal background check. This new fingerprinting effort is designed to ensure that all employees hired before 2019 are properly entered into the state’s RapBack monitoring system.

On Thursday, December 4th, 2025 Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) will be on site at our school to conduct these updated background checks and begin the process of issuing new identification badges for all employees.

This work is part of a countywide initiative to ensure that every employee has:

Completed the required fingerprinting and background check process (including entry into the RapBack monitoring system).
Completed the necessary Child Protective Services (CPS) checks.
Received a new MCPS identification badge that confirms they are fully “security cleared.”

The new badges will also be color-coded, making it easy to identify an employee’s role at a glance—whether administrator, teacher, support services professional, volunteer, or contractor. Importantly, no staff member will receive their new badge until their MCPS background check process is completed.

We recognize the importance of this work and want to reassure you that it will have minimal impact on the school day. MCPS will provide the resources needed, including class coverage, so that the process does not interrupt instruction or school operations.

Thank you for your continued trust as we work together to keep our school community safe.

Purchase Spirit Wear HERE All year Round!

Our AMAZING PTA really went over the top for this year's Pies and Prizes. A huge thank you to our parents and community that donated so many treats and gifts, all of our staff had so many choices. We had a blast hearing the classes chear as their favorite staff were being announced!

As we head into this season of gratitude, the PTA wants to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who generously contributed to our Pies & Prizes staff appreciation event. Your donations helped us celebrate our amazing teachers and staff in a meaningful and delicious way! We also want to give a huge thank you to all who donated food to our drive for Damascus Free Little Pantry and clothing for the Girls on the Run drive for Clarksburg Closet. Your kindness and generosity make a real difference for families in our community, and we are so grateful for your support.

As we look ahead, we’d also like to remind you of our general membership meeting on December 4th. We hope you’ll join us to hear updates on our compliance journey, the status of the MCPS CIP and the Damascus High School rebuild project, and more.

Wishing all our families a warm, restful, and joyful Thanksgiving!

CLICK HERE FOR THE 1st PTA NEWSLETTER!