GWC EAGLES' NEST

🦅 Attendance Matters – Attendance Rebound!

We are excited to share positive momentum in our attendance efforts! A SOARing Eagle Shout-Out goes to our Kindergarten, 2nd and 5th Grade Teams for meeting or exceeding our required 94% attendance rate. Fourth Grade was only 0.5% away from reaching the goal — excellent work, Eagles!

Last week alone, we delivered 20 pairs of PANTS, recognizing classrooms with strong attendance and punctuality.

A special congratulations to Ms. Payne’s and Ms. Tippett’s Homeroom for reaching an attendance milestone:

• 5 Attendance Sheets (50 days of perfect attendance, even if late)

• 7 PANTS Sheets (35 days of perfect attendance with no tardies)

We are so proud of these students! When visiting the school, please stop by the Main Lobby to view each homeroom’s PANTS bar graph and see how our Eagles are progressing.

Thank you for ensuring students arrive on time and attend daily unless they are ill. Every day truly matters.

📋 Stakeholder Information & Feedback – Title I Planning

As we begin planning for School Year 2027, we are evaluating what is working well and where adjustments may be needed in order to best align our Title I budget to student needs.

Over the next several months, we will host events to gather stakeholder feedback from families, students, staff and community members. Each year, we review and update:

• Our Family Compact

• Our Parent & Family Engagement Plan

• Our Schoolwide Plan

Your voice matters. To review these documents, please visit our Title I Website. We look forward to your partnership and feedback.

📝 Grade 5 State Assessment Season Begins

Our Grade 5 students begin state testing this week.

Maryland Integrated Science Assessment (MISA)
📅 March 2–March 5

Maryland School Survey
📅 March 9

Looking ahead, MCAP testing dates are as follows:

ELA MCAP (Grades 3–5)
📅 April 13–April 16

Math MCAP (Grades 3–5)
📅 April 27–April 30

Please ensure students are well-rested, arrive on time and eat breakfast on testing days.

Thank you for your continued partnership and support.

Warmly,

Ms. Morgan, Principal

READ ACROSS AMERICA SPIRIT WEEK!

A WEEK

Monday, March 2nd

• Regular school day 8:00 am - 2:45 pm
• Wild About Reading! Wear animal print or something with your favorite animal on it!

Tuesday, March 3rd

• Regular school day 8:00 am - 2:45 pm
• Green Eggs and Outfits! Wear green today!

Wednesday, March 4th

• Regular school day 8:00 am - 2:45 pm
• Wacky Wednesday! Wear your wackiest outfit!

Thursday, March 5th

• Regular school day 8:00 am - 2:45 pm
• Cat in the Hat Day! Wear your favorite hat to school!

Friday, March 6th

• Regular school day 8:00 am - 2:45 pm
• Oh, The Places You'll Go! Dress like what you want to be when you grow up or in your favorite college's shirt!

• We celebrate National Education Association’s Read Across America to promote a love of reading and highlight the importance of literacy for every child. This nationwide celebration encourages families, schools, and communities to come together to inspire young readers and build strong reading habits. At our school, we use this time to spark excitement around books, celebrate diverse authors and stories, and reinforce that reading opens the door to endless possibilities for our students.

This event will focus on Language & Literacy, Mathematics, and Social Foundations for Pre-K students. The Snow Date will be Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at the same location. Please enter through the GMHS lobby doors and proceed past the steps; there you will see the Media Center on the left side of the hallway. During this event, door prizes will be offered, and each student participant will receive a treat and a goody bag to take home. Pre-K students, families, and local private providers and their families are invited to participate in various learning stations to support children's education outside the classroom. These activities will be engaging and will help reinforce academic skills learned in Pre-K. Please complete the registration form below to ensure that we have enough treats and goody bags for all who attend. REGISTRATION LINK

Student Debt Policy and Regulations

The purpose of this policy is to outline the Board of Education of St. Mary’s County (the Board’s) expectations for the management of student debt. This policy is intended to promote transparency, fairness, and support for all students while maintaining fiscal responsibility.

• Policy JFI - Student Debt

• Regulation JFI-R - Student Debt

Updated February 4, 2026

The Redistricting Smore has been updated with new information.

• Link to Redistricting Smore

New

Options and Recommendations - New tab on the redistricting website

February 4, 2026 Board of Education Redistricting Work Session

• CannonDesign - Slide Deck
• Superintendent's Recommendation - Slide Deck
• Board Work Session - Video

Find Your Proposed School Assignments

• To assist families in determining if they are included in the proposed redistricting areas, the consultant has provided a geographic information tool that will provide the current and proposed high school assignment. Please click on the link above and follow the directions pictured below.

Our school has a parent representative and staff representative on the district-wide Community Engagement Redistricting Team. The representatives will help ensure communication of the work, timeline, and community engagement opportunities by sharing information on surveys and community engagement events through school, community, and social media resources. You can reach out to them for additional information or to share your perspective.

• Brittany Atkins (bgatkins@smcps.org) - Parent Representative
• Jennifer Knight (jaknight@smcps.org) - Staff Representative

Questions

If you have questions and comments please submit them via email to: redistricting@smcps.org.

Please ensure that you are following the policy for staying home when your child is sick. Students are allowed to return to school once they have been fever free (without use of tylenol or motrin) or vomit/diarrhea free for 24 hours or more. We have seen an increase in GI related illnesses this week so here are some helpful tips for treatment and prevention of illness:

Treatment:

There are no specific antiviral medications to treat people with stomach viruses. If you are sick, you should rest and drink plenty of fluids without caffeine or alcohol to replace the fluids lost from vomiting and diarrhea. Over-the-counter oral rehydration fluids may help replace important nutrients and minerals, and reduce symptoms caused by mild dehydration.

Talk to your healthcare provider if your symptoms are severe:

Excessive vomiting and diarrhea can lead to severe dehydration and other serious complications, which may need to be addressed in a healthcare setting. Children younger than 5 years old, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to develop severe infections. Talk to your doctor if you or someone you’re caring for has severe symptoms.

Handwashing and cleaning are the most effective ways to prevent illness:

Wash your hands (and help young children wash their hands) with soap and water for at least 20 seconds:

• After having diarrhea or vomiting

• After using the toilet

• After changing diapers

• After touching any stool-soiled or vomit-soiled materials, toilets, or surfaces

• After cleaning up vomit or diarrhea

• Before handling food or drink

Thoroughly clean and disinfect commonly touched surfaces with a bleach-based household cleaner regularly until after your symptoms have gone away. In addition to regular cleaning, immediately clean bathrooms or other areas where episodes of vomiting or diarrhea have occurred with a bleach-based cleaner.

Home Access Center Link

Parents who are in need of their HAC login information should email Ms. Smith at rsmith@smcps.org or Ms. Flippin at lmflippin@smcps.org. They will retrieve the information at their earliest convenience and will email the information to you.

We respect the many different ways that families like to recognize their child’s birthday. In addition to class recognitions of birthdays, we recognize birthdays during our weekly Community Gathering.

Although we have accepted edible treats in years past, we can no longer accept food items for birthday celebrations. We have an increased number of students with food sensitivities and schools have been encouraged to limit celebrations that involve food during the school day. Additionally, we cannot accept balloons due to latex allergies.

Some families choose to provide a small trinket or non-food based treat to mark their child’s birthday. If you are planning on providing something for the class on your child’s birthday, we ask that you follow these guidelines:

• Inform your child’s teacher at least 3 days prior if you intend to provide something for the class on your child’s birthday.

• Trinkets/non-food items will be passed out by the child and his/her teacher near the end of the school day. This helps to minimize distractions to instruction and ensure that items are not lost or broken during the course of the school day.

St. Mary’s County Public Schools is transitioning all schools to an online payment system for monetary transactions. The system we are using is MySchoolBucks.

What is MySchoolBucks?

MySchoolBucks is a safe and convenient online payment system that lets families easily manage school-related fees. With MySchoolBucks, you can:

• Add money to your child’s cafeteria account for breakfast and lunch purchases.

• View account balances and set up low-balance alerts.

• Pay for school activities, field trips, or other fees when available.

You can access MySchoolBucks on any computer or by downloading the mobile app, making it easy to stay connected and in control of your child’s school payments anytime, anywhere.

[Optional] Student Accident Insurance

Recognizing that accidents do occur and understanding that each family's insurance situation may be different, St. Mary's County Public Schools has arranged with Bob McCloskey Insurance to offer student accident insurance.

Please click on the following documents for additional information:

• Letter to Parents
• Student Accident Insurance Program FACT SHEET
• Enrollment Instructions

Bus Routes are now available through the SMCPS online look-up feature. These routes and stops will be constantly updated between now and the start of school.

Select this link to learn how to view the real-time location of your child's bus. We highly recommend signing up for this helpful app!

Academic Dean - Cortney Dvorak

Assistant Principal - LaToya Fox

George Washington Carver Elementary School

A Title I, Comprehensive Support and Improvement, Judy Center and Community School

Website: https://gwces.smcps.org/
Location: 46155 Carver School Boulevard, Lexington Park, MD, USA
Phone: 301-863-4076
Twitter: @gwces_smcps