The Raider Nation Newsletter

Dear Raider Nation,

Please join me in congratulating the following students on being named National Merit Semifinalists:

• Kelly Ho
• Brandon Jeon
• Elizabeth Ko
• Arjun Sieracki
• Max Yu

Nationwide, approximately 1.3 million juniors took the PSAT last year and about 16,000 students are being recognized as National Merit Semifinalists. That puts our five students in the top 1.2% nationally! Very impressive!

National Merit Semifinalist status is determined by students' performance on the PSAT of their junior year. That means that Wednesday October 15th is a big day for our current 11th grade class! More info is coming soon about grade-level specific expectations for the day, but here's what you can plan for:

• 9th Grade- will either participate in a field trip or on-site team building activity
• 10th Grade- students take the PSAT (does not count for National Merit Qualifying)
• 11th Grade- students take the PSAT and scores do count for National Merit
• 12th Grade- students are encouraged to conduct college visits on this day; a college essay/application workshop will be held for those seniors who do attend

Sincerely,

Nick Novak

Principal

The Homecoming Dance isn't until October 11th but, starting Monday, September 15th, Homecoming tickets will be available for sale online. To grab yours, head to the school homepage, scroll down to Online Payments, and look for Homecoming Dance. It’s that easy! Prefer to buy in person? No worries—in-person ticket sales will kick off next week during all lunch shifts.

First Down Fest is coming! September 19 from 3-6 at the Harriet Tubman Center. Come play games, win prizes, and get hype for our home football game with Reservoir. Sign up using the link below: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevTdThSxohGRgZBnqplBojdiCN2aQt56QT0Q6hZXJOVPe2mQ/viewform?usp=dialog

Teen Court offers the opportunity to first-time juvenile offenders who live in Howard County to accept responsibility for their misdemeanor crimes without having to incur a criminal record. Teen volunteers serve as jury members for a full school calendar year and will hear cases like theft, disorderly conduct, destruction of property, alcohol possession, and other non-violent offenses. Dispositions for the offenders may include community service, educational programs, essays and apology letters. The program has proven successful in reducing rates of repeat offenders in other jurisdictions.

Students who live in Howard County and are a high school student (grades 9-12 and under the age of 18) and are interested in becoming a jury member, can contact Katie Turner, Teen Court Coordinator, at kturner@howardcountymd.gov.

Click here for the application. The deadline to apply is Sept. 22, 2025. We can only take 2 students from each school depending on how many kids apply. If selected, students will earn service hours.

Atttention Jrs and Srs--If you are parking on the school parking lot HCPSS requires that you have a student parking permit. Please go to the website and log into On line Payments to register for a parking pass. Please make sure you pay AND complete the attached form. You can pick up your parking pass from Ms Rey in the Reception Area.

The Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) is committed to providing a safe, engaging, and supportive school environment that fosters the social and emotional safety, dignity, and well-being of all students. HCPSS acknowledges the need for employees

1. to use an array of research-based positive behavior interventions, strategies, and a tiered system of supports to address student behaviors and keep students safe and free of harm

2. to minimize the practice of exclusion from the classroom environment

3. to minimize the use of physical restraint (which may only be used when necessary to protect a student or other person from imminent, serious, physical harm and only after other less intrusive, nonphysical interventions have failed or been determined inappropriate).

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It is the expectation of the Board that HCPSS employees will be knowledgeable of and implement proactive positive behavior interventions in an effort to reduce the need for exclusion or physical restraint.

Additional information can be found at HCPSS Policy 9400 - Student Behavior Intervention. If you have any questions regarding this policy or its implementation, please contact a school administrator.

Our media specialists are focusing only on getting devices to students new to HCPSS devices these first few days. Then they will move on to broken/missing devices...and finally, the dissemination of new 9th grade devices once the county sends us a spreadsheet of eligible students (based on year of issue). Students should go to the media center before school, after school, during lunch, or between classes.

Schedule changes will occur in phases starting the first day of school. Students can pick up schedule change request forms in student services. Please note, schedule changes for elective courses may not be granted. All students have had the opportunity to review course selections with their counselors on several occasions since January. The Master schedule was built based on these choices.

Phase 1 - August 25th - August 29th

• Holes in schedule

• Missing a graduation requirement

• Dropping your ARL classes

• Error in schedule (already taken class, wrong placement)

• Aiding and release time (Aiding can only occur during the same period as the dropped course.) - Aiding is for seniors only.

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Phase 2 - September 2nd - September 12th

• All Phase 1 reasons

• Elective Changes - May only occur if the new desired course falls in the same period as the dropped course.

• Student and teacher driven Level changes (Paper forms are available in Student Services)

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Phase 3 - September 15th - September 19th

• There will be no more elective changes.

• Student and teacher driven Level changes (Paper forms are available in Student Services) What process do we want to use? Paper form, fillable form, Google form?)

• Aiding and release time (Aiding can only occur during the same period as the dropped course.) - Aiding is for seniors only.

9/16- PTSA Meeting (7:30pm)

9/17- 11:35am Dismissal

9/17- Senior Crab Feast-POSTPONED TO THE SPRING DUE TO LOW TICKET SALES

9/23- Schools & Offices Closed (Rosh Hashanah)

10/2- Schools & Offices Closed (Yom Kippur)

Atholton PTSA

Atholton PBSA

Atholton Boosters

Atholton Drama Boosters

Atholton JROTC Boosters

Atholton Music Boosters

Atholton Robotics Boosters