Back to School Update

• SPES Volunteer Orientation (Virtual via Google Meet): Thursday, November 5th at 9am and 6pm
• Food Truck Friday- Attman's Deli: Friday, November 6th from 11:00am-1:30pm
• 1st Quarter Report Cards Distributed: Thursday, November 12th
• Available in FOCUS at 5pm
• October Student of the Month Virtue Breakfast: Friday, November 13th from 8:45-9:30am
• Invitation only
• Food Truck Friday- Lyfe Truck: Friday, November 13th from 11:00am-1:30pm
• Picture Retake Day: Friday, November 13th
• American Education Week: Monday, November 16th- Friday, November 20th
• Visitation schedule below
• Conference Day (Schools Closed for All Students): Monday, November 16th
• Pre-K Conference Day (School Closed for PK Students Only): Tuesday, November 17th
• Quarter 1 Awards Assembly: Friday, November 20th
• More details to follow
• Invitation only
• November Food Pantry: Tuesday, November 24th from 3:45-5:15pm
• Turkey Trot: Wednesday, November 25th
• Times are TBD
• Half Day of School: Wednesday, November 25th
• Dismissal begins at 12:30pm
• Schools Closed for Students and Staff: November 26th and 27th for the Thanksgiving Holiday

Click the photos below to RSVP for the event:

The Community School Needs Assessment is a way for schools to look at their data, gather input from staff, students, parents, and community partners in order to determine the top three priority needs. This data is then used to create an Implementation Plan, which guides the work as a community school and helps to inform spending. We need your input! Please click the photos below to take this very important survey:

We are also in need of family and community members to share their feedback via group listening sessions and individual surveys. Please complete the survey below if you are interested in and willing to participate.

Please see below for the visitation schedule for American Education Week this year. We hope you will be able to join us!

Tuesday, November 17th:

• 2nd Grade from 1:00-2:30pm
• 5th Grade and Mr. Luciw from 1:45-3:15pm

Wednesday, November 18th:

• 4th Grade from 8:55-9:50am
• Pre-K from 9:00-10:30am
• 1st Grade, Mrs. Garlock, and Ms. McConnell from 9:00-10:15am
• 3rd Grade from 1:30-3:00pm

Thursday, November 19th:

• Kindergarten from 8:45-10:15am

Please complete and return the RSVP flyer that was sent home today, 11/5, if you will be attending.

The Do Good Club is hosting our first donation drive of the 2026-2027 school year and we need your help! Throughout the month of November, we are looking for donations of the items listed in the flyer below to help support students and community members in need of warm gear as winter approaches. We need 100 items donated in order to earn our school-wide pajama day!

Please note, in order to volunteer in our school or chaperone a field trip at Sandy Plains this year, you must attend one of our volunteer orientation meetings AND complete the BCPS online volunteer training.

We will be hosting monthly, virtual Volunteer Orientations, as needed via Google Meet to ensure everyone has access to the meetings. Our November orientation will be held on Thursday, November 5th at 9am and 6pm. A Google Meet link will be shared 10 minutes prior to each meeting. Reminders will be sent.

Please contact Mrs. Draper (sdraper@bcps.org) with any questions!

As a community school, we are able to provide some household essentials to families once per month. If you are in need of household essentials, please fill out the link below.

Following our recent lockdown drill, we invite you to complete a brief and anonymous Lockdown Drill Impact Survey: http://bit.ly/LockdownParent.

Your feedback will help inform emergency preparedness efforts in Maryland schools and help us better understand the student and parent experience following lockdown drills.

Thank you for your continued partnership in keeping our school community safe and supported.

Please review the information below to learn more about how your children are receiving grades in 4th and 5th.

Please see letters below for information regarding November and December classroom school counseling lessons.

We are off to a great start of attendance for the 2026-2027 school year! We have had over 94% attendance school-wide most days since school began! Our current attendance rate is 94.83%, which is slightly less than last week.

As a reminder, we have many attendance initiatives running to support positive attendance:

• Each day we have 94% attendance or above as a school, we add a letter to our SOARING board. When we will the board, we will earn a school-wide celebration. We are only ONE letter away from our next prize!
• Students are working to fill individual SOAR HIGHER charts. After 10 days present, students will be able to turn their charts into the office for a prize.
• Students with 2 or less absences in the month of November will be invited to watch and be included in the raffle to play in our Students vs. Relay Races!

At SPES, TalkingPoints is our most-used form of communication with families. Please download the TalkingPoints Family App.

Please follow us on Facebook (Sandy Plains Elementary School)! We regularly post important updates and information to our page.

Opt in to receive our text messages. Text YES to 67587.

Please review the attachments below for important information about the 2026-2027 school year from BCPS.

Our virtue of the month for November is KINDNESS. Students will participate in a variety of activities throughout the month that teach them the virtue and how to use it.

🍽️ Dinner Question:

"What is one small act of kindness someone did for you that made your day better? How did it make you feel?"

🏠 Family Helper Challenge:

Be a Secret Kindness Hero! Choose one person in your family and do something kind for them without being asked. See if you can make them smile without revealing your secret!

Arrival- 8:30-8:45am

Dismissal- 3:30-3:45pm

As a reminder, staff members are not on duty until 8:30am each morning. Parents and guardians are responsible for their students before 8:30am.

8:00-4:00pm

Please note that at Sandy Plains, we do not allow early dismissals after 3:00pm.

Anyone picking up a student must be listed on their contact list in FOCUS. Please contact the office if you need to make edits to your child's contact list.

Main Office: 443-809-7070

Christina Davis, Principal (cdavis21@bcps.org)

Meghan Davis, Assistant Principal (mdavis18@bcps.org)

Kelsey Kinnear, Community School Facilitator (kkinnear2@bcps.org)

Corrie Pusinsky, Administrative Secretary (cpusinsky@bcps.org)

Erika Villaneuva Angel, Enrollment/Records Secretary (evillanuevaangel@bcps.org)

Stephanie Draper, CARE Liaison/Attendance Liaison (sdraper@bcps.org)

Megan Caplan, Nurse (mcaplan@bcps.org)