Hello Laurel Park Families!

My name is Heide Cassimatis, and I am your new school nurse. Some of you may remember me from this past summer when I covered the school after Nurse Claire retired. I am very excited to be back! My goal is to assist staff in keeping students healthy and safe while at school.

I wanted to take a moment to share information about student illness and when they should be kept home from school.

The following is an excerpt from the WCPSS Health Services document “Preventing the Spread of Illness” (Revised 9/22 version):

Staying Home When Sick

• Fever of 100.4 degrees F or higher (Stay home until you have been fever-free without taking fever reducing medication for at least 24 hours.

• Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea (Stay home until you have been without vomiting or diarrhea for 12 hours)

• Severe headache

• Red, watery eyes with yellow discharge

• Undiagnosed rash

• Inability to attend to learning activities

• Change in usual medical status

If students become sick at school, parents will be called to come immediately to pick student up from school.

If your student is unwell, they are unable to fully focus on learning and would be better served being at home where they can rest and recuperate.

More information about illness can be found on the WCPSS website: https://www.wcpss.net/Page/168

Questions? Please don’t hesitate to reach out at hcassimatis@wcpss.net or 919-524-1894

It is Single Subject Acceleration (SSA) Nomination Time. The nomination window will be open for ONLY one week for each track. Please consult with your student's classroom teacher to determine if SSA would be a good fit for your child.

​Single Subject Acceleration SSA

Single Subject Acceleration (SSA) is the practice of assigning students to a higher grade level for a single subject, than is typical, given the student's age, for the purpose of providing access to appropriately challenging learning opportunities. SSA is an accelerative practice that allows students to show mastery of an elementary or middle school course. Students must meet qualifying Single Subject Acceleration (SSA) criteria in grades K‐7 to take advanced academic content in Mathematics or English Language Arts. Nominated students for Single Subject Acceleration (SSA) will be assessed at their school, based upon their current grade level. Depending on their grade level and subject, this could include a multiple-choice test and/or a writing sample. Students can be nominated for SSA by either their teacher or parents. To be placed into the SSA program, a student testing in Mathematics must score an 80% or above. A student testing in English-Language Arts must score an 85% or above on the Reading test and score a level 3 or 4 on the Writing test.

SSA Nomination Windows

February 20th - 24th for Track 1 students ONLY

March 20th - 24th for Tracks 2, 3, and 4 ONLY

SSA Testing Windows

April 4th - 19th for Tracks 1, 2, & 3

April 18th - May 3rd for Track 4

The SSA coordinator, Amy Stone will be in touch with all candidates' families before the test to notify them of their students' testing days and times. If you should have any questions, please email Mrs. Stone at astone@wcpss.net.