Community Cardinal Correspondence
Back to School Edition, August 2023
Welcome to the 2023-2024 School Year!
This year Villa Cresta is welcoming 6 new faces to our staff! We have new to Villa Cresta and new to teaching. Welcoming new faces and experiences helps to grow all of us as we share ideas and learn new strategies. Join us in welcoming our new staff to the school community and we hope you give them all a huge Villa Cresta welcome.
We would like to ensure you know our front office staff as we kick off this school year. Our front office staff is excited to return for a great year.
Jenny Rohrbaugh, Principal
Kelly Lehto, Assistant Principal
Amy Malinowski, Assistant Principal
Donna Gosnell, Administrative Secretary
I am the Administrative Secretary, and this is the start of my ninth year at Villa Cresta. Before I came to Villa Cresta, I worked in the Office of Special Education.
My daily job responsibilities include providing clerical support to Principal Rohrbaugh, purchasing all supplies and materials and all the accounting and reconciliation that follows, processing staff payroll and acting as HR liaison.
I am a morning person, so you will usually find me in the building by 7:15 am.
I am looking forward to a great school year!
Renee Livingston, Office Secretary & Team Secretary
This is my 5th school year as the office secretary that helps support the IEP team process.
I look forward to a great 2023-2024 school year and meeting all of the new families.
Jamie Vilcarino, Office Secretary & Records Secretary
I am a vested member in our community and I'm always available to answer your questions or to help in any way I can.
I look forward to getting to know our families during the school year.
In this Issue: Back to School Dates, Villa Cresta Website, Breakfast & Lunch Reminders, Birthday Celebrations, Arrival/Dismissal Procedures, Recess, Parent Portal in Focus
Back-to-School Night for our Kindergarten to Fifth Grade families
Back to School Night will be on Tuesday, August 29th from 5:30pm – 7:00pm
At this event parents will receive a presentation from the classroom teacher on curriculum, classroom routines and procedures, and any necessary grade level expectations. We will offer two sessions so that families with multiple children can attend two different classroom presentations.
Doors Open at 5:20pm
Session 1: 5:40pm - 6:15pm
Transition
Session 2: 6:25pm - 7:00pm
School Website
Finding Important Information All Year
Visit our school website at villacrestaes.bcps.org for all you need to know for back to school including class supply lists, teacher directory including emails, administrative correspondence, PTA information, and more.
Informational emails sent are posted to the school website for you to access at any time. Please make use of this resource to assist you in learning more about our processes and staying on top of important information. It is vital to ensure you have an updated email registered with our front office. Emergent emails for early closings, late busses, etc. are not posted to the website but strictly go through phone and email.
Fresh Box Salad
Thank you to our amazing lunch team!
Build a Sub
Breakfast and Lunch
Universal Breakfast
This year all students will be served a universal breakfast in the classroom upon entering each day. Breakfast will be free for all students. Students are not required to take breakfast, but it will always be offered. As students arrive, multiple breakfast stations will be set up for students to grab breakfast and go to their classrooms.
Lunch
All students will receive free lunch for the 2023-2024 school year. Students will receive their PIN numbers the first day of school and are able to go through the lunch line daily and make their lunch selection. Encourage your students to take advantage of receiving lunch. Our cafeteria staff prepare some wonderful selections including salad boxes, fresh subs, and of course we still have pizza days!
Birthday and Celebration Information
While food is not permitted, many families have elected to donate a book to the classroom library or a game, ball, hula hoop, etc to the recess bin in the classroom in your child's honor. If you wish to send in a small token to each student to honor the day, items such as pencils, erasers, stickers, and notepads are exciting non-food rewards.
In the event you wish to recognize your child's special day with a token for the whole class, please check ahead of time with the teacher to ensure the item is acceptable and to provide advanced notice for scheduling purposes. Families will not be permitted to arrive with items without scheduling with the teacher in advance.
Below is a listing of BCPS approved non-food celebration and reward ideas to celebrate your child's special day!
Celebrations and Rewards
*Please note that this does not apply to the snack/lunch you pack for your student to eat at lunch or assigned snack time in our early childhood classrooms.
Deliveries of Balloons/Flowers/etc.
Party Invitations
If generic invitations are provided for all students, teachers will do their best to place one in each students take home folder.
Arrival & Dismissal Procedures
We want to remind you of some basic logistics of our arrival and dismissal procedures. It is important to understand that Villa Cresta was not built to be a school with a car rider drop off or pick-up loop. We were originally designed to service a walking and bus riding school. Over the years, several administrators have reached out to have the school campus assessed for an addition of a car loop. This is not possible with our landlocked location, so we have created and follow specific arrival and dismissal procedures to aid our families. It should be noted that when everyone works together and demonstrates patience and kindness, we are able to successfully welcome and dismiss our entire school population within the 15 minute schedule. We thank you in advance for working as a school community to safety engage in the arrival and dismissal process for our students.
Arrival
Doors open at 8:30 am for students and doors close at 8:45 am. Students are marked tardy after 8:45 am unless they are on a late bus.
Arrival Locations:
• Prekindergarten/Kindergarteners will enter through the kindergarten doors located in the front of the building near the parking lot by the trees.
- Preschool families should drop off at the teachers back door located near our side parking lot.
• First graders will enter through the front doors.
• Second graders will enter through the front doors or third-grade hallway door.
• Third graders will enter through the third-grade doors or the front doors
• Fourth graders will enter through the side fourth--grade hallway door.
• Fifth graders will enter through the back fifth-grade hallway door.
Any students who walk from the front of our community can enter through our front doors if that is the closest access point but please be aware entering through other access points will help alleviate crowding at any one location. Additionally, any upperclassman walking a kindergarten student to class may enter through the kindergarten doors.
Arrival Map
Dismissal
Dismissal will be at 3:30pm with walkers dismissed out their exterior classroom doors. Students should be picked up no later than 3:45pm.
Students in preschool, prekindergarten, and kindergarten to grade 5 will be dismissed out their classroom doors. Second grade students will all dismiss from the open space doors located in the back of the building. (See map below for visual)
Bus rider families, please be mindful that the first few weeks of school arrival times at the bus stop vary as schedules are worked out in the transportation office. If a bus leaves unusually late, we will send our messenger calls to keep you informed. It is important to have an updated phone number on file.
Bus stop information is located in the parent portal. Please be sure you have set up your account to view this information.
Dismissal Map
Bus Riders
In September parents will receive detailed information regarding expectations for bus riders. Until then, if your child is a bus rider, please review the following bus rules with them so they are prepared for the first day of school.
- Remain seated while the bus is in motion.
- Keep all body parts inside the bus.
- Use inside voices and appropriate language.
- Keep hands and feet to self.
- No eating snacks and drinking beverages while on the bus.
- No throwing objects.
- No vandalizing the exterior or interior of the bus.
- Follow all directions given by the bus driver.
New Student Devices
All students were sent home with their devices from last year. Students need to bring their device and charger back to school prior to receiving the new device.
It is important for families to know that missing or damaged devices and missing chargers will result in an invoice sent home to families.
When students receive their new device they will be taught how to care for and protect their device from damage. These devices do have a case built onto them. Removing or attempting to remove the case considered intentional damage and will result in the family being charged. Please support us in keeping our new devices protected!
Parent Portal in Focus
Creating a Parent Portal
FOCUS Screenshots to Navigate this Account
We can't wait to begin the 2023-2024 school year!
Contact Us
Website: https://villacrestaes.bcps.org/
Location: 2600 Rader Avenue, Parkville, MD, USA
Phone: 443-809-5275
Facebook: facebook.com/VillaCrestaPTAparkville