The Lisbon Lines
January 29, 2021
Lisbon Elementary School
We are here to help!
Principal, Mrs. Anoff Debra_anoff@hcpss.org
Assistant Principal, Ms. Wright Lashonne_wright@hcpss.org
Principal's Secretary, Mrs. Johnson Christine_Johnson@hcpss.org
Teachers' Secretary, Mrs. Linda Drews Linda_drews@hcpss.org
Teachers' Secretary, Mrs. Johnson Karen_johnson@hcpss.org
Website: les.hcpss.org
Location: 15901 Frederick Road, Woodbine, MD 21797, USA
Phone: (410) 313-5506
Twitter: @hcpss_les
FROM SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION
IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES AND EVENTS
For a complete list of dates and events visit les.hcpss.org/calendar.
January
- 29 - Parent/Teacher Conference Window Opens
- 29 - End of Second Quarter
- 29 - School Closed for Students: Professional Work Day
February
- 3 - Math MAP, 9:00 a. m.
- 4 - PTA Meeting, 7:00 p.m.- Google Meet code: LisbonPTA
- 5 - Report Cards Issued
- 5 - Commitment Survey due by 4:00 p.m.
- 5 - Parent/Teacher Conference Window Closes
- 10 - Reading MAP, 9:00 a. m.
- 10 & 11 - Parent/Teacher Conferences (3-Hour Early Dismissal)
- 12 - Professional Work Day - schools closed for students
- 12 - Lunar New Year
- 15 - President's Day - schools & offices closed
March
- 1 - Hybrid model begins for identified students (Group E- 5 days a week)
- 8 - Kindergarten registration begins
- 15 - Hybrid model begins for identified students in grades K, 1, and 2
- 29 - Hybrid model begins for identified students in grades 3, 4, and 5
April
- 2 - Spring Break - Schools and offices closed
- 5 - Spring Break - Schools and offices closed
- 6 - Spring Break - Schools and offices closed
- 14 - End of Third Quarter - Schools close 3 hours early
NEW INFORMATION
Decision on Instructional Preference for Remainder of 2020-2021 School Year
The following information was sent to all parents from HCPSS email into your inbox on Thursday, January 28.
The Howard County Public School System will begin a phased-in transition to a hybrid instructional model, beginning March 1. By Friday, February 5, parents/guardians must make a decision to send their child to school for 1-2 days per week and receive virtual instruction the remainder of the week, or to have their child remain fully virtual for the remainder of the school year. Certain student groups including, but not limited to, students receiving Special Education services and others requiring additional learning support will have the opportunity to receive in-school learning 5 days per week.
All parents/guardians have the option to have their child continue virtual learning full time for the remainder of the current school year.
To prepare for this transition, HCPSS requests that parents/guardians complete a two-question survey by 4 p.m., Friday, February 5 with your decision:
2. Whether bus service will be used, for children who are eligible for this service.
- If your child is designated as a walker, transportation will not be provided. View the School Bus Locator for your child’s transportation eligibility. PLEASE NOTE: Pickup times and bus stop locations are being updated and are subject to change. At this time, the School Bus Locator should only be used to determine if your child receives transportation services.
Answers to frequently asked questions on student in-person return can be found on the HCPSS Help site. This site will be continually updated as new information becomes available.
The Board of Education on January 26, 2021 approved the following phased-in model for student in-person return:
- Week of March 1: Students identified for the 5-days-per-week program
- Week of March 15: Students in grades PreKindergarten, Kindergarten, 1 and 2
- Week of March 29: Students in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, and students attending programs at the HCPSS ARL
- Week of April 12: Students in grades 7, 8, 10 and 11
HCPSS is striving to offer students two days per week of in-person learning. However, if the number of requests exceeds capacity, due to social distancing requirements, HCPSS may offer only one in-person day per week.
Parents/guardians who opt for their student to remain fully virtual may request to switch to the hybrid in-person model at any time during the 2020-2021 school year. However, approval of that request is dependent on available space, social distancing guidelines, and other factors.
Additional information on HCPSS spring planning can be found online.
See directions below for accessing this form. Please complete by 4 p.m., Friday, February 5. Please contact your school if you require assistance completing the form.
Log in to HCPSS Connect
Select More Options from the left panel
Select “In-Person Commitment” from the middle of the page
Complete the questions in the form for each child and select “Save”
Lightspeed Platform Support Tool Information
Beginning February 8, 2021, our school is participating in the use of Lightspeed, a platform and instructional support tool that helps teachers keep students on track and safe as they navigate online learning.
Lightspeed enables teachers to link students’ HCPSS or personal Chromebooks and HCPSS Dell laptops into a single virtual classroom for synchronous lessons, giving teachers the ability to monitor students’ screens and share resources.
Lightspeed allows teachers to:
Assist students with using the technology
Monitor live independent work
Lock screen to transition between live whole group activities and live independent work
Close browser tabs and automatically navigate to websites
Teachers will only have access to Lightspeed during regularly scheduled class time. Teachers do not have the ability to control computer screens, including clicking buttons and changing settings. However, teachers can direct and lock a student’s computer to specific websites. If the website turns on the student’s camera and/or microphone, the teacher would be able to observe the video and audio the web camera picks up. For example, if a student was on a site viewing their own image via the web camera the teacher would be able to see that content.
Additionally, to comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act, HCPSS uses Lightspeed to filter inappropriate content and monitor general usage of the Chromebooks, during and beyond the school day.
There will be no opt-out option for Lightspeed. HCPSS-issued devices and accounts are governed primarily by HCPSS Board policies: 8080 Responsible Use of Technology, Digital Tools and Social Media, 3040 Technology Security, and 3060 Student Data Governance and Privacy.
We’re looking forward to offering this additional platform for our teachers to better provide support for our students. Thank you as always for being our educational partner during this unprecedented time of virtual learning.
If you have any questions, you can contact Debra Anoff at 410-313-5506 or debra_anoff@hcpss.org.
Sincerely,
Debra Anoff, Principal
Schedule Parent/Teacher Conferences
How to Schedule a Virtual Parent Conference
● Conference scheduling will open on January 29th and closes February 5th.
● Parents of students in Kindergarten through 5th grade will schedule with your child’s MATH teacher.
● Parents of students in 5th grade GT Math will also schedule a math conference with Mrs. O’Connor.
● Click here for directions to schedule your conference.
Dates and Times for Virtual Parent Conferences
● Wednesday, Feb. 10th 12:00-7:00 p.m.
● Thursday, Feb. 11th 1:15-7:00 p.m.
● Please note that not all teachers may be available for all dates and times.
Logging onto Google Meet for your Conference
● You will use your child’s HCPSS credentials to join the conference.
● To prevent “overlap” of conferences, teachers will be using Google Meet room joining security features. You may have to wait to be admitted into the Google Meet room.
● Google Meet Codes: You will see the meeting code for your conference in Synergy when you sign up for a conference. You will receive a reminder email with the room code from the Synergy system a few days before your conference.
If you have any questions, please call the front office at 410-313-5506.
National School Counseling Week - February 1-7
The special week honoring school counselors provided recognition for school counselors who implement comprehensive school counseling programs.
We are fortunate to have school counselors in each of our schools throughout Howard County. At Lisbon, our school counselor, Ms. Massey is a vital part of our school and Student Services team. She actively engages in helping students examine their abilities, strengths, interests, and talents. She helps to partner with parents as they encounter the challenges of raising children in today's world. She also provides support for teachers to help them meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of our students. Please join us in thanking Ms. Massey for her dedication to our students and community.
New HCPSS Bully Reporting Tool
We are pleased to inform you that HCPSS has launched a new bullying reporting tool that replaces the Sprigeo reporting system that has been in place for several years. This new tool is very easy to use and allows students, staff and family members to easily and confidentially report incidents of bullying.
Acts of bullying can be critically detrimental to the learning environment at our school and has the potential for severely impacting the wellness of our students. We urge every student and family member to use this new tool to report any acts that occur in-person or online that you believe may be bullying. Your information will remain confidential and staff will take every report seriously.
Please don’t hesitate to contact the school if you have any questions about our response to bullying and ways we can collaborate to keep our school community a safe and healthy environment for our students.
Does Your Family File Need to Be Updated or Completed?
For those who already completed your Family File did something change that might need updating?
- Did your address change?
- Do you have a new phone number?
- Do you have a new email address?
- Did you child's medical information change?
INFORMATION WORTH REPEATING
Road to Kindergarten
SAVE THE DATES! - Winter MAP Testing
We will administer Winter MAP tests in February. This time, students in grades 1 - 5 will take the online assessment.
To learn more about the MAP assessment, please visit: https://www.nwea.org/the-map-suite/common-questions-families/
Math MAP
Wednesday, February 3 from 9:00-11:00 a.m.
Reading MAP
Wednesday, February 10 from 9:00-11:00 a.m.
Important Links for Attendance
Attendance Notes: Please send all attendance notes to LESAbsence@hcpss.org
An absence note is required for every absence, within 24 hours of your child returning to school. The note should include:
- Your child's first and last name
- Your child's grade
- Your child's homeroom teacher
- The date of the absence
- The reason for the absence
Extended Absences:
LISBON PTA INFORMATION
PTA MEMBERSHIP: Please support your PTA and become a member at https://lisbonpta.new.memberhub.store/store . To pay by check or cash please print out the form at LisbonPTA.org. You can mail it to LES or drop off at the PTA drop box in the vestibule during school hours. Your membership goes towards these PTA initiatives:
- Teacher Appreciation – Including Welcome Back meals and gifts
- STEM Night
- Classroom needs
- Teacher reimbursements
- PTA events and activities
WELCOME BACK SURPRISES FOR LES STAFF: Lisbon PTA has an Amazon business account with 2 wish lists. We would like to have a few surprises for our staff when they return to the building, you will see our ideas on the Wishlist. We are asking for parent Donations in these ways.
- Buy an item off the Amazon Wish List and it will be sent directly to LES
- Buy an item or similar listed on Amazon (check it off) and drop off at LES
- Make an Item that was listed on Amazon (check it off on amazon wish list) and drop off at LES
- Donate at https://lisbonpta.new.memberhub.store/store under teacher appreciation and we will purchase items
- Drop off a donation at the Lisbon PTA drop box in the vestibule.
Please reach out to President@lisbonPTA.org with any questions or suggestions or
to help with the surprises.
MEMORY BOOK: We need your photos for our memory book (our Lisbon Yearbook)! Please send photos of your kids doing their virtual learning. You can send all photos to Elizabeth Hall at memorybook@lisbonpta.org
Please include your child's name and grade with the photos.
LISBON PRIDE VIRTUAL RUN: Lisbon Pride, Virtual 1-mile and 5k Run/Walk will be held April 1 to April 20, 2021. We have a lot of ideas and a supportive group of parents and teachers who are working to get the website, registration, and run/walk information ready as soon as possible as well as t-shirts. A separate email will be sent out as well as posted on our Facebook page with information very soon.
STEM WEEK: STEM night is a popular event and we wanted to provide our students and families with as many “normal” PTA activities. STEM fun is being planned and information will be sent out about activities that can be picked up as well as virtual activities. The dates are not yet available, but we will post information the Lisbon Lines and our Facebook group as it is available.
WAYS TO SUPPORT YOUR LISBON PTA:
- Lisbon PTA has a clothing, shoe, and textile bin at the LES parking lot. Getting rid of old, worn, useable, unusable clothes, textiles, and shoes. Put them in the white clothing bin and the Lisbon PTA gets money for every pound.
- The PTA has a Scrips account that allows you to purchase gift cards that also have givebacks to the LES PTA to sign up open the shopwithscrip site and use the Lisbon PTA code. 65DCA4DB74233.
- JOIN OUR FACEBOOK PAGE: A way to connect with other parents and interactive posts. Lisbon Elementary School PTA https://www.facebook.com/LisbonESPTA
- Documents and information at LisbonPTA.org
HCPSS News
Parents/guardians new to the system are automatically enrolled for email notification, however must opt in to receive text alerts
CONNECT WITH LES AND STAY INFORMED
Website
- Our website, les.hcpss.org, is updated regularly.
- Important news and information is located on the main page of the site including an archive of our weekly newsletter, Lisbon Lines.
- Staff information and email is located under the "Our Staff" tab.
- A subscribeable google calendar is located on the "Calendar" tab.
- Email is our main form of communication.
- You will receive news and information automatically to the email address you provide in your Family File. We will not inundate your inbox with email. Look for the weekly Lisbon Lines on Fridays.
- If you would like email sent to different email addresses, update your email in Family File with the email address you prefer.
- You can subscribe additional email addresses by visiting the HCPSS News site here. http://www.hcpss.org/hcpss-news/
- Weekly announcements, important information, updates, and more will primarily be sent through email.
- You also have the opportunity to opt-in for text messaging