Welcome Back Staff 19-20
Hollifield Station Elementary
Welcome Back!
Dear Staff,
How is it possible that we are writing our welcome back letter?! Aaron, Erin and I have been collaborating with so many of you this summer. We know that the slower pace allows us so much time to spend with family and friends. It will be hard to say good bye to sleeping in, relaxation and more, but we are very excited to see you all and look forward to a positive new year!
As a visual person, I continue to share our vision for the year in picture form above. As you can see, relationships are a key focus. Without quality relationships, not only is the work place low in morale, but research has shown that children are not as successful. In this busy world that we live in and with commitments required of an educator, we need to continue to take care of ourselves and remember that "family is first, always." Through deeper relationships with our children, we can also continue to answer the question "What is in the best interest of the children?" with a richer understanding of their needs. Our community circles and social emotional learning curriculum will assist us with these relationships. Thank you to Erica DeWind and the School Climate Team who have worked so diligently to put together resources for the implementation of the SEL curriculum. Through it all, we need to take care of ourselves and our wellness, ensuring we maintain a healthy balance in our lives. Finally, we will be focusing our school improvement efforts on questioning and discussion techniques as well as a re-vamped PBIS.
As part of our focus on relationships, we will be implementing some new and exciting changes to our Positive Behavior, Interventions and Support school-wide discipline practices. Student voice is a key component to this focus. As part of student voice, students will be proposing and voting on the school mascot. Included in the choices will be the traditional train/station, a hedgehog and options provided by the students. In addition, we will continue to use community circles as a means to build community in our classrooms and help support all students. A circle is said to represent wholeness, completeness and inclusion. All voices are heard and an understanding is developed.
PBIS/ School-wide discipline
1) Students will receive tickets instead of Dojo points this year when they demonstrate the 3 Rs - Being Respectful, Being Responsible and Being Ready. Once per quarter, students can use those tickets to buy an item from the "Quarterly Cart." Students can also use their tickets to purchase special incentives within their classrooms.
2) In addition to the student tickets, there will be colored tickets that a teacher can give to an entire class for showing positive behaviors. Teams will determine the special incentives for receiving these tickets.
3) All classrooms will have a hierarchy for addressing any behavior concerns. All students start on super behavior. Then the hierarchy (See visual below) is as follows: a) warning, b) additional warning, c) Time out/Reflection (reflection forms go home), d) Minor Incident Referral Form/ Parent Contact, and e) Administrative involvement, which could include a Office Disciplinary Referral. Our goal is to have a highly engaged administration, staff and students to ensure a positive learning environment.
4) Positive Office Referrals will be used to identify students who are going above and beyond and are "caught" following the 3 Rs. They will have the choice of a positive phone call home or a positive post card. One time a month, any students receiving the positive office referral will be called to the front office for a picture, which will be posted on the front bulletin board. This will replace the golden ticket, and allow more opportunities for our students to be recognized.
Also as part of our focus on relationships, we will be working with the PTA to continue to understand the needs of our community and bring the rich diversity of our community forth within our instruction, our communication and our programming.
In support of our instructional program, we have been working with our leadership team and our reading specialists to outline the professional learning for the year. Our leadership retreat was a great success. Our leaders reflected on our instructional journey over the last several years, reviewed our school improvement focus, and provided input into the logical next steps for professional development and planning. As part of the professional development around questioning and discussion we will be looking at how this will look in action and through our collaborative planning. As teams, we will be looking at resources, questions to think about and have discussions that will help ensure effective implementation with follow-up walk-throughs and data discussions.
Once again, summer has been a great break from the faster pace of the school year. There has been relaxing, dipping toes in water and enjoying time with family and friends. Yet, the beginning of the year when you and the children come back is another favorite part of our positions! We look forward to seeing you and all the pictures of your adventures! Enjoy the rest of your days of summer!
Sincerely,
Thank you Custodial Team!
Staff List
Welcome to our New Staff and Changes in Position!
**As we make changes in our staffing assignments, we take many things into consideration:
- Student needs;
- Strengths of the staff member and how they will strengthen a team need;
- Cross curricular knowledge that a new member brings; and
- Providing a growth opportunity for a staff member.**
New Staff/ Postions
ESOL - Lauren Campbell - .5 HSES/ .5 HHES
Kindergarten - Katie Reck
1st Grade - Taylor Baldwin
2nd Grade - Jennerfer Jones
3rd Grade - Pam Rochlin
4th Grade - Erica Glass - ITL
4th Grade - Jeniffer Raymundo
4th Grade - Aimee Wasson
5th Grade - Michael Dorrien
5th Grade - Emily Wright
.5 School Counselor - Vacancy
.5 Teacher Secretary - Donna Thorn - .5 HSES/ .5 Worthington ES
PT - Toshia Jefferson
.2 Strings - Jonathan Velsey
TEs:
Zardana Noori
Stacy Cole
Randi Keragala
Semeh Rezik
L/R Monitors:
Mrs. D
Shirlene Garyu
To be confirmed by HR:
Philonina Arthur
Puna Haque (parent in our community)
Leadership Team:
Kindergarten - Ann McLaughlin
1st Grade - Cindy Croft
2nd Grade - Kelley Hatcher
3rd Grade - Amy Callan
4th Grade - Erica Glass
5th Grade - Jennifer Aragon
RA - Tammy Sczepanski/ Heidi Shorter
Special Education - Co-team leaders - Shelley Godlewski/ Maria Hindman
Reading Specialist - Mary Hall
School Psychologist - Nancy Hammer
School Counselor - Lauren Honza
ESOL - Kathy Beavan
GT - Lori Speelman
Paraeducator - Eleanor Philmon
Principal - Amanda Wadsworth
Assistant Principal - Aaron Tark
Administrative Intern - Erin Coleman
Dates and Family Information
Welcome Back Information
Thursday, August 29th
Kindergarten Back to School Night
6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Cafeteria
Friday, August 30th
Kindergarten Student Open House
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Cafeteria and Kindergarten classrooms
New Student and Parent Orientation Grades 1-5
1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Open House Grades 1-5
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Monday, September 2nd
Labor Day/Schools & Offices Closed
Tuesday, September 3rd
School Opens for Students
Monday, September 16th – Back to School Night
Grades 1st & 2nd
6:00 p.m. Administration presentation - Cafeteria
6:30 p.m. Homeroom presentations - Classrooms
Wednesday, September 18th – Back to School Night
Grades 3rd - 5th
5:00 p.m. Administration presentation - Cafeteria
5:30- 6:30 p.m. Gifted and Talented presentation - Cafeteria
6:30 p.m. Homeroom presentations - Classrooms
Other Important School Information:
First Day of School
Tuesday, September 3rd at 8:45 a.m. marks the first day of the 2019-20 school year! Our daily schedule begins with morning announcements at 8:45. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. Please make sure your children arrive at school by 8:30 a.m. so they can be in their seats, ready to learn, no later than 8:45 a.m. **Remember, we highly encourage you send your students to school the way in which they will arrive and dismiss all year. This allows them to start their routines immediately. Kindergarten students will all meet in the cafeteria and will be assisted in the transition from the bus to the building. The teachers will walk them to their classrooms.
Student Supply Lists for each grade can be found on our website:
http://hses.hcpss.org/sites/default/files/library/Supply%20List.pdf
Student Cafeteria Accounts
Please be sure to visit www.myschoolbucks.com to ensure your child's meal payments are up to date and ready for the new year.
School Bus Schedules Online
School bus routes for the coming school year will be available on the HCPSS website, www.hcpss.org, and then updated regularly. The school bus locator can be found on the website as well: https://hcpss2.securesites.net/SchoolLocator/index.jsp
Communication: Administration use our email alerts (see HCPSS News information below) for a majority of our communication in conjunction with our website http://hses.hcpss.org/ , Twitter @hcpss_hses and information sent home in folders. For more information on the subscription process, please visit the HCPSS website: http://www.hcpss.org/hcpss-news/. Staff will use CANVAS as their main source of communication, including upcoming events, curriculum resources and communication of grade level procedures and practices.
HCPSS School News - All HSES and school system newsletters are sent through HCPSS News. Parents and guardians of currently enrolled HCPSS students automatically receive HCPSS News emails from the district and their child’s school, based on contact information submitted through the Family File last school year. Subscription information for parents of newly enrolled students and students changing schools will be automatically added to and/or updated in the system before the school year begins. For more information:
- Website – http://www.hcpss.org/hcpss-news/
- Email – webmaster@hcpss.org
- Call HCPSS Public Information – 410-313-6682
Hollifield Station Elementary School
Email: amanda_wadsworth@hcpss.org
Website: http://hses.hcpss.org/
Location: 8701 Stonehouse Drive, Ellicott City, MD, USA
Phone: 4103132550
Twitter: @hcpss_hses