Welcome Back Staff
School Year 18-19
Welcome Back Letter
Dear Staff,
How is it possible that I am writing our welcome back letter?! Alayna and I (yes, of course she is on her technology...love her!) 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 create an exciting year that will empower, engage and inspire!
As a visual person, I continue to share our vision for the year in picture form above. As you can see, relationships remains 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. Through it all, we need to take care of ourselves and our wellness, so we will be working with Kevin Mulroe from leadership development on ensuring we maintain a healthy balance in our lives. Finally, we will be building our relationships with each other in team building meetings through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion.
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. One resource we developed in conjunction with our PTA's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee is a "New Family Brochure." We hope this helps ensure our families feel welcome from the very beginning of their experience here at CLES.
In support of our instructional program, you all have selected your professional learning community for this year. The PLC leaders are preparing for a great year! Another professional development focus for us is collaborative planning. What does this mean to you? How does this look in action? As teams, we will be looking at resources, questions to think about and have discussions that will help ensure effective collaborative planning.
In the coming weeks, we will be planning with our leadership team at our annual summer retreat for our year ahead. We will be reflecting on our instructional journey over the last several years, and thinking about logical next steps for professional development. We will be reviewing our homework practices and determining any tweaks needed based on feedback. (no major changes!) Together, the leadership team will continue to review our consistency of practice agreements to make sure the hard work we have put into those agreements remains a part of our day to day practices.
Once again, summer has been a great break from the faster pace of the school year. There has been flossing, 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,
Amanda & Alayna
MAP of the building
Shout out to custodians!
New Family Brochure
Welcome to our new staff and a fond farewell to a few staff members.
- 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.**
Please join us in saying a fond farewell to the following staff:
Julie Reed (ESOL), who has moved back to New Jersey to be closer to her family.
Katie Steurnagle (Special Education assistant), who will be supporting us in a substitute capacity this year.
Debbie Yeager (Special Education assistant), who has moved back to her hometown.
Kristin Townsend (Speech Language Pathologist) who was placed with another school instead of a split position).
Sri Patel (Special Education assistant) who will be spending more time with her family.
Please join us in welcoming all new staff members to CLES:
1st Grade - teacher - Mary Armstrong (HCPSS experienced teacher returns from leave)
PE .4 teacher - Thomas Janasek (joins us from Bryant Woods)
Speech Language Pathologist - .8 - teacher - Barbara Stanton (Joins us from Cradle Rock)
Music teacher . 6 - Brian Gossard (joins us from Dayton Oaks Elementary)
Changing Assignments:
Erin Scrivens from 2nd grade to 3rd grade
Natalie Ricketts from K para to .5 Gifted and Talented teacher (former teacher at CLES)
Christina Vettori from 3rd grade teacher to split ESOL teacher (split with Clarksville ES)
Deepeka Yoegentharan from TE to Kindergarten para 1.0
Leadership Team:
Kindergarten - Co-team leaders: Kris Kalinock and Lisa Cramer
1st Grade - Megan Welsch
2nd Grade - Meagan Monfrida (Teacher Development Liaison)
3rd Grade - Kelly Risolo
4th Grade - Nancy Strigle
5th Grade - Karen Manlove
RA - Francesca Graham/ Ron Pusloskie/ Mike Kilberg
Special Education - Jenni Kinloch
Reading Specialist - Jaimie Shirokobrod
School Psychologist - Mary Nalepa
Guidance Counselor - Kevin Gillespie
ESOL - MeHae Roldan
GT - Eric Pellegrino
Paraeducator - Deb Newman
Principal - Amanda Wadsworth
Assistant Principal - Alayna Lynam
General Information for Centennial Lane Elementary
Friday, August 31st
Kindergarten Student Orientation, 9:30-10:30 am
New Student and Parent Orientation Grades 1-5 - 10:45 am
Open House – 11:15-12:00 pm
Monday, September 3rd Labor Day/Schools & Offices Closed
Tuesday, September 4th School Opens for Students
Tuesday, September 25– Back to School Night
6:30 – 8:00 pm, Grades 1, 4, 5 & GT
Wednesday, September 26– Back to School Night
6:30 – 8:00 pm, Grades K, 2, 3
Dismissal Notes from Students - Reminder:
Please remember, that for change in dismissal, teachers keep the notes for their own knowledge. The front office does not get the change in dismissal form for a one or two day change. The only time you need to send up a change in dismissal note is if it is a permanent/long term change in dismissal or CA/ Van student notes. As always, attendance notes come to the front office.
Other Important School Information:
First Day of School
Tuesday, September 4th at 8:45 a.m. marks the first day of the 2018-19 school year! Our daily schedule begins with morning announcements at 8:45. Doors open at 8:33 a.m. Please make sure your children arrive at school by 8:33 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://cles.hcpss.org/news/2017/07/school-year-18-19-school-supply-list
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
After School Activities (for families, but FYI)
* New this year * If you are signing your child up for after school activities taking place at CLES, you will NOT need a note telling us a change in dismissal. If you enroll your child in the program, you are only responsible for telling us if your child is NOT going to attend a given day. If we receive no notice that they will NOT be attending, then we will send them to the after school program. Recreation and Parks is responsible for notifying you of cancellation. Exception - If you sign up 3 days or less prior to the start of the class, you must send a note sharing that your child will attend and change dismissal. We receive a roster typically a week in advance so any registrations after that need to notify the front office via the parent.
Communication: Administration use our email alerts (see HCPSS News information below) for a majority of our communication in conjunction with our website http://cles.hcpss.org/ , Twitter @hcpss_cles 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 CLES 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
Centennial Lane Elementary
Email: amanda_wadsworth@hcpss.org
Website: http://cles.hcpss.org/
Location: 3825 Centennial Lane, Ellicott City, MD, USA
Phone: 410-313-2800
Twitter: @hcpss_cles