Cedar Grove Friday Flash
September 3, 2021
Dear Cedar Grove Families,
We are thrilled to welcome back our returning students and extend a warm welcome to students who are new to Cedar Grove this year. On the first day of school, students and parents were greeted by staff and Grover and Mrs. Arellano led us in singing our school song. We are looking forward to returning to what we hope will be a more traditional school year.
We understand the frustration and concern that some of our buses have been running late in getting children home at the end of the day this past week, and we are working closely with the Clarksburg Depot to resolve this issue. In the meantime, if at any time you need to make any changes to how your child comes home from school, please email or send a note to your child's teacher. Please keep in mind that teachers may not be looking at emails during the school day, so if there is a last minute change, teachers may not see it. If you do not receive a response back from the teacher about any changes, please contact the school office prior to 3:30 p.m., as the office is very busy at dismissal time.
If your child is a car rider, please work with your child to memorize his or her car rider number, as this will speed up the pick-up time. In addition, it would be very helpful if the children practice releasing safety belts, have their backpack/lunch in hand, and are ready to exit the car independently. Adult and patrol supervision will be available to open car doors or lend a helping hand. If you need more time to help your child out of the car, we suggest that you park your car so that the line will continue to move quickly.
This year, all students are able to receive breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack at no cost. Here is the MCPS 2021-2022 Cafeteria News and Meals Information flyer. School lunch menus will be posted under Quick Links on our school website.
Speaking of school meals, this year, Cedar Grove will be working with students to compost leftover food items to reduce food waste! View the introductory video and read all about it in this flyer! Please talk with your child on what items go into the compost bin and what items do not.
As we return to school, we continue to rely on our families and each individual to screen themselves daily for symptoms. To help us avoid quarantine, we are asking that you please continue to screen your children at home and if they have even one symptom of COVID-19, or are awaiting COVID test results, please do not send them to school.
This is particularly important as if your child has any of the following single symptoms they will be sent home and not be able to return to school until they have a negative test, alternate diagnosis, or complete a full 10-day quarantine. During that period of time, all other students who have been in their close contact will have to be in a temporary quarantine while the other families wait on the outcome of that testing for your child. This could be potentially disruptive to your children and families moving in and out of quarantine and to avoid it takes all of us working together. It is a collective responsibility that we exercise extreme caution and be conservative in our approach.
The single symptoms that the health room staff screen for and will result in quarantine are cough, difficulty breathing, new loss of taste or smell, fever ≥100.4°, sore throat, severe Headache, diarrhea or vomiting. Please do not send your children to school with any of these symptoms. This is essential for us to continue to remain in school without quarantine.
There is a lot of information contained in the Friday Flash each week, so please scroll through this and future newsletters so you can be sure to receive important or helpful information. As a reminder, there is no school this Monday and Tuesday.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mr. Derby and Mrs. German
Parent and Community Volunteers
We are very excited to announce that parent and community volunteers may return to Cedar Grove to support in-person instruction, activities, and special events. Having parent and community volunteers in our building has contributed to Cedar Grove’s reputation of being a welcoming place of learning. We have always appreciated the time and efforts that parents, families, and community members spend to engage in volunteer activities in our school and become contributing partners in teaching and learning.
Please consider becoming one of our volunteers. To do the work, MCPS requires some training and documentation.
In-person volunteers should complete the MCPS Parent/Guardian and Community Volunteer Form.
This form outlines the compliance measures that are required to volunteer dependent on the type of support being provided (recognizing child abuse and neglect training and/or fingerprinting, as appropriate). These compliance measures and expectations for each category of service are in place to ensure the safety and security of all students, staff, and volunteers.
If you intend to become a regular volunteer, you must also complete the mandatory online Recognizing Child Abuse and Neglect Training. This training is required for any volunteer who regularly supports schools, chaperones a field trip, etc. and is available in multiple languages.
When the course is completed, a report is created to serve as proof of satisfying the training requirement, which is good for three years. So for example, if you completed the training in the 2018-2019 school year, you will need to renew it for this 2021-2022 school year. However, if you took the training in the 2019-2020 school year, you can wait to renew in the 2022-2023 school year.
Please go to the MCPS Volunteer page to find the support guides and information how to access the Child Abuse and Neglect Training. You may also contact Mrs. Hirschhorn, who will be our school-based volunteer coordinator, with questions about the forms and the training.
Upcoming Changes for Student Password Management
Starting this school year, students in Grades 3 to 12 will be responsible for their own passwords. While students can change their passwords as often as they like, the maximum age of a student password according to MCPS policy is 365 days. What will this look like?
Students are returning to school with their same/current passwords. Students in Grades 3 to 12 will be informed about this change on September 7th and October 1st through Synergy Mail messages. Messages will include directions and a link to the MCPS Student Password Manager (SPM). The MCPS Student Password Manager allows students to change their passwords from within an MCPS building or from home. The process takes about five minutes to complete. Students with special needs may require assistance from an adult.
When students change their MCPS passwords using this new system, their Google passwords will immediately change. Student password reports and lists will be immediately updated. There will be no interruptions in accessing other online platforms.
Starting on October 10th, students who have not updated their passwords will receive frequent password expiration notices to their Gmail accounts. On November 9th student passwords that have not been updated will be automatically changed. These students may need assistance with retrieving their new passwords.
The process only takes a few minutes to complete. Please see the following directions:
- Student navigates to SPM.mcpsmd.org.
- Student logs into SPM with their current userid and password.
- Student enters new password.
Fan Friday Begins September 10!!
Fan Friday will start on Friday, September 10th and will last for 10 weeks, ending on November 12. Fan Friday is designed to bring everyone together as a team, to have fun, and to show good sportsmanship. Students can wear any kind of sports jersey every Friday (football, baseball, soccer, etc.). If students don't have a sports shirt, they may make one from an old T-shirt as long as they get permission from their parents.
See Mr. Jansson if you have any questions or need any more details.
Technology Support Update
The technology distribution at 45 W. Gude Drive in Rockville has permanently closed. Students who need technology services, including new Chromebooks, Chromebook repair, or mobile hotspots should contact the school office.
The community tech support line has also closed. Families who need technical support can send an email to communitytechsupport@mcpsmd.org or submit a ticket via the Community Tech Support portal (support guide).
Tech Tips and Reminders
From Mrs. Hirschhorn, Media Specialist
Welcome back everyone! I am so grateful that we can once again allow parent volunteers in the building because our media center needs you! In order to maintain our open circulation program while I'm teaching, you become a key ingredient to keeping our circulation open. Please consider helping our kids to continue to check out books! If you have helped in this way before, you know how meaningful this volunteer position is. If you haven't, we will train you (you get to use a scanner!) and it won't take you long to figure out how much fun it is to interact with our students in this way. Feel free to email me if you're interested, or just sign up here! Thank you so much for your consideration!
There's always so much information in my September Media Monthly, so please make sure you bookmark it and check it often.
Art, Music, and PE Newsletter
Parents, each month our Arts team will share a newsletter that will provide you with what grade level students are doing in their classes.
Here is the September 2021 Specialists' Newsletter