RES Family Update

January 31, 2024 - Caroline County Public Schools is happy to announce that nominations for both the 2024-2025 Teacher of Year and the Support Employee of the Year are now open. All members of the CCPS community, including staff, students, families and community are invited to submit nominations.

Nominations for both awards must be submitted no later than February 15, 2024.

Teacher of the Year Nomination Form – Full-time classroom, resource, or media teachers who spend the majority of their time teaching are eligible. Nominees must have completed a minimum of five years of teaching by June 2022 and be tenured. Caroline County’s selection will automatically represent Caroline County in the Maryland Teacher of the Year program.

Support Employee of the Year Nomination Form – Support employees must have completed a minimum of two (2) years of service with the school system as of June 2022 and must be a regular employee. Support employees are: custodial/ maintenance staff, Family Support Services/ child development staff, Food Services staff, Health Services staff, instructional services staff, secretarial staff and technology staff and transportation staff.

For additional information, Communications Officer Sandi Barry, barry.sandra@ccpsstaff.org or Supervisor of Human Resources Rob Willoughby, willoughby.robert@ccpsstaff.org.

Each year, the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) releases the accountability report card for all schools in the state of Maryland. Designed to measure the success of schools and identify areas for improvement, the report card was developed in response to the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), a federal law that seeks to ensure public schools provide a quality education for all children. For complete information, please visit the MD School Report Card page of the CCPS website.

February 16

Class Picture Day

February 19

No School - Presidents' Day

February 20

Board of Ed - Work Session 6 PM

February 28

PTA -Joe Corbi Fund Raiser Ends

March 4 - 8

Book Fair

March 6

Q3 Interim Reports Distributed

March 8

1 PM Dismissal Day for Students

March 10

Day Light Savings Time Begins - Spring Ahead

March 12

PTA Meeting - 6 PM

Beginning with Quarter 3, CCPS will no longer be sending home printed report cards. Grade Reports (interim and quarterly) will be sent by email to parent/guardians, using PowerSchool’s digital document delivery.

Please check PowerSchool to verify that your email is correct, or contact the school to provide them with your email address. Parents/guardians who have not provided their email will be contacted by the school to help ensure they are not missing important information.

In addition to receiving grade reports by email, the information will also be available in the PowerSchool Parent Portal at carolineschools.org/page/powerschool.

If you need any further information or assistance, please contact the school office.

Updating student and family information is easy through PowerSchool. Families are able to update basic contact information through the PowerSchool Parent Portal Account which provides an easy online way to notify the school of a change to their email, phone number, or the student’s home address. Changes may be made at any time during the school year and as often as needed.

Why is this important? In addition to storing student information such as attendance, grades and schedules, PowerSchool is also used to store family contact information. Without accurate contact information, schools and teachers will not be able to contact the proper person in the event of a sudden illness or concern. In addition, parents will not receive the district and school calls or emails regarding inclement weather, student absence or other critical communication.

Please note:

• The form can only be accessed through the PowerSchool Parent Portal Account.

• The form cannot be submitted unless all required fields are complete.

• Parents can update the student’s address, not the parent address. By default, the parents address will update if it is indicated they live with the student.

• A Proof of Residency cannot be uploaded. Documentation must be provided to the school.

• This does not replace the Student Information Form, which provides more detailed information required for the start of the school year.

For more information about the process, please visit the PowerSchool page of the Caroline website.

Spam filters are designed to identify emails that attackers or marketers use to send unwanted or dangerous content. They also throw out malware, malicious, and virus-infested emails and protect user security. Unfortunately, spam filtering is an inexact science that at times blocks legitimate messages.

Should you send an email to a staff member and not receive a reply within a reasonable amount of time (no more than 48 hours), please call the office.

Caroline Mobile App

Caroline has a free mobile app to help families and community members keep up with school delay and closing alerts, the school calendar, menus, news and more. Search Caroline Schools, MD in the App Store or on Google Play. The app also has a feature called Rooms. Once a parent/guardian uses their specific information to login to Rooms, direct messaging with your child's teachers is enabled.

Notifications from the school or district

Communication from the district or the school is based on contact information provided by the family in PowerSchool. Please make sure your information is verified and updated each year in order to receive alerts, emails, and phone calls regarding inclement weather, events, calendar reminders and more.

PowerSchool
CCPS provides access to student information for parents through PowerSchool Parent Single Sign On. Students' attendance, grades, and schedules can be viewed either online or through a Mobile App. For complete information, please visit our PowerSchool page.

An important message about attendance:

Good attendance for your student begins on the first day of the school year. Consider the following facts:

• Chronic absenteeism may prevent children from reaching early milestones.

• Chronically absent students have difficulty keeping up with the pace at which they are expected to learn and grow.

• Students who are absent even a day or two every few weeks fall behind their peers.

• Irregular attendance can be a better predictor of whether students will drop out before graduation than test scores.

• Consistent, on-time attendance is a habit that lasts into adulthood.

In addition to wanting the best possible education for your child, we also closely monitor absences because Maryland law requires that children ages 5-18 attend school. Students may be withdrawn if not attending school regularly; students not enrolled or attending will be considered truant.

How Can Parents Encourage Good Attendance?

• Build good attendance habits early so children know that getting to school on time every day is important!

• Set a regular bedtime & morning routine, laying out clothes and backpacks the night before.

• Avoid scheduling appointments & trips when school is in session.

• Don't let your child stay home unless he/she is truly sick.

• Consider that sometimes a stomach ache or headache is a sign of anxiety. If your child seems anxious about going to school, talk to the school about helpful resources.

All Caroline County Public School students may eat breakfast and lunch free of charge this year, with no application needed. CCPS now participates in the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows free meals for all students in schools in low-income areas. There will still be a charge for extra items such as snacks. School menus may be found on the Caroline Schools, MD free mobile app and on all CCPS websites.

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Caroline County Public Schools prohibits discrimination in its educational programs, and in employment, on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, or disability.

OFFICE HOURS:

The RES front office will be open Monday - Friday from 8:00 AM - 4:15 PM.

Email: sutton.lee@ccpsstaff.org
Website: ridgelyes.org
Location: 118 North Central Avenue, Ridgely, MD 21660
Phone: 410 479 3243