Greetings SJLES Families,
As the big day approaches, our entire staff would like to wish each and every SJLES student and family member a Happy New School Year! It was awesome welcoming our staff back to The Lane today and as you would expect, we all are excited to welcome our Jaguars back to their home away from home very soon!
Our school leaders, Ms. Coleman, our PTA, and I have been working hard throughout the summer to prepare for an outstanding 2022-2023 school year together. During this pre-service time, our staff will diligently plan and prepare to ensure the academic success and social-emotional well-being for every SJLES Jaguar in an inclusive and nurturing environment that closes opportunity gaps. Our staff will spend hours engaging in professional learning, curriculum meetings, collaborative planning, and data dives, while putting the final touches on our building in preparation for the arrival of our Jaguars.
Each year brings something new to our school and this year is no different. After surveying our students, staff, and community last year we are thrilled to introduce our new SJLES Jaguar Expectations to our community. Starting this school year, our Jaguars will be Kind, Engaged, Responsible, and Resilient! Our Jaguar Expectations are at the core of our students' academic success and social emotional well-being, in addition to our school climate and culture. We believe these new expectations will have a positive impact upon our students for years to come during the school day, at home, and in our community. We appreciate everyone who provided input to create these new guiding principles and thank Mrs. Poirier and Mrs. Berube for leading our efforts to develop engaging lessons that will introduce our new Jaguar Expectations to our students upon their return.
We are excited to celebrate our students’ Kind, Engaged, Responsible, and Resilient behaviors at our new Jaguar Team Huddles at the end of each quarter. During the 2021-2022 school year, we surveyed our students to learn how they like to be recognized and celebrated. Our administrative team then partnered with Mrs. Capecci and Mrs. Berube to develop our Jaguar Team Huddles that we are sure your students will tell you all about throughout the school year. These Team Huddles will pair with our PBIS Quarterly Celebrations to recognize our students for all they do to make SJLES such a wonderful place to learn and grow. Stay tuned for additional information.
Families, please know Ms. Coleman and I feel extremely fortunate to serve this community as your administrative team. We are grateful to our outstanding staff for the love they show for their craft and for the authentic care they provided to our students and families. We are also thankful for the on-going support, partnership, and encouragement from our community and PTA. Our staff promises to do all we can to make a positive difference in the life of your child and to be of outstanding service to your family this school year. Ms. Coleman and I are very confident in sharing that our school is well-positioned to bring our Strategic Call to Action to life here at SJLES and our staff is ready to get to work to do so!
Thank you for taking time to read through all the important information in this Update, please check out our SJLES 2022-2023 Overview for additional SJLES details, and be sure to review the HCPSS Welcome to the 2022 - 2023 School Year. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me, Ms. Coleman, or our staff if we can be of service, thank you again for your partnership, and here’s to another outstanding school year together. Happy New Year, SJLES!
With Jaguar Pride,
Dan Notari
SJLES Principal
NEW NEWS
Homeroom Teacher Information & Family File Updates
Approximately 45% of SJLES families have updated their student’s Family File so far which must be updated every school year. HCPSS requires that your Family File is completed BEFORE you can see your child’s teacher in Canvas during orientation week. Only families who have completed the Family File will be able to see their student(s) home room teacher on Wednesday 8/24. Please remember to update your child’s Family File information today in HCPSS Connect!
2022-2023 SJLES Staffing
As with each new school year, there have been several changes in staffing that resulted from new opportunities for staff, retirements, and an increase in staffing. Please visit our SJLES website for our full staff roster.
New SJLES Staff Members - Please welcome our new SJLES staff members!
Rory Conklin, Grade 3 Teacher - Last year, Mr. Conklin taught at the Digital Education Center and previously served as paraeductor and then teacher at Cedar Lane School.
Sarah (Hunter) Leve, Grade 4 Teacher - Mrs. Leve, formerly Mrs. Leve, returns to SJLES as a fourth grade teacher after serving as a Gifted and Talented Resource Teacher at Waterloo Elementary and Jeffers Hill Elementary last school year. Mrs. Leve spent several years as a fifth grade teacher here at SJLES before last year's assignment and we are happy to welcome her home.
Esther Jang, Grade 4 Teacher - Ms. Jang returns to SJLES where she started her career as a Towson University PDS Intern. Ms. Jang spent the past two school years teaching at Thunder Hill Elementary.
Esther Jean-Louis, .5 Media / .5 Technology Teacher - Mrs. Jean-Louis served the Media and Technology programs at Forest Ridge Elementary School last school year.
Kelly Pavlic, Special Education Teacher, Ms. Pavlic joins us from the Baltimore County Public School System where she had served as a special education teacher.
Andrea Pendergast, Special Education Teacher/Instructional Team Leader - Mrs. Pendergast will lead our special education team after years of service to Waterloo Elementary School’s special education team.
Talia Skyles, .6 Art Teacher - Ms. Skyles will begin her teaching career here at SJLES after graduating from Maryland Institute College of Art and interning in HCPSS last school year.
Soyoun Choi, .5 International Achievement Liaison - Mrs. Choi comes to SJLES after serving in the same role at Centennial High School and Burleigh Manor Middle School.
Brian Ratliff, Special Education Teacher - Mr. Ratliff joins us from the Baltimore County Public School System where he had served as a special education teacher.
Rachel Ruo, General Education Paraeducator - Mrs. Ruo officially joins our staff as a paraeducator supporting grades 2 & 3 after the great service she has provided our school community as a guest teacher over the past few years.
Lisa Schoenly, Student Assistant - Mrs. Schoenly officially joins our Special Education Team after serving our school in a Temporary Employment position last school year.
Ryan Tanamor, School Psychologist - Mr. Tanamour was an HCPSS School Psychology Intern with Ducketts Lane Elementary and Wilde Lake High School.
Newly Allocated Positions - We are grateful for the additional staffing provided to SJLES this school year. Please help us welcome the following staff members to SJLES…
Mohamed Alhedai, School Social Worker - Mr. Alhedai joins HCPSS to serve SJLES, Waverly Elementary, Hollifield Station Elementary, Patapsco Middle, and Mt. Hebron High as our School Social Worker.
Amanda Diaz, .5 School Counselor - Ms. Diaz joins our Student Services Team after serving as a school counselor for several school years in the Baltimore County Public School System.
Kathleen Griffith, .5 Reading Specialist - Mrs. Griffith will join our reading team after years of service to Longfellow Elementary School’s reading team.
Guest (Substitute) Teachers - Our Kindergarten Instructional Team Leader Mrs. Beth Shoff and our Third Grade Instructional Team Leader Mrs. Ally Capecci will begin the year on Maternity Leave. We are very grateful to Mrs. Mary Hilton and Mrs. Mary Sturtevant, two experienced HCPSS Long Term Guest Teachers, for embracing this opportunity to begin the school year with our Jaguars.
Mrs. Sturtevant will serve as Guest Teacher for Mrs. Shoff through mid-September. Mrs. Hilton will be serving in the role of Guest Teacher for Mrs. Capecci through the end of September. Thank you to both sets of teachers for collaboratively planning for a great start to the year for our Jaguars and a smooth transition. Please give Mrs. Sturtevant and Mrs. Hilton a warm SJLES welcome!
Interim Instructional Team Leaders - Mrs. Meiklejohn will be serving kindergarten as our Interim Instructional Team Leader and Mrs. Bailey will serve third grade as our Interim Instructional Team Leader. Thank you to both teachers for embracing this additional responsibility for their teams.
Final Jaguar Summer Stories
This week we present our final Jaguar Summer Stories from Mrs. Fischer and Mrs. Harkness. Please visit our SJLES website for all 2022 Jaguar Summer Stories. We hope you enjoy them!
New Schoolwide Jaguar Summer Stories
New Kindergarten Jaguar Summer Stories
Kindergarten JSS #10: Mrs. Harkness reading We Don't Eat our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins
New to SJLES? No worries!
The SJLES PTA has created a helpful FAQ document to help you prepare for Back-to-School season. For clarification on upcoming Back-to-School events, school supplies, information about the car loop/walkers/buses, lunch, and how to find the School Directory... Click this link to get answers to some of the most common questions.
All The Information You Need!
HCPSS School Year Overview - Be sure to review the HCPSS shared a message yesterday with families, titled Welcome to the 2022 - 2023 School Year.
SJLES 2022-2023 Overview - We hope this SJLES Overview document provides useful Back to School information for our families.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Click here to access/subscribe to the updated HCPSS calendar
8/24 - Parents/students will be able to view class schedules in Synergy
8/24 @ 6:30-8:00 PM - Kindergarten Back to School Night
8/26 @ 1:00-1:45 PM - New Student Orientation
8/26 @ 2:00-3:00 PM - Open House
8/29 - School begins for Students
Doors Open at 8:30 AM / Dismissal Begins at 3:20 PM
9/5 - Labor Day: All HCPSS Schools Closed
9/9 @ 6:00-8:00 PM - Back-to-School Picnic
9/13 @ 6:30-8:00 PM - Back to School Night for Grades 1 & 2
9/14 @ 5:45-6:20 PM - Gifted & Talented Program Information Night
9/14 @ 6:30-8:00 PM - Back to School Night for Grades 3-5
9/26 - All HCPSS Schools Closed
|
REPEATED NEWS SJLES School Supply List As we inch closer to Back to School time we want to remind our families that our school supply list can be found on our SJLES website or by clicking here. Mark Your Calendars: Orientations & Open Houses We look forward to welcoming our community back to school at our orientations and open houses which are scheduled for Friday, 8/26. Here are the details…
Mark Your Calendars: Back To School Nights Our Back to School Nights offer our families the opportunity to hear about all aspects of the new school year from our administrative team, our PTA, and our staff. Please note that our families are the intended audience for Back to School Night presentations. Students may attend these events, but please understand they will not be very engaging for your child.
2022-2023 HCPSS School Calendar Please click here to access the HCPSS 2022-2023 calendar which details dates/holidays for HCPSS this coming year, including Winter break, Spring break, and professional learning days. HCPSS News HCPSS News email and text alerts keep families up-to-date on news and events, and deliver real-time notices of emergency closings and information. In addition to emergency notifications, during the school year HCPSS sends a weekly message to families with timely information. All HCPSS News subscriptions are generated from the information provided in Family File and have been automatically updated for the 2022-2023 school year. Parents/guardians new to the system are automatically enrolled for email notification. Please note that anyone who has not done so must opt in to text alerts. Free and Reduced-Price Meal Program As HCPSS recently shared, the federal government has NOT extended waivers allowing free meals for all students. As a result, students whose families do not qualify for free or reduced lunch will be required to pay the daily meal price for the 2022-2023 school year. In addition, all qualifying families must apply for our FARM's program as soon as possible in order to receive free or reduced meals for the 22-23 school year.
|
COMMUNITY NEWS & PROGRAMS
Please click here to visit the Community News and Programs page for announcements of upcoming events and programs sponsored by non-profit organizations.
Free Smartphones & Discounted Tablets
The Howard County Health Department offers free smartphones and discounted tablets to families with qualifying incomes. Click on the linked flyers in English and Spanish for more information.