Dear Swansfield Families,
We hope you’ve had time to rest and rejuvenate for what we know is going to be an amazing school year at SES! As an administrative team we spent the majority of June & July interviewing candidates and finding the very best staff members for SES. Words can’t express how excited we are as a team to begin the school year.
The purpose of this letter is to welcome you back and to give you a “heads up” on what to expect on the first day of school, August 28th. As a reminder, this school year, our doors will open at 8:30am and instruction will begin at 8:40am. Our school day will end at 3:10pm.
Below you will also find dates of our Title I family nights, school events for the year, and PTA events. We have also included links to some other important items.
August 17th @ 6:00pm - Kindergarten Popsicles on the Playground
August 23rd @ 6:00pm - Kindergarten Popsicles on the Playground
August 25th @ 9:30 - 2:30pm - Free School Supplies in the Media Center
August 25th @ 10:00am - Kindergarten Orientation
August 25th @1:15pm - New Student Orientation (Grades 1 - 5)
August 25th @ 2:00pm - Open House (Grades 1 - 5)
August 28th - First Day for Students!
August 30th - Back to School Night
5:45pm - GT
6:30pm - Session 1
7:15pm - Session 2
August 31st - First Day for Pre K / RECC Students
We are pleased to inform you that eight (8) schools will be participating in a federal program available to schools as part of the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program called Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) in school year 2023-2024:
Bryant Woods ES
Cradlerock ES
Guilford ES
Laurel Woods ES
Running Brook ES
Swansfield ES
Lake Elkhorn MS
Homewood
This means that all students attending these schools are eligible to receive breakfast and lunch at no charge throughout the 2023-2024 school year, regardless of family or household income.
Families who attended a Howard County Public School last year, and families who completed the registration process, should complete the Family File now.
The 2023-2024 Family File is now available to parents. HCPSS requires that your Family File is completed BEFORE you can see your child’s teacher in Canvas on August 28th.
Only families who have completed the Family File will be able to see their student(s) homeroom teacher during orientation week.
Every year HCPSS parents must complete a Family File for each child. HCPSS utilizes Family File for parents/guardians to complete emergency information. Parents/guardians must verify and/or update information for each child, and can do so by logging in to HCPSS Connect PARENT ACCOUNT and selecting the MORE OPTIONS tab on the left and then clicking on Family File.
Once logged in, you will be asked to update or provide the following information:
Student Information
Parent/Guardian Contact
Emergency Contacts
Medical Information
Arrival/Dismissal Procedures
Photo Approval Data Confidentiality
PTA/PTSA Directory
Again, it is important that you complete the Family File in order to receive the name of your child's teacher for the upcoming school year.
https://www.hcpss.org/f/connect/family-file-quick-guide.pdf
FAMILY FILE USER GUIDE (ENGLISH) - https://www.hcpss.org/f/connect/family-file-user-instructions.pdf
FAMILY FILE USER GUIDE (SPANISH) - https://www.hcpss.org/f/connect/family-file-user-instructions-spanish.pdf
Many HCPSS families are eligible to participate in the Free and Reduced Price Meals (FARMs) program, which provides children with a wide range of benefits including free or discounted college tuition, testing and application fees, academic and athletic program fees and many others in addition to free or discounted meals. SES (Swansfield Elementary School) has a grant that allows ALL students to receive free breakfast and lunch for the 22-23 school year.
In addition, SES is a Title I school; this means we receive extra funds to support learning. Although all our students will receive free breakfast and lunch during the 22-23 school year, we still need families to complete the FARMS application. We use these funds for additional staff, family programming, student activities and much more. Our Title I status is based on the percentage of families who qualify for FARMS.
Families are urged to check their eligibility and complete a FARMs application as soon as possible. Families must submit a new application every school year.
Details on the Free and Reduced Meals program, including a link to apply, are available online.
Please contact the front office if you have any questions or need assistance with applying for the Free and Reduced Meal Program.
We hope you enjoy your last few weeks of summer break! Can’t wait to see you at the orientations & open house on Friday, August 25th.
Regards,
Anthony Espsoito, Principal
Courtney Madden, Assistant Principal
Howard Carter, Assistant Principal