Parkland Magnet Middle School for Aerospace Technology
4610 West Frankfort Drive
Rockville, Maryland 20853
Phone: 301-438-5700
Fax: 301-460-2699
Dear Parents and Students:
On behalf of the entire Parkland Magnet Middle school staff, I would like to welcome you to the 2014 – 2015 school year. I hope you have had a safe family filled summer. It is with great excitement that we start the year and I am thrilled to share that we will have over 950 students in our building. In seven years, we have been able to almost triple the number of applicants to Parkland. This rising 6th grade year had more applicants than any other year in our history. This is a testimony to the popularity of the school and our past successes building a strong academic program. Congratulations Parkland!
As we start the year, the floors have been polished, the building has been cleaned, and our staff is looking forward to working with your children. We will have a lot of new staff members. This summer, we completed the largest middle school summer school program in the county again. Students shared with me that they sure do spend a lot of time in our school. I hope that every one of our students is excited about returning to Parkland and the many opportunities for learning. Please do not forget to have your children finish their reading and math packets before the start of school. I assure you, teachers will be asking about the summer reading and math packets. In addition, there are new immunization requirements for our seventh grade students. Please review them and parents, please make sure your child get the appropriate shots that they need.
As always, we have provided a lot of information for you in this summer packet. I want to encourage you to make our website your home page and visit there often ( www.parklandmagnet.org ). We work very hard to keep all the information you need posted there. Also, we have started a twitter account and so please follow Parkland Magnet on twitter@PMMSPanthers.
I would like to highlight a few important topics:
Instructional Focus
Throughout the year, you are going to hear more about writing. literacy, and PARCC, the new state assessments known as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. We need to build the capacity of our students to write well, and prepare students for the PARCC by making sure they are literate in all academic areas. So, please support our instructional leadership team’s focus on having your students write and read more.
In addition, our staff will focus on culturally relevant instruction. Our world is becoming smaller and smaller due to the world wide web. As a result, we need to make sure we are having our students understand and be sensitive to the cultural diversity around them. Our school is a wonderful opportunity to see that diversity in this building.
Finally, our students can develop their social emotional learning skills. This year, I am asking students to each have a social emotional learning goal. They can expand more on valuing and respecting diversity and difference, making constructive and healthy decisions, building their resiliency and enhancing their social awareness with their interpersonal skills.
Tardy to School
A note from a parent is required and includes the date and reason for tardiness. Students and their parent/guardian must report to the Main Office to turn in their tardy note. Excused tardies include doctor and dentists appointments. Unexcused tardies include missing the bus, oversleeping, car problems, traffic or running late. For chronic tardies to school, a parent conference with administration will be scheduled. If the tardies continue, our Pupil Personal Worker will be contacting parents to discuss additional consequences.
Tardy to Class
Students are expected to be in class on time – meaning they are inside the instructional area, in their seats, prepared to learn by the last bell, not in the hallway outside the classroom. Students arriving to class after the tardy bell has sounded will receive a warning from their teacher after the 1st tardy. Parent contact will be made after a 2nd tardy, a lunch detention will be issued after a 3rd tardy and a referral to administration will be made after a 4th tardy. Chronic tardiness to class will result in further disciplinary consequences.
Absence from School
Parents must call the Attendance Secretary at 301-438-5715 before 7:45 am to report the absence or the school will call to verify the absence. Acceptable reasons for excused absences are:
· Illness of student (Absences resulting in more than five consecutive days require doctor’s excuse)
· Death in the immediate family
· Court Summons
· Hazardous weather conditions
· Authorized activity
· Observance of a religious holiday
· State emergency
· Suspension
Bus Behavior
There is nothing more important to me than the safety of our students. Please talk to your children often about appropriate bus behavior and let them know that if a bus driver reports them as causing a distraction, they simply will not be allowed to ride the bus. There are too many lives at stake to ignore distracting behavior.
Electronic Devices
With the growth of more portable electronic devices, there has developed a growing concern regarding electronic devices impacting the academic learning in the school. Thus, I ask that parents and students support us in in this specific policy. Prior to the start of classes each day, students are to put in their lockers I-pods,or any other electronic devices. According to the MCPS rules and regulations, for their portable cell phones, they may have a phone in their possession, but it should be turned off. In no way should electronic devices disturb instruction and learning as well as the safety of the school. If students need an electronic device for education purposes, the electronic devices need to be pre-approved by the administration.
Please note that if a students’ electronic device is confiscated by a staff member, that device must be picked up by a parent. Equally important, it is deemed necessary for the staff to confiscate that electronic device because an incident involving a student and their use of an electronic device that either compromised learning or the physical safety of the school.
Traffic Flow and Congestion
Traffic congestion around school at arrival and dismissal time can create dangerous conditions for our students. This congestion will be increased by street parking spaces taken by our staff members. Parents who drive their child to/from school are strongly encouraged to drop their children at the front of the building. Cars should enter the lot and follow the traffic around to the front of the building, then continue around the loop to the exit. In the morning, there is no parking allowed anywhere along the parent drop-off loop and driveway and no standing at the entrance to the loop. The parking spaces for handicapped parking are reserved at all times for drivers displaying the appropriate MVA tags or placards. Please note that the driveway to the left of the school as you are facing the school, is for school bus use only and is not to be used as a drop-off area. Blue lined parking spaces are only available after the buses leave during the day until 2:00 p.m. on regular school days.
Also, students can be dropped off in the morning as early as 7:30 a.m. unless a previous arrangement is made with a teacher. Parents, please pick up your children promptly at dismissal. Although I have security covering the front of the building after school, security only supervises the front of the building for thirty minutes after dismissal.
After school Activities
After school activities will start the first week of October and continue until the end of May. Late busses are scheduled to depart from Parkland no later than 4:15 p.m. There will be more information about after school activities during the Back to School Night on Thursday August 28th. Usually, we do not have late busses the first week of each quarter. I will announce when we do not have late busses during my Sunday messages.
PTSA
One of the cornerstones of an effective school is a high level of parent participation and involvement. The primary vehicle for parental involvement in schools is the Parent Teacher Student Association, or PTSA. We are very pleased to have a great group of parents assuming leadership roles in your PTSA. Mrs. Amelia McGhee was very active last year and will do an incredible job this year as our PTSA president.
New Student Orientation, Principal’s Coffee, and Welcome Back Picnic
There will be a new student orientation on Thursday August 21st, from 7:55 to 11:40 a.m. A regular bus schedule will run that day. New parents, please join me for my first principal’s coffee on August 21st from 8:30-10:00 a.m. The PTSA will provide some continental goodies and coffee and we can discuss the school year more in detail. Returning students, we love you and we know that you are itching to get back here, but you cannot come to school that day.
The staff and I are looking forward to a wonderful year of learning for your children. We value your continued support as we work together to provide your children with the finest education possible. I am very proud of our students. I know they are successful mostly because of the work you do with them at home. Please take a moment to review the summer mailing section of our website and feel free to contact myself or one of my assistant principals if you have any questions. Also, please mark your calendar for our Back to School Night on Thursday August 28th starting at 6:30 p.m.
Sincerely,
Benjamin T. OuYang, Ph. D.
Principal