Dear FRES Families,

Today begins our first of three half days as we close out the year.  We know this was definitely an odd way to end our year.  We appreciate everyone’s patience as we all learned a new way of learning and teaching.  If you have not already completed the HCPSS survey about distance learning, please be sure to log on and share your feedback.  

Students 

• Grades 3-5 

• Grades 6-12

Parents/guardians

• English

• Chinese, 中文

• Korean, 한국어

• Spanish, Español

Today is Juneteenth!
Have you heard of Juneteenth?  Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is an American holiday honoring African American heritage and celebrated by people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds. It commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. State of Texas in 1865. Celebrated on June 19, the holiday is recognized as a state holiday in 45 states of the United States. Click here to learn more about Juneteenth with your child.

This is a day of celebration and given the recent weeks of protests, this is a day to learn and honor African American history. 

Thanks and have a wonderful weekend,

Mr. Conroy and Ms. Pazornik 

FRES News and Events...

As doctor's and dentist's offices reopen I ask that if your child has an appointment please print and have the medical provider complete these important health forms that are linked here.  

Also linked are forms for parent input about certain medical conditions.  Please view and complete if they pertain to your child.

Medication Forms are available at this link as well.  These forms must be dated after July 1, 2020.

These numerous health forms do help Ms. Nowell and myself know your child better so that we can care for them to the best of our ability while they are at school and away from home.  

Thank you for your time and effort in completing these forms. 
 

Completed forms can be emailed to me at margaret_morris@hcpss.org or faxed to 443-973-5545 during the building closure.

 

Wishes for a fun and safe summer!

Nurse Kay and Ms. Nowell

From the PTA...

Hello FRES families!!

Yearbooks are in earlier than we expected!! If you ordered one, you should be receiving them this week or early next week. Please check to see if your yearbook is missing pages 57-62. There seems to be a printing error on some of the yearbooks and we will get the yearbook company to replace them. Please contact Khaleda Hasan at president@frespta.org. Also, I ordered a few extra copies of the yearbook in case anyone missed the order deadline. They are available for $27.49 on a first come, first serve basis. Please email me to arrange for payment and pickup.

We have been awaiting guidance on how to conduct elections online from MD PTA. Unfortunately, they have reiterated that electronic elections will violate the by-laws, so we will hold a special meeting to vote in our new PTA Board. In order to maintain social distancing, we will hold it at 7pm on a weekday evening outside in the Emerson Clubhouse parking lot (8400 Upper Sky Way), with everyone wearing masks and maintaining social distancing. Please stay tuned for more details about the slate of nominees and the exact date!

We would like to give a HUGE shoutout to our teachers, staff, and admin at FRES! They’ve worked so hard over the past several months to pivot their instruction and make sure every student has access to technology to be able to continue to learn. We have a few suggestions on ways you can thank them!

• Send a video through Canvas! Teachers and staff love seeing their students’ adorable faces and will miss them so much over the summer! It can be as simple as saying “Thank you! Have a great summer!” You can record the video and upload it OR you can use the record feature directly.
• Send a thank you note by email. Check here for staff email addresses: http://fres.hcpss.org/school-staff
• Send an electronic gift card! Under normal circumstances, families get to send in a physical token of our appreciation to our children’s teachers with our children to school. Since schools are still closed, another great and easy option is to send a gift card (e.g., for Target, Amazon, etc.). Teachers have had to set up at home, as have many working parents, and this is a great chance for them to offset some of those expenses. Please remember there is guiding policy with a $20 max per child per teacher. The e-gift cards can be send to staff email addresses.

It feels very strange to have loose ends that need tying while also saying goodbye virtually! But I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all of our amazing PTA board members, committee heads, countless volunteers, administration, teachers, and staff who helped up pull off a fantastic year. I simply could not have done this without your support, advice, dedication, and collaboration. It was a pleasure working with so many of you who took initiative, brought forth innovative ideas, and made time to follow through despite your busy work and home schedules!

Monaca N. and I have put together an annual report to give you an idea of how far reaching FRES PTA’s impact was this year, despite the abrupt ending to in-school activities. Check it out on our FB page: https://www.facebook.com/FRESPTA/, or at this link.

We have an incredibly diverse community and I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to get to know so many of you! While I will still be a part of the community, I am excited to make way for a new board who will continue to improve the PTA’s programming and support.

Have a great weekend and a wonderful summer!

Khaleda Hasan, FRES PTA President