Archive for category: TPES Events

Takoma Park Elementary School(TPES)

Piney Branch Elementary School (PBES) 

Parent & Teacher Meeting (PTA)

Tuesday, May 3, 2022 from 7-8pm on Zoom 

Please mark your calendar for our next PTA meeting on June 7, 7-8pm

Agenda will include: (1) Voting on Executive Committee and bylaws; (2) break-out panels for rising TMPS and PBES families to discuss the process of transitioning to a new school; and (3) importantly, please join to share kudos and appreciation from this year, hopes and ideas for the next.

7:00    Welcome from Emma Cheuse, PBES PTA VP of Communications

Upcoming Dates and Announcements – Chris Campbell, TPES VP of Communications. Refer to Updated MCPS School Calendar 2021-2022 

— TPES Outdoor Lunch Option: The outdoor lunch option is once again open for sign up. Please remember children will be given the option of eating outside only if parents have signed them up using the link below. You must sign your child up again even if you signed up in the past. When children eat outside, they must follow the directions of the adults supervising them. By signing your child up for the option to eat outside you recognize the increased hazards that are associated with rain or low temperatures. We will work diligently to make sure eating outside is safe, comfortable and accessible but during the spring months there may be mud and puddles. Children cannot run around, play in or throw things during outdoor lunch. This sign up will remain open until May 15, 2022, and the new roster of kids eating outside will go into effect on May 3, 2022. Once the sign up closes, there will not be another opportunity to opt into outdoor lunch. Sign Up for Cold Weather Outdoor Lunch

— May 2-6: Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week; TPES PTA is sponsoring a breakfast and ice cream social for teachers and staff. PBES PTA is sponsoring garden gifts, a snack break, lunch, and coffee hour– and asks that families please send art, cards, notes, emails, photos and thank you messages to your student’s teacher and to the school’s main office for all staff by this Thursday May 5, for delivery by Friday.  Let’s help all staff feel appreciated for their hard work this year! Classroom parents, please remind your rooms to participate and please take this as a reminder to thank teachers on behalf of your whole classroom.   

— May 4: Bike to School Day 

– May 4-5: 3rd Grade State Testing (MCAP) at PBES  (schedule link)

— May 12: NAACP Parent Council meeting for Takoma Park ES at 6:30 via Zoom. We will be joined by Dr. Gadsden and will have the opportunity to talk about end of year transitions and how to best support our students over the summer.

— May 18: early release day 

— Sat May 21 4pm: MCPS Night out with DC United 

— May 15-31: Reminder about PTAs and the Takoma Park Safe Routes to School program have organized the 2022 Virtual 5K and Fun Run! Register TODAY to get a free t-shirt and be eligible to win one of four raffled gift cards. Prizes will be raffled every few weeks in the lead-up to the race, so the earlier the registration, the more chances to win! Will include the registration link in the chat: https://runsignup.com/Race/MD/WhereEverYouLovetoRun/TakomaParkSafeRoutestoSchoolVIRTUALTKPK5K

• PTA Executive Committee Openings- there will be a vote for the TPES and PBES PTA Executive Committee positions for the 2022-2023 school year at the June 7th PTA meeting. The positions are open to all. 

• TPES: the current President, Executive VP, Treasurer, Executive Secretary, MCCPTA  Delegate, and NAACP Representative are willing to serve a second year and the following positions are available/open: VP of Communications, VP of Membership, VP of Fundraising and VP of Equity. Please contact members of our nominating committee: Joyce, Chris and Kelly.

President	Margaret McDonnell
Executive Vice President	Joyce McDonough
Treasurer	Stephen Tippett
Executive Secretary	Diane Kirsch
Membership Secretary	vacant
Vice President Communications	vacant/TBD
Vice President Membership	vacant
Vice President Fundraising	vacant
Vice President Equity	vacant
MCCPTA Delegate	Rebecca Shaeffer
NAACP Representative	Sharon Gaskins

• PBES PTA positions:

PBES	2022-2023
President	vacant
Executive Vice President	vacant
Treasurer	Kate Bauer
Secretary	vacant
Vice President Communications	Emma Cheuse [may shift to a different spot]
Vice President Membership	vacant
Vice President Fundraising	vacant
Vice President Equity	vacant
MCCPTA Delegate
Appointed, not elected:
NAACP Rep
Gifted and Talented Liaison
Webmaster

• TPMS: Greg Swaluk joining from TPMS PTA to highlight the need for PTA volunteers at the Middle school next year: 1 min.

7:10-30:  Principals Presentations & Q&A re learning disruption and recovery 

Ms. Oberdorf-

School Improvement plan

Literacy and mathematics instructional focus

Assessment OF and FOR learning

Acceleration of learning

Tutoring and intervention support

Professional learning

 Example of MAP data 3^rd grade- Fall 2021- Wnter 2022- increasing the percent of students on grade level

Comparing cohorts of grade level students to see how they are doing

Do data analysis at each level to get big picture

Math Recovery:
Focus on Major Content

3 year plan focused on Eureka math

Continue with curriculum

Focus on foundational principals- catching up building foundational content

Tutoring and summer program

Equip- preassessment tool to allow teachers to preassess before module

Started Jan

Allows for targeted instruction of foundational skills within grade level instruction

Planning for engagement

Hands on opportunities

School wide focus on supporting student discourse

Reading- intentional big picture then focus on smaller picture- seeing where kids are 3^rd graders

Left out year of virtual testing

Reading recovery:
consistent instruction at grade level

Move forward into grade level content with supports

Increased direct instruction of foundational skills and word study skills in small reading groups

Tutoring/summer programs

Prioritizing level skills and content

Coteaching

Ongoing progress monitoring to drive planning and instruction

Outside: Doing a lot to increase student wellbeing

Counselor allocation increased to 2.0

School wide kindness initiative- highlight acts of kindness as reported to PB Jelly

To report each other for kindness

Student wellbeing committee

Review student attendance and references from teachers

To give students/ families help that they need

Dr. Gadsden:

Same thing that Mrs. Oberdorf

Data: March 2022

Current KG- toddlers when pandemic start; 1^st graders most affected- because virtual pandemic year; 2^nd graders- ¾ of KG was in person, so reading less affected.

Reading at target in March 22-

KG: 80%

First: 62%

2^nd: 81%

What this data does not show is what the growth that kids made- many kids, although still behind, have grown tremendously this year.

Math:
KG: 91%

1^st: 86%

2^nd: 77%

Second graders not doing as well in math due to change in curriculum. 2^nd graders least amount of exposure to Eureka

Working with teachers to help them adapt to new curriculum and formats.

Data by Categories: 1^st grade- reading- reading level, Math- Formative assessment March

Only 4 Asian students- all 4 are meeting benchmarks-

African American 62% Reading 89% math

White: 71 reading/85% math
Hispanics- 25% reading 55 Math

English Language Learners 31/ 63;

FARMS 39/70%

Special Ed/IEP 44/78%

Didn’t take MAP in January

1^st grade most impacted and largest group

2^nd: challenge- kids came in at Kindergarten reading level, grew 1 year in ¾ of a year, but still not at grade level

Reading/math

AA 84/63

Asian 100/75

W: 82/93

H 33/40

M 76/92

ELL 32/55

Special ED

FARMS

Kindergarten- doing Fantastic!
Generally representative of how students do

Reading/math

AA 80/98

Asian 80/100

W 100/100

H 44/86

ELL 55/ 90

FARMS 64/93

Sp ed 100/100

Summer school

Create ARTS- target kids 2^nd language learners

Tutoring

Other programs for recovery

Student wellbeing team working biweekly on attendance

Biggest challenge Attendance- lots of children kept home kids because they were scared would miss school. Can’t teach if kids don’t come to school

After school tutoring in person and bus transportation- for PBES

After school tutoring at TPES 5 days a week

Summer school at middle school for TPES and PBES with KA giving before and aftercare

PBES: Summer school invitations went out for students not on grade level

For TP- tutoring- reached out to specific kids who are behind

MCPS says no one will be turned away even if they were not invited

8 teachers teaching- 200 invitations sent out

Looking to see what response- to see if can open up to more students at a later point

If interested don’t hesitate to reach out to teacher or school

If worried about students losing knowledge/skills over summer, sign them up for summer school even if meeting targets

Summer school will have reading, math and specials

7:30: Emma Cheuse (PBES PTA and volunteer with the Joint PTA Panthers & Dolphins Rainbow Club) will introduce Mark Eckstein to talk about inclusion, support, and affirmation for LGBTQ kids and allies in our schools. Mark is Chair of the MCCPTA LGBTQ Subcommittee and Member of the MCPS PrideAlliance and he will speak to and address questions on resources available for our local schools such as policies and guidelines for LGBTQ+ and gender identity inclusion, anti-bullying, curriculum and family support across the rainbow spectrum.  Please get your questions and comments ready in the chat. 

 

Mark Eckstein MCCPTA

MetroDC has Pride Alliance

LGBTQ at MCPS:

Curriculum:

MCPS will begin an initiative this fall will be doing LGBTQ inclusive curriculum K-12-

Imbedding it into Benchmark curriculum

Has been working on this for 5 years

1 LGBTQ inclusive lesson per grade offering content 2-3 days

Data: if represented in curriculum and seen, bias incidences/bullying will go down

Bias and Bullying-important to use MCPS forms- has spent a lot of time in making them LGBTQ inclusive in terms of language

With reporting get data and funding- so very important for form to be used

Federal Title IX mandates now includes gender identity/expression and sexual orientation

By and large the MCPS LGBTQ doing well and thriving

Lots of affirming initiatives:

MoCo Pride Students

LGBTQ studies class

Restrooms- trying to revamp- refocus bathrooms to improve experience for all students including trans/gender nonconforming

Minimum; at least 1 all gender single stall restroom in each school

Authentic identification- lot of data about virtual learning through the pandemic and hardships for our students because of naming/pronouns

Really try to support students with names and pronouns

In elementary schools big things students using gender neutral pronouns-

Don’t want to out people- can be traumatic

Resources:
List of LGBTQ resources for elementary schools

Annual PRIDE townhall Sat May 21 8:30-12:30 WJ high school

MCPS has new LGBTQ webpage

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/lgbtq/

Netflix series: heartstopper

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/LGBTQ/Metro-DC-PFLAG-Gen-Res.pdf

 Closing comments by Jon Frederick (TPES Parent) and volunteer with the Joint PTA Panthers and Dolphins Rainbow Club. Jon will also highlight the Rainbow Club’s next event – Drag Queen Story Hourcohosted by the Takoma Park MD Library on Sunday June 5, 1pm in the Takoma Community Center auditorium, with a meet-and-greet outside afterward.

https://engagedpatrons.org/EventsExtended.cfm?SiteID=3728&EventID=461479&PK= 

7:55    Treasurer’s Reports 

Stephen Tippett, TPES Treasurer and Kate Bauer, PBES Treasurer 

Kate Bauer:
17,000 earmarked grants

Spent 11,000

Need executive committee members next year- will have significant carryover, will need to have more activities next year to do the programing and support the school

Stephen Tippet:

Raised 35,000 (thought it would be less)

Tommy’s pantry separating this month

Spending less than raised. Continuing to spend some money on events through rest of year and into the summer.

Notes from the Principals’ presentation:

Please contact your student’s teacher if you would like to sign up for after-school tutoring and bus transportation.

More info on summer school — Last week some of our students received an invitation to attend summer school.  The goal of this year’s program is to support students who need additional or repeated instruction of the previous grade level and/or are currently achieving below grade level in reading and/or math.  If you received an email about summer school, please use the directions at the link in the message to register in ParentVUE by May 3rd.  If you have any questions please contact Robert Bledsoe, our Reading Specialist at Robert_Bledsoe@mcpsmd.org.

Summer school will have reading, math, and specials.  If you think your child would benefit from summer school and did not receive an invitation by email, please contact your child’s teacher or the principal for information on how to join.

Links from tonight’s meeting with resources.  

Mark Eckstein’s presentation on LGBTQ+ Resources at MCPS

For county-wide information and resources, please feel free to contact Mark Eckstein at markeckstein@hotmail.com or reach out to the Rainbow Club at PBES/TPES at: rainbowclubtkpk@gmail.com

Slides link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FLMLawDpPyB3jjgwT-Vs9JrH2jZHWTPEGMUkkArd4ng/edit#slide=id.g127b1693411_0_124

Here is the Bullying Form to use to report LGBTQ+ or any other bullying incidents, please include specifics to help ensure all incidents are tracked and coded –https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/compliance/

MCCPTA Leaders

–  https://www.mccpta.org/mccpta-leaders.html

Free State Justice

https://freestate-justice.org/

Student Leadership at MCPS – Pride:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/student-leadership/pride.aspx

LGBTQ Resources for Elementary Schools — https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yYQe87ancNwD6s5xBveRmidW8HXlBNmg_eqm4kNM79Y/edit

New MCPS LGBTQ Webpage for staff, students and families — https://news.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/staff-bulletin/new-lgbtq-webpage-includes-resources-for-staff-students-and-parents/?fbclid=IwAR0-5ryIe4TGAAVMFI0mqYKb8MDKEGa0Zjm3aiCUxb7JspdZmeNkpQxC5CI

Here is a resource for any attendees who have middle school or older students – GSA Network – Devising Freedom: https://gsanetwork.org/campaigns/devising-freedom/  They are hosting a youth movement assembly on June 21st

Become a PTA member:

Takoma Park Elementary https://tpespta.net

Piney Branch Elementary https://pineybranchpta.membershiptoolkit.com

 

Takoma Park Elementary School(TPES)

Piney Branch Elementary School (PBES) 

Parent & Teacher Meeting (PTA)

Tuesday, March 1, 2022 from 7-8pm on Zoom 

 

Please mark your calendar for our next PTA meeting on April 5 7-8pm 

 

7:00 Welcome from Chris Campbell, TPES PTA VP of Communications, and sharing of Upcoming Dates and Announcements by Emma Cheuse, PBES PTA VP of Communications 

Upcoming Dates and Announcements from the MCPS School Calendar 2021- 2022

 

Upcoming Dates and Announcements: 

 

— Many thanks to Jumana Musa and Sharon Gaskins, our NAACP representatives for the PBES and TPES PTA for arranging for Ben Jealous to speak at our Feb PTA meeting and for organizing a fantastic virtual Black History Night event last Thursday. More than 100 kids joined to learn, share, read passages, listen to music, and create quilts with the theme “My Life Matters because…”  

 

— Feb 25-March 4: TPES Scholastic Book Fair. Over to Shivani Sutton for a quick update and thank you to volunteers.  For more details about the fair, including shopping hours, popular titles, and no-cash payment options, check out our homepage. Please contact Shivani Sutton if you’d like to help out: shivani.sutton@gmail.com.

 

— March 2 and throughout March: COVID-19 Vaccine clinics will be held at PBES every Wednesday. Volunteers are needed both to help out at the clinics and to provide snack donations, which can be dropped off at PBES’s main office. Please keep an eye out for emails from Alisa O’Brien & contact her if you can help: Alisaobrien10@yahoo.com. 

 

– Feb. 28-March 6: Sign-up for PBES After School programs. Scholarships are available.  https://www.hisawyer.com/little-scholars-llc/schedules?sched_ids%5B%5D=101681&schedule_id=   Scholarship sign-up link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOLDcHUffny8zAg2oB4myGSVmL2ROWo3fzujRkcTdYSFL_lw/viewform 

 

– Thanks to our awesome volunteer Abby Anna, TPES is also offering a range of afterschool programs through Little Scholars starting late spring through the school year. An email went out from Margaret McDonnell this afternoon. Registration will be from March 9-14 (see link in chat: www.littlescholarsllc.com/takoma-park/). If your child is interested but the cost is a barrier for your family, please consider applying for a scholarship by this Friday, March 4 (see link in chat: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeAbNSei_bHWy1b0FOW5ZS79SYqlQ3a08GtUXQ-7vDYxJh45g/viewform). We have funding for approx 25 scholarships for families in need. If you’re eligible and approved, we will give you a special code to use instead of payment at registration.  

 

— March 4-31: TPES Read-a-Thon- Chris Campbell and Sara Lewis will present at end of event announcements. 

 

— March 9 at 7pm: Family Tech Talk presentation with an internet safety expert from Trend Micro [please see info in chat]

 

“Texting, gramming, Roblox, Minecraft, TikTok, YouTube. Technology is changing fast, and many of us are struggling to stay one step ahead of our kids and learn everything we can about being online. (Not an easy task when most of them know more about it than we do!)

 

Join us for a virtual Family Tech Talk presentation with an Internet safety expert from Trend Micro, who will share the latest trends, give advice on how to help your child use the Internet responsibly, and answer parent questions in a Q&A session. The Zoom event will be on Mar 09, 2022 (Wed) at 7pm. Click the link at the bottom to join the event.

 

We’ll discuss what our children are doing online—and how to teach them to be smart, safe, and respectful digital citizens. We’ll also cover privacy and security issues, how to encourage responsible Internet use, and even more.

 

In addition to learning some helpful tips, you could win a Trend Micro Internet security product! Five copies of Trend Micro Maximum Security will be raffled off to families attending the event.

 

We hope you join us on March 9th 2022 at 7pm to learn more about this important topic.

 

Event link: https://trendmicro.zoom.us/j/97682566330?pwd=QTRjT2EvWnJsdXJhNG41QURaeEo2UT09 

 

— March 11 and April 1: MCPS Early Release Day for Students (April 1 was formerly a day off) 

 

— April 11- 18: MCPS spring break

 

— May: the City of TKPK has decided that the 5K will be virtual again this year. On a related note, TPES’ Health and Wellness Committee is considering organizing a fun outdoor event- perhaps a kickball tournament- for TPES and PBES teachers, families and students who’d like to join for sometime this spring. Stay tuned! 

 

7:10: TPES Read-a-thon, Sara Lewis and Chris Campbell 

 

7:15: Introduce guests, Margaret McDonnell 

 

7:20: Presentation from representatives from four local non-profits that have kid-friendly service/volunteer opportunities (5 minutes each)

 

– Drennan Lindsay, A Wider Circle

– Abbe Spokane, DC Diaper Bank

– Roxanne Yamashita, Small Things Matter 

– Meg McDonald, Tommy’s Pantry

 

7:40/45: Time for Q&A with Dr Gadsden and Ms Oberdorf regarding the anticipated lifting of mask mandate, TPES’ loss of designation as a focus school, etc 

 

7:50 Treasurer’s Reports 

Stephen Tippett, TPES Treasurer and Kate Bauer, PBES Treasurer 

 

Become a PTA member: 

Takoma Park Elementary https://tpespta.net

Piney Branch Elementary https://pineybranchpta.membershiptoolkit.com