Talbott Springs Elementary School
Newsletter - 2/28/25
Greetings TSES Families,
We have had an exciting week at TSES! We rounded out Black History Month with a fabulous celebration on Wednesday evening. It was a wonderful community event, and we are already looking forward to next year. Today, we had our Black History Month guest reader day and spirit day to flashback to the 80’s & 90’s hip hop and R&B day. We had a great day!
We have so much to celebrate at TSES, and we continue to be impressed by our students and their talents. Congratulations to Austin A, Jacqui C, Scarlett F, and Muhammad C in 3rd grade for having their artwork selected for the 3rd Grade Showcase Exhibition at the Howard County Board of Education.
See below for this week's newsletter.
This week’s newsletter includes the following:
Important Dates
Kindergarten Registration for the 25-26 School Year
Spring Picture & Class Picture Day
PTA Sponsored Sneaker Ball
ZUM RFID Cards
Eagles’ Night Out & Book Fair
Policy 8080 - Responsible Use of Technology, Digital Tools, and Social Media
BSA Cub Scout Pack 914
Important Dates
March 3 - Kindergarten Registration Opens for the 25-26 School Year
March 7 - PTA Sponsored Sneaker Ball
March 13 - Spring Picture & Class Picture Day
March 13 - Eagles’ Night Out & Book Fair
March 14 - 3-hour early dismissal for HCPSS Schools
March 26 - TSES begins using ZUM RFID cards for bus riders
Kindergarten Registration
We need your help in spreading the word regarding new Kindergarten registration for the 2025-2026 school year!
Registration for incoming kindergarteners and newly enrolled first graders opens on Monday, March 3. As we prepare for our upcoming school year, it is important to have your child registered to ensure we have the correct amount of teachers for our students. Please do not delay! Help us with the process by registering your new kindergartner or first grader as soon as possible.
Children must be 5 years old by 9/1/25 in order to enroll in kindergarten next school year. Every child who is 5 years old by this date must be enrolled in a kindergarten program this fall or have an approved waiver. HCPSS kindergarten is a full day program.
- Please make certain you are on the screen for 2025-2026 if registering for the next school year.
- Parents or guardians are to register students at the school serving the address where the child’s parent or guardian resides. Information on neighborhood schools can be found through HCPSS School Locator.
- Complete your child’s registration online by providing the documents listed below. The registration process will be more efficient if you upload the required documents during online registration. Otherwise, you will be asked to submit the required documents via email as pdfs, or you may contact the office to make arrangements to bring the documents in and we will copy them for you. The following documents are needed for registration and should be submitted during the online registration process:
- Child’s evidence of birth (i.e. birth certificate, baptismal certificate)
- An authorized record of immunizations
- Proof of residency in the form of your entire signed lease/deed including signature pages.
- Current utility bill with your name and address that has been issued within the last 45 days. (cellular device bills not accepted)
- Photo ID of parent/guardian
Additional Documents to bring if applicable to your child:
Proof of custody - only if there is information the school must adhere to during school hours (full document including the signature pages)
- Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for Special Education Services
- 504 plan
- Psychological report or related services reports/plans
- English Language Learner (ELL) plans or previous assessments
These forms should be completed by your child's pediatrician and dentist and emailed to our Health Room prior to the first day of school or as soon as your child has their 5 year check-up
It is recommended that you work on a laptop or desktop to complete registration. Cell phone registration is not recommended. Please call our front office at 410-313-6915 if you have questions and/or need support with the registration process.
PICTURE DAY: Thursday, Mach 13, 2025
Picture Day is coming soon! To order spring photos, you must return the flyer/order envelope on Picture Day. Online pre-ordering is NOT available for spring photos – the envelope must be returned on Picture Day.
Class group photos will be taken on Picture Day for all students. For individual portraits, only students who bring in their envelopes on Picture Day will be photographed.
Please look for the flyer/order envelope that will be sent home with your child soon!
PTA Sponsored Sneaker Ball
Join us next Friday, March 7 @ 6pm. Check out the details in the English and Spanish fliers. Hope to see you there!
ZUM RFID Cards
HCPSS expanded its pilot program for a student bus identification card to all elementary schools and several others that are serviced by Zum Services, Inc., which has the required hardware and software readily available.
Identified bus-rider students are provided with an RFID (radio-frequency identification) Card, on which a student’s assigned bus is stored on a contactless chip in the card. Student bus cards use the same contactless RFID technology found in metro transit passes, corporate access cards, and other commonly used ID cards. Tapping the bus card records only the student boarding or disembarking the vehicle. The Zum RFID bus cards are not GPS-enabled and cannot track or follow a student’s movements outside of getting on or off their bus.
TSES bus riders will begin using RFID cards on the afternoon of March 26. You can read more about the RFID cards here and also review the FAQ.
Eagles’ Night Out & Book Fair - March 13 @ 6:15pm-8:00pm
Our Eagles’ future's so bright - Student and an important adult in their life are invited to a night of fun and activities to build community. An adult is required to attend with each child.
The TSES Book Fair is coming! Families may shop the fair Thursday March 13th 3:00pm -7:30pm. The fair will be open during Eagles Night Out. In addition, students may shop during the school day Friday, March 14th. You may send your student with cash/check to TSES or ewallet (use the link below). You may also shop online.
https://www.scholastic.com/bf/talbottspringselemschool1
Policy 8080 - Responsible Use of Technology, Digital Tools, and Social Media
On January 30, 2025, the Board of Education approved adjustments to Policy 8080 - Responsible Use of Technology, Digital Tools, and Social Media that changes the ability for students to use personal devices during the school day. The Board approved the following changes related to the use of personal devices by students at school:
- No students, PreKindergarten-12, will be permitted to use cell phones and other personal technology devices during the student day (first bell to last bell of the day or posted school hours) except for reasons detailed in a student’s IEP, 504, or health plan. Under the prior version of the policy, elementary and middle school students were not permitted to use personal devices during the school day at any time. For high school students, this policy removes access to personal device in between classes and at lunch. For all grade levels, the addition of consequences for violating the policy is new.
- When a personal device is used in violation of the new policy, the device will be confiscated for the remainder of the student day. Following the first violation, the student may retrieve the device at the end of the student day. For all subsequent violations, a parent/guardian must retrieve the device from the school.
- A device that is confiscated during the final period of the student day will be confiscated for the entire next student day. The student may retrieve the device at the end of the day it was originally confiscated to take home but must provide it to the front office upon arrival on the next student day.
- Students may be in possession of personal devices, but they must be “away and silenced,” meaning devices are not able to be seen by either the student or staff member and are set to make no noise. Additionally, devices may not be a distraction.
- Smart watches will be permitted to be worn to check time but may not be a distraction.
- Personal laptops may be used for instructional activities in high school when permitted by the teacher.
- A staff member on a school-sponsored field trip may permit the use of a personal technology device by a student in limited situations where capturing a picture or video may be appropriate or contacting a parent/guardian is necessary.
- School administrators and school administrators’ designees may authorize use of a personal device in rare instances such as an emergency for communication purposes.
These new expectations will take effect on Monday, March 3, 2025. The complete changes and expectations may be found online. Please take time to review these new expectations with your student to ensure they do not violate the new policy.
Our school will adhere strictly to the policy with hopes that the elimination of the distractions that personal devices cause use will result in healthier and more productive learning and social environments during the school day. More information will be shared before the implementation date.
Thank you for your collaboration in the successful implementation of these changes.
BSA Cub Scout Pack 914
BSA Cub Scout Pack 914 would like boys and girls to join our Pack
A new year to broaden experiences and life adventures for your youth.
Complete age appropriate adventures, help your community and make more friends as you develop life skills.
Benefits for a lifetime! Start now.
Explore scouting by visiting Pack 914. We meet the 2nd and 4th Tuesday from 7-8pm. Learn more about the pack at: https://pack914md.wordpress.com/