Flower Hill ES

Welcome, Families and Students, to the 2024-2025 school year at Flower Hill! 

Welcome to Flower Hill Elementary School where everyone belongs at the Hill! I hope everyone has enjoyed an opportunity to rest, restore, and reconnect with family and friends this summer. At the Hill, over 140 students engaged in academics, enrichment, and wellness during our Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO) summer school program. In addition, construction is underway to expand our student support suite for students who receive social-emotional special education services(SESES).  

Below you will find celebrations based on our spring assessments, late summer and early fall engagement activities, staff updates, our school supply list, and information around our essential operations. Use the table of contents below to skip to different topics

Always feel free to reach out to me personally with questions: Joshua_Fine@mcpsmd.org. On behalf of the staff at Flower Hill, we look forward to working together to ensure a successful school year for all students.      

Warmly,

Joshua Fine  

Flower Hill Elementary School

Celebrations!

A strong school takes a strong community! Over the summer, we received results from several academic assessments and social emotional surveys.  I’m delighted to share some of our celebrations below: 

• 74% of all Kindergarten - Grade 2 students ended the year proficient in reading which is 2% higher than the MCPS average 
• 64% of Kindergarten - Grade 2 Emerging Multilingual Learners (EML’s) ended the year proficient in reading which is 15% above the MCPS average 
• Grade 3 proficiency in literacy is up 8% compared to 2022-2023

• Our chronic absenteeism rate dropped 11.8% compared to 2022-2023 
• Our out-of-school suspension rate dropped over 50% compared to 2022-2023 
• 81.8% of parents graded our school an ‘A’ or ‘B’ on the MCPS Spring Climate Survey 
• 97.2% of parents reported they felt a sense of belonging at our school on the MCPS Spring Climate Survey 
• 78.5% of students reported they felt a sense of belonging at our school on the MCPS Spring Climate Survey 
• 85.7% of teachers reported they felt a sense of belonging at our school on the MCPS Spring Climate Survey 

Meet the Principals: Summer Engagement Opportunities

Flower Hill is excited to welcome Dr. Augustine Kang as our new Principal Intern for the 2024-25 school year. Dr. Fine & Dr. Kang will be out in our community this August to meet with students and families.  We hope to see you and share a popsicle at one of the three opportunities: 

•  Wednesday, July 31 at 5:00pm at Flower Hill Elementary School  
• Back Playground 
• Popsicles and Water will be provided
• Friday, August 2  at 6:00pm - Flower Hill Pool 
• High Fives & Selfies will be provided 
• Thursday, August 14, 2024 at 5 pm - Washington Square Apartments 
• Popsicles and Water will be provided

Flower Hill will hold a kindergarten play date and an open house to give all students and families an opportunity to see their classrooms, meet their teachers, and gain valuable information for the upcoming school year. Grade 1 - Grade 5 students will receive a welcome email from their teachers by Wednesday, August 21. 

 Kindergarten Play Date

• Monday, August 19  from 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm 
• Meet in the Flower Hill Cafeteria 

Grade 1 - Grade 5 Open House 

• • Thursday, August 22 from 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm 
  • At Flower Hill Elementary School 

2024-2025 Flower Hill Staff Updates

Flower Hill has the World's Best Staff!  We are excited to welcome new teachers and announce changes in some positions for the 2024-25 school year. 

Please join me in welcoming these new staff members to our nest:

• Dr. Augustine Kang, Principal Intern 
• Sameena Jones, Kindergarten - Grade 2 Teacher within our Social Emotional Special Education Supports Unit 
• Sierra Sirk, Art Teacher 
• Carmen Canas, Grade 5 Special Education Teacher
• Robyn Suskind, Special Education Teacher 
• Heather Swope, Grade 5 ELD Teacher 
• Marna Katzel, Paraeducator Social Emotional Special Education Supports Unit
• Maricela Rodriguez, Community School Liason 

In addition to these new staff members, some of our veteran staff are taking new roles on the Hill this year: 

• Ms. Doreen Hinkeldey moves from Grade 2 to Grade 3 
• Ms. Madison Aguilar moves from Kindergarten to Grade 2 
• Ms. Lakendra Brown to serve as part-time mindfulness teacher and as part time counselor 

School Hours, Arrival, Dismissal, Absenteeism, & Bus Info  

The first day of school is Monday, August 26th! 

School Hours:

         Student Arrival                      8:40 am – 9:00 am

         Breakfast in Classroom         8:40 am – 9:00 am

         Instructional Hours                9:00 am - 3:25 pm

         Pre K Morning/Afternoon      9:00-11:30 am / 12:55-3:25 pm

Arrival and Dismissal

All students must arrive before 9:00 am. Students walking to school or arriving by bus use our front entrance to enter the building. Students being dropped off by car and all kindergarten students may use our kindergarten entrance closest to our front playground to enter the building. 

Students are dismissed at 3:25 pm on typical school days and 12:55 pm on early release days. Kindergarten students and students being picked up by car will be dismissed at our kindergarten entrance closest to our front playground. Students riding the bus home will be dismissed through our front entrance. Students walking home in grades 1-5 will be dismissed from the back of our building and parents who wish to meet them should wait on our back playground.

Attendance & Chronic Absenteeism

Your child’s daily attendance at school is the most critical component to their learning.  In elementary school, children learn foundational reading and math skills that cannot be replicated through make-up work but have a huge impact on their entire academic careers. The Maryland State Department of Education will be tracking students who are Chronically absent.  Chronic absence is when a student misses 10% (18 school days) or more of their days on roll for any reason, whether it is excused, unexcused or due to suspension. It is different from truancy which only measures unexcused absences or average daily attendance which measures the average number of students that show up each day of school. Chronic absence is the rate of absenteeism that highly correlates with students falling off the path toward academic success.

Bus Routes & Schedules 

We have not yet received school bus schedules but will notify you when they arrive and ensure they can be accessed on our website.  We are not expecting any changes to our bus routes from previous years. 

2024 - 2025 School Supply List 

Our supply lists can be found in English and Spanish by grade-level on our school website

Cafeteria News & Chromebooks 

Cafeteria News

There will be no cost for breakfast and lunch this year! That's right, all students will receive the option of free breakfast and free lunch each day at Flower Hill. Menus will be distributed and can be found online here:  https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/food-and-nutrition/menus/  

Chromebooks

Although all students will receive a chromebook to use during school this year, they will not be able to regularly take the chromebooks home.  If your family would like a chromebook for home use, you may complete this form and MCPS will lend your child a device. Please note that MCPS is charging families obligations this year when chromebooks are damaged or broken. 

Truckmania! & Back to School Night: A Night of Belonging 

TRUCKMANIA! 

On Friday, September 13  from 5:00 – 7:00 pm, the PTA is hosting a back to school community event featuring large trucks, all sorts of different machinery, face painting, food, and fun.  Save the date for this fun family event held here at Flower Hill. 

Back to School Night: A Night of Belonging

Our Back to School Night entitled “A Night of Belonging” will take place on Thursday, September 19 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm. This evening will feature a resource fair, community circles, class sessions, and time to ask teachers questions.