Dear Bushy Park Community,

 

It is with great excitement that I welcome your family to the 2021-22 school year at Bushy Park Elementary.  To our returning families, we cannot wait to see you!  To our new-to-BPES families, welcome to our school community!  This year, we will continue to communicate with our families with our weekly Bushy Bear Tales newsletter.  You should expect our newsletter to be delivered to your inbox on Friday mornings.  These newsletters are also archived on our website for your convenience.  

 

Whether your family is new to Bushy Park, or if you have been a part of our community for years, we know that you have many questions in advance of students returning to school later this month!  It is our hope that this letter will answer many of your questions and provide you with all of the information that you need to prepare your family for the start of the school year.

 

Our school had some staffing changes throughout the summer.  I know you will join me in wishing some of our previous Bushy Park staff members well in their new adventures, while welcoming our new BPES staff members!  Check out the Meet the New BPES Staff slides to get to know the newest additions to the Bushy Park staff!  Please join me in welcoming these wonderful individuals to our school.  We look forward to the many contributions they will make to our community.

 

Please update your Family File for the 2021-22 school year.  Family File serves as our online emergency card, and every student must have an updated Family File in place - including kindergarten students and students new to Bushy Park who may have just registered.  To update your Family File, please visit https://www.hcpss.org/connect/, login using your parent/guardian credentials, and select “More Options” from the left hand side.  You will need to click through each section of the Family File, make any applicable changes to your child’s information, and save.  An updated Family File is needed for all students, and parents will not be able to view classroom teacher assignments later this summer if the Family File is not updated. 

 

Our administrative team is here to serve you and your family now and throughout the entire school year.  Please reach out to us with any questions or needs.  We look forward to a great year together!  

 

Sincerely,

 

Julia Bialeski, Principal

 

 

Upcoming Dates:

8/19    PTA Meeting, 7pm (virtual)

8/25    Teacher assignments shared in HCPSS Connect for families with updated Family File 

8/27    Orientations & Open Houses - Please see below for details

8/30    First day of school for students - Grades K-5

9/2    First day of school for students - RECC & PreK

9/6    Schools & Offices Closed

9/7    Schools & Offices Closed

9/10    PTA Back-to-School Picnic

9/14    Back to School Night for Parents & Guardians - Please see below for details

9/16    Schools & Offices Closed 

9/23    PTA Meeting, 7pm (in person)

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2021-22 Back to School: Important Dates

 

We have several opportunities for both new and returning students and families to engage with us immediately prior to the start of the school year, and once the year is underway.  

 

Our Orientation and Open House events on Friday, August 27 are for students and their parents.  These events are scheduled throughout the day to help us devote our full attention to the group of children and families assigned to each time.  If your family will be out of town, we understand!  Slides from the Kindergarten Orientation and the New Family Orientation will be posted to our website for your reference following the events.

 

Our Back to School Night on Tuesday, September 14 is for parents and guardians only.  These presentations are designed to answer parent questions about the grade-level specific curriculum, allow time for parents to meet their child’s teachers and the parents of peers in each class, and hear about the upcoming school year.

 

 

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2021-22 School Supply Lists

 

School supply lists for the 2021-22 school year are live on our website at http://bpes.hcpss.org/news/2021/06/school-supply-list-2021-2022.   Students may bring school supplies to the Open House on Friday, August 27, or they may bring their supplies on the first day of school.

 

For families who placed orders earlier this spring through the PTA School Supply Kit fundraiser, those kits will be delivered directly to school later this month.  Unfortunately, at this time it is too late to place an order for the PTA-sponsored School Supply Kits if you did not place one earlier in the summer.

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2021-22 School Start Times & Bus Schedules

 

Bushy Park’s student hours will be 9:20am-3:50pm for the 2021-22 school year.  Students who are car riders should be dropped off no earlier than 9:10am, and the late bell will ring at 9:20am.  

 

The HCPSS Pupil Transportation Office is still working to route buses and update the stop information based on countywide enrollment.  Beginning on Tuesday, August 24, bus information, including your child’s assigned bus number, contractor contact information, bus stop location, and morning pickup and afternoon drop off times will be updated on the HCPSS website at http://www.infofinderi.com/ifi/?cid=HCP2IOASIJVW.  

 

At the beginning of the year, it is recommended that you arrive at the bus stop 10-15 minutes earlier than the posted time, to ensure that you do not miss the bus.  As the drivers are learning their new routes and acclimating to school-year traffic, it is common for buses to run a bit behind schedule at the beginning of the year.   

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Homeroom Assignments & Student Schedules

 

Parents who have updated their Family File emergency cards will be able to log in to HCPSS Connect on Wednesday, August 25 to view homeroom teacher assignments.  To ensure that you can access this information, please go into your HCPSS Connect account and update each tab of the Family File page.  Once you have saved the information for the 2021-22 school year and provided your electronic signature, your Family File is updated.

 

Updating your Family File is the only way to access your child’s teacher assignment prior to the Open House on August 27.  For confidentiality reasons, we are not able to share teacher assignments over the telephone.

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Technology Accounts for New Students

 

Beginning August 2, 2020, families with students new to HCPSS and whose registration has been finalized will receive an email from noreply@hcpss.org with the subject “Technology account information for new HCPSS student.” The email will be sent to the email address used during the student registration process. The email contains personalized and important information regarding new students’ technology accounts. If you have a child new to HCPSS and do not receive the email and/or cannot locate the email in the junk/spam folder of the email account you used during registration, you can use the Forgot Password or Username button on the hcpss.me student landing page to retrieve both your child’s username and password. Directions for Account Self Service directions are posted online.

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