Good evening RAMFAM! This is your proud Parkside principal, Brian Briggs. I’m looking forward to 1 more week of great instruction and fun with the RAMFAM leading into the Winter Holiday Break. We had another great week here at Parkside and here are just a few highlights:
· Our amazing Parkside Concert Choir visited Fruitland Primary on Friday to help them get into the Holiday Spirit! Parkside loves to share the holiday spirit with our friends around county.
· Parkside Athletes as Readers and Leaders visited Willards Elementary School to read holiday themed books to 1st and 2nd classes.
· Zach Elliott, Lilea Taylor, and Justin Riddleberger all participated with the Towson University Honor Band on Saturday, an incredible honor for 3 of our best scholar musicians.
· CTE Culinary put on an amazing holiday staff luncheon for our Parkside CTE staff.
· This week we had a first for Parkside High School Athletics. For the first time we were able to have not one, but two, girls varsity wrestling matches. We have 13 girls wrestling this year and were able to have matches against both Snow Hill and Colonel Richardson last evening. Our girls won one of the two matches and we could not be prouder of all the girls who are wrestling at Parkside. Other athletic highlights included our basketball, indoor track, and wrestling teams doing well and Rocco Tully and Colby Jones picking up their 100th wrestling victories this weekend.
· Mock Trial are RAMping it up in preparation of their trials that will begin in early January. We are so glad that we have been able to start Parkside Mock Trial back up for the last year after not having a team for decades.
· On Friday morning, we recognized a large group of students with a RAMdom Pride Award that was written by one of their teachers for displaying true RAMFAM characteristics. They each received a certificate and a coupon for a free snack in the cafeteria. In addition, a drawing will be held at the end of the month for a gift card for anyone who received a RAMdom Pride award during the month of December. We love to recognize the RAMFAM who always go above and beyond to make this the great school that it is. This was the 2nd straight week we passed out the awards and have given out over 100 RAMdom Pride Awards in just the last week and a half!
I am a big believer in communication and making sure that everyone knows what is happening here at Parkside, home of the RAMS. See below for important updates/reminders and dates over the next few months.
Important dates upcoming:
· December 16th-20th – Parkside CTE Holiday Spirit Week
· December 16th – Midterm progress reports posted
· December 18th – Winter Holiday Concert
· December 23rd – January 3rd – Schools closed for students for Winter Break (Parkside CTE offices will be open 12/23, 12/26-27, 12/30, and 1/2-3)
· January 6th, 2025 – Schools reopen
· January 20th – ML King Jr. Day – Schools closed
· January 31st – End of 2nd Marking Term AND Early Dismissal (11:45) for students
· February 3rd – Professional Development Day – Schools closed for students
· February 7th – 2nd Marking Term Report Cards Distributed
· February 17th – Presidents Day – Schools closed
Updates/Reminders:
· This coming week we will have a Holiday Spirit Week for all our students. You can find the theme for each day here:
· Please remind your child of the importance of being in class as much as possible. We understand that students need to use the restroom and they are using our e-Hallpass system. However, there are some students who are abusing this and are typically not using the restroom when they are in the restroom. If you, as a parent, want to see how often your student is out of class and missing instruction, feel free to reach out to me and I can let you know how often they are out of the classroom and for how long thanks to our e-Hallpass system. We are here to provide the best possible education for your child and when they are out of the classroom, they are missing that.
· If you are picking up a student early, you must be on the student’s emergency form and you must have a driver's license. No exceptions. We are also asking for parents to be specific when writing a note if you are granting permission for your child to sign themselves out.
· Thank you all for your patience and cooperation this past Tuesday when we had a water line break at Parkside CTE and had to close for the day. Our WCPS Facilities did a great job of identifying the issue and working with local contractors in fixing the break and allowing us to open back up the next day. Teamwork does make the dream work!
· We are still 5 months away from graduation but wanted to start reminding our Parkside High School Class of 2025 which cords they are permitted to wear during the graduation ceremony. They include:
WCPS Permitted Commencement Cords
Thank you again RAMFAM for all you do! I am so proud to work with so many great students, families, and staff.
Thanks,
Brian