Good afternoon, Tiger Shark Families,

We only have a few days left until the end of the first quarter., Oct. 31st.  Make sure to continue to monitor your child's grades through Canvas. You can access that through HCPSS Connect (hcpss.org/connect). 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND UPDATES

PBIS FUNDRAISER

This Friday, October 27th, is the last day for our PBIS Fundraiser.  Thank you to those who have already shared with friends and family.  

Shop online and share with Family and Friends:  Email, Text & Post to Social Media!

To register:   Visit: SupportMySchool.org or Text: “Register” to 636-202-1400

School ID: 136957  Student ID: Use your 7 digit phone number

The company offers Yankee Candle (online only), Kringle Candle, Kitchen Gadgets, Wrapping paper, Magazines, and so much more!

Planetaid Clothing Donation Update

Last year, we were able to collect 5,803 pounds of clothing.  This year our goal is 10,000.  The yellow Planetaid clothing donation bin is located in the front of the building near the baseball field. Planetaid pays Wilde Lake Middle by the pound. Dropping off clothing donations to the Planetaid bin is a great way to help out.   Thanks for your donations and your support.  If you are interested in direct financial donations, please reach out to our Principal's Secretary, Heather Godwin, at Heather_Godwin@hcpss.org.

INTRAMURALS

RTA BUS PASSES

We are excited with our partnership with Howard County Office of Transportation to offer free RTA bus passes to all middle and high school students. Please review the PowerPoint below and submit the form with your electronic signature. If you have any questions or concerns with the RTA bus pass program, please reach out to Andrea Harmon, the point of contact (POC) for your school.  https://tinyurl.com/47wue8fy

SCHOOL MEALS
HCPSS no longer will use Nutrislice for school menus or MySchoolBucks* for meal payments and instead is offering a new parent site for all things food and nutrition. LINQ Connect is a secure, online portal that allows families to:

View breakfast and lunch menus
Make online payments to their child’s meal account
Monitor their child’s accounts
Schedule recurring payments and/or low balance alerts
Submit an online application for the Free and Reduced Meals program

Please review HCPSS meal information and find information on FARMs (Free and Reduced Meals). Applications must be completed every year. Students whose families do not qualify for the free or reduced lunch program will be required to pay the daily meal price for lunch - $3.30. Students are welcome to bring their own lunch, however we DO NOT accept food deliveries from other vendors (DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, etc.). 

Breakfast will be provided to all students at no cost. Breakfast will be served from  8:15 - 8:30 a.m. All outside breakfast items (including Starbucks drinks) are prohibited from being consumed in school during this time.

HCPSS AND THE COUNCIL OF ELDERS (TCOE) COMMUNITY ACADEMIES
HCPSS and The Council of Elders of the Black Community of Howard County (TCOE) have partnered to sponsor the following parent workshops series: 

• December 16: Social Emotional Well-Being and Substance Abuse
• January 27: Processes for Parent Empowerment
• March 9: Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships

HCPSS HIGH SCHOOL EVENTS
Per HCPSS expectations, anyone under high school age must be accompanied by a parent/guardian to attend a ticketed event at any HCPSS high school. Wilde Lake HS will be checking student IDs at the gate. We invite students and families from our Wilde Lake community schools to join us, and middle school students MUST be accompanied by a parent or guardian to attend.

ATTENDANCE REMINDERS
Need to report an absence? Please email your absence notes/questions to: WLMSabsence@hcpss.org or send in a signed parent/guardian note. The email should include the student's name, the parent's name, the date(s) or period(s) (if absence is a partial day) of the absence, and the reason for the absence. The email must be received within 5 days of the absence. Requests for changes to attendance submitted after the 5 day deadline cannot be honored.
Please Note: Absences are unexcused until an email or note is received.
For Discretionary Absences (up to 3 per school year), please complete the linked form and email it to: WLMSabsence@hcpss.org. This form must be completed one week prior to absence.

For Religious Observances, please complete the linked form and email to: WLMSabsence@hcpss.org

We have noticed that our number of tardies have been increasing in the past few weeks. The doors open at 8:15 and the bell to start first period rings at 8:30. Students are expected to be in class at that time. We do provide breakfast, free of charge, each day. This is available from 8:15-8:30 in the classroom. No outside breakfast food and/or drinks are permitted during breakfast time at school.

PTSA:

This Friday, October 27th will be our first Fun Friday at Wilde Lake Middle.  During lunch times, the PTSA will be raffling off WLMS T-shirts.  

Performing Arts Boosters:

The performing arts ensembles and classes at WLMS are truly incredible. Our students are multitalented and the performances they give are unbeatable. You can now wear your support of these groups with pride (and a beautiful new design by artist extraordinaire, Bryson Tullis.) All proceeds from these sales will go directly to supporting more opportunities for music, theatre, and dance within our school.

Please consider buying a shirt and showing your pride today:

https://www.customink.com/fundraising/wlmsperformingartsboosters?utm_campaign=desktop-post-launch-v3&utm_content=wlmsperformingartsboosters&utm_medium=social&utm_source=copy-link