August 14, 2025
- Message from Admin
- School Schedule for Remainder of Year
- MAP Test Results Gr. 1-4
- Does your child have medication stored in the Health Room?
- Clothing to Cash for HES
- Summer Reading
- Media Center News
- DEIL Corner
- Summer Gardeners Needed
- Food Pantry Tonight!
- Baltimore Blast Summer Camp
- Outdoor Recess and Weather Conditions
- Important Dates
A Message from Admin
Hello HES families,
Today we welcome our staff back into the building! They will spend the next week and a half preparing for the first day of the 2025-2025 school year! We are so excited to open our doors and welcome our students back on Monday, August 25th! Our doors open at 9:10 am.
Prior to the first day of school, we have some important events planned. Please see below for our Back to School Night and Open House date and times. During these events, we will spend time meeting our incoming students and families. Please feel free to bring questions for your grade level teams to Back to School Night. At Open House on August 22, you will have the opportunity to visit your child’s classroom and drop off school supplies. (This will help lighten the backpack load for your child on the first day.) Please do your best to adhere to the guidance of coming to your designated time slot by last name. (This will help us greatly with parking.)
Please note that this year, between 1:45 pm-3:00 pm, we invite students and parents to stop into the media center after visiting their classroom to meet the special education team. This opportunity is only for students who have IEPs (Individualized Education Plans) and receive IEP services Students and parents will meet the case managers assigned to each grade level, the support staff, and related service providers who may support their child throughout the year!
Important Upcoming Dates-Mark your calendars!
Back to School Night from Administration
At Hammond, our administrators like to share notable information through a video format. This way, parents can focus on visiting grade level presentations on 8/19 and 8/20. Although this is a lengthy presentation, we ask all parents to set aside time to listen to the information.
Please watch the HES ADMINISTRATION BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT VIDEO. Both Mrs. Moraff and Mrs. Mapson will attend the grade level Back to School Nights and greet parents at the front doors!
NEW THIS YEAR: Departmentalization New for Grades 3-5
This year, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teams will be departmentalized. This means that our teachers will specialize in specific subjects to multiple classes of students, rather than teaching all subjects to a single class. More information on this structure is shared in our BTSN video (above). Grade level teams will share more specific information about departmentalization at our Back to School Nights. If you have any questions after attending Back to School Nights, please feel free to submit them here. (QR code).
Questions about Departmentalization
Important Policies to Review
Policy 9020-Students’ Rights and Responsibilities
Policy 9200- Student Discipline
Policy 8080-Responsible Use of Technology, Digital Tools, and Social Media
Policy 9460- Bullying, Cyberbullying, Harassment, and Intimidation Involving Students
Update Your Student/Family Emergency Information Today!
Every year it is important for parents/guardians to verify and/or update emergency information for each child. This is completed online in Family File, which has several new updates, including how and where to access. Full details on updating your Family File are available online.
It only takes a couple minutes now to save time in case of an emergency later!
When will I learn my child's teacher assignment?
Learn your child's teacher by logging into Connect after 8am on Wednesday, August 20.
Student Absences
Please complete the Absences Reporting Form found on our school website to report your child's full day absence. (Early pick-ups and late arrivals will be entered on the forms at school; not on this online form.) This form will alert the school of your child's absence and will serve as an absence note for your child's return. You are not required to send a separate note after completing this form. If your child has been absent for five or more days due to illness, a doctor's note is appreciated.
You do not need to call the school to report an absence, simply use this form.
Is your child arriving late to school? Your child must be in their classroom by 9:25am
Tardiness should be a rare occurrence and avoided to the best of your ability. Let’s work together to give your child the best start to their day possible. Please do your very best to have them in their classroom by 9:25. You may need to look at your morning routine if you are noticing a trend of being tardy. Perhaps set your alarm a few minutes earlier. We appreciate your attention to this very important issue.
Late Arrival Procedure: . You will need to park and escort your child into the building. Parents must sign any tardy students in on the appropriate sheet It is not necessary to call nor do you need to use the absence reporting forms. Simply come to school and sign them in. Children dropped off without a parent signing them in will be given an unexcused tardy.
How to buy school lunches
Students have the option of packing lunch or buying lunch. Even if you plan to pack lunch each day, it is advised to keep a small balance on the LINQ account. Then if a lunch is forgotten, the child can easily buy lunch from the cafeteria.
Using LINQ Connect
HCPSS uses LINQ Connect 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, and submit an online application for the Free and Reduced Meals program
LINQ Connect can easily be accessed online or via mobile app.
Parents/guardians can create an account to make online payments to their child’s meal account, monitor their child’s account, schedule automatic recurring payments, set up low balance alerts, submit a Free and Reduced Meals program application, and more. To add a student, parents/guardians will need your child’s student ID, which can be found by logging into HCPSS Connect Synergy.
Create a New Account OR Login to Account
How are student birthdays celebrated at Hammond ES?
Student birthdays are celebrated each morning by announcing the child’s name as part of the morning announcements and then the student comes to the media center for a special birthday pencil. In alignment with the HCPSS Health & Wellness and Food Policies, we ask that families do not send in a food item if you choose to celebrate your child’s birthday in the classroom. In lieu of a food item, you may send in non-edible items such as stickers, pencils, erasers, or your child may wish to donate a book to the classroom library or media center in honor of his/her special day. No balloons or food of any kind may be brought into the classroom.
How are party invitations handed?
Invitations to birthday or other personal events should not take place at school. Please do not send your child to school with invitations for birthdays or parties. Invitations should be delivered outside of school. Each grade level PTA family liaison may have access to a school directory for families who wish to share their contact information. This may be used to contact your child’s classmates during the year for these types of activities.
School Supply Lists
Please see the list for school supplies for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year.
Clothing to Cash
Great news! Now you can clean out your closets, fill the bin by the baseball field, and benefit HES. The average school makes $1,000 a year by having a Clothing for Cash bin at their schools. Please bring tied plastic bags of donations to the drop-off bin by the elementary school ball fields.
Please bookmark the school's website
This is a valuable tool for up-to-date information and calendars. Check this resource before calling the school as you may find the answers to your questions.