August 13, 2015
Dear Westbrook Families,
As summer draws to a close, I hope that your summer has been filled with rest, relaxation, and
plenty of time to enjoy family and friends. In just a few short weeks the doors of Westbrook
Elementary School will open as we welcome your child for another wonderful year of learning!
FACILITIES
We had a relatively quiet summer with our physical plant. Our Building Services Team cleaned
and supervised needed repairs led by our Building Service Manager, Mr. Bennie Smith, Jr.
Classroom 129 was modified to meet the needs of our additional Preschool Education Program
(PEP) class. It will now provide a safe and welcoming environment for our morning PEP PILOT
3 year old class, and our afternoon PEP Classic 4 year old class. We still have a few openings
for neighborhood peers in our PEP PILOT 3 year old class Tuesday-Friday mornings, as well as
our PEP PILOT 4 year old class Tuesday-Friday afternoons. Call the main office if you have a
child who will be 3 or 4 years old by September 1st, and you are interested in this outstanding
program. MCPS will be completing some repairs on our masonry work near the gym entrance
and the paved play area. We hope that much of this work will be completed over the summer,
and will have minimal impact on the school year. However, we will adjust our inclement weather
arrival route if needed, once we see how quickly this work progresses.
INSTRUCTION
Many of our teachers engaged in rigorous professional development over the summer including a
cohort of teachers enrolled in graduate work through Dominican University. Many teachers used
these graduate hours to study the curriculum, and to plan instruction for this year. We will
continue to implement MCPS Curriculum 2.0 during the 2015-2016 school year. Implementing
the MCPS Framework we will maintain our focus on academic achievement, and we will
continue our emphasis on social and emotional learning and creative problem solving. During
our summer leadership days, members of our Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) have been
deepening their understanding of math instruction. All professional staff members will receive
training on effective implementation of the MCPS math curriculum, differentiation, and
strategies for small group instruction in math and reading during our pre-service week. We will
continue to focus on the Responsive Classroom approach that was implemented last year
throughout our school. Through the generous support of the Westbrook PTA, Mrs. Atkinson,
Ms. Chang, and Mrs. Vogel were able to attend a week long Responsive Classroom training in
Alexandria, Virginia. PTA Professional Development Grant funds also allowed Mrs. Celano,
Mrs. McNelis, and Ms. Nguyen to attend a national conference on Arts Integration sponsored by
the Kennedy Center. PTA grant funds will also allow us to bring nationally recognized teaching
artist, Sean Layne back to Westbrook this year to train teachers as they enhance the use of arts
integration as an approach to teaching. This will supplement work that all staff will do on
Making Thinking Visible, as we strive to enhance teachers’ ability to support students’ Thinking
and Academic Success Skills (TASS) and to build students’ creative problem solving skills.
STAFFING
As we announced at June’s PTA meeting; several staff members have changed their grade level
assignments for the coming year. As a reminder: Mrs. Hensley will move from Reading Initiative
part time to a full time position as a 1st grade teacher, and Ms. Nguyen will join the 4th grade
team as their team leader. Mrs. VanRensburg will move to the 2nd grade team, while Mrs.
Dicken (formerly Ms. Quinn) will also join the 4th grade team. Ms. Herrington will be teaching
5th grade, filling the vacancy left by Mrs. Dietrich’s departure to work closer to home. Over the
summer we experienced some additional changes in our Westbrook staff. Mrs. Ashleigh
Warwick accepted a job at another MCPS school closer to home, as did Mr. Randy Greene our
Assistant Building Services Manager, and Ms. Natalie Blank, our Instructional Data Analyst.
Just this week Mrs. Ali Lackey made the decision to remain at home this year with her new baby,
and we are in the process of interviewing her replacement. I was fortunate to have members of
the ILT, teacher leaders, and other staff members participate in interviewing potential new staff
members for the Westbrook team. We have secured some outstanding staff members, and I am
excited to introduce you to these newest members of our Westbrook family.
Please join me in helping them to feel welcome!
Georgia Karamalikis
3 year old PEP Pilot & 4 year old PEP classic teacher
Mrs. Karamalikis comes to us from Woodlin Elementary School where she has been the
inclusion teacher for Kindergarten and 1st grade for more than ten years.
Michelle Marquardt
Grade 4
Mrs. Marquardt is an experienced MCPS teacher with more than eleven years of teaching
experience in MCPS. Most recently she taught 4th and 5th grade Math and Science at Potomac
Elementary School. She is a Science Lead Teacher for MCPS, a member of the MCPS Council
on Teaching and Learning, and she trains other teachers on the science curriculum. While a
classroom teacher at Potomac and Bannockburn she taught higher level math classes up to and
including Math 7. She will teach our 4th grade students enrolled in the Compacted 4/5 Math
Class, as well as her own homeroom students for other subjects.
We are also joined by several new members of our support team. These include:
 Carolyn Carne
PEP Paraeducator
 Jocelyn Causey
Paraeducator ED program
 Clare Dell’ Olio
Paraeducator ED program
 Mary Zoccola
Special Ed Paraeducator
At this time we are still in the process of hiring an Assistant Building Services Manager, a
special education resource room teacher, and two additional paraeducators to support our general
education and Home School Model Special Education students. We will share more information
about new staff members as it becomes available.
LOOKING AHEAD
School hours are 9:00 – 3:25. Supervision begins at 8:40
Please remind students in grades 1-5 about their summer reading assignment, and check our
website if you need more information.
DATES TO REMEMBER
The following dates identify opportunities for us to join as a community as we start our new
school year.
 Kindergarten: Parents of kindergarten students are invited to an Orientation Meeting on
Thursday, August 27th at 7:00pm. Kindergarten teachers will join me at that time and we
will answer questions, review procedures and get to know one another. This
Kindergarten Back to School Night meeting is for adults. You are invited to come back
with your child for the Open House on Friday.
 Class Lists: We will post the class rosters in the evening on Thursday, August 27th. We
plan to post the rosters electronically on Westbrook’s Listserv as well as posting hard
copies at school in preparation for the Open House.
 Open House: I look forward to seeing many of you at our Open House on Friday,
August 28th from 9:00-10:00am. Parents and students in grades 1-5 who are NEW to
Westbrook are invited to meet with me at 8:30am in the media center to get an overview
of our school procedures.
 First day of School: Monday, August 31st
 Back to School Night: Back to School Night for Grades 1-5 is scheduled at 7:00pm on
Tuesday, September 8th
As I begin my third year as Westbrook’s principal, I joyfully anticipate continuing to strengthen
our partnership for the success of Westbrook’s children. I am grateful for your ongoing support,
and I look forward to continuing our journey together towards our shared goals.
Sincerely,
Jennifer S. Lane
Principal