Greetings Parents and Guardians, On Friday, December 17th, 2021, PGCPS informed the community that all district schools will transition to virtual learning beginning Monday, December 20, 2021 and will remain in virtual learning through January 14, 2022. In person learning will resume January 18, 2022. This is in response to the sudden increase in COVID cases in the school system. Many students are in need of a Chromebook to access the virtual classes and complete work, therefore, classes on Monday will be asynchronous. This will allow students that need a device to have time to check one out from the school without missing instruction. Chromebooks will be available to be checked-out this Monday, 12/20, between the hours of 9am and 12pm. If your scholar is in need of a device please drive to the rear of the school between these hours to receive a device. Each teacher will provide a Zoom or Google Meet link to their classes in either Canvas or Google Classroom by Monday, December 20 so that live virtual classes can begin on Tuesday, December 21, 2021. Students will follow their normal daily schedule. Meal distribution next week will occur on Monday, December 20 and Wednesday, December 22 between 10am and noon. Information about meal distribution in January is forthcoming. We understand that this transition is happening quickly and may present hardships on families, Please know that we are here to support you. Please contact the front office if you need any assistance accessing or navigating virtual learning at 301-350-6051 between the hours of 8am and 3:30pm. Respectfully, Mr. Andrew Brauer, Principal

James Screven, Assistant Principal

Greetings Parents, Please be advised. All schools, including CMIT schools are going virtual beginning Monday, December 20, 2021 until Friday, January 14, 2022. Please visit www.pgcps.org for more information.

CLFPR@CLFMD.ORG

What’s better than earning your high school diploma in four years? EARNING YOUR HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA AND ASSOCIATE’S DEGREE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN FOUR YEARS! If this sounds amazing to you, then ITEC is calling your name! The Information Technology Early College (ITEC) Program is designed to enroll students in grades 9-12 in high school and college courses. The current ITEC dual enrollment curriculum follows a track of the Prince George’s County Community College (PGCC) Information Technology A.A.S. in which students take courses that result in multiple industry certifications. Students have the opportunity to graduate at the end of four years with a high school diploma and an associate degree in Information Technology. Application Timeline: 1. Applications opened on December 4th. 2. Applications are due on January 10th 3. Teacher Recommendations are due on January 18th 4. Decisions are made in February/March Application Process: 1. Complete Student's Personal Statement: ITEC is a rigorous and challenging program. We want to ensure that all students are willing and ready to meet the challenges and are interested in Information Technology. Please write a personal statement explaining why you would like to be part of the ITEC program and how you are going to ensure that you are successful. The personal statement should be one full page typed - Times New Roman, double-spaced, 12 pt font with 1-inch margins. Please do not exceed one page. 2. Ask at least 3 teachers if they are willing to complete a teacher recommendation for you. Please let them know that it will be a google form they must complete, not a letter. Math Teacher from MS, Technology Teacher from MS, English Teacher from MS - All teachers must currently work at CMIT North 4. Complete Application through Google Forms - including your personal statement and list of teachers https://forms.gle/ZTatX7wEbSacpqBQ7 -YOU CANNOT BE LOGGED IN TO YOUR PGCPS EMAIL. PLEASE USE CMIT OR PERSONAL EMAIL TO COMPLETE THIS FORM. 5. Send teacher recommendation form to the teachers you listed on your application https://forms.gle/EZe5NNNzrNxiBqLj6 Decision Factors: 1. Placement Test - PSAT 8/9 2. GPA from Core courses in 7th and 8th grade 3. English GPA from 7th and 8th grade 4. Teacher Recommendations 5. Personal Statement 6. Attendance and Discipline History For any questions, please contact Mrs. Andrew (candrew@cmitacademy.org)

Casandra Andrew ITEC Program Coordinator

Whenever something is reintroduced into the learning environment, it comes with lessons learned of practices that work and others that don't. This is most true for the re-implementation of distance learning. We have lessons learned after previous implementations that inform us of best practices, rules, and expectations for distance learning students. Rules Tardiness It will be at the teachers discretion to permit a student to join a distance learning class if they are 10 minutes or more late. This is especially true for students who are chronically late to virtual classes. We have learned that lateness creates an undue distraction for students and often late students interrupt the teacher with questions or comments in an attempt to catch up. Due to the limited time students have in class, these type of distractions take away from the class. Additionally, 10 or more minutes missed of a 45 minute class negatively impacts the learning for the late student, who has most likely missed key information. Instead, students not admitted due to tardiness will be required to access the tape recorded version posted after the class has ended. However, please keep in mind class discussions, debates, or presentations that are graded by the teacher during live class time will be missed by students not admitted, due to lateness, and can negatively impact the student's grade for that assignment, since they cannot easily be made up. Inappropriate Language Students who use inappropriate or foul language will be subject to disciplinary measures. These types of disturbances disrupt learning and are inappropriate for a schooling environment. Since classes are recorded, a record of the offense is easy to share with parents and/or administration. We expect all students to treat an online learning experience as the same as being in a physical school building. It should be stated that this is a universal rule in all online college courses and since our focus is college and career readiness, we maintain that same standard. Best Practices Be On Time Please be ontime to all distance learning classes. We have established a set online class schedule to aid students in this. If a student needs to miss a class, please notify the teacher before the class begins, not after. Be Prepared Have a pen and paper handy to take notes on lectures and other methods of learning that you may be assessed on later. Respect Others Please respect the teachers time and what time they are giving you. I takes teachers more time to develop a distance learning lesson based on the limitations of the platform. We expect all to respect the opinion of others. We expect students to conduct themselves the same way they would in a physical class. Disrespectful behavior will be dealt with by administration. Work Completion To maximize their chance of passing students must do all work assigned online by teachers. Participation in class discussions, debates and presentations for a grade is at the teacher's discretion. It is recommended that students participate to all class discussions as it keeps them involved and engaged in the lesson. Communicate Problems do arise. If a problem arises about completing an assignment, a grade, or a question about an assignment, or a technical issue, please communicate that to the teacher. Communicating with the teacher first is always the best practice.

James Screven, Assistant Principal

Dear Parent/ Guardians Students face many challenges that we did not when we were teens. These include exposure to inappropriate images/pornographic images, hate speech, cyberbullying, physical threats, psychological harm, and online predators. In this day of mass cellular communication it is important to recognize that we, as parents, are the front line to their safety. The best safeguard for parents is monitoring what children see, say, and do online or while on mobile devices. However, many parents do not know how to go about monitoring. Below are some important tips for monitoring your children. Please keep in mind, each technique mentioned is only as effective as your consistent employment of them. Keep and save your children's passcode and passwords to enter their phone, email and protected applications and web sites. Keep these in a secure physical space that can be referred to if need be. Randomly check them to see if they have changed, which can be an indicator of a child trying to hide behavior. Check their messages, chats and emails for inappropriate conversations, bullying, threats or grooming (behavior of a predator that seeks to gain trust.) Check their browser history for inappropriate websites and/or adult themed content. If you’re unsure of how to check your child’s history use google to search for directions on how to search a web browser. Check Photos for inappropriate selfies or downloaded images. Remove any applications that you find inappropriate for the age group. Below is a list of social media applications that you should check randomly and regularly. Applications to Monitor Facebook Instagram Reddit Steam SnapChat DropBox Hangouts Group Me Discord TikTok Kik Tumblr If monitoring is difficult and time consuming you can purchase monitoring services such as, Bark (for either IPhone/IOS or Android) see www.bark.us Pros: very comprehensive Cons: alerts you after the fact Qustodio (for either Android or Iphone/IOS) see www.qustodio.com Pros: Cheaper than Other services, Cons: Best on IOS 14 or higher Canopy (for either Android or IPhone/IOS environment) see www.canopy.us Canopy App Pros: Filters inappropriate content and reports inappropriate searches, chats and viewing Cons: Most expensive service $24 per month We hope this helps you in your endeavors to protect your child. Mr. Andrew Brauer, Principal Mr. James Screven, Assistant Principal Ms Nekesa Matlock, Assistant Principal

James Screven, Assistant Principal

Q: Is CMIT North MS a public school? 

A: Yes We are a public charter school who is staffed by PGCPS teachers and administration, and support staff who work along side of a limited CLF staff. We have access to PGCPS support but also benefit from additional guidance, management and financial support from Chesapeake Light House Foundation, whose educational concept this school is based on. 

Q: Do siblings get preference in applying to CMIT?

A: The process of gaining entry to any charter school in Prince George's County is through a lottery. However, siblings of already attending CMIT students are weighted differently during the lottery process. This different weighting gives preference to siblings. 

Q: What makes CMIT different then any other school in the district? 

A: Although we are a PGCPS public charter, we are given some autonomy over curriculum. This autonomy allows us to fast track students, who are academically ready, through selected high school courses in math, foreign language, science and technology. It is that fast tracking that opens up opportunity to more advanced  coursework on the college level while still in high school.  Additionally, we offer students supports and enrichments to every student, not available at most schools. Lastly, we are a uniform school which takes away the distraction, the competition and the social stratification that is brought on by non uniform dress in a school. 

Our test scores oustrip not only county averages but also state avaerages. This, along with other metrics has made us a 5 star school. 

Q: Do you offer everything the big middle and high school's offer? 

A: Unlike many school in Maryland, we do not have a  full spectrum offerings in sports.  Instead, our focus is on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics). Therefore, our sports offerings are more limited.  We offer, boys and girls soccer, basketball, girl's softball, boy's baseball and club lacrosse in the middle school. Additionally, boys and girls basketball, track/field and volleyball at the high school level. With that said we recently (2017) won the girls county basketball championship and made it to the playoffs in soccer. Our high school opened a multi-million dollar, state of the art gym complex, competitive with all schools of their size. The middle school has also added an indoor gym space.  Lastly, we do offer special educational services, but becuase we are a school of choice, the amount of service hours we can provide is limited to 7.5 hours a week, split between literacy and math. Services hours are delivered by special education teachers but are limited to literacy and math courses.