Harford County Public Schools

News Alert for 8/14/2024

Welcome to the 2024-2025 School Year!

The following communication will be sent to all contacts on Wednesday, August 14, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. via email, phone call, text message and app push alert.

Welcome to the 2024-2025 HCPS School Year! We are excited to see most of you September 3. 2024, for the first day of school. Prekindergarten students will join us on September 5, 2024. We encourage parents and guardians to review Back to School information available on hcps.org. Please read the HCPS 2024-2025 Handbook/Calendar before the school year starts. Stay up to date on Board of Education of Harford County meetings, discussions, decisions on the Board page of hcps.org. There you can also see all HCPS Board policies, including topics like portable device use, attendance, and dress codes.

In addition to providing links to required, and optional forms, the Back-to-School webpage includes the attached checklist and provides links to important systemwide information like the calendar and permission forms. Payment options like MySchoolBucks for school meals, GoFan for athletic event tickets, and School Cash Online for all other payments can be found on hcps.org. Bus stops and routes are scheduled to be released August 19, 2024, and will be available here.

If you haven’t completed the application to determine eligibility for free and reduced-cost meals, you can find the link on the Back-to-School webpage. A copy of the application is also attached and is required to qualify for free and reduced-cost meals. *Eligible students may also be eligible for a free device protection plan, which covers damage to devices and chargers, and free credit bearing courses at Harford Community College.* In addition, we are still required by law to notify parents and guardians when your child's food balance is getting low in MySchoolBucks. You can set your own notification directly in MySchoolBucks to be notified if your child's account balance for the cafeteria is getting low to avoid receiving communications from HCPS when your account reaches $2.60 or is below $0. This, and other important information from the Food and Nutrition office can be found throughout the school year via the "Menus" button on hcps.org.

We hope you’ll follow HCPS on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube) for updates throughout the year. Your school may have social media accounts, too, and we encourage you to follow them as well. After you review the Back-to-School information on hcps.org, you can email, AskHCPS@hcps.org with any questions. This email account is available for questions throughout the school year. Don’t forget to download the HCPS app to receive important alerts directly to your phone throughout the school year.

Details on school supply lists, and events to welcome students to each school will come from your home school so be sure to tune into school communications, too. We encourage you to sign up for a Canvas Parent profile so you can stay up to date on what is happening in your student’s classroom. Information on how to sign up for a Canvas Parent Profile can be found here.

We’ll share systemwide information on HCPS social media channels and send important information via our mass communications system phone, text, app push notification and email, throughout the school year. If you don’t want to receive future communications via any of these formats, at the end of the communication, there is an “opt-out.” However, in case of an emergency, be aware that mode of communication won’t be utilized to contact you, per your changed settings.

We look forward to partnering with you and your student for a successful school year!