The Foundation School of Montgomery County Spring 2022 Newsletter

March 30, 2022

Moving to Our New Normal  Over the last several months, we have slowly established a new normal - full of masks and also full of great interactions. We have moved towards activities we had not seen since March 2020, including field trips. While we have stuck close to home, utilizing opportunities provided by the City of Gaithersburg, our students have been very excited to have a change of scenery and experiences outside of school. In December, the eighth grade class walked to the Gaithersburg Museum, which is in a retired train car, at the nearby Gaithersburg train station. In February, each of our middle school classrooms got to experience the Gaithersburg Black History displays at the Bohrer Park Activity Center. We are hopeful that we will continue to be able to expand our students’ access to field trips, including ones that are a little farther afield.

Off to Great Things! Throughout the year, we look at each student’s progress and the skills they have gained while enrolled at The Foundation School of Montgomery County to determine if they are a candidate to begin the process of mainstreaming to a local public school. Over the years, we have had many students make successful transitions to a public school. As we made the transition to the second semester, we celebrated the successful transitions of two of our high school students: Michael and Jacob. After one semester of part-time mainstreaming, Michael has transitioned to Sherwood High School for the final semester of high school with the plan of graduating in Spring 2022. At the same time, ninth grader Jacob has begun his mainstreaming transition with two classes per day at Northwood High School with the remainder of his classes at The Foundation School of Montgomery County. Each day we ask him how things are going and he is always excited to tell us about how well he is doing. We are proud of the growth and success of these two young men and wish them all the best in their journeys in high school and beyond.

"The Foundation School has helped teach me social skills, life skills, and coping skills, and helped me grow to be ready to mainstream. I thank all the staff who have supported me during my time here." -Jacob

Our Amazing Staff We want to recognize the efforts of the amazing staff of The Foundation School of Montgomery County. This year has been a challenging experience of re-learning all the things we did as a staff pre-pandemic, as well as adding many new processes and meeting new students in-person, whom we had only known through a computer screen. The staff has been amazing at sharing their skills and interests with them, quickly building relationships with a wide variety of students, and pushing through it all. For instance, this year we instituted a clubs program which gives students the opportunity to explore different activities and social environments and gives staff a space to share their interests with students. For example, Ms. Herschell is sharing her love of cooking, Mr. Malone is helping students to explore student government, and Mr. Harp is leading the lower school students in an art club. Staff really pulled together, which they demonstrated in fun ways this winter by building amazing gingerbread houses together. All of the staff have shown amazing teamwork, flexibility, and versatility as we have moved through this year. We are so grateful to them!

The Foundation Schools | Website

‌ ‌ ‌

Support our Students

Take a Virtual Tour!