Anonymous
08/11/2025 12:56
Subject: Question about SSL hours for private MS kid
Be sure to use this form next summer for qualified organizations:
https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/560-51.pdf
https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/560-51.pdf
Anonymous
08/10/2025 18:50
Subject: Question about SSL hours for private MS kid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kid is going into 8th at a K-8 that doesnt input SSL hours. She will be going into MCPS for HS
She has earned SSL hours thru a monthly food pantry, is going to Mississippi this week to help with a housing project and had hours from service camps she’s done.
Can they be input into the SSL system when she starts HS? Or do they not count.
I know she only needs 40 instead of 75 buf just wondering if they take backdated hours as a new student when she starts.
Thanks
LOL. That sounds extreme. Is she building a house? Sounds like "trying too hard" approach
Yeah because community service and helping those in need is clearly something that means you're a try hard.
No, don't get me wrong. I think that's great. My kid had more than 1000 hours of SSL by the time they graduated in HS. My point is community service can be done anywhere. You know like in your community.
You only get SSL from working on projects where SSL hours are given. So, you either only work for organizations where they have mentioned that SSL hours can be given to you, or you get these organizations certified by MCPS so that you can earn the SSL hours by volunteering for them.
My kid had over 200 hrs in middle school - so they got the suprintendent's certificate for that. Then they managed to get 100 in freshman year so that they could get into some of the honor societies at school, and they easily surpassed 350 by sophomore year, so that got another commendation at graduation.
Getting an organization certified just means having them fill out a form. They need to meet certain criteria, but if they do, it's just a form.
Anonymous
08/10/2025 18:44
Subject: Question about SSL hours for private MS kid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Maybe the summer after 8th but not this summer.
Why not? My kid started earning SSL hours the summer before 6th. -NP
If your kid was in public MS that’s why they counted.
But OP’s kid will be in a public MS.
No she said the kid will be in public HS. I believe she could submit the SSL hours for the summer prior to her first academic year in MCPS but not hours before that…
Anonymous
08/10/2025 10:27
Subject: Question about SSL hours for private MS kid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kid is going into 8th at a K-8 that doesnt input SSL hours. She will be going into MCPS for HS
She has earned SSL hours thru a monthly food pantry, is going to Mississippi this week to help with a housing project and had hours from service camps she’s done.
Can they be input into the SSL system when she starts HS? Or do they not count.
I know she only needs 40 instead of 75 buf just wondering if they take backdated hours as a new student when she starts.
Thanks
LOL. That sounds extreme. Is she building a house? Sounds like "trying too hard" approach
Yeah because community service and helping those in need is clearly something that means you're a try hard.
No, don't get me wrong. I think that's great. My kid had more than 1000 hours of SSL by the time they graduated in HS. My point is community service can be done anywhere. You know like in your community.
You only get SSL from working on projects where SSL hours are given. So, you either only work for organizations where they have mentioned that SSL hours can be given to you, or you get these organizations certified by MCPS so that you can earn the SSL hours by volunteering for them.
My kid had over 200 hrs in middle school - so they got the suprintendent's certificate for that. Then they managed to get 100 in freshman year so that they could get into some of the honor societies at school, and they easily surpassed 350 by sophomore year, so that got another commendation at graduation.
Anonymous
08/10/2025 09:21
Subject: Question about SSL hours for private MS kid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Maybe the summer after 8th but not this summer.
Why not? My kid started earning SSL hours the summer before 6th. -NP
If your kid was in public MS that’s why they counted.
But OP’s kid will be in a public MS.
Anonymous
08/10/2025 08:07
Subject: Question about SSL hours for private MS kid
Anonymous wrote:My kid is going into 8th at a K-8 that doesnt input SSL hours. She will be going into MCPS for HS
She has earned SSL hours thru a monthly food pantry, [b]is going to Mississippi this week to help with a housing project [img]and had hours from service camps she’s done.
Can they be input into the SSL system when she starts HS? Or do they not count.
I know she only needs 40 instead of 75 buf just wondering if they take backdated hours as a new student when she starts.
Thanks
You should contact your high schools service hours coordinator to ask about backdating. Maybe they will take it if it’s with in a calendar year.
My understanding about student service learning hours that it must be through an approved organization through the county. The Mississippi project sounds wonderful however I don’t know if you’ll get credit for that in Montgomery County. We had a hard time getting approved (and didn’t) for volunteer work in Baltimore.
Anonymous
08/10/2025 08:04
Subject: Question about SSL hours for private MS kid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kid is going into 8th at a K-8 that doesnt input SSL hours. She will be going into MCPS for HS
She has earned SSL hours thru a monthly food pantry, is going to Mississippi this week to help with a housing project and had hours from service camps she’s done.
Can they be input into the SSL system when she starts HS? Or do they not count.
I know she only needs 40 instead of 75 buf just wondering if they take backdated hours as a new student when she starts.
Thanks
LOL. That sounds extreme. Is she building a house? Sounds like "trying too hard" approach
Yeah because community service and helping those in need is clearly something that means you're a try hard.
No, don't get me wrong. I think that's great. My kid had more than 1000 hours of SSL by the time they graduated in HS. My point is community service can be done anywhere. You know like in your community.
My concern is that sometimes these trips are poverty porn tours. People need housing improvements right here in MoCo.
It’s harder to pathologize the poverty of people who live in your own community so young people start questioning the systems of inequity in their own institutions. Safer for schools and houses of worship to send kids to another state or country where “those people” are clearly different.
Anonymous
08/08/2025 20:17
Subject: Question about SSL hours for private MS kid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Maybe the summer after 8th but not this summer.
Why not? My kid started earning SSL hours the summer before 6th. -NP
If your kid was in public MS that’s why they counted.