Karen Corbett Sanders' Newsletter
Dear Families,
Spring is almost here, and the second
semester is off to a great start! The second half
of the school year is always a busy time for our students, so please
encourage your students to stay on top of their assignments while enjoying their spring activities. Additionally,
please make sure that they get a full night’s rest and start the day with a
healthy breakfast. This is especially important as our standards of
learning testing calendar begins. Each of our school principals should be
communicating the dates scheduled for each building.
No snow - can we start summer early?
With this year’s warm weather and lack of snow many people have been asking if the school year will end earlier. Unfortunately, the short is answer is no because of state requirements.
As a learning organization, FCPS
values the importance of as much instructional time as possible for our
students. Virginia law requires school districts to provide 180 days of classroom instruction each
school year. The state allows local jurisdictions to be
granted a waiver from the 180 day requirement by demonstrating that students
have met a minimum of 990 hours of instruction when severe weather conditions or other emergency situations require schools to be closed.
With the adoption of full day Mondays for elementary school
students in the 2014-15 school year, the School Board began approving a 180-day calendar. Prior to
this, FCPS adopted a 183-day school year calendar with the three extra days to
be used for snow and other emergencies. In the
past, once FCPS used the three snow days, additional days had to be
added to the end of the school year to meet the state requirement of hours because the elementary schools did not meet the 990
hour minimum.
The current FCPS planned school year exceeds the 990 hour state
requirement because of the length of the student day. The additional time
(hours) is converted to “days” that can be used in the event of inclement
weather. An advantage of the built in hours is that days do not need to be
added on at the end of the year, as was done in years past, when too many snow
days were used. Last year, our area had a very significant storm which required
the use of most of the additional time built in since FCPS had eight days closed
due to weather and a number of late openings.
There is no means for days to be given back at the end of the year
because those additional “days” are simply the excess time beyond 990 hours
and, if the days were given back, FCPS would fall short of the required 180-day
school year. In addition, teacher contracts (mostly 194 days in length)
are based on a 7.5 hour day and are tied to the number of school days per year
with teacher workdays included.
While we are hopeful for continued good weather, winter is not
over yet, and some years we have had severe spring weather.
You are invited to attend FCCPTA's Diversity Conference: Supporting Diverse Students with Disabilities in the Classroom
When
Thursday March 2, 2017
from
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM EST
Where
Annandale High School
4700 Medford Drive
Annandale, VA 22003
Download
Flyer
Is your child in the referral or eligibility phase of the
special education process? Do you want to know more about how the process
works? Join us for this workshop to learn more about the process, resources
available and how to help your child be successful.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
7:00 - 9:00
p.m.
Dunn Loring Center for Parent Services
2334 Gallows Road
Entrance 1 - Room 100
Dunn Loring, Virginia (map)
Register online
now or call 703-204-3941
Hollin
Meadows PTA Care & Share Committee would like to announce their 1st Community
Cookbook! The proceeds from the cookbook will go to towards the Weekend
Backpack program which provides food assistance FRM eligible to Hollin Meadows students over
the weekend when they are away from school-supported meals to make sure they do
not go hungry.
The
cookbook orders can be made by submitting an email request to: hmeshornetslist@gmail.com.
Questions can also be directed to this email address. The deadline for
submissions and orders is Friday, March 3.
Orders
can be mailed to:
Hollin
Meadows Elementary School
ATTN:
PTA Care & Share Committee - Cookbook
2310
Nordock Place
Alexandria,
VA 22306
Less than Two Weeks Left to Register!
The Culinary Challenge
This event begins with a culinary challenge in which high school and middle school students from Northern Virginia, specifically Fairfax County, compete with lunch, breakfast and snack dishes designed to bring restaurant-quality food to our school cafeterias. Using approved ingredients and USDA school nutrition guidelines, students demonstrate how they – the consumers – can impact the taste and reputation of the lunch line with creative approaches that benefit entire school systems.
The Expo Workshops
The challenge is paired with an expo that brings together celebrity chefs and experts to share information and insight on healthier cooking, healthier lifestyles and healthier futures. This year we welcome back Bonnie Benwick and Renee Comet of the Washington Post Food Section and Aviva Goldfarb of The Six O’clock Scramble. We’ll also be joined by a locally renowned hand-crafted small ice cream maker, and a sports nutritionist and a team from George Mason University School of Nutrition and Food Studies.
Register Today!
Join GrandInvolve- a program which facilitates volunteer opportunities in Fairfax County's Title I schools. GrandInvolve recruits 50+ adult volunteers who are interested in mentoring, providing reading and math tutoring, as well as assisting in the classroom.
GrandInvolve is currently seeking a core group of community volunteers for the GrandInvolve Steering Committee in the Mount Vernon District. Tasks include developing timelines, establishing goals and objectives, networking in the community, and developing community partnerships.
Interested? Please Contact: GrandInvolve@gmail.com or Allison.Miessler@fairfaxcounty.gov
March 2 - Read Across America Day
March 12 - Daylight Saving time 2017 will start at 2:00 AM
March 17 - St. Patrick's Day
March 24 - Student Holiday
The next School Board Meeting will be held on March 9, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. at Jackson Middle School. Information about upcoming meetings and agendas can be found here.
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