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Dear Olde Creek Families,
I hope that you and your children have had a positive week. I
want to take a moment this afternoon to share a few words about our school and
about the incident that took place in Parkland, Florida last week. I know that
everyone in our school community is saddened and horrified by the tragic loss
of life, and I suspect that you might have thought about the safety of our
school in relation to this incident. As a father of an FCPS student and most
certainly as the principal of your child’s school, I know this has been on my
mind since it happened. While we grieve for the loss and will never forget it,
we also look forward to make sure that we are protecting our children. Fairfax
County Public Schools sent a note last week outlining the many services that
the system provides to keep us safe, and we pass our thanks to them. We
appreciate their attention to detail and continuous support. We also have a
great working relationship with the Fairfax County Police Department, and
should we ever need help, they will be there for us.
I want to let you know that at the school level, we will
do everything we can to build a strong community and will work to ensure that
every one of our students feels connected, supported, and welcomed at our
school. We will continue to be proactive when we have academic, emotional, and
behavioral concerns about our children, and we will partner with you to find
solutions when we have a concern. We encourage you to share your concerns with
us as well, so we can again work together for the benefit of your child. We
have a wonderful support team for our students, consisting of our teachers,
social worker, school psychologists, and school counselor that meets regularly
to talk about our students’ needs and how to implement proactive planning
measures to help us meet situations as they arise.
Coming to work with your students every day is both a joy
and a privilege - one that I and the entire Olde Creek staff take very
seriously. Our goal is for every student, every day, to know that they belong
at Olde Creek, and feel safe within our hallways and classrooms.
There are many ways we work towards this type of learning
environment for our students. They include:
- Our instructional emphasis on building relationships and
engaging students directly in their learning through meaningful
reading, writing, thinking, and discussion
in every class.
- Through our Responsive Classroom approach, a school-wide
common language to talk with students about the importance of being in a
community with each other as learners and peers and to recognize
characteristics such as kindness, citizenship, and respect here at Olde Creek.
- Our staff
commitment to adult support for students (clinical staff,
counselor classroom lessons, etc.) and supervision throughout the school each
and every day.
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As a final but essential measure, our regular safety drills
(including fire, tornado and lockdown), safety trainings for our staff, and
procedures such as keeping doors locked throughout the day, help ensure that we
are prepared for the unexpected.
If you need assistance speaking
to your child about the terrible violence we hear about in the news, I
encourage you to use the info at http://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources/school-safety-and-crisis/talking-to-children-about-violence-tips-for-parents-and-teachers.
If your child needs to speak to one of our support team members at Olde Creek
or if you would like to discuss approaches that can be used to speak with your
child, we are happy to help. Simply call (703) 426-3100 and we will
connect you or your student with a caring adult.
So often visitors to our school comment on the inviting,
positive climate that is noticeable throughout Olde Creek Elementary School. We
are proud of our school, and thankful for the support of our parent community. Thank you for all that you do to advocate for your kids and
to keep them safe.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out with any
questions or concerns you may have.
Sincerely,
Dustin Wright
Principal
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