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Dear TJHSST Class of 2022 Families:
Congratulations on being accepted as the newest members to our Colonial family! We were so happy to greet you on Preview Night, and we look forward to making your transition as smooth as possible.
We have set up a special NewsYouChoose email distribution list just for you. This will be a primary way our Department of Students Services will keep in touch with you until you are fully entered into the TJHSST student database later this month. If you are aware of a family who should have received this message and did not, please contact our Director of Student Services, Brandon Kosatka, bpkosatka@fcps.edu.
We will take care of you on each step of your journey with TJ. We got this!
Welcome!!
Sincerely,
Ann N. Bonitatibus, Ed.D.
Principal
Spring is an important time for high schools as we plan our
course offerings, make staffing decisions and create schedules for students
based on their requests. While Thomas
Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) is the smallest high
school in the County, it has maintained the largest selection of World
Languages in the County.
Most recently, decisions were made at our school to forgo
offering first-level classes in select World Languages where enrollment has
been low in recent years. Part of the undersubscribed enrollment is due
to shifts in how FCPS middle school students are now able to earn high school
credit while still in middle school. Our
incoming ninth grade students enter on an accelerated path, most already
receiving 1-2 high school credits for a World Language taken in middle school;
therefore, the need for first-level World Languages courses is dramatically
lower at TJ than at other high schools in FCPS. This phenomena presents
challenges in sustainability when it comes to offering a full complement of
seven World Languages at all levels.
Even though current teachers
and students at TJ were experiencing smaller classes in level one World
Languages, the decisions we made effective with next school year came as a
surprise to those seeking to enter TJ. We would like your first
experience with our school to be a positive one filled with options you
understood to be available in recent years.
Therefore, in collaboration with district office personnel,
TJ administration has been able to identify one-time funds to offer an opportunity to register for all
first-level courses for World Languages during the 2018-2019 school year,
including Latin, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, French and Spanish. This recent circumstance presents an opportunity for TJ World Language teachers
and administration to reflect on enrollment shifts. We will work together
to create a long-term plan for what is reasonable to sustain in our World
Languages program while still being responsive to needs in other areas.
No later than next winter, we anticipate communicating adjustments effective
with the 2019-2020 school year.
To help ensure we are
entering the correct course requests for your child, we are asking
parents to please verify and resubmit their student’s course requests. We
have created an entirely new GoogleForm to help with this process. Please click here. We will validate and update course requests
previously submitted. For example, if you requested Latin I when you really
would have preferred Japanese I, please indicate such. Latin I would
still be considered an alternate choice in case we have difficulty scheduling
all your other class choices. All course requests must be received no
later than May 1, 2018. Please be aware that due to scheduling and
staffing timelines, you will not be able to change your selection again.
Thank you for ensuring we have the best information available to address your child's interests.
We have received a large number of inquiries related to
Summer School registration.
Rising 9th graders will not be able to
register for Summer Programs until after we’ve first had an opportunity to
formally register all students with the school and enter them into the student
information system.
As soon as we have finished entering all of the information
into the system we will be mailing out course request verifications and, with
that mailing, we will disseminate important summer school registration
information.
Rest assured, the published Summer School registration deadline of April
27th only applies to currently enrolled students. Once available,
Summer School registration for incoming students will be available until May
25, 2018.
Thank you in advance for your patience as we continue processing registration materials.
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