|
August 13, 2018
Dear Fort Belvoir Primary Families,
Greetings, and welcome to the 2018-2019 school
year! We hope that you have had a
wonderful summer filled with relaxation, great memories and time with those you
love! At the Fort Belvoir Campus, we
have spent the summer preparing for our new school year with great enthusiasm,
and we can’t wait to have you join us!
Included in this letter are some important items that will help you
prepare for the start of school.
Staff Updates
Fort Belvoir Primary is a school community
filled with a caring and dedicated staff, and we are thrilled to have recruited
and hired terrific members to our team!
On our first grade team, we welcome Angela Andress and Alex
Salesin. In second grade, we welcome
Sarah Wolfe. In third grade, we welcome
Lauren Seger and Kathleen Wakeley. In
kindergarten we welcome, Sarah Martinez (Teacher) and Jasmine Marshall
(IA). In Head Start, we welcome Emily
Reiss (teacher) and Catherine Matuszko (Instructional Assistant). In Special
Education, we welcome Jaynie Van Sant (School Psychologist); Audrey Marshall
(Teacher); Tracy Pounder (Lead Teacher); Vanessa Alvarenga (Preschool Autism
Class IA); Miriam Smith, Juanita Johnson and Shavon Walden (Enhanced Autism
IAs) and Tracy Krugh (IA). We also
welcome Steve Curry (General Education IA) and Dorothy Bonica (Art
Teacher). We welcome Megan Shiflett and
Kristen Emory (Instructional Coaches in Reading and Math, respectively). We also welcome Melissa Rice (Office Assistant)
and Kwaku Adu (Building Supervisor).
Each of our new and returning staff members brings a multitude of
talents to share with us and is anxious to get started this year.
School Hours/School Year Calendar
As you prepare for the new school year, please
note that our school hours have not changed in 2018-2019. They are 9:20 am-4:05 pm. Fort Belvoir
Primary doors will open at 9:00 am daily.
Students arriving after 9:20 am should be escorted into the main office
to be signed in by a parent. For changes
in dismissal arrangements, please send a note to your child’s teacher indicating
the change. We understand that dismissal
changes are sometimes necessary after children have arrived at school; however,
please do not call to make changes after 3:30 pm.
Please see the following link for the updated
school calendar. Please note, there are
student holidays and student 3-hour early release dates throughout the school
year.
https://www.fcps.edu/calendars/2018-2019-fcps-standard-school-year-calendar.
Class Assignments
Class lists will be posted at our front entrance
after 4:30 pm, on Wednesday, August 22, 2018.
We are still registering students; therefore, class lists are difficult
to finalize until then. As Fort Belvoir
Primary is a dedicated Professional Learning Community, teachers at every grade
level collaborate interdependently throughout the school year to support the
academic achievement of all students.
All are highly qualified and were selected as members of this staff because
they meet the high standards and expectations we have in our community. We appreciate your support of all of our
talented teachers!
Open House/Back to School Nights
We excitedly welcome students and families to our Back to
School events. Please note that the Back to School Night on Wednesday,
September 12th, is for parents only. Both students are parents are
welcomed for Newcomer Orientation and Open House; students are expected to
attend with a parent/chaperone.
Newcomer Orientation (students and parents):
1:00-2:00 pm:, August 23rd, Primary Cafeteria
Open House (students and parents):
2:00-5:00 pm, August 23rd, Both Schools
Back to School Night (parents only): 6:00-8:00
pm, Upper School
The Newcomer Orientation is an opportunity for families to
learn a little about the Fort Belvoir Campus, and is presented jointly
alongside Fort Belvoir Primary School. Speakers will include the
principals of both schools, the PTO president, Guidance Counselors, Public
Health Nurse, Cafeteria Managers, and more. Following the meeting,
building tours will be offered on the half-hour throughout the Open House
event. Tours will gather in the lobby area of each school building.
Open House is an informal, drop-in opportunity to
meet both classroom teachers and specialists, and to visit your
students' new environment before the first day of school.
Representatives from Food Services will also be in attendance to help you
create or update lunch accounts for your children. Additionally, our
clinic room will be open to receive any medications necessary for your
child. Fort Belvoir Upper specialists will have displays in the Fort
Belvoir Upper gym, and PTO volunteers and other community partners will have
display tables in the Fort Belvoir Primary gym. Please stop by both gyms
to learn about the great programs at our school and in our community!
Back to School Night is a structured opportunity for
parents to hear directly from their students' teachers in greater
depth about curriculum, classroom expectations, communication, and
opportunities to be involved. We hope to see you there.
Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)
We greatly appreciate the support we receive
from our PTO. All parents are encouraged
to join the PTO and to volunteer and attend events and meetings sponsored by
our PTO. With the support of our PTO,
volunteers make an impact on instruction; technology, field trips, and cultural
arts events are provided for our students; and several family events (such as
BINGO) are offered. If you are
interested in volunteering or in taking on a leadership role, small or large, please
stop by the PTO displays at our Open House, or contact the school office and we
can get you in touch with Ms. Amanda McDaneld, Fort Belvoir Elementary PTO
President.
Bus Information
Your child’s assigned bus stop and bus number
will be provided soon. For safety and to
prevent overcrowding, students will only be allowed to ride the assigned
bus. Before the first day of school,
please review the bus number with your child so that he/she is familiar with
it. Our staff and safety patrols are
ready to provide special attention for our younger students, especially during
the first weeks of school to ensure students board the appropriate bus at the
close of each school day. We encourage
all bus riders to ride the bus to and from school on the first day to help
establish safety routines.
It is a FCPS policy that all preschool and
kindergarten students must be met at the bus stop by a parent, designated
adult, or an older sibling who is in 7th grade or beyond. If there is no one to receive a preschool/kindergarten
student at the bus stop, the child will be returned to the school. The teachers will place yellow tape on the
backpack strap of our kindergarten students and purple tape on the backpack
strap of our Head Start students in order to allow staff to identify their
grade level quickly. Please do not
remove this tape as it is a safety feature for transportation staff to know
that these children must be met at the bus stop. Thank you for your cooperation!
School Meals
FCPS continues to provide a variety of
nutritious meals for breakfast and lunch.
Lunch will be offered beginning on the first day of school (Tuesday,
August 28th). Breakfast will be offered
beginning on the third day of school (Thursday, August 30th). This year, the Energy Zone team continues
with the “All-Star Lunch” program, which teaches students about the five star
components of a healthy lunch: protein, grains, milk, fruits, and vegetables.
Elementary school students who purchase lunch may select three, four, or all
five of the stars and will be required to select a serving of fruit or
vegetables as part of their lunch.
School meal prices have changed for the
2018-2019 school year. A full-priced
breakfast is $1.75, and full-priced lunch is $3.25 for students. Milk can be
purchased separately for $.60. Students who
qualify for free meals receive breakfast and lunch free. Reduced price eligible students normally pay
a lower price for breakfast and lunch.
On a pilot basis, FCPS Food and Nutrition Services will continue to
absorb these costs so the reduced price eligible students can also receive a
breakfast and lunch at no charge in 2018-2019.
Free or reduced-price meals are available for those families who
complete an application and meet qualifications. Applications for the free and reduced
programs are now online and can be found at: https://www.myschoolapps.com/Application. These applications must be completed each year for renewal in the free
and reduced meals programs.
For those purchasing meals, there are three
options for payment:
-
Online using www.MySchoolBucks.com. The service is handy, private
and secure. There is no longer a
convenience fee for families using this service. Once parents create an account, they may
check their child’s balance and meal history at any time.
- Check – Make checks payable to “Fort Belvoir
Food Services.” A local address and phone number are required to be either
printed or handwritten on the check. The
student name is required on the check memo line. Parents who want their checks for meals only
(not buying extra snacks) should also write “MEALS ONLY” on their check.
- Cash – Cash may be brought to the food service
manager’s office for deposit on student’s account, or students may pay cash on
a daily basis.
Parents are encouraged to prepay for their
children’s meals so lunch money is always available. Much more information about school breakfast
and lunch, including links to forms and menus, is available here:
http://www.fcps.edu/fs/food/serve/lunchmenus.shtml.
Emergency Care Cards
An Emergency Care Card and other important forms
will be sent home on the first day of school.
Please return all required forms by Thursday, August 30th. Returning FCPS students will receive a
pre-printed Emergency Care Card. Please
update any information by crossing out incorrect information and replacing it
with the correct information. If no
information has changed, just sign and return the form.
For your convenience, many FCPS forms, such as
the Emergency Care form and medication forms are online (http://www.fcps.edu/forms.shtml). This will save time if you
need to complete forms for more than one child.
Once you print the form for one child, click “reset” and all the parent
information will remain the same.
Keep In Touch (KIT)/ FCPS News You Choose
Keep in Touch and FCPS News You Choose are the
way we communicate emergency information, general information, school closings,
etc. Messages will be sent by email
and/or telephone. It is important that
we have your current email address and phone numbers. To update contact information throughout the
school year, email Jessica Sims at jrsims@fcps.edu, or please fill out an
updated emergency care card.
Positive Behavior Support and Students’ Responsibilities and Rights
As we continue to engage in our instructional
program and drive students to success, it is important that we maintain a safe
and orderly learning environment.
Students are expected to follow “The Dolphin Promise: I promise to show my Dolphin Pride. I will respect others by treating them with
kindness. I will have compassion by
caring about people. I will show
cooperation by working together with others.”
Students and classes are positively recognized when they demonstrate The
Dolphin Promise. All classes participate
in daily Morning Meetings, and ongoing social skills instruction using the
Second Step curriculum. We do not
tolerate bullying of any kind. If you
feel any child is being targeted, please contact us immediately. We are proud to support students’ character
education.
A copy of the FCPS Student Responsibilities and
Rights (SR&R) handbook will be sent home with each student after classroom
instruction. When the SR&R handbook
comes home, please review it with your child and return the signature sheet to
your teacher.
Attendance
Please call our school by 9:30 am when your
child is absent from school. It is
expected that all students will arrive to school on time and stay throughout
the school day. Dropping your child off
late and/or picking your child up from school early severely impacts learning
and disrupts the school day. Please
schedule medical appointments after school hours, if at all possible.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter!
If you are a member of Facebook or Twitter,
please consider joining our interactive communities. On Facebook, please follow “Fort Belvoir
Elementary Campus” (@FtBelvoirElementarySchool). On Twitter, please follow @FtBelvoirES.
On Monday evening, August 27th, Ms. Margo
Dias-Pareja, Fort Belvoir Primary Principal, and Ms. Jamey Chianetta, Fort
Belvoir Primary Principal, will read bedtime stories via Facebook Live! We hope your families will join the Fort
Belvoir Elementary Campus facebook page for this storytime on this last evening
before school begins. Ms. Dias-Pareja
will go live at 7 pm, and Ms. Chianetta will go live at 7:30 pm. See you online!
More Back to School Information
A great resource for family health and wellness
as we transition back to school is just a click away. Please check out https://www.fcps.edu/blog/preparing-successful-start-school-year. More information will be added to this blog throughout the year; we
hope you’ll check back. Also, a special
FCPS webpage is set up to support military families in their transition to our
school system. Please visit http://www.fcps.edu/dss/ips/military/index.shtml for a great deal of helpful information.
We are honored to serve as the administrative
team at Fort Belvoir Primary, and we will work relentlessly to support our
school community’s vision, mission, values and goals. Research repeatedly
indicates that collective energies and resources (both at home and school) in supporting
quality instructional programming for each child make a difference. We look forward to working with you to make
this school year one of great enthusiasm, spirit, and commitment!
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Margo Dias-Pareja Jen Fallert Christie Yarn
Principal Assistant Principal Assistant Principal
|
