Employee News - Tuesday, 2/12/19

Key Center staff dressed for Decades Day during Spirit Week

 

Key Center staff "dressed for the decades" during Spirit Week. (Photo: Key Center)


Fairfax County School Board Adopts FY 2020 Advertised Budget

The Fairfax County School Board has adopted the FY 2020 Advertised Budget of $3.0 billion, an increase of 4.1 percent, or $117.4 million, over the FY 2019 Approved Budget. The FY 2020 budget prioritizes employee compensation with a $55.2 million investment in teacher salary scales that includes a 1.0 percent market scale adjustment. The budget also includes $46.8 million for a step increase for eligible employees, and $8.2 million for a 1.0 percent market scale adjustment for nonteacher salary scale employees. Read the news release.


January Cares of the Month Winners

Congratulations to the FCPS Cares of the Month recipients for January: 

  • Central: Christina Young, Transportation, Lorton Center
  • Region 1: Andrew Coleman, Dranesville ES
  • Region 2: Cassie Hudec, Bren Mar Park ES
  • Region 3: Pearl Graham, Stratford Landing ES
  • Region 4: Sam Elson, Christine Ritter, Rebecca O'Neill, Eileen Castelli, Natalie Wiles, and Stephanie Smith; Kings Glen ES
  • Region 5: Karen Harris, McNair ES

See what makes the winners special. Acknowledge the great work of an FCPS employee.


IRS Form 1095 Coming Soon

FCPS employees and retirees who were enrolled in FCPS' health plan coverage (or who were eligible for coverage but did not enroll) will receive IRS Form 1095-C in late February. Much like Forms W-2 and 1099, which include information about the income you received, Form 1095 provides information regarding your health insurance eligibility and enrollment. Learn more about IRS Form 1095.


Photo of the Week 

Principals and their equity leads participating in a fun community building activity.


We're feeling all the feels from this photo! It was captured after a community-building activity of Rock, Paper, Scissors, during last Thursday's All-County Principals Meeting at Willow Oaks. Principals and their equity leads participated in a day of learning around race, equity, and leadership. A team from Harvard University led the meeting. (A second meeting was held last  Friday).

The two women getting ready to embrace are Sybil Terry, assistant principal at Carson MS, (right), and... Actually, we don't know who the woman with Sybil is! Do you? If so, please email employeenews@fcps.edu, and we'll give her a shoutout in next week's issue. (Photo: John Jacobs, Equity and Cultural Responsiveness) 


A Friendly Reminder About Social Media 

The school division's social media posts regarding school closures or delays in start time due to bad weather receive hundreds of comments. And many of them, especially the comments from students, can be quite...inappropriate.

If you choose to use social media to weigh in on FCPS' weather-related decisions, please use good judgment. Whether it's your professional or personal social media account, what you say and do online reflects not only upon you, but also upon the school division. If you wouldn't want your parents, supervisor, or significant other to see your post, please don't post it! And remember, modeling appropriate behavior in the social space helps guide our students on the path to becoming good digital citizens. View FCPS' Social Media Guidance for Staff. Check out this short video, too.


February Is Heart Health Month

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. Heart Health Month serves to raise awareness about heart disease and how it can be prevented. Guidance Resources, FCPS' Employee Assistance Program, has free health coaching that can help you and your entire household make healthy changes to lower the risk of developing heart disease. Call a Healthy Guidance Coach today at 1-855-355-9097 to get started. You can also find tip sheets, assessment tools, podcasts, and other resources online. If you are a first-time user, please use organization web ID "FCPS" to register.


New Slam Dunk Virtual Wellness Challenge!

Register now to participate in Slam Dunk Wellness, the new six-week virtual wellness challenge hosted by the Employee Wellness Program. In this challenge, participants earn points (“shots”) for their team by logging their fitness and nutrition behaviors on a virtual basketball court. Each day, a team squares off against a new team to see who earned the most points. Participants can earn weekly and end-of-challenge prizes such as resistance bands; gym bags; Fitbits; gift cards to Target, Amazon, and Dick's Sporting Goods; as well as other health-related items.

The challenge begins February 25. Register now through February 21 on the Slam Dunk Wellness website. Get the details on the Employee Wellness website or email fitnesschallenge@fcps.edu.


#OurFCPS Faces: Raymond Hoskie

Ray Hoskie, Washington Mill ES, Steam Lab teacher

 

Raymond Hoskie has taught for FCPS for 21 years! He worked at Lane ES and Forestville ES, but Washington Mill ES has been his school home for 16 years. Ray explains, “As the STEAM [science, technology, engineering, arts, and math] Lab teacher, I teach K-6 and autism [classes]. We do coding and engineering projects as well as science experiments.” In addition to teaching, Ray serves as Washington Mill’s website curator. He is also a contributor to the school’s Twitter page and maintains a separate STEAM Lab Twitter page. He serves as Washington Mill's "unofficial" videographer, too. Whew!

What does Ray like most about his job? “The sense of accomplishment and achievement that I get to see on the faces of the students every day. The enthusiasm and curiosity of the kids makes it all worth it.”

Principal Brad Bennink says, “Ray’s work in our STEAM Lab has made a huge difference for our students and teachers at Washington Mill. Ray utilizes his own experience in the classroom and regular collaboration with grade level teams to design and implement integrated learning experiences for students. The PBL [project-based learning] and STEAM projects he creates challenge students to collaborate and think critically. He makes learning engaging for our kids while building their knowledge for the classroom and beyond. Most importantly, Ray’s work helps students build resiliency when they don’t know an answer, and that’s a trait that will pay dividends for our kids way more than any specific fact or piece of information they acquire here at school.”

In his free time, Ray enjoys photography, making movies, listening to audio books, and spending time with friends.

You are impacting students in immeasurable ways, Ray. Thank you!


2019 FCPS Educational Leadership Cohort

The 2019 FCPS Educational Leadership Cohort will be offered by Virginia Tech University. An information session about the program will be held on Wednesday, February 20, from 6-7 p.m., at Gatehouse in Room 2050/51. Register on MyPLT (course number VT-2019). The program will also be represented at the Pathways to Leadership Conference from 4:30-6:45 p.m., on Thursday, February 28, at Willow Oaks.

Applications are due to Virginia Tech by Friday, March 15. For specific questions about the program, please contact Susan Li, graduate academic program assistant for Northern Virginia, at susanli@vt.edu, or John Gratto, Ed.D, principal preparation program coordinator for Northern Virginia, at john1112@vt.edu.


Apply for Summer Curriculum Development Starting March 7

The website listing summer curriculum development projects from Instructional Services and Special Services will be available on Thursday, March 7. Projects will begin the latter part of June and vary in length. Interested teachers are encouraged to apply online by March 21. Please email questions to SCD2019@fcps.edu. Or, contact Kristin Koelsch (elementary) at 571-423-4636 or LouEllen Brademan (secondary) at 571-423-4853. Summer Curriculum Development projects are contingent upon approval of the FY 2020 Advertised Budget.


Quote by John A. Shedd: A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.

Facilities and Transportation Services Winter 2019 Newsletter

The Department of Facilities and Transportation Services’ Winter 2019 Newsletter is now available on the intranet. Get information on handling power outages, using volunteers to shovel snow, determining if it's too cold for students to play outdoors, and many other topics. Read the newsletter


Schools and Offices Closed on February 18

All Fairfax County public schools and offices will be closed on Monday, February 18, for Presidents Day. See the 2018-19 Employee Calendar.


Staff Staples


Note: Intranet access is required to open some of the links in this email. If you're using a mobile device or working remotely, you can connect to the intranet via the Pulse Secure VPN (Virtual Private Network). Email RequestIT@fcps.edu with questions. 

Employee News is sent to all FCPS employees every Tuesday. Please email EmployeeNews@fcps.edu with potential submissions or questions. Submissions are due by 4:30 p.m. on Thursdays. Thank you!