Poe Family Newsletter October 5

Student Services Wellness Lessons

The teen years are marked by a roller coaster of emotions—difficult for teens, their parents, and educators. In order to proactively address this issue, on October 9th, Poe Middle School is offering our 7th graders the SOS Signs of Suicide Prevention Program. Our program will include a wellness screening for our 7th graders. Also included are wellness lessons for our 6th and 8th grade students. SOS has been used by many schools and is the only school-based prevention program recognized by the National Registry of Evidence Based Programs and Practices that addresses suicide risk and depression. Our wellness lessons aim to increase awareness and help-seeking by students concerned about themselves or friends. Your students may have questions following the wellness lessons, some of which can be difficult to answer. We are here to help you and your family with resources, information, and support so that these conversations are meaningful and lead to a deeper understanding of your child, their emotions, and the challenges that they face during their teenage years. Please reach out to your child’s grade level counselor with any questions or concerns.

Parent Advisory Council

As a Title 1 school, we are excited to be creating a Parent Advisory Council this year. The purpose of this council will be to dialogue, discuss, and gather feedback that will help to inform the way that Poe Middle School interacts with the community. As a member of our community, we value your input and look forward to partnering with you as we collaborate to support your students and their education.

The Parent Advisory Council will meet quarterly at Poe Middle School. The first three meeting dates are as follows:

October 28^th  - 6pm to 7:30pm

January 13^th - 6pm to 7:30pm

March 23^rd  - 6pm to 7:30pm

June - Date and time TBD

If you are available and interested in being a part of our Parent Advisory Council, please contact either Kristin Turner at 703-813-3824 or Trish Ramirez at 703-813-3801.

Fairfax County Youth Survey for 6^th and 8^th Grades

The Fairfax County Youth Survey is an anonymous and voluntary survey that examines the safety and well-being behaviors of our youth.  It provides a snapshot of behaviors related to healthy choices and wellness of our youth and serves as a barometer of the effectiveness of county-wide community and school programs focused on prevention and intervention programs.  The survey results also help to build upon the sense of community strengths and help guide programs for Fairfax County youths.  Parents can view the survey for more information HERE.  The Fairfax County Youth Survey letter with the opportunity to opt out is found HERE.  If you do not wish to have your student take the survey, please return the Opt Out form to Hana Kim via electronically, hkim1@fcps.edu  or by hand to the Main Office by November 5, 2019. The survey will be administered during November 6^th through November 15th.  Please contact Hana Kim in Student Services at 703-813-3865 or hkim1@fcps.edu, if you have questions about the survey or need assistance with the Opt Out form.

Translated letters and the opt-out forms for 6^th grade are available in Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Korean, Spanish, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

Translated letters and the opt-out forms for 8^th grade are available in Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

After-School Program

Throughout the school year, we will be recognizing students who have demonstrated excellence in the After-School Program with our ASP Student of the Week award. Steven Cisneros is our first ASP Student of the Week for 2019-20! Steven was nominated for showing great leadership and always being ready to assist the Soccer staff with any task. Way to go, Steven!

As a reminder, there will not be after-school this Friday, October 11^th, leading into Columbus Day weekend. The After-School Program will also be cancelled on Tuesday, October 15^th due to staffing constraints.

Important October Dates:

• 11^th – No After-School Program, Columbus Day Weekend
• 14^th – No School, Columbus Day
• 15^th – No After-School Program
• 18^th – Parent Coffee at 9am
• 18^th – FCPS Comedy Improv Competition at 7pm
• 23^rd – Orchestra Concert at 7pm