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Dear Westbriar Parents,
Many of you have shared your concerns regarding the coronavirus. I am writing to reassure you that we are following guidelines given by FCPS on how we clean our school building so that we can start each day with clean classrooms. FCPS leadership has been proactive in sharing many resources with school staff to help us navigate the instructional school day. We will continue to stress the importance of daily hand washing at school.
I want to reassure you that our school is in complete compliance in adhering to county and state mandates. Our wonderful staff remains committed to keeping the focus on the instructional day and providing your child the valuable structure needed to keep their school experience as normal as possible. Here is a link that you should bookmark where you can access real time information from FCPS: https://www.fcps.edu/news/coronavirus-update
This coming Monday, I will share a detailed plan with teachers on what distance learning would look like and will provide them time to plan and prepare in the event a decision is made to close schools. You can expect to receive detailed information from your child’s teacher that will help you and your family navigate the distance learning model at home – should that become a reality. Until then, we will continue to proceed as normal and your children remains our primary focus.
Take care,
Principal Tam
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Your Views and Opinions Are Important to Us!
This spring all Westbriar parents will be contacted through email with a link to the FCPS Principal Evaluation Parent/Guardian Feedback Form Online. This survey is part of the Performance Evaluation Program and offers parents an opportunity to provide anonymous input about various issues related to our school. These issues include instructional leadership, school climate, human resources management, organizational management, communication and community relations and professionalism.
The survey will be collected online between March 12 and March 26. When you receive an email from FCPS Surveys, please take a few minutes to complete the survey. Your opinions matter, thank you in advance for your support.
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FROM THE PTA
6PM THURSDAY, 3/12 -- Westbriar Cafeteria
COME HEAR ADAM STRAWN, OUR SCHOOL-BASED TECH SPECIALIST, SPEAK ABOUT THE DIFFERENT TECH RESOURCES OUR STUDENTS HAVE AT SCHOOL AND AT HOME. Very helpful, especially if schools close and we utilize distance learning!
Mr. Strawn will speak at 6PM. Come at 5:30 to get your devices up and running on the Westbriar Wifi. PTA meeting follows @ 7PM.
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Your PTA wants you to know that we take the health and safety of our Westbriar family very seriously. Therefore, we are canceling International Night, scheduled for 4/17, as well as our Westbriar 5K, scheduled for 5/9. We will miss these fun, enriching, community unifying events.
Similarly, we are canceling the public event part of our Science Fair, which was to be held on Thursday, 4/23. Instead, we will hold the Science Fair as scheduled on 4/24, and it will be restricted to Westbriar students and staff who attend during regular school hours. If our children are in school, they can still have a Science Fair, which we are happy to save! More information to come on how your child can record a video presentation of their science project to be shared with students and school community.
For now, you've heard it all -- cough and sneeze into your elbow, wash your hands, and for goodness sake, stay home if you're sick. We are hoping that any school closures turn into special bonding time with your family. (And that you have plenty of toilet paper!)
PTA Dates at a Glance
Wednesday, 3/11 -- Spring Enrichment Class Registration Opens -- 21 great after-school classes for your student to enjoy! Go to www.westbriarpta.org to register.
Tuesday, 3/24 -- Dining for Dollar$ at Chipotle, 213 Maple Avenue East from 4-8PM. Don't forget to tell them you're with Westbriar when you buy your meal!!
Wednesday, 3/25 -- Spring Enrichment Class Registration Closes -- DO NOT WAIT -- NO EXCEPTIONS! Register now!!
Thursday, 4/17 -- International Night -- CANCELLED
Thursday, 4/23 -- Science Fair open PTA event -- CANCELLED
Friday, 4/24 -- Science Fair exhibition for students and staff during school -- STILL ON
Monday - Friday, 5/4-8 -- Staff Appreciation Week!
Saturday, 5/9 -- Westbriar 5K and One Mile Walk -- CANCELLED
Thank You Notes
Thank you to Nandita Kalyan who organized our Westbriar Spelling Bee on February 20th. Thank you also to Ms. Tam, Mrs. Fuselier, and Jan Srock who served as our Spelling Bee judges as well as Mr. Simms-Smith who served as our announcer.
Thank you to Amy Blas for putting an end to our winter doldrums and coming up with a great idea for our Westbriar community -- the 80s vs. Current Hits Dance on February 28th. We enjoyed dancing the night away with our kiddos and had a great time reliving the "glory days of our youth" in our 80's attire!
Thank you to Crystal Petersen, who coached 14 Westbriar 6th graders to compete in the Virginia Science Olympiad, Division B, Fairfax Regional. Our team did really well, placing 8th overall out of 24 middle and elementary school teams. Next up: Science Olympiad State Competition. Good luck Falcons!
Thank you to Crystal Petersen as well for coaching 16 of Westbriar's 5th and 6th graders from September until January to get them ready for the AMC 8, a national examination in mathematics for students in grade 8 or below. Westbriar students were high achievers, averaging a 10.9 when the worldwide average for 5th and 6th graders was 8.5 and the worldwide average for all test takers, up to grade 8, was 9.43. And thank you to Mrs. Cockerill for administering the AMC 8 test for Westbriar.
Thank you to Crystal Petersen for making copies every week for the PTA when called! We know where she spends her Tuesdays ...!
Thank you to Suneeta Rana, our VP of Membership, for getting our Westbriar PTA named as a Fairfax County Membership All Star! The award signifies that our membership has stayed the same or grown since last year. Thank you, Suneeta!
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Trish Vanstory
Westbriar PTA Presidentwesptaprez@gmail.com
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