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Dear Gunston Families,
I am thinking of our community and our students as our country faces such trauma and sadness. I am reaching out to acknowledge the wide variety of emotions, thoughts, and feelings shared by all of us as we reflect on the current events. I would be doing a disservice to our students, staff, and families if I did not address the current racial crisis in our country. In our school community, we recognize that there are feelings of fear, anger, confusion, uncertainty, and hopelessness. We understand that each of us is experiencing the most recent events of racism and injustice differently and I am confident that together we can create brave and safe spaces for listening and collaboration. As FCPS Superintendent, Dr. Brabrand shared, “Racism and hate have no place in FCPS. FCPS is a place where we strive for love, inclusiveness, and compassion for all while providing hope for the future.” Gunston will continue to stand on those values.
Our Gunston community will continue to nurture a caring culture where we celebrate our individuality and diversity. We are devoted to establishing and providing a culturally responsive learning environment for our students, staff, and community. We are committed to accepting our responsibility to recognize and educate our students regarding racism and other injustices that threaten the fabric of our country. It is our moral imperative to teach and model acceptance, compassion, and embrace our differences. Those differences make our community stronger and develops our school culture. We will continue to share and listen to each other’s stories, help our students process complex, unfair, real world issues, and to serve as models of how to support each other. Together we will make a difference.
While it may be uncomfortable, our students are capable of having developmentally appropriate conversations about race and justice. We recognize that while the recent events may be visible to our children, their responses may not be at this moment and may lead our children to ask questions. Even though our current situation finds us apart, we want you to know we are here for you. As always, our school clinical team and administrators are always available to support you and your family. We will continue to come together to support our students and families during these challenging times. Please reach out and take care of one another, even if we are at a distance. If you and/or your children need support with talking about the recent events, I have added a few resources below.
Sincerely,
Kristen Rucinski, Acting Principal
Virtual 6th Grade Promotion
Social/Emotional Resources for the Summer
The GES Student Services Team created a google site for parents to access social/emotional resources, parent resources, and mental health resources. These resources will be available throughout the summer to help support you and your family. In order to access the google site, you must be logged into your child’s FCPS gmail account. Check back frequently as we will continue to add more resources.
https://sites.google.com/fcpsschools.net/gesstudentserviceteam/home
Spirit Week Video
We have had so much fun seeing our eagles participate in spirit week. Many of you are ready for summer with your tropical wear or had fun dressing up like one of our teachers. If you did not share your pictures of them dressed up with their teachers, there is still time to do so before we finalize our Gunston Pride Video. We will share this video with the community tomorrow!
Last Week of School Calendar of Events
There is still time to challenge a staff member. Use the link below:
https://flipgrid.com/44f458cb
Summer Reading Adventure
Fairfax County's virtual Summer Reading Adventure will take place from June 12th to August 14th and is for all ages. The format will be a little bit different than in previous years. Participants will register online
More information is available at https://research.fairfaxcounty.gov/summer-reading Sign up for Summer Reading through this link beginning June 12th.
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PTA News & Information |
Yearbook Update
Yearbooks delayed
Please note that Lifetouch is experiencing production delays due to COVID-19. We anticipate that yearbooks will be received and sent out later this summer. Please contact ptagunston@gmail.com if you haven’t been contacted about or received your yearbook by mid-August.
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