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Dear Westgate Families,
I hope this finds you having a wonderful start to summer vacation. As I am sure many of you have heard by now, last Tuesday, our School Board provided consensus regarding the plans to return to school in the Fall. They have proposed giving families choice of engaging in some face to face instruction (2x/week) or all virtual instruction (4x/week). I know there are many personal, professional, and general implications and questions that you may be considering. Please know that we only want an outcome that is best for our families, our students, and our staff. As of now, we don't have all the answers but the county has compiled an up to date Q&A's on their return to school page here. A parent survey should be coming to you from FCPS sometime this week. Please make sure you take the time to fill out this important survey indicating your plans on how your child will be returning to school in August. FCPS is asking that it be completed by July 10 so that they can further determine our next steps to ensure a successful school year. Additionally, and if you haven't done so already, please read the letter below that was sent from Dr. Brabrand to families on Friday, June 26. It entails a lot of good information and links to important resources that may help you best understand the FCPS return to school plan.
Also, you will find links to free summer learning opportunities below. There are many opportunities for students to be engaged with learning over the summer so please take advantage of those when you are able.
In some respects, we are gaining some direction to begin our planning for the Fall. But, it is also a reality that there are many questions that have yet to be answered. I encourage you to keep up on FCPS's communication with families during this time. That is where you will find the most up to date information regarding our return to school plan. I will also do my best to continue to communicate anything that I hear that directly impacts Westgate. I know this is a tough situation for everyone involved and that many of us have differing opinions of what the right choice may be. I know that together we will implement a plan that best meets the needs of all stakeholders while keeping our students, staff, and families as safe as possible. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out and I will do my best to help. Hopefully, in the coming weeks, we will have a better understanding of how the new school year will look. Thank you for your continued support and patience during these challenging times.
All my best,
Hallie Demetriades
Dr. Brabrand's Letter to Families - June 26
Families,
Earlier this week we shared with you our framework for Return to School and how we will offer families this school year a choice of in-school learning for students with health and social distancing protocols in place or an online, virtual learning option at the family’s request. We will be sending a letter early next week which will provide additional details and ask you to select which program you want for your child or children. Please be assured we are committed to presenting as much information as possible so that our families and staff can make informed decisions. We understand the concerns you have about the choice that needs to be made by July 10. Those concerns are being factored in by us as we work to balance the educational needs of our students with our need to ensure a safe learning environment. In this process, our first priority remains the health and safety of our students and staff.
Each family situation is uniquely different. You may want to discuss the options with your health care provider as part of the decision-making process. We will continue to work closely with the health department in developing the return to school plan and follow their guidance should there be a need to close a school building(s) because of a future outbreak. We know you have many questions about the return to school options and we have posted Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the FCPS website to help answer some of those questions. I encourage you to visit the FAQ page often as we will continue to update it regularly throughout the summer. The FAQs cover a variety of topics including face coverings, health screenings, cleaning and disinfecting procedures, transportation, curriculum, and technology access.
Visit the Return to School web page for more details on the plans.
These links explain in greater detail the two return to school options:
For our special education families, we will be providing you additional information about the upcoming school year plans in the very near future.
I also want to let you know that I will be holding another Town Hall Meeting on Monday, July 6 at 6:30 p.m. and will be prepared to answer as many of your questions as we can. We are also pleased to let you know that we will continue our grab and go meal distribution through the summer. More information about locations and times can be found on our Food Resources page.
Thank you for your continued support as we strive to do what is best for ALL of our students and employees during these challenging times.
Sincerely,
Scott Brabrand, Superintendent
Fairfax County Public Schools
Free Summer Learning Opportunities
As indicated by your child's teacher prior to our last day of school, all students in FCPS will be mailed a math and language arts learning packet by July 29. These packets are a review of current grade level material.
In addition, we have one teacher per grade level (K-6) that will be holding office hours once a week (1 hour) to help any students requiring support with the learning packets. There will not be any new learning or new instruction during these sessions, rather support strictly regarding the packets. If you are interested in having your child attend those office hours, please see the following link here. The teachers, their office hours, and their contact information are located at the top within each grade level tab. Please refer to your child's current grade level, not the one your child will be going into next year (ex: 1st grader this year, click on 1st grade tab to see teacher information). Note, since we only have one teacher per grade level supporting office hours, that teacher may not have been your child's classroom teacher from the 2019-20 school year. Once you have contacted them, they will provide you steps to log into their Google Meet. Again, the main purpose of these hours is provide ongoing support to those students who may need additional help on certain subject areas related to the learning packets. Office hours run weekly from July 29-Aug 31.
There are also a number of other free summer learning opportunities that your child can engage in offered by FCPS. You can find a full list here.
If you have additional questions, you may contact Hallie Demetriades, Principal, at hcdemetriade@fcps.edu.
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