 Dear Lemon Road Families
Thank you for completing the FCPS Enrollment Survey last week. I know this was a difficult decision for you and want to reiterate from Dr. Brabrand how difficult each of our decisions have been since March. As you likely know, it was decided at the School Board Work Session last night that we will begin the 2020 – 2021 school year virtually for all staff and students. This clearly is a change from the previous planning, but is the safest decision that could be made based on the progression of COVID-19. We will are developing plans to ensure the virtual start to the 2020 – 2021 school year is successful and meets the needs of all our students and families. In the coming weeks, we will offer a few Principals Coffees to take questions and suggestions from our parents as we plan for the fall.
Currently, we are working to develop our master schedule for virtual instruction for all grades, finalize class lists, and develop new virtual norms as a school community. Besides scheduling, we are continuing to find ways to increase our professional knowledge related to best practice instructional strategies we can use to support your children in the virtual learning environment.
While planning logistics for the upcoming year has been time consuming, I’d like to highlight SOME of the additional professional development members of the Lemon Road staff are leading and engaging in. Today and tomorrow, six Lemon Road staff members are participating in the FCPS Equity Symposium and the start was POWERFUL! Kudos to our Equity Lead, Jessica Albright, for co-presenting with me today and again tomorrow. Matt Heffron has been teaching a digital course regarding instructional planning and tools for FCPS teachers in virtual platforms (BBCU and Google Meet). Eight Lemon Road staff members are participating in the three-week National ISTE Summer Learning Academy deepening our skills and understanding around best practices with virtual instruction, flipped classrooms, and building relationships with students in a digital world. Several Lemon Road teachers are participating with FCPS Central Offices working on curriculum development and revisions for the 2020 – 2021 school year – revising pacing guides, selecting culturally responsive resources, and additional inquiry units that align to grade level standards. There are more examples to share, but I assure you, our staff is dedicated to continuing our journey with equity, cultural responsive practices, and improving virtual instruction.
September 8th is right around the corner! We honestly cannot wait to reconnect with our amazing students and families! Now that we know all will start the year virtually, we are planning meaningful ways we can begin building relationships and are always looking for good ideas – please reach out with any virtual suggestions. As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Ashley Castillo
Whether you have an incoming kindergartener or are simply new to the Lemon Road community, we are excited to meet you! Please join us for as many events leading up to the school year as you can. The first four events are listed below. Next Wednesday morning, we look forward to connecting with our rising kindergarteners and their families. Please use the link below using Chrome and join us as a family. Have your rising kindergartener “bring” their favorite stuffed animal (or toy) as each family will be given the opportunity to turn on their camera and microphone to introduce yourselves and share. We will also allow time for questions during the second half of our virtual event. Encourage any of your neighbors who have incoming LRES students to join so they can connect with one another and learn more about the Lemon Road community. Below are the days and times. All sessions can be joined using this link.
Kindergarten Family Gathering: Wednesday, July 29 at 9:00 AM
New Family Gathering: Tuesday, August 4 at 5:30 PM
Kindergarten Family Gathering: Monday, August 10 at 5:30 PM
New Family Gathering: Wednesday, August 12 at 9:00 AM
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While it is hard to say goodbye to beloved Lemon Road teachers and staff, we are excited to introduce the newest members of our “pride”! For a few more details, be sure to follow me on twitter @PrincipalLRES
     With these exciting introductions comes additional farewells. Earlier, I shared Alice Higgins and Summer Donaldson retired from FCPS at the end of the 2019 – 2020 school year. Since the start of summer, Jake Miller was able to secure a teaching position at the school closest to his home, Jennifer Hitchcock was offered a full-time position at Little Run Elementary School, Heidi Gillmore will stay home with her beautiful new son, and Sarah Jayne Bleiweis will continue to focus on her yoga and mural passions around Northern Virginia. We will miss each of these members of our community but know that they will always be in the Lemon Road network!
FCPS plans to offer a device to any student that needs one to access virtual learning. If you have a child entering sixth or seventh grade and has a Lemon Road laptop, we will be collecting it as new devices will be offered to rising 6th and 7th graders. Mr. Murphy will ensure the laptop you return is ready to give a rising Kindergarten – Fifth Grade Lemon Road student. If you have questions about your child’s device, please email Mr. Murphy at mhmurphy@fcps.edu. Information regarding distribution of new devices will be shared in August.
 Don’t forget, after tomorrow, there is ONE more week of summer learning with fabulous Lemon Road teachers. This week I already visited with kindergarten and fifth grade classes. I am highly impressed with the planning each of our teachers has invested into these office hours and the attendance and participation of our students! Students can log in to the sessions through the Lemon Road Students Blackboard page. The work with the teachers is based on the practice books mailed centrally from FCPS. The Lemon Road schedule is as follows:
Kindergarten: Tuesdays 9:00 – 10:00 AM with Mrs. Taryn Roman
Grade 1: Tuesday & Thursdays 11:00 – 11:30 AM with Ms. Suzanne Child
Grade 2: Thursdays 9:00 – 10:00 AM with Ms. Hilary Nickels
Grade 3: Wednesdays 10:00 – 11:00 AM with Ms. Caroline Hagerty
Grade 4: Thursdays 10:00 – 11:00 AM with Ms. Vanessa King
Grade 5: Wednesdays 1:00 – 2:00 PM with Ms. Dana Roth
Grade 6: Wednesdays 9:30 – 10:30 AM with Mr. Jake Miller
Special Education: Tuesdays 10:00 – 11:00 AM with Ms. Megan Buletko
English Language Development: Tuesdays 10:00 – 11:00 AM with Mrs. Karla Barnes
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