Franklin MS Weekly Update - September 18

Franklin Families and Students, 

It was a wonderful week at FMS! We had our first Monday of the school year which got us off to a great start in continuing to build relationships and connections between our students, families, and staff. Our Virtual Back to School Night will take place on the evening of September 22 and we will offer a combination of synchronous and asynchronous activities for our families. Below are some of the other topics that we wanted to share with you this week. 

  • Back to School Night Information 
  • Supply Distribution Day on Monday
  • Check and Connect on Mondays
  • Franklin MS After School Program
  • Message from the Student Services Office
  • Important Information about Grab and Go Meals
  • PTA Updates 

We are grateful for your support and partnership as we work together to make the virtual start to our school year a positive experience for every Franklin MS student. Best wishes for a relaxing and enjoyable weekend. 

Sincerely, 

Dustin Wright

Principal

 

Back to School Night is on Tuesday

The Franklin Middle School Back to School Night (BTSN) will be held Tuesday, September 22.  We will be offering a combination of synchronous and asynchronous activities for our families. A synchronous session for 7th grade parents and families will be held from 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM and a synchronous session for 8th grade parents and families will be held from 6:45 PM - 7:15 PM. On Tuesday afternoon of next week, we will send links to the synchronous sessions. Please submit questions online here that we can answer on the evening of September 22. We will share recordings of each of these sessions if you are unable to attend. 

In addition, each of our teachers is preparing a video that provides a personal introduction and an overview of their course. These videos will be posted and available for families to view at their own pace. The completed videos will be posted on September 22.

FMS will also be offering an additional opportunity for you to connect with our staff during Parent and Family Office hours on the afternoon of October 5. More details will be shared about this event in the coming weeks. 

We look forward to connecting with you next week!

 

Supply Distribution Day on Monday

Students and families in the classes listed below are invited to our first materials distribution on Monday, September 21 from 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM. This drive-through process  is an opportunity to visit the school to gather instructional materials that are not available in a digital format and to see some of our staff members. If you are unable to attend this event, a similar event will be offered on Monday, September 28. 

Our FMS teachers will offer curbside pick-up of purchased supplies for the following classes:

  • Art
  • Engineering
  • Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS)
  • Read 180

Distribution procedures will be as follows:

  • Social distancing guidelines will be in effect.  Please review the health screening questions found here before visiting FMS.
  • Vehicles will enter the bus loop and proceed to the electives stations for their students.
  • Families and students will stay in their vehicle.
  • Whenever possible, teachers will place student supply kits in the trunk of the vehicle.
  • Vehicles will exit the bus loop near Old Dairy Road. 

For Art, Engineering, and FACS, these supplies are part of a student fee included in course enrollment. More information on payment of student fees will be delivered at a later date.

Franklin MS will make all reasonable modifications to policies and programs to ensure that people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to enjoy all of its programs, services, and activities.  Anyone who requires an auxiliary aid or service to facilitate the pickup of materials should contact Mr. Gibbs (ragibbs@fcps.edu) as soon as possible.

 

Check and Connect on Mondays at 8:00 AM

We are looking forward to our second Monday of the school year next week. Students will use this time to complete independent assignments, work on asynchronous activities, and have opportunities to work directly with teachers based on individual needs.

We will also utilize this time as an opportunity to continue to develop relationships at Franklin. It will allow our staff to foster connections with our students and for our students to get to know their classmates. 

All Franklin students need to attend the Check and Connect session from 8:00 AM - 8:30 AM and they should use the link for their 4th period Falcon Time class. Check and Connect will occur every Monday morning. This is a required activity for all students and attendance will be taken during this session. Teachers will share important school announcements and check in with students to support their learning for the week.

Throughout the rest of the day, individual teachers will offer interventions and additional support to selected students. Students will receive information from their teachers if they need to attend additional sessions on Mondays. The remainder of the day will be reserved for independent student work.

 

Franklin MS After School Program

The FMS Virtual After-School Program will begin with several activities the week of September 21st. Please see the schedule below for the After-School Schedule and a list of activities from September 21 – October 2. Students can find more information about the  After-School Program in their grade-level Google Classroom  and this video will help your student learn how to sign-up for after-school activities. If you have any questions about the After-School Program, please feel free to contact Mrs. Mollé at cemolle@fcps.edu.  

after school program

 

Message from the Student Services Team

FMS counselors send information and resources regularly through Naviance. If you would like to receive the information and resources, you will need to log into Blackboard 24-7 Learning using your email address. Once in Blackboard, you will need to go to the Naviance box and click on your Franklin student’s name. If you have children at multiple schools, you will need to click on each of the names to activate. Once you do this, Naviance will utilize your parent email address for correspondence. Please contact your student’s counselor if you have questions.

Student Last Names A-G

Tammi Bailey-Case, TLBaileycase@fcps.edu, (703) 904-5152

Student Last Names H-N

Kathy Hudson, KAHudson1@fcps.edu, (703) 904-5154

Student Last Names O-Z

Joanne Fraundorfer, JFraundorfer@fcps.edu, (703) 904-5132 

 

Important Information About Grab and Go Meals

Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) continues to update times and locations for grab and go meals posted on the website. It is important for families to have this information. Grab and go meals are available to ALL students. In addition, FNS will offer breakfast and lunch meals for Saturday during distribution on Fridays. Please help communicate this information to your families. Food distribution locations and times are posted and updated frequently on the website:  https://www.fcps.edu/return-school/food.

 

PTA Updates and Spirit Wear Sale

Join the Franklin Middle School PTA

Welcome to a new year at Franklin! We have exciting plans to help support our children and school! Once again, we will be conducting our combined School and Friends of Franklin PTA Membership Drive. You can find the membership form here and questions can be sent to membership@franklinmiddleschoolpta.org. Please take a few minutes to learn more about our organization by visiting our website. We are looking forward to a great year at Franklin MS. 

AmazonSmile

AmazonSmile is a great way to contribute to the PTA in a very effortless way during these times. AmazonSmile customers can now support Franklin Middle School PTA in an effortless way via the Amazon shopping app on IOS and Android mobile phones! Simply click here to sign up today. We value your continued support.

Spirit Wear Sale

Spirit wear is now available for purchase online. Please click here to order your Franklin MS spirit wear. Online ordering is open until Saturday, October 10 at 11:00 PM. No late orders will be accepted, and all sales are final. Distribution of orders will be in late October, with scheduled pick-up windows held outside of school. Families will be contacted with pick-up information when the orders are in. Please contact the PTA president via email with any questions (President@franklinmiddleschoolpta.org).

 

How can I make sure I receive emergency information from Fairfax County Public Schools?

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) communicates all essential information to parents via email. The information is also translated into eight languages: Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Korean, Spanish, Urdu, and Vietnamese. Information communicated via email includes:

  • School closings and delays
  • Attendance
  • Emergencies at school
  • Low lunch balance
  • Power, phone, or internet outages at school
  • Bus delays
  • Testing dates

When providing an e-mail address to FCPS, please avoid using an educational (.edu-including fcps.edu), military (.mil) or government (.gov) email address. The security settings on government servers often block messages from FCPS. It is a best practice to not use work related email addresses; therefore, it is important to use an email address from another internet service provider such as Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc.

Parents can receive text messages for emergencies and essential information. Please make sure your parent cell phone numbers are listed in the “cell telephone” fields in the parent/guardian contact information section on the emergency care information form for each of your children. Parents and guardians can view and update emergency contact information online using the weCare@school feature of FCPS 24-7 Learning. Standard message and data charges may apply for text messages depending on their cell phone service plan. Click here for more information.