 Good Afternoon Stone Students and Families~
We continue to appreciate the support and feedback you have provided as we embark on the last two weeks of the first quarter. In the coming weeks, I will provide you with a summary of the first quarter to include information from our student and parent surveys. While students have shared many successes with distance learning, there have also been challenges to include work completion. With that said, this is a gentle reminder for students and families to review Schoology and SIS. The end of the first quarter is October 30, so students should ensure they are caught up with their assignments. Students should continue to utilize Panther Block and office hours to receive additional assistance if necessary.
It was another great week of visiting classrooms and watching our students engage and participate during class discussions. Congratulations to the Portrait of a Panther winners for the week of 10/12: Mateo Barillas, Tyler Crevoisior, Tristan Edora, Mackenzie Ehrloch, Aubrey Engel, Allan Flores-Maravilla, Conor Guiney, Madelyn Kim, Chaerie Kwak, and Lucas Raditz. I encourage you to continue to utilize the chat and turn your cameras/mic on to communicate and collaborate with your teachers and peers.
I look forward to meeting with you on Monday evening at 7PM for our “Meet the Acting Principal” and PTSA meeting.
Guest Link to Join- https://us.bbcollab.com/guest/779a21d91e954bb08d227b5b9736b51b
Hope you and your families enjoy another beautiful Fall weekend.
~Meredith Norris, Acting Principal
SIS ParentVUE/StudentVUE
This year more than ever, SIS ParentVUE is an essential tool for parents/guardians to keep up with their student’s attendance, grade book assignments and grades, report cards, and more.
The SIS ParentVUE Account is the official FCPS secure solution for accessing this information. While some teachers are utilizing the Schoology gradebook, they are doing so for different purposes.
- Please be sure to check your SIS ParentVUE account for the official gradebook of record. The end of the first quarter is fast approaching (Friday, October 30)!
- Please help your child(ren) check for missing assignments in Schoology, review their current grades in SIS, and communicate with their teachers with questions, concerns, or supports that may be needed.
- If you don’t have a SIS ParentVUE account, please reach out to Amy Copeland, alcopeland1@fcps.edu, to get your account setup or by visiting this website for more information..
“GO PAPERLESS” REPORT CARD OPTION
Parents and/or guardians may opt to “Go Paperless” in ParentVUE and receive only online report cards. This will not impact any other mailings from FCPS other than the report cards for secondary students. To take advantage of the paperless options, parents and/or guardians will need to log into ParentVUE, then go to “My Account” and select "Go Paperless". All parents who live with the student and share the same address must have a SIS ParentVUE account and must select the paperless option to prevent mailing of the printed report cards. The “Go Paperless” option will apply to all their associated students, no matter what school level.
Digital Citizenship Week - We are all Digital Citizens!
Schools all throughout FCPS are participating in Digital Citizenship Week during the week of October 19th, 2020. Digital Citizenship Week was established by Common Sense Media. Common Sense Media is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of all kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century.Two years ago, Stone Middle School was recognized as a Common Sense Media School and we look forward to continuing our focus on explicitly teaching safe and healthy online behavior. We started lessons during Panther Block this month with a focus on digital footprints and online identity. For Digital Citizenship Week at Stone MS, visit our school homepage where we will have a theme each day and a question to focus on. Optional activities will be shared in our Schoology Student All course. To connect at home, families can check out Wide Open School to find digital citizenship activities to do together. Be sure to check out what Stone and other schools in FCPS are up to by using #FCPSDigCit on Twitter. Food Services If you submitted an application for Free or Reduced-Price Meals last school year for your child(ren), please remember to submit a new application for this school year. The current eligibility status will expire on October 20, 2020. Please click on this website link to renew your application https://www.myschoolapps.com/ Click the word Language in the upper right hand corner of the screen and choose Spanish so that you can read all of the instructions in Spanish. The FCPS Food and Nutrition services website is as follows and the phone number is 703.813.4800.
Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) food cards
If you received a P-EBT card last school year in the mail, your benefits should continue and you should have received monies added to the card by September 30, 2020. If you have lost it, you will need to request a new one. Directions to do this are in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) located at this website as follows: https://www.dss.virginia.gov/benefit/pebt.cgi Choose the big blue bar to read everything in Spanish. Please check here to have all of your questions answered regarding the P-EBT card.
Again, it is important you renew your F/R lunch benefits by October 20, 2020 to continue to also receive any P-EBT benefits. Understand that the P-EBT benefits are temporary and may stop in the near future and once children begin returning to school in-person. Check back at this website for the most up-to-date information.
As many schools will be used as polling places on November 3rd, Food and Nutrition Services will not be providing meal service on Election Day. We will provide two days-worth of meals on November 2nd. This is very similar to how we distribute weekend meals on Fridays.
Family Life Education Instructional Program Information
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) provides a comprehensive, sequential Family Life Education (FLE) program for students in grades kindergarten through grade twelve. Instruction is seen as a partnership among parents and guardians, the school, and the community in supporting the learning essential to the development of strong families, positive relationships, and a healthy community.
Parents/guardians may choose to opt their child out of all or part of the Family Life Education program. Students who are opted out are provided with age-appropriate, nonpunitive alternative health instruction, and every effort is made to foster respect for family choices. If you wish to opt your child out of all or part of FLE for this school year, opt out forms are available on line for Middle School (7-8) https://www.fcps.edu/academics/middle-school-academics-7-8/family-life-education-fle.
Parents/guardians wishing to opt their child out of instruction may complete and return the opt-out form or scan and email a copy of the completed form. An opt-out request can also be made in an email which indicates the lesson(s) the child will be opted out of. The actual opt-out form is not required. Opt-out emails should be addressed to Mrs. Sibley-Oshlick at jnsibleyoshl@fcps.edu with the subject line FLE opt-out: Student last name.
Detailed grade-level program descriptions are available online at Middle School (7-8) grade level-specific lessons and media that FCPS has streaming rights for, are available for parents online in FCPS 24-7 Blackboard Parent View https://fcps.blackboard.com/. Please note: This is not yet available in Schoology and you will need to access them through FCPS 24-7 Blackboard.
There will be a Virtual Parent Preview Night for parents to meet the teachers and to ask any question pertaining to the FLE curriculum on November 9 from 6:00pm - 7:00pm More information will be provided as the date approaches.
Program questions may be addressed by contacting instructional Services at 571-423-4550 or by contacting Carrie Reynolds, Health and Physical Education Coordinator at cfreynolds@fcps.edu
CALENDAR
Monday, October 19 - “Meet the Acting Principal” and PTSA Meeting, 7PM (Use the link above)
Friday, October 30 - End of 1st Quarter / Early Release Day
Monday, November 2 - Student Holiday
Tuesday, November 3 - Student Holiday
Wednesday, November 4 - Even Block Day
Monday, November 9 - Family Life Education Presentation for Parents
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