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Dear Parent,
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is planning to bring additional student groups back to school for in-person instruction in the near future. We will follow strict safety and health protocols to minimize health risks for students and staff, including:
- All staff and students, regardless of grade level, will be required to wear face coverings on FCPS school buses and for the duration of the school day
- Social distancing on buses in accordance with health and safety protocols
- Desks will be separated by up to a six feet distance, facing same direction
- Daily health screening questions for parents
- Daily temperature checks
- Establishment of an isolation room for Covid-like symptoms
- Health referral forms to be completed by physicians before returning to school if students present Covid-like symptoms
You can read more about all of the health and safety protocols here.
The following groups of students will be returning to in-person instruction (start dates below are tentative and subject to change):
Group 5: November 16 – tentative date
FECEP and Kindergarten
Group 6: November 30 - tentative date
Grades 1-2
Group 7: January 4 – tentative date
Grades 3-6
We will honor the choice you made in the FCPS July survey to determine the setting for instruction. If you selected in-person instruction, we will assume your student(s) will return to in-person instruction in accordance with the schedule above. If you chose all-virtual instruction we will assume you will continue in that format. If your circumstances have changed, please go to this enrollment link and update your choice by 11:00 p.m. on October 30, and we will try to accommodate your request based on the availability of staff and space.
Students who selected in-person instruction will receive two days of teacher-led instruction in the school building and two days of teacher-led instruction at home, this is called concurrent instruction. Students who elect all-virtual learning will continue to receive four days of teacher-led instruction at home. I will be sharing more about what this will look like on Wednesday, October 28 at 6:30 PM. You can join me by clicking this link: https://us.bbcollab.com/guest/771832a889564f41a8f2102b2faa7e96
In either format, Mondays will be a full day of independent learning for students to give our teachers more time to prepare and plan the week’s lessons. This will begin on Monday, November 9, 2020 for FECEP and Kindergarten and on November 16, 2020 for 1st and 2nd grades. November 12 and 13 will be teacher workdays and independent learning days for FECEP and Kindergarten students to give our teachers time to prepare and plan for in-person instruction. November 20, 23, and 24 will be teacher workdays and independent learning days for 1st and 2nd grade students.
Some schools are already piloting concurrent instruction. The Superintendent will report his findings on the pilot program at the November 12 School Board work session. You can see Dr. Brabrand, explaining the work of the pilot schools in this video.
If you would like to learn more and have questions before you update your intent for the school year, please join me on Wednesday, October 28 at 6:30 PM by clicking this link: https://us.bbcollab.com/guest/771832a889564f41a8f2102b2faa7e96
FECEP and Kindergarten parents will be receiving calls from their teachers to discuss school choice this week!
If you have questions, please reach out to me at lebadini@fcps.edu or join me on Wednesday night!
Lauren Badini
Principal
Early Release Days, No School and Independent Learning Days
Please mark your calendars for the following dates! On independent learning days, students will not need to log onto their BBCU sessions. They can work independently from home on work not completed, read or engage in healthy activities that don’t involve screens.
Friday, October 30 - early release day, school ends at 2:05 PM
Monday, November 2 and Tuesday, November 3 - Teacher work days, no school for students
Monday, November 9 - Mondays become independent learning days for FECEP (Pre-K) and Kindergarten
Monday, November 12 and Tuesday, November 13 - Independent learning days for FECEP (Pre-K) and Kindergarten students
Monday, November 16 - Mondays become independent learning days for grades 1 and 2
Friday, November 20, Monday, November 23 and Tuesday, November 24 - Independent learning days for grades 1 and 2
Wednesday, November 25 - Friday, November 27 - Thanksgiving Holiday, no school
Please note that the meal kits will be distributed outside the Graham Road kitchen, near door 3. This is in the opposite parking lot from Door 1, the previous location for meal kit distribution.
Meal kits will still be available for pick up from 8:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. or until they run out. Meal kits will be available to ALL FCPS students and children 18 years of age and under at no cost. Each meal kit will contain breakfast and lunch for one person for a week. Parents and caregivers may pick up one meal kit for each child. Adults may purchase meal kits for $28. Instructions on how to store the food and prepare it will be provided.
You can still get daily meals and weekend meals on Fridays at the Graham Road Community Center!
We kindly ask that you do not bring your children to the Graham Road playground to play during school hours. As we welcome more children and adults back to our buildings, they sometimes utilize the outdoor spaces.
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