Dear Bobcat Families,
As we all prepare for a special Thanksgiving, I've been reflecting on the things I am most grateful for, and our Pine Spring family tops the list. I am incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by such a strong and caring community and outstanding professionals each day. I am lucky to lead a community of committed educators who have found creative ways to continue holding our students to high standards while allowing for the grace this special year requires.
This year, more than ever, I want to share my genuine appreciation for each of you for taking on an increased role as a partner in your child's learning. Thank you for devoting time, talent, and resources to supporting our work with students! We honestly couldn't do this without you.
I encourage each of you to take the time this week to share what you are thankful for with your children and ask them to do the same. Continue to nurture the understanding that who you have, not what you have, is what makes you fortunate. I am certain that with this knowledge in their pocket, all our students will recognize the wealth bubbling from Pine Spring.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Principal Yacubovich
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 will be included in your child’s back-to-school/orientation packets and are available online for Elementary (K-6) https://www.fcps.edu/academics/elementary-school-academics-k-6/elementary-family-life-education. Please fill in the opt-out form and return it to your child’s school prior to Family Life Education instruction. Detailed grade-level program descriptions are also available online at Elementary (K-6). FLE 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/.
Grade level specific lessons will occur the last hour of the instructional day, during the week of December 14th-18th. Teachers will provide a separate link to access the live courses for the week on December 14th.
You are invited to attend an opportunity to preview the Family Life Education media and lessons and talk with Ms. Ganci about the program. The meeting will be held on Monday, November 30th from 12:00 PM-12:30 PM by accessing the following link: https://us.bbcollab.com/guest/d35f94c2862344fda2770d21711d8025
Detailed grade-level program descriptions are also available online at Elementary (K-6). FLE 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/.
Last week FCPS determined that we would put a pause on the phase in of our Return to School Plan. At Pine Spring, that meant that our PreK and Kindergarten students did not return in-person. It also caused us to pause on any further classroom teacher changes.
While Mondays will remain asynchronous, we are pausing on any other teacher planning days.
We understand that each time there is a change, it can disrupt your child's environment. While we apologize for the inconvenience this has caused families; we also appreciate our district leadership's effort to ensure that our school's return is a safe return.
We are excited to share that our community nominated Nancy Bowser, Mary Durgala, Sarah Strong, Rachel Terlop, and Nikki Yacubovich as the 2020 Outstanding Employee Nominees at the school level. As part of the process to move forward, we will put together a packet of their impact on our community. If you have a story or details that personifies their efforts, we encourage you to share it with us here to include it in the packet. We will be accepting supporting information until December 15th.
Our excellent Pine Spring staff goes out of their way each day to make this is an incredible year for all of our families. If one of our staff members has done something to let you know just how special your family is to us, we ask that you tell us about it here. We will share your stories with our staff, and their name will be put into a drawing for a gift card from our PTA.
Tuesday, December 1 is the close of the window (Sept 8-Dec 1) for parents to submit a referral form for their student to be screened for full-time Advanced Academic Programs (AAP) Level IV. The parent referral form, submitted to the school, is one pathway to have a student screened for AAP Level IV. Parents should not wait for an announcement of the second grade screening pool if they want to make sure their students is screened for AAP in the coming screening cycle. Parents of students in grades 2-7 will need to submit the referral form by December 1.Referrals will not be accepted after December 1.
If you would like your child screened for Level IV services, you will want to complete a referral form and compile a packet.
You can click here to read more about the Local Level IV referral process or email Mrs. Haynes at tlhaynes@fcps.edu.
Pine Spring wouldn't be the outstanding school you have come to know without our PTA. Our PTA ensures that we can provide materials and opportunities for all of our students. This year, this organization is critical to holding our community together while we can't be in the same space.
Please consider taking a few moments to join the PTA at https://pinespring.ptboard.com/home.
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