Important Upcoming Dates
1/4 - School Resumes (Asynchronous Monday)
1/4 - Dragon Dreams Bedtime Stories at 7pm
1/11 - Monday, January 11 is an Asynchronous Day. This means no morning meeting or other time that students meet with teachers.
1/12 - New Bell Schedule Starts
1/14 - Frost MS Virtual Orientation
1/18 - Martin Luther King Day - Holiday
1/18 - Dragon Dreams Bedtime Stories at 7pm
1/20 - Inauguration Day - Holiday
1/22 - End of Quarter Two (2 Hour Early Release at 2:15)
1/25 - Student Holiday for Teacher Workday
1/27- Mid-Year Check-In with Families (6 PM)
IN THIS ISSUE
- New Bell Schedule beginning January 12
- Dragon Dreams Bedtime Stories
- January School Spirit Days
- Message to 5th and 6th Grade Parents
- Local Level IV at Fairfax Villa
- PTA News
1.New Bell Schedule Beginning January 12
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Each year, the Office of Transportation Services reviews the bell schedules for all Fairfax County public schools and makes minor adjustments as necessary to improve on-time arrivals. As you can imagine, developing this school year’s bell schedule has been extremely challenging due to the pandemic.
You may remember that new school bell schedules were announced in July. Our school’s bell schedule was changed. However, given the all-virtual start to the school year, there was no need to implement the new bell schedule.
At the School Board Work session on December 10, Superintendent Brabrand presented a revised phased- plan to return all students who have selected the in-person option starting in January, 2021. Staff worked to improve start times and end times for all levels.
Barring any changes to the plan that may be impacted by the pandemic, the following bell schedule will be in place effective January 12, 2021 for both virtual and in- person instruction.
Fairfax Villa Return to School Bell Schedule
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Online/In-Person Instruction
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9:45AM-4:15PM
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AM Preschool
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9:45AM-1:00PM
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PM Preschool
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1:00PM-4:15PM
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We feel this plan is a significant improvement and less disruptive over what was presented in the original plan last summer.
The fifteen (15) minute reduction in the school day is due to the increased cleaning time required between bus runs. Additionally, as more students return to school, the number of students allowed on each bus will be reduced substantially to meet social distancing requirements. With fewer students able to ride a bus at the same time, FCPS has no choice but to adjust the times that our buses are transporting students.
We understand that changes may present a hardship to some of our families and staff. However, it is the only way that FCPS can return all our grade levels to in-person learning, while following the critical guidelines to help keep our students and staff safe.
Thank you for your understanding.
2.Dragon Dreams Bedtime Stories
We are excited to invite all of our Dragons and their families to Fairfax Villa’s first Dragon Dream Bedtime Stories on Monday, January 4th at 7:00. Our staff members will be taking turns reading to our students the first and third Mondays of each month.
Please join us tonight using this link. The BBC link will be available beginning at 6:45 PM. Because of the large group, the audio, video and chat is automatically turned off. Mr. Gerstner, Ms. Nicole Lee and Ms. Choi will be reading stories to you. We can’t wait to see you! So put on your coziest pajamas and join us for stories as we start a New Year!
3.January School Spirit Days
A great way to welcome in the New Year is to continue our Virtual Villa Days Of Cheer right on through the month of January. Showing our school spirit helps us to feel connected to each other even when we can't be together. Get ready to show us your Villa Spirit!!!
 4.Message to 5th and 6th Grade Parents
If you chose not to fill out the survey for your preference for your child for either virtual or in-person, please know that we need that preference so that we can plan for the possible return of students. If we don’t know how many in-person and virtual students we may have, we cannot plan for what the class numbers will look like. The number of students allowed per class is based on county and state regulations. If you have any concerns about choosing now and wanting to change later or any other questions about this process, please contact Mr. Gerstner. PLEASE help us by giving us your choices.
We are using this - and not the FCPS survey from earlier in the year - to determine the needs of our students so if you are not sure that you completed this new survey, please access it below.
We still have 21 fifth grade parents and 20 sixth grade parents whom we have not heard from and do not know how to place their students.
Thank you for helping us to honor your wishes for your child.
Fifth Grade Parent Survey
Sixth Grade Parent Survey
5.Local Level IV at Fairfax Villa
Fairfax Villa will be offering Advanced Academics Local Level IV (LLIV) services beginning in 3rd grade next year. Information about Fairfax Villa becoming a LLIV school was presented at the PTA meeting on 12/16. A recording of the presentation can be found here: LLIV Presentation.
Parents and caregivers are important partners in helping our program to be successful. Please complete the LLIV Parent Survey to provide your input as we plan for implementation next year. Surveys should be submitted by Jan. 13. Thank you for your support through this exciting time!
6.PTA News
The following message is sent on behalf of the Fairfax Villa ES School PTA. Its content reflects the PTA.
PTA Meeting
Thanks to everyone who joined our PTA meeting before break. If you missed it, a recording is available here: https://us.bbcollab.com/recording/8f952ca1b38b4795afff355b6e3fd126. We hope to see you at the next meeting on Wednesday, January 27!
Winter Clothing Drive
We know there's a lot of closet cleaning going on now, so we hope you have some offerings for our Winter Clothing Drive that will run until January 5.
We are collecting gently used winter clothes of all types which will be offered first to those in need in the Villa family and then to other groups. Please put all clean donations in a safe & secure container. A tied garbage bag will do.
There are two drop off options:
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You can drop off your used clothing at Simon Bowyer’s house at the front door of 10922 Alta Vista Court, Fairfax (near the school).
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On Tuesday, January 5, bring your donations to the school from 11:00am - 1:00pm. There will be a large tub located just inside Door #1 for your donations.
On-Line Math Tutoring
A local Math tutoring company is offering Villa parents a special rate for anyone who wants to give their children some one-on-one math tutoring at a really reasonable rate.
https://www.learnzoe.com/
A percentage of all sales to Villa parents will go to math scholarship programs. Entering the code - ZOEFV2020 gets parents a free introductory offer!
Parents can redeem that gift code without entering credit card details at: https://www.learnzoe.com/purchase-assessment
AmazonSmile
You can support the Fairfax Villa PTA, and our kids and teachers, while you shop! Visit smile.amazon.com and choose the Fairfax Villa Elementary PTA as your charity, and AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your order total to the PTA.
PTA Membership
PTA Membership is still open! Please join online at https://fairfaxvilla.memberhub.store/. Memberships are $10/person. If you would like to pay by check or need financial assistance, please contact Jessie at villapta@gmail.com.
@ FairfaxVillaPTA on Instagram & Twitter
@ PTAFairfaxVilla on Facebook
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