Dear Roadrunner Families,
I hope you and your family enjoyed the snow fall this week. Hopefully your children were able to spend some time outside building snowmen and sledding throughout Great Falls.
This week our Fairfax County School Board gave unanimous support for an updated timeline that will offer select students the opportunity to return to school buildings for two days a week beginning Tuesday, February 16, through Tuesday, March 16. At GFES, we couldn't be more thrilled to return a number of our students into our building over the next few weeks!
Return to School Guide
As we transition students into our buildings, our goal is to communicate frequently and in a number of different modalities. We realize there are a lot of questions surrounding the logistics of return to school. We have composed an easy to navigate guide including answers to many of the questions you have about return to school. Please bookmark this site so you can refer back to it when needed. We will also continually update.
Return to School Parent Coffee
Dr. Litz and I will hold a parent coffee to present information and answer questions you may have related to return to school.
When: Thursday, February 11 from 6pm - 7pm
Please register here to receive a link the day of the meeting. For those who are unable to attend, we will record the meeting and post on our Return to School Guide.
School Administrator Appreciation:
Thank you so much for the outpouring of love and appreciation Dr. Litz and I received last week. From the virtual cards to the Padlet posts, the support you and your children sent brightened our day more than you can ever know. Perhaps the best part is that the posts and cards are there permanently online for us to continue to browse when we need a little pick up. We are so fortunate to work with such an amazing group of students, parents, and staff.
Thanks so much!
Sara Harper
Principal
SCHOOL COUNSELOR APPRECIATION WEEK (February 1-5, 2021):
National School Counseling Week 2021 will be celebrated from February 1-5, 2021, to focus public attention on the unique contribution of school counselors within U.S. school systems and highlights the tremendous impact school counselors can have in helping students achieve school success and plan for a career. National School Counseling Week is always celebrated the first full week in February.
Thank you to our fantastic counselors Toby Duvall and Robert Townsend for all that they do for our students!
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Calendar Updates
Tuesday, February 16th - New Bell Schedule Begins
Friday, March 5 - 2 Hour Early Release for Students
Monday, March 8 - Staff Development Day/Student Holiday
Friday, March 26 - End of Third Quarter/2 Hour Early Release for Students
Monday, March 29-Friday, April 2 - Spring Break
Monday, April 5 - Teacher Workday/Student Holiday
Planning for Inclement Weather
FCPS tries to make decisions about school closings and delays in the evening, taking into account that parents need time to make proper arrangements. However, when there is a lot of uncertainty in the forecast, the superintendent may not be able to make the decision of whether to delay or close schools until approximately 4:30 a.m. Detailed information on the weather cancellation process may be found here.
FCPS provides information about closings and delays in many ways including:
- Posted to the FCPS Twitter and Facebook pages.
- Posted to www.fcps.edu.
- Email and text messages sent to parents (using the parent contact information listed in weCare@school).
- Email sent to employees (using the employee's FCPS email address).
- Email sent to News You Choose subscribers of Delayed Openings and School Closings.
Posted on FCPS cable Channel 21 (Cox Communications, Reston Comcast, and Verizon cable customers only).
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Progress Reports and Access to ParentVUE
Paperless Progress Reports
The “Go Paperless” option is now available to all ES parents to allow them to only receive online progress reports (this started the first quarter of SY 20/21). This will not impact any other mailings from FCPS other than the progress reports for ES students and report cards. 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 and/or guardians 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 progress reports. The “Go Paperless” option will apply to all their associated students, no matter what school level. If the associated parent and/or guardian has already selected “Go Paperless” for their secondary student, the option will now apply to any ES siblings as well.
ParentVUE Accounts
Please access PVUE periodically to check in on your student(s)’ attendance and to view progress reports at the end of each quarter. If you have not yet created a PVUE account, please reach out to the school SIA to provide an activation code. Details on what can be found in PVUE and how to activate a new PVUE account using their activation code can be found here - Student Information System - SIS Parent Account Overview
Technology Tips & Tricks
Tips for a healthy laptop
- Keep the laptop plugged in to the electric outlet when working.
- Every day restart your laptop. Restarting feeds your laptop with updates it needs to stay healthy. Shutting down and powering back on is NOT the same as restarting.
- Every week or so, go to an FCPS school building & restart a couple of times on the FCPS network. You can come to Great Falls and sit on the bench by the front door or you can go to Cooper MS or Langley HS and stay in your car (their network is much stronger than ours).
For Additional Support:
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PARENTING RESOURCES
The FCPS Parent Resource Center has shared several opportunities for Webinars
From Chaos to Calm: Strategies for Families to Create Calm and Confidence in the Midst of Chaos and Uncertainty
Encouraging Positive Behaviors at Home Series: Teaching your Children to Follow Directions
- Thursday February 18, 2021, 10 - 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 - 8 p.m.
- Parents/guardians will be provided an overview of instructional control
- Parents/guardians will review strategies to support their students with following directions
- Register for Teaching Your Child to Follow Directions
Is it Over Yet? How to Help your Child Cope with the Pandemic and the Eventual Return to Normalcy: A Webinar for Families
- Friday, February 26, 2021 10 – 11:30 a.m.
- Join licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Lisa Bateman for a webinar focused on parenting strategies to help children cope with the challenges of the pandemic.
- Strategies include:
- Coping with general stress, changes in daily life/routine, uncertainty about the future, loss of regular activities and social interaction, virtual school, etc.
- Executive functioning to assist with the challenges of virtual school
- Managing anxiety about health and safety
- Building resilience in children to reduce risk of separation anxiety, social anxiety, etc. once the pandemic ends
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Register for Is it Over Yet? How to Help your Child Cope with the Pandemic and the Eventual Return to Normalcy: A Webinar for Families
Strategies to Support Social Emotional Learning at Home: A Webinar for Families
February 17, 2021 6:30 - 8 p.m. or February 19, 2021 10 - 11:30 a.m.
Social and emotional learning starts at home. Parents and families are critical partners in helping their children develop social and emotional know-how. They can model the kinds of skills, attitudes, and behaviors we want all students to master.
This webinar will highlight:
- What is social-emotional learning?
- Strategies to use our children’s behavior and emotion as forms of communication.
- Strategies to create emotional safety.
- Strategies to recognizing and supporting personal and family strengths.
Join FCPS Social Worker, Jeanne Veraska & FCPS School Psychologist, Lisa Phifer for this important webinar.
Register for Strategies to Support Social Emotional Learning at Home: A Webinar for Families
Diversity in STEM Talks!
Monday, February 8, 2021, 6:00-6:45 p.m.
For Students Grades 4-8
Presented by The Diversity Committee of the Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology PTSA
Guest speakers: Anthony Nunez, CEO INF Robotics Inc. and Carla Rodriguez, Head of Operations INF Robotics Inc.
Hear from people working in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) field!
- What sparked their interest in STEM?
- What did they study in school?
- What is happening in the field of robotics?
- How are robotics and technology used in health care?
- What else would you like to know?
Parents, register at this Zoom link: http://bit.ly/TJStemTalk2
Submit questions in advance here: https://bit.ly/tjdiversitytalks
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28 Days of Equity Awareness Project
The Langley, Cooper, and Churchill Road PTA/PTO Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committees are commemorating Black History Month (February) with the 28 Days of Equity Awareness project. We invite participants to check out this list of 28 short readings, videos, and podcasts, and complete as many as possible. Our goal is to begin a conversation in which we investigate perspectives from marginalized voices. We hope you’ll join us.
During the month, on each Friday at noon, we will hold lunch discussions, providing a safe space for reflection on the material. To attend, RSVP to Heather Murphy Capps: heathermcxx@gmail.com. We’ll send out links on Friday mornings.
NOTE: On February 16, 2021 at 7:30 pm, we will hold a pyramid-wide book club meeting on the first 7 chapters of the book Blindspot, by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald. Those chapters are among the selections on our 28-day list. To RSVP for the book club, please complete this form: https://forms.gle/AmcuAgzoXbK6EM1i9
Virtual Parent Education Series COMING SOON! (2/25, 3/25 and 4/22 live virtual sessions at noon and 7pm)
Tune-in and Learn More About Substance Abuse Prevention
With a goal of building awareness and arming parents with the knowledge and tools to identify early signs of substance abuse, this three-part Parent Education series, hosted by FCPS Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist, Kelly Rankin, will explore parents' role in prevention, including how to have an effective conversation with your child about addiction.
The series, recommended for parents of 6th through 12th grade students, will provide three 20-minute sessions for parents about the development of the teenage brain, impact of drugs on its development, and current drug trends. Each session is offered twice; choose the time that works best for you! Click here to join.
- Part 1 - Teenage Brain: Building Connections on February 25, 2021 at noon and 7pm
- Part 2 - Drugs and the Teenage Brain on March 25, 2021 at noon and 7pm
- Part 3 - Drug Trends: Identifying Common Household Items and Drug Culture on April 22, 2021 at noon and 7pm
Kelly Rankin serves as a resource for students and parents with questions or concerns about substance use or addiction. She can be reached at Krankin@fcps.edu or 703-287-2744.
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