Important Upcoming Dates
March 9 - Grades 10 and 11 Return
March 26 - End of Third Quarter - 2-hour early release
March 29-April 2 - Spring Break
Spring Break is upon us. Here are the recommendations from the Virginia Health Department (VDH). These are purely recommendations. Non-essential travel is discouraged. Quarantining is not required and testing is not required for those who travel. Families may opt to keep their students at home for 14 days after they return. VDH recommends to get tested both before and after travel and reduce non-essential activities for 7 days after traveling, but again this is just a recommendation.
Return to School - 10th and 11th
We are excited to have our Sophomores and Juniors in-person students back in school tomorrow! Students with the last name A-K will be here tomorrow and Wednesday, and students L-Z will be here on Thursday and Friday.
Students can find their schedules and room numbers on StudentVue. We will not be printing schedules. Teachers and administrators will be in the halls to help students find their classrooms.
In-Person Students
Below are some recommendations and best practices for in person students returning to school for onsite instruction:
- Plug in your charger and connect it to your laptop. Then, turn on your school-issued laptop and verify that you are connected to your home WiFi.
- Power on your laptop and perform daily restarts from the Start menu (click the Windows Logo button, then click the power icon, click restart) and leave your laptop on as much as possible for the next 2 weeks.
- Before leaving home to come to campus, students should shut down their device through the start menu to avoid having to perform a restart when they arrive at school.
- Once you return to in person instruction, please continue restarting your laptop (from the Start menu) once a week at night (such as Sunday night) while leaving the laptop connected to your home WiFi overnight.
-
If your laptop is damaged or unusable, please submit a student technology ticket so that an onsite appointment can be made to exchange the laptop for a working one.
Virtual Students
Below are some recommendations and best practices for virtual students to ensure that their school-issued laptop functions properly when returning to the building for SOL and AP testing:
- Plug in your charger and connect it to your laptop. Then, turn on your school issued laptop and verify that you are connected to your home WiFi.
- Power on your laptop and perform a restart (from the Start menu) once a week during non-instructional time (such as Sunday night) while leaving the laptop connected to your home WiFi overnight.
-
Leave your laptop on and connect to WiFi as much as possible for the duration of the school year.
- If your laptop is damaged or unusable, please submit a student technology ticket so that an onsite appointment can be made to exchange the laptop for a working one.
Note: You can still log on and use the device while it receives/applies updates.
Counselors’ Corner
The next round of Counselors’ Corner meetings by grade level is listed below. A reminder will be sent to student emails and posted in the grade level Google Classroom the week of, with information on how to access this session through BBCU. We have a variety of topics we are covering throughout the month of March to support students with their Social Emotional Learning, as well as sharing additional information by grade level. Feel free to reach out to your school counselor with any questions!
Juniors – March 10th, 9:55 – 10:25am
Sophomores – March 17th, 9:55 – 10:25am
Freshmen – March 24th, 9:55 – 10:25am
Student Recognition
American Mathematics Competition
Congratulations to the McLean HS students who earned qualifying scores on the American Mathematics Competition and who are moving on to participate in the American Invitational Mathematics Exam on March 10. The students are:
Levana Gu
Yunchan Hwang
Minseo Kim
Youngmin Kwon
Jay Shin
David Song
Ethan Zhou
These students were led by sophomore Ethan Zhou, McLean’s high scorer for the second year in a row. All of the students scored in the top 5% of test takers nationwide.
VA Journalist of the Year
Senior Marina Qu was named the 2021 Virginia Journalist of the Year by the Virginia Association of Journalism Teachers and Advisers! She has been working on The Highlander newsmagazine and The Tartan literary magazine for the past three years and currently serves as editor-in-chief of both publications. Marina spends countless hours working on each issue, and her leadership and dedication over the past year have been crucial in keeping the McLean community informed. Marina will go on to compete for the Journalism Education Association’s national Journalist of the Year title, which will be announced in April.
Peace Award
Congratulations to Brittany Peng for earning the 2021 Student Peace Award of Fairfax County!
This is a well-deserved honor to recognize her work as the Chief Executive Officer of LeadPeace, a Fairfax County student organization with the mission to empower young people to become community leaders and peacebuilders by developing the skills necessary to organize peace initiatives at their own in high school and beyond.
Brittany currently manages two new initiatives: Lead Talks and ArtPEACE. Lead Talks holds monthly speaker events to share the stories of youth leaders, especially those who identify as people of color, female, or other minorities. ArtPEACE hosts monthly art challenges and dialogues to foster discussions about social inequity and to promote unity.
Congratulations to all three of McLean’s Student Publications
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association announced their list of Yearbook, Newspaper and Magazine Crown finalists.
The Caledonia Yearbook, the Highlander News Magazine and the Tartan Magazine are all finalists and will be revealed as either a Gold or Silver Crown winner and will receive a Crown Award from Columbia University.
A total of 852 digital, newspapers, magazines and yearbooks published during the 2019-2020 academic year were eligible for judging in the 2021 Crown Awards Program. Entries were judged by Columbia University.
The Caledonia Yearbook is one of 64 high schools nationwide to be selected for this prestigious honor.
The Highlander News Magazine is one of 94 high schools nationwide to be selected for this prestigious honor.
The Tartan Magazine is one of 85 high schools nationwide to be selected for this prestigious honor.
McLean HS is one of just 5 schools nationwide to have BOTH their yearbook and news publication represented on the Crown List.
Opportunity to Apply for Student Representative to the School Board
Each year, in accordance with FCPS Policy 1802, FCPS students have the opportunity to apply for the position of the student representative to the School Board. The student representative is not a member of the School Board but serves in a nonvoting, advisory capacity, representing the interests of the students of Fairfax County Public Schools. Students who are currently in grades 9, 10, and 11 are eligible to apply and they do not need to be current members of the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council (SAC). Applications are due April 7, 2021. The application and related details can be found at https://www.fcps.edu/blog/application-2021-student-representative-school-board. Please publicize this opportunity to your students.
General Information
Student Parking Passes
Student parking fees will be waived for the school year 2021. Although no parking fees will be collected, McLean High School will still issue parking passes. Information on how to apply for a parking pass is now on the website.
Graduation Announcements
It's time to order the official McLean High School 2021 graduation announcements!
Please click on or copy and paste the link below into your browser to order the announcements.
www.balfour.com
Here is step by step instructions on how to order:
Step 1- Go to balfour.com
Step 2- Type in McLean High School under "Shop my School"
Step 3- Select "Announcements"
Step 4- Complete your information
Step 5- Checkout
You can also order other "Grad Essentials" such as Class Rings, Diploma Frames, Souvenir Tassels, 2021 Apparel, etc. on the website. Orders will be shipped home.
If you have any questions please contact Balfour at 703-941-1436 or balfournova@yahoo.com.
Weekly Reminders
Online Attendance Form
Parents can now report a student absence by using our online attendance form at https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/about/attendance-form. The attendance phone line will also be available at 703-714-5725.
Library News: Curbside Pickup for library books Monday - Friday
Students will be able to pick up books they have put on hold through the online catalog Monday to Friday 9:00-2:00 except holidays. Once a student places a hold, Mrs. Kong will email the student for a Curbside Pickup appointment. To place a hold a student will login to the catalog using their FCPS login credentials. When a book is available, the student will see the book, and be able to click the Hold button.
A masked library staff member will take the book(s) to the student’s car at the front entrance of the school (Door #1). All occupant of the car must wear a mask. The student’s Name and Student ID should be on a sheet of paper and placed on the passenger’s side dashboard. The library staff member will place the book(s) either in the trunk or the back seat.
Club Participation Information
- Go to Clubs-and-organizations for a list of all of our clubs.
- Each club will have a Google Classroom link
- If you are interested in that club, click on the Google Classroom Link to join the club classroom
- In the classroom, there will be a link to join club meetings during Highlander Flex Time(Only FCPS students can enter)
-
9:45am-10:25am- Clubs that start with the letter A-L
10:25am-11:05am- Clubs that start with the letter M-Z
- If the Club says “Inactive” that means we have the club, but currently do not have a sponsor. If a student is interested in activating the club a teacher sponsor would need to be identified.
- To learn more about student clubs at MHS, as well as information on the process of starting new clubs, please join Mr. Hays’ MHS Clubs class in Google Classroom using class code: euwkxvv
McLean HS Tech Support for Students
If you are experiencing issues with your FCPS issued laptop, please use the link below to enter your information. The tech support team will then get back to you as soon as possible.
We will continue to support students remotely as much as possible. If a computer has been identified as needing hands-on repair, we will schedule an appointment for you to come to the school to exchange it.
Description: This form should be filled out by a student if they are experiencing issues with their FCPSOn laptop.
Please click on the link below to access the Tech Support Request Form.
Parent/Student Support Portal Link:
https://itweb.fcps.edu/itsupport/
Social-Emotional Support Information
Mental Health and Wellness Support Services and Resources
McLean’s Clinical Staff are available to consult with parents and students regarding mental health related concerns and behaviors. They are also able to provide community resources as needed. Please see their contact information below:
Carol Ann Forrest, School Psychologist, CMForrest@fcps.edu
Beverly Parker-Lewis, School Psychologist, baparkerlewi@fcps.edu
Marly Jerome-Featherson, School Social Worker, mjeromefeath@fcps.edu
For more Mental Health and Wellness Information, please check out these Student Wellness Resources, FCPS’s Healthy Minds Blog and the FCPS’s Parent Resource Center.
Emergency Resources
Crisis Link Regional Hotline 703-527-4077
Crisis Text Text NEEDHELP to 85511
Dominion Hospital Emergency 703-536-2000
INOVA Emergency 703-289-7560
Merrifield Center Emergency 703-573-5979 TTY dial 711
Life Threatening 911
FCPS Cares
 |
|
Do you know a McLean High School or FCPS employee who does ordinary things in an extraordinary way or goes beyond what is expected? If so, then click here to share with everyone. |
My School Bucks
Learn more about this online payment portal for many school fees. Parents can set up an account which they link their student(s) to so there is one account per family. Course fees, lunch funds, some ticket events can be taken care of online. MySchoolBucks eliminates the need for students to carry cash to school and for multiple checks to be written. Learn more and sign up at https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/login/getmain?requestAction=home
|
