Principal's Message
Parents and Guardians,
As a reminder, students will be taking Standards of Learning (SOL) tests between April 26 and June 4, 2021. If you have not already, please complete this online Google form ( SOL 2021 INTENTION FORM) to indicate your decision to either proceed or to refuse to participate in in-person SOL testing this year.
Some key items of note:
- All SOL tests are taken in-person at school.
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SOL tests are not available for remote delivery from home.
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Virtual Students will be scheduled to test in-person on Mondays. FCPS bus transportation will be provided to students, as needed.
- For any SOL assessments this spring, you have the right to refuse testing for your student. The Right to Refuse Assessments webpage (https://www.fcps.edu/node/34277) offers information and considerations as you make this decision. A refusal will be listed as a Non-Score (NS) if the refusal is due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
- Students only need 1 verified math credit to graduate high school, and all students will be required to take a math SOL once they get to ninth grade. This means that for most students, there will be no negative consequences for refusing to take the Algebra or Geometry SOL in middle school. They will be expected to take the next level math SOL exam in the Spring of 2022, and they can use that to earn their verified credit. If students took and passed an Algebra class in middle school last school year, they were already awarded a verified credit.
The topic of SOLs this year will be the subject of the Principal’s report at the PTA meeting on Monday, April 19, at 7:00 p.m. Please use this link to join the PTA Meeting.
https://us.bbcollab.com/guest/a4bd3b7cf7104107971f3074b00272ec We hope to see you then.
Aimee Monticchio
Principal
The young ladies below represented Hughes MS in Odyssey and they placed 1st place in Problem 3, Division 2. They will be submitting their performance to the Pearson World Finals in the month of June. Congratulations ladies on a "Job Well Done"!
Donate Gift Cards to Show Our Teachers How Much We Appreciate Them
Teacher Appreciation Week is the week of May 3rd through 7th. The Administration Team has several fun events planned throughout the week, including thanking each teacher with a gift card, and having Bodie's Taco Truck serve lunch. We need your help to collect enough gift cards for the teachers and staff at Hughes MS, as well as monetary contributions (if possible) to help offset the cost of the taco truck. If you are able to donate a gift card (between $15 to $20) to places like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Panera, Target etc., or make a monetary contribution, please, place gift cards or check (made payable to LHMS) in an envelope marked “For Teacher Appreciation Week” and drop them off in the main office or mail to Hughes MS before Monday, April 26 to the attention of Marion Perry. If you have any questions, please feel free to call Ms. Perry at 703-715-3661 or email mperry1@fcps.edu
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8th grade Writing Performance Based Assessment
Parents & caregivers: in response to the COVID pandemic, the state of Virginia has given school districts the flexibility to offer a performance-based writing assessment in lieu of the traditional writing SOL. Hughes’ 8th grade students will be writing a persuasive essay to meet the modified requirements for an SOL writing score. Students will engage in classwork from April 6-April 30 to support this assignment and allow teachers to monitor student progress toward completing the assignment. Final essays are due on April 30. Please check in with your student weekly to ensure that they are on track to complete this important piece of writing by the April 30th deadline. If you have specific questions about the requirements or scoring, please reach out to your student’s English teacher or Amy Smith, the English department supervisor.
Grading Policy Changes for Middle School
Key policy changes for middle school students are listed below:
- Students receiving a final mark of “D” or “D+” in any course will be assigned a mark of “P” (pass) as a final mark. This will be automatically applied for any course in which a student receives an “D” or “D+” as a final mark.
- Use of No Mark, “NM”, instead of “F” grades for final marks for all courses. This will be automatically applied for any course in which a student receives an “F” as a final mark. If this applies to a high school level course, the student will need to repeat that course.
- Allowing middle school students to select a mark of “P” (pass) for any courses for which a passing grade is earned for the final mark. As referenced above, for the 2020-21 school year, final marks of “F” will automatically receive a No Mark, “NM”, and final marks of “D” or “D+” will automatically receive a “P.” A mark of “P” does not carry a weight for the student’s GPA.
Expunging a high school course taken in Middle School
Middle school students who are taking a high school level course (Spanish 1 Part B, Spanish 1, Spanish 1 Immersion, Spanish 2, Spanish 2 Immersion, French 1 Part B, French 1, French 2, German, Japanese, Algebra 1, Algebra 1 Honors, Geometry Honors, or Algebra 2) are eligible to expunge that course from their high school transcript. If you wish to expunge the course, please fill out this form and return it to Michele Beard, Director of Student Services, at mbeard@fcps.edu. Once expunged, this cannot be reversed. If expunged, the course should be repeated in order to progress to the next level course.
Please reach out to your student’s counselor if you have questions about expunging a high school credit course:
Counselor Emails:
Ms. Bach: kabach@fcps.edu
Ms. Degraffenried: pjdegraffenr@fcps.edu
Ms. Batkins: cvbatkins1@fcps.edu
Mr. Blocker: mfblocker@fcps.edu
Flexibilidad en las calificaciones para el final del aiio escolar 2020-21 para alumnos de escuela intermedia
Este afio escolar 2020-21, las Escuelas Publicas de! Condado de Fairfax (FCPS) han aprobado un cambio a la politica de calificaciones para darles flexibilidad a los alumnos en la escuela intermedia para que designen sus cursos de! afio escolar actual como «Pass» (Aprobado) o «No Mark» (Sin Nota) en lugar de una nota en letra como nota final.
Mientras ustedes revisan el informe de notas de! tercer trimestre de su hijo que esta en la escuela intermedia, por favor, consideren la flexibilidad que se aplicarii a las notas finales:
- A los alumnus que reciban una nota final de «D» o «D+» en cualquier curso automaticamente se !es asignarii una «P» ( aprobado) como nota final para el final de! afio escolar.
- A los alumnos que reciban una nota final de «F» en cualquier curso automaticamente se Jes asignara una «NM» (sin nota) como nota final para el final de! afto escolar.
- Los alum nos pueden elegir una nota «P» ( aprobado) para cualquier curso en el cual se haya obtenido una calificaci6n aprobatoria como nota final.
Necesita tomarse una medida: Si ustedes desean designar uno o mtis cursos un estatus de Aprobado para calificaciones previstas de «A» a «C-», deben presentar al orientador escolar/Servicios Estudiantiles de la escuela de su hijo el Formulario de Estatus Aprobado-Sin Nota incluido en esta carta a mtis tardar el 10 de mayo de 2021.
- Se recomienda a los alumnos y sus familias que consideren detenidamente la opci6n de solicitar un Aprobado en Ingar de una calificaci6n aprobatoria en letra o una nota final. En el siguiente enlace encontraran informaci6n adicional, incluyendo lo que deben considerar y las preguntas mas frecuentes: https://www.fcps.edu/academics/gradingand-reporting/secondarv
Hay disponible una opci6n adicional para cursos que otorgan credito de secundaria tomados en la escuela intermedia. Los cursos de secundaria que otorgan credito se reflejaran en los certificados finales de notas de la escuela intermedia y de la escuela secundaria. De acuerdo con los reglamentos de! estado de Virginia, el Reglamento 2408 de las Escuelas Publicas de! Condado de Fairfax (FCPS) permite que los padres de alunmos que hayan tornado un curso que otorgue credito para escuela secundaria en escuela intermedia soliciten que se omita la nota de! expediente academico de escuela secundaria de! alumna y que el alumna no obtenga credito de escuela secundaria por el curso. Los padres deben hacer esta solicitud dentro de las primeras nueve semanas de! afto escolar siguiente al que se haya completado el curso. La solicitud para eliminar una nota, asf como las pautas y los procedirnientos para eliminar notas para cursos de secundaria tomados en la escuela intermedia pueden encontrarse en el siguiente enlace: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/i
In-Person Students Will Attend 4 Days a Week Beginning Tuesday, April 20th
Beginning Tuesday, April 20th our IN-PERSON students will attend school for face-to-face learning four days a week (Tuesday-Friday). We are excited for this consistency of learning for our students and teachers. While it is not ideal, we understand that circumstances for a few families may create a need to continue with two days of face to face instruction. If you have completed the form requesting to maintain the current two day a week schedule, we will honor that request. Otherwise, our in-person students should attend four days a week. If you requested two days and would like to now change to four days, please contact Michele Beard as soon as possible at mbeard@fcps.edu to request the change. Please note, that there are no changes after April 30th. We are not able to accommodate schedule changes from virtual to in-person.
Please do monitor ParentVUE for bus information if your student takes the bus. There may be slightly different pick up times as they balance out the bus routes.
We look forward to seeing our in-person students for four days of face to face instruction beginning next week!
Los estudiantes que asisten en-persona vendrán 4 días a la semana a partir del martes 20 de abril
A partir del martes 20 de abril, los alumnos que vienen EN PERSONA asistirán a la escuela cuatro días a la semana (de martes a viernes). Nos entusiasma esta regularidad de aprendizaje, sea para los estudiantes que para los maestros. Si bien no es lo ideal, entendemos que por diferentes circunstancias, algunas familias necesiten mantener los dos días de instrucción en persona en vez de aumentar a cuatro. Si ha completado el formulario solicitando mantener el horario actual de dos días a la semana, respetaremos esa petición. De lo contrario, nuestros alumnos que vienen en persona deberán asistir cuatro días a la semana. Si usted solicitó dos días y desea cambiar ahora a cuatro días, comuníquese con Michele Beard lo antes posible al correo mbeard@fcps.edu para pedir nuevamente el cambio. Tenga en cuenta que no haremos más cambios después del 30 de abril. No podremos hacer cambios de horario de virtual a presencial.
Si su estudiante toma el autobús, por favor controle ParentVUE para obtener información sobre el transporte. Pueden haber ligeros cambios de horario de recogida mientras equilibran las rutas de los autobuses.
¡A partir de la próxima semana, esperamos verlos los cuatro días semanales a aquellos alumnos que vienen en persona!
Congratulations to this group of 21 students for being our third quarter POWER Raffle Winners! They will be receiving a gift card for winning! There were over 120 students who were entered into the raffle for receiving 5 or more POWER cards during the third quarter. Congratulations to all of you for working so hard! Keep up the POWERful work so you can be entered into our fourth quarter raffle on June 8th.
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PantherPreview is a great opportunity for your rising 7th grader and other new students to get a glimpse of life at Hughes Middle School. It will take place the first week in August with further details on times and format to be shared soon. If you’re interested in having your child attend, please complete this Google form
https://forms.gle/a6Xu67CWXar27ox37 to register.
Questions? Email Amy Smith at aesmith2@fcps.edu or Franklin Kyle at FMKYle1@fcps.edu
Parent Technology Help Desk
The Parent Technology Help Desk can be reached at 833-921-3277 (833-921-FCPS) and will be answered by staff members between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., seven days a week. Please specify if you need an interpreter when you call.
You may also use the online portal by clicking the link below
https://itweb.fcps.edu/itsupport/
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April 19 - PTA Meeting - 7pm - Topic - Spring SOL Tests
May 31 - Holiday (Memorial Day) Schools and Offices Closed
June 11 - Last Day of School
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