Weekly News From South County High School

In this issue:

  • From The Principal
  • Select Digital Resources
  • Activity Office News
  • From The PTSO
  • Stallion Spirit Store
  • From The Testing Office
  • Dr. Brabrand Town Hall Meetings
  • Emergency Care Information
  • FCPS Cares

From The Principal

 

Family,

We are one week away from welcoming our students back into our building and this is very exciting!  This week our teachers will return and together we will set our vision and mission for the year.  A long summer of planning will finally be put into action and we will have one of the best openings in school history just based on the momentum alone.  I have had a number of conversations with our student body and they have all expressed that they are ready to return to school.  This also lends to the excitement in the air. 

We had a wonderful community outreach as we invited our Families to come out to the South County Little League Baseball Complex to meet up with us.  We had a great turnout of students and parents and although the temperatures were high, they couldn’t reach higher levels of energy that were on display from our community.  I want to thank all of those who were able to make it out.  Your presence only added to our enthusiasm to serve your children. 

I want to also thank those Families who came out to the Meet The Coaches Night last week. I had the opportunity to set the tone for the night with a message about just how important it will be to have you all as participating members of our sports and activities initiatives  You do not have to have a child in a sport to lend a hand.  I am looking forward to seeing many of you out and about this year cheering our students on!

Here is a quick reminder of this week’s Stallion Stampede as well as the other information that I shared with you in my welcome back message.

The last thing I want to talk about is making sure we all do our part to help our students to remain safe and healthy.  We have experienced a few COVID cases over the course of last week and because we all are working diligently to return all of our students back , we all have to ensure that we are abiding by those recommended strategies from the CDC.  So please make sure you and your children are masking up and socially distancing whenever you can so that we all can remain safe. 

Gary


Consent for Select Digital Resources

SCHS Families, We Need Your Consent for Select Digital Resources:

At South County High School our teachers will use a variety of digital resources to support student learning and promote communication and collaboration with students and families. Some of the digital resources your child may use this year will require your consent before they can be used. You can find our school’s list of the resources that require parental consent here: Digital Resources at South County High School. Additionally, you can find more information about approved digital resources in FCPS here: https://www.fcps.edu/resources/technology/digital-resources.

Included on this page is also a link to a form where the enrolling parent or guardian will need to indicate whether or not their student is allowed to use the list of digital resources this year. This page also provides more information about how FCPS carefully reviews digital resources for approval and why we must request your consent before using certain tools. We encourage you to complete the parental consent for digital resources form as soon as possible (recommendation before Friday, August 27), as your child will not be able to use the digital resources until we have received your permission. Please reach out to Leslie Lewis, SCHS Technology Specialist, if you have questions or concerns about the digital resources we’ve chosen to use this year.

If you need support with filling out the parental consent web form, please access How to fill out the application permission form.

Note: Laptops will be distributed to all students during the first week of school via English classes.

  


Activity Office News

All Access Pass

The South County Athletic Booster Club (SCABC) is excited to share with you that we have merged what we formally called "Booster Passes" with the new digital ticketing system, E-Tickets. Now available online is our 2021 - 2022 All-Access passes for the upcoming school year! This pass(es) purchase will give you admission to ALL home regular season athletic events. Please click the link below to check out which package is right for you, your student(s), and family.

All-Access Passes: https://www.etix.com/ticket/m/5817/south-county-athletics

Once you purchase your pass(es), you will receive an eight-digit personalized code to redeem the number of purchased tickets to any scheduled home regular-season event for the upcoming school year. You may redeem your tickets by visiting South County's home E-tickets page - https://www.etix.com/ticket/v/18639/south-county-high-school-athletics

All this information and more is located on South County's Athletic Home Page - www.stallionnation.com.

   


From the PTSO

PTSO Membership

Would you please consider becoming a PTSO member? Our biggest source of financial support is from membership dues which are used to support a wide variety of South County programs, such as academic awards, honor societies, club support, science fair, PTSO Scholarships, academic enrichment programs, staff development programs, Career Center, and much more; all of which benefit our students, faculty and staff.   We appreciate your consideration.

Please click here to join the PTSO.

We also have several volunteer opportunities available for this year. We promise you will meet great people and have tons of fun!

If you have any questions, please email pres@southcountyptso.org

Please click here to sign up for a PTSO Committee.

Please click here to sign up for an ANGP Committee.

 

Finally, we use several methods to keep in touch; please follow us or sign up with at least one of the following.

Our app: Look for "Membership Toolkit" in the Apple Store or Google Play Store. This is an amazing app that allows you to look at any email the PTSO sends out plus their calendar of events.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoCoPTSO

PTSO general page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SouthCountyHighSchoolPTSO/

PTSO Military Connections on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2103122980014708/

    


SoCo Merchandise Available at the Stallion Spirit Store Website, Kiosk and Vending Machine!

South County’s Stallion Spirit Store has a variety or ways you can purchase items for the school year. We have a website where you can browse our spirit wear and find a PDF Order Form for download; invoicing for payment on MySchoolBucks will be sent after your order is fulfilled.  You can also find our kiosk in the cafeteria during lunches on odd days (5th period) as well as in the gym lobby by way of a retail vending machine! 

Thank you in advance for supporting the Entrepreneurship & Marketing program as well as the Work and Transition program here at South County. The students from these programs typically work the Spirit Kiosk at lunches to build customer service skills as well as count inventory, review financial records and create promotional plans. These work-based learning opportunities allow students to connect classroom lessons to actual scenarios.

   


From The Testing Office

Families of Twelfth Grade Students

Subject:          SAT School Day Intent to Participate 

On Wednesday, October 13, South County High School twelfth graders will have the opportunity to take the SAT School Day. FCPS will cover the cost for any twelfth grade student to take this test. The essay option and subject area tests are not available during SAT School Day. 

To reserve a seat for your twelfth grader to take this exam and ensure appropriate test materials are available for your student, families are asked to complete the form below by Wednesday, September 8. 

South County High School: 2021 SAT School Day Intent to Participate Form 

https://forms.gle/2dmEZy2w9N28aZyPA

Your student will need to use a @fcpsschools.net email account to access and complete this form. 

A translated version of the form content may be found on the SAT School Day Intent Form webpage (https://www.fcps.edu/node/43896). FCPS sites cannot accept walk-ins on the day of the exam.  

General information about the SAT School Day test format is available on the College Board webpage (https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/taking-the-test/sat-in-school). 

We will share exam day schedules and additional details in the coming weeks. If you have questions about the SAT School Day administration at South County High School, please contact Chris Bird, SCHS School Test Coordinator, at cwbird@fcps.edu or at 703-446-1643.

 


Join Superintendent Brabrand at Two Return to School Town Halls

Superintendent Brabrand will be hosting two virtual community Town Halls:

Monday, August 16, from 6-7 p.m. (In English) where he will be joined by Dr. Benjamin Schwartz, director of Epidemiology and Population Health at the Fairfax County Health Department. The Town Hall will focus on returning to five full days of in-person instruction for the new school year and layered prevention strategies that will be implemented to help keep students and staff safe. Watch the Town Hall on FCPS’ website or on Cable TV Channel 99 (Verizon Channel 11). Please send your questions in advance to returntoschool@fcps.edu or ask your question live during the event by calling 1-800-231-6359.

Tuesday, August 17, from 6-7 p.m. (In Spanish) 

The superintendent will answer questions about returning to five full days of in-person learning and measures to help keep everyone safe for a strong return to school. The Town Hall will be streamed live on FCPS Facebook en Español. Please email your questions to ReturntoSchool@fcps.edu. You may also send us a message on our Facebook page or leave it in the “Comment” section during the Town Hall.

  


Update Your Emergency Care Information Through weCare@school

Fairfax County Public Schools is committed to ensuring that the climate in all FCPS facilities is safe and secure. In support of this goal, FCPS provides weCare@school (weCare), an emergency care information system, available to FCPS parents and guardians who have registered for their own Parent account. 

weCare helps manage emergency medical information by enabling parents to enter and update their children’s medical data at their convenience online. Contact information provided automatically enrolls parents to receive eNotify communications from the district and their child’s school. eNotify is the communications tool for FCPS emergency, attendance, and essential outreach messages. Messages are sent via email, telephone, and text messages.

Get more information about updating your emergency care information.

  


FCPS Cares

FCPS Cares is an opportunity for parents, staff, and community members to recognize FCPS employees for going above and beyond to help others and show they care. See how you can acknowledge an FCPS employee who has gone above and beyond.