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Coates Families,
As we complete the third week of school, I’m proud of the work our teachers have done to accomplish so much in so little time with your children. Classes have routines established, and we’re deep into the curriculum in all subjects! We also appreciate your support of your child’s teacher. Kids who were nervous about coming back to school are comfortable. Kids who weren’t in the habit of working so hard are building stamina. It’s working!
Thanks to the many parents who came to our Principal’s Coffee last week. One of our main topics was our Home-School Compact, which is our partnership agreement between school and home. Check it out here. Our staff looks forward to doing our part and we hope that every parent will do theirs! It’s really does take a village!
As always, please read through the important information below. Lots to share! Have a great weekend.
Jesse Kraft, Proud Principal
Jessica King, Proud Assistant Principal
All parents and staff members are advised to check their emails from Tuesday. You should have received an email from “Region 5 Office” that explained the process for selecting the next principal of Coates. As you know, Mr. Kraft will begin his new job as executive principal for Region 3 on October 1, and FCPS must fill the position.
To provide your input and ensure that Coates has a great new principal, we hope that everyone will attend the virtual meeting on September 14 (details below) and provide your written input on the link below. As stated in the email, Coates Assistant Principal, Mrs. Jessica King will serve as acting principal between the time when Mr. Kraft departs and FCPS Region 5 finalizes the hire of a new principal.
Meeting Info:
Sept. 14 @ 4:30 (English) – Link to Meeting
Sept. 14 @ 5:30 (Spanish) – Link to Meeting
You are invited to share your input on what attributes you’d like to see in the next principal by Monday, September 20, 2021 to apmcgeehan@fcps.edu or mail to: Adam McGeehan, Suite 1114, Gatehouse Administration Center, 8115 Gatehouse Road, Falls Church, VA 22042-1203
The most important way you can help as a parent/guardian is to keep your child(ren) home if they present with any illness or symptoms that are associated with COVID: runny nose, coughing, headache, sore throat, fatigue, diarrhea, etc. If you keep your child home, and they are feeling better the next day, then they do not need documentation from a medical provider to return. However, if your child comes to school and presents with symptoms, they will be placed in the Care Room and will be sent home. Your child must then be seen by a medical provider to return to school and you will be given a form to get completed by the doctor.
Parents, caregivers, or guardians are strongly encouraged to monitor their children for symptoms of infectious illness every day through a home-based symptom screening and students who are sick should not attend in-person instruction. Please consider the questions in the HealthScreeningQuestionnaire for 2021-2022.pdf each morning before sending your child to school. If you answer “YES” to any of the questions, please keep your child home.
In the interest of transparency, FCPS updates a daily report of positive COVID-19 cases on its website, which any parent may access here. You will notice that Coates has had more than one confirmed positive cases this week, and a separate community message will go out today, per FCPS and health department guidelines.
While the community message may be delayed from the day of the reported cases, we want to assure you that we do not delay in responding to positive cases. We rapidly begin contact tracing and identifying potential close contacts. We contact parents of close contacts immediately and pause in-person instruction where appropriate. Obviously, students who test positive may not return until cleared by a medical professional. We welcome any questions.
While there is no synchronous (live, virtual lesson) program for paused students at this time, Dr. Brabrand did outline ways to provide better connection to classroom learning at last night’s School Board meeting. If your child is currently paused pending health department approval to return, look for a message from the teacher early next week with directions for connecting with class assignments. We regret that we must send students home when they are considered close contacts and realize that this greatly impacts working families.
It’s important that parents check their children’s backpacks each evening to see if the teacher has sent home any important information. On THURSDAYS, we often send home more graded student work, flyers, and school messages. Please check your child’s folders for this information.
At the end of the first quarter, we offer parent-teacher conferences to all families. This is an important opportunity that we hope you will take advantage of. Teachers will talk about your child’s classroom performance and grades. Conferences also give you chance to create a stronger partnership with the teacher!
Watch your teacher’s messages in the coming weeks as they offer opportunities to conference with them at the end of October or beginning of November. Conferences may be virtual or in-person depending on parent or teacher preference.
This year, FCPS is introducing a new Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Universal Screener. We have attached the information to this email. Students in grades 3-12 will participate during the Fall, Winter, and Spring windows. K-2 will participate in the Winter and Spring. The Fall window is 10/12-10/22.
Options to opt out are also included in the attached flier and are requested no later than Friday, September 17th. For more information and additional translations, please use the following link https://www.fcps.edu/node/43941
21 22 screener
Sept. 10 Recognition of Sept. 11 on News Show
Sept. 23 Interim Grade Reports Sent Home to Parents
Sept. 23 Picture Day
Sept. 30 Mr. Kraft’s Final Day at Coates
Oct. 11 Indigenous People Day – Student Holiday
Oct. 29 End of First Quarter
Nov. 1&2 Student Holidays
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