Great Falls ES Update: January 2022

Dear Great Falls ES Families,

I sincerely hope you’ve had a wonderful and restful holiday break.  Our staff is excited and actively preparing to welcome our students back to school tomorrow, January 3rd.  

After our Thanksgiving break, we saw an increase in student COVID positive cases. As we return from winter break, please make sure you health screen your child before sending them to school every single day.  If your child does not feel well or presents with any COVID-like symptoms, please keep them at home and seek medical advice.  

As you can imagine, with the recent increase in COVID cases, we will continue to need to partner closely to ensure we keep our students and staff in-person, healthy, and actively teaching/learning every day.   We continue to appreciate your part in this partnership, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with you.

A few reminders as we prepare to welcome students back:

1. Our mitigation strategies have proven effective to ensure the health and wellness of our students. We thank our staff and families for their diligence and ask that families and staff continue making decisions that keep our students and staff safe and healthy. 
2. Daily Health Screening- Perform a daily health screening for your child.  If they are not 100% well, you must keep them home. This is the best way to keep our students and staff safe.
3. Fevers in School “24-hour Rule”- If your child is sent home from school with a fever, they are required to stay home for 24-hours fever-free before being permitted back to school. If a child is sent home, they will be permitted back 24-hours after the fever is over, not 24 hours after they were sent home.
4. Masks- Place several masks in your child’s backpack.  Your child will keep them in their backpack to use in the event a new mask is needed. Masks will be required whenever indoors. Families who will require their child to also wear a mask outside are encouraged to inform their child’s teacher of this request.
5. Check-In/Stream-In Virtual Learning platform- Students identified as a close contact or diagnosed with COVID-19 must contact the front office to be eligible for virtual learning starting on the 3rd day of quarantine/isolation. This process will occur in small increments during each school day for Math and Language Arts only. Families choosing to keep their child home or are awaiting COVID-19 test results do not qualify for this virtual learning platform.
6. “Masks Up when talking, Down when eating”- Remind your child that we must have our mask up whenever they talk and put it down when actively eating. Staff will continue to remind students about this important step to curb the spread of illness. This will continue to be strictly enforced. We appreciate your support reinforcing the importance of this.

Sincerely,

Sara Harper

Calendar Updates January 3 - School resumes for students 17 - MLK Jr. Holiday (no school for students or staff) 20 - 2 hour early release @ 1:30pm 21- No school for students 24 - No school for students See the complete 2021-22 school year calendar

COVID-19 Screening Testing

FCPS is partnering with LongView International Technology Solutions, Inc. (LTS) to provide optional weekly Covid testing services for students. 

Optional screening testing for Great Falls ES students has been taking place first thing in the morning every Tuesday.  When you sign your child up for this screening, Mrs. Harper will email the morning of the test to confirm consent and time for that week.  

One-time parent/legal guardian consent is required to begin COVID screening testing for a student to be tested at school. You may withdraw your consent for testing at any time.

•  If you want your child to begin participating in COVID-19 screening testing, you must pre-register your child(ren) and provide consent using the LTS secure online portal. 
• If you do not want your child to participate in COVID-19 screening testing, no action is required. You will have the option each week to update your child’s vaccination and consent for testing.

For all the details about optional COVID-19 screening testing, visit the FCPS website and review the FCPS COVID-19 Screening Testing Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document.

If you have questions about how testing will be conducted at Great Falls ES please contact Sara Harper or Colleen Murphy at (703) 757-2100 or skharper@fcps.edu or cpmurphy@fcps.edu. 

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 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).

Great Falls ES Cold Weather Recess Guidelines During typical winter days, students will go outside during the winter months.  Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately (coat, boots, gloves, and hats) for outdoor weather.  On PE days, students should have a pair of tennis shoes as well.  Students may go outside if it is snowing. How Cold is Too Cold to allow students to Play Outdoors? When the wind chill/”feels like” temperature is 25 degrees or higher, teachers are advised to take their students outside for recess.  Teachers of younger grades may make adjustments to this temperature based on student attire and current weather conditions. When the wind chill/”feels like” temperature is between 20-25 degrees, teachers may use their professional judgment, based on students’ attire (jackets, snow pants, boots, gloves, and hats) and current weather conditions in determining if students will go outside for recess.  When the wind chill/”feels like” temperature is below 20 degrees, or there is any rain/sleet, teachers are advised to keep their students inside for recess.  Outdoor Attire To ensure students have ample room to play, we are making every effort to ensure the playground blacktop and track areas are cleared of any snow.  Due to the possibility of slipping, if there is snow on the ground, students will not be permitted to play on the playground equipment.  For safety reasons, students will stay off any ice, hills, and cannot throw snow.

Become a Substitute and Save the Day!

FCPS needs substitute teachers. Substitute teaching is a great opportunity for stay-at-home parents, retirees, college students, and anyone who wants a flexible work schedule.

FCPS is looking for kind and caring substitute teachers to ensure our students continue to thrive when teachers need to be out of the building. If you are interested in substitute teaching, you can set parameters for the days you are available, the grade levels you would like to teach, or the schools where you want to assist.

Substitutes are essential members of every school’s team. More information about the application process and requirements is available here.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2022 GFES families!  We hope that you all had a relaxing and healthy winter break.  We are excited to welcome our staff and students back to school in just a few days. While our hope is that we will be able to plan more in-person PTA events in the new year, we appreciate your understanding and patience as we continue to navigate the ever-changing health and safety regulations. Thank you for your support!  

701 Walker Road, Great Falls, VA 22066  |  Phone: 703.757.2100

Attendance: 703.757.2111 or gfesattendance@fcps.edu

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