Principal’s Message

Good Evening Bulldog Families–

I hope that all families are safe and well, and have been enjoying weekend! We are looking forward to starting the third quarter with your students on Tuesday. 

As many are aware, Governor Younkin signed a new executive order regarding masks in the K-12 setting, set to go into place tomorrow, January 24th. By now you will have seen Dr. Brabrand’s communication that FCPS will continue to require universal masking and that FCPS. As Dr. Brabrand stated in his communication this week, the following are expectations from FCPS of all students: students will be required to comply with the requirements of Regulation 2109.2. Face masks are included in the student dress code and failure to comply remains an SR&R violation. Intentional removal of or refusal to wear a face covering during the times face coverings are required by all students will be treated as a violation of Regulation 2613. In addition, per federal guidelines, students must continue to wear masks at all times on school buses or other FCPS transportation.

Additionally, Dr. Brabrand will be hosting town halls for discussion on this issue. The first virtual town hall will take place on Monday, January 24, from 7-8 p.m. The event will also be streamed via Facebook Live. Language interpretation services will be available in Arabic, Korean, Spanish, and American Sign Language. If you are interested in attending please register here. A Spanish Language Town Hall will be held on Tuesday, January 25, from 7-8 p.m. The event will also be streamed live on our Facebook en Español page. If you are interested in attending, please register here.

I know that there is a lot of energy around this issue, and you know that I value transparency and communication with our community. It is important for you to know that Westfield High School, as every other FCPS school, will be following the direction of the Superintendent on this matter. In this, I ask sincerely for your help. Just as we have all year, we will be addressing students who we see wearing masks inappropriately and not at all. Additionally and consistent with what we have been doing all year, we will work individually with those students who are not consistently behaving in accordance with these guidelines and implementing interventions appropriate to the behavior. If you have any specific questions regarding this, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly.

Again, we are very excited to welcome everybody back into the building this week! As always, please feel free to reach out to me with observations, suggestions, questions and celebrations. You can do that through e-mail, call, or  through the form located here: https://forms.gle/4eW9rgPRVBF2a5gd8. 

Go Bulldogs!

Tony DiBari

Proud Principal, Westfield High School

Outstanding Staff Nominations

Thank you to all the faculty, students and families who nominated Westfield staff members for their outstanding work here at Westfield High School. We are honored to have these outstanding staff members in our Bulldog family. Many nominees have gotten a goodie bag and selfie with Mr. DiBari but some will receive their goodie bag soon. For the 2021-22 school year, the following faculty members were nominated for Outstanding Employee Awards: 

Dave Paganin

Nicole Shaw

Lauren Jones

Security Team (Kevin Mahan, Bob Battani, Amy Coots, & Dave Poach)

Leanne Grammo

Aaron Sulkin

Andrew Donnelly

Carson Huling

Elaine Florimonte

John Baranowski

Dale Maxfield

Rory McGlinnen

Sarah Murphy

Trisha Kwong

Ellyn Whiteash

Jenna Sweitzer

Kerry Johanson

Lisa Lopez

Doug Ewell

Bill Alexander Goldsmith

Jennifer Santiago

Julie Keeder

Rebecca Darr

Ryan Mettinger 

Shaun Blair

Sarah Yungshten

Jna Johnson

Scott Davies

Allie Sherline

Tony DiBari

Our winners who will compete at the pyramid level for FCPS Outstanding Employee awards will be announced in next week’s Bulldog Breakdown. 

Academic Advising Season

Welcome to the 2022-23 academic advising season. Over the next couple of months, counselors will be meeting individually with students to help them select classes for the 2022-23 school year. Families, please take this opportunity to speak with your students about the balance of academic rigor and their other responsibilities.   All curriculum information for our students and their families will be located on our Westfield High School website at https://westfieldhs.fcps.edu/student-services/curriculum-information Students are advised to check their Schoology page for more information about academic advising and course selection. 

The student services department will host a VIRTUAL Rising 9th grade parent night on January 11, 2022 at 7pm  to the Class of 2026 parents about 9th grade course offerings and Westfield High School.  Additionally, Westfield will create a virtual electives fair for incoming 9th grade students that will be delivered via middle schools.  

Families…we are asking for your help in encouraging students to choose classes wisely based on their interests and passions while considering the balance of extracurricular responsibilities and life after high school pursuits. Changing classes is very difficult once the school year begins; so it is important for students to choose wisely during this time. All course selections must be made no later than March 1, 2022. Changes after March 1, 2022 will be made on a space available basis until June 10, 2022. After June 10, 2022, no other change requests will be honored. 

If you have a student planning to explore summer learning opportunities, please visit the FCPS Summer Learning site for more information at https://www.fcps.edu/academics/summer-learning . Please have your student speak to their counselor about summer learning plans. 

Food Pantry Update & Amazon Wish-list

We have received the snack/water bottle donations that many of you sent in and we wanted to share with you how thankful we are for those donations.  Grab and Go bags for hungry students are constantly needed and appreciated!  

Recently the needs of some of our students has included non-food items which we have added to our Amazon Wish List https://tinyurl.com/hbd8taus These items include warmer clothes and personal health care products.  Snack donations are still on there as well. 

Looking for a way to donate without using the Amazon Wish List? Good news... Donations can now be dropped off at 5445 Tree Line Dr, Centreville 20120 into our donation bin located on the front porch.  You can use our wish list as a buying guide, or view the Pantry Needs list below.  Don't forget to label your donations with your name/email so we can send you a proper thank you!

 Ways to help when you can't give: Please consider sharing our Amazon Wish List link on your social media accounts.  It's a free way to help spread the word about the needs of our students.  In addition, many companies are looking for ways to give during the upcoming holiday season.  If your company is one of those, suggest the Food Pantry. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Jen McNerney 703-798-5508 (cell) or jenmcnerney@hotmail.com.  

Pantry Needs: Small bottled waters, individually wrapped snacks, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, gloves, new sweatshirts and pants (solid colors prefered, sizes S-XL), new warm socks. 

Staff Recognition

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. Please visit the following link to recognize staff members who have done impactful things: FCPS Cares

Volunteer Call-out

We are still looking for your help! We value you as community partners and want to invite you to become more involved at Westfield. One way to do this is to volunteer and substitute teach. If you’re interested, the first step is following the links below. Thank you for your willingness to help!

FCPS Volunteers:  https://www.fcps.edu/get-involved/volunteer-fcps 

Substitute Teachers:   https://www.fcps.edu/careers/career-opportunities/substitute-teaching-opportunities/new-applicants

Westfield Volunteer Interest Form:  https://forms.gle/go7B58zdT1cz5Km9A

Tech Updates

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Calendar

From FCPS

Topic: Limited In-person Attendance at Athletic Events

Due to the continued high rate of COVID-19 transmission, we will continue to limit in-person attendance at athletic events to coaches, athletes, and the parents of both the home and visiting teams through Friday, January 28. However, you can watch FCPS high school sporting events online. Here’s how:

1. Go to www.NFHSnetwork.com.
2. Search for (school name) and go to its page.
3. Subscribe and follow.

This service is free for the rest of this school year. You do not need to purchase anything if you are watching FCPS hosted events.

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