Fairhill Forum

May 10, 2022

Dear Fairhill Families: 

We are off to a great week! Today, our third grade students took their Reading SOL.  This was our last grade level to take the reading test. We are excited about the progress that our students have made so far and are looking forward to sharing all of the great celebrations with our community.  

Looking ahead, we want to be sure you all have our virtual PTA meeting on your calendar for this Thursday, May 12th at 6:30 PM. We plan to share some important dates about the end of the year so you don’t want to miss it! The meeting will be on ZOOM so feel free to join by phone if that is more accessible for you. A link will be sent out on Thursday.  

Looking forward to connecting on Thursday and as always, keep in touch if there is anything we can do to help you.  

All our best,

Ted and Courtney 

Register Now for the 2022-2023 School Year!

Did you know that registering early helps prevent overcrowded classrooms? REGISTER NOW!*

Virginia law requires that all children who will reach their 5th birthday on or before September 30, 2022, must be enrolled in kindergarten for the 2022-2023 school year, unless the parent or guardian notifies the school in writing that they do not wish the child to attend school until the following year. 

If you have a child who will attend ANY grade at Fairhill Elementary next year, and you have not already registered them, please contact Amy Spector at alspector@fcps.edu by May 27, 2022.

Please spread the word to your neighbors who don’t already have a child at Fairhill. Parents of rising Tigers may complete the online intake form, visit the registration page, call the office at 703-208-8100 or email as above.

* If your child currently attends Fairhill, you do not need to re-register for the coming year, but please do let us know if you’re moving away.

Opportunities to contribute to the Fairhill Community PTA

Are you interested in working with the PTA but don’t know how to begin?  With the end of the school year on the horizon, it is time to find volunteers to fill the open Committee Lead positions for the 2022-2023 PTA.  There are a variety of opportunities to support the Fairhill PTA .  

The PTA is responsible for many of the fun events that help make Fairhill a community, not just a school.  Volunteers like you make it possible for the PTA to offer programs and events such as:

Fall Festival

Before and After School Enrichment Programs

School supply kits program

Bingo Night

Fairhill Family Fun Day

The Room Parent program

Square One Art

Fairhill Family Nights Out

Family Heritage Night

Staff Appreciation Week

Garden Clean Up/Rain Garden/Tree Planting

If you are worried that you will need help or training, we have you covered. Previous Board members will be available to train and transition the responsibilities. The Board works as a team and we are always available to help new members. Time commitments vary by role. The PTA Board and its members meet once a month for a general meeting. During a normal school year, these meetings are held in the library, average 1.5 hours and childcare is provided. Due to covid, we transitioned to virtual meetings that lasted about 20-30 minutes. The Board may be required to follow up on action items, vote on requests via email throughout the month or attend Sub-Committee meetings (for example, Family Fun Day planning) as needed. When we have a big event such as the Fall Festival, we all volunteer as much time as we can to make the event run smoothly.

If we can't fill critical Board positions, we will lose our chapter and all of the PTA sponsored events.  Currently, we are in need of a Secretary in order to keep our PTA chapter going.   Please see the document attached HERE for a description of current Board and Committee Lead positions. For more detail or if you are interested in taking a role, please contact president@fairhillpta.org

Fairhill Family Directory

The PTA is excited to launch our digital school directory.  Those of you who have been at Fairhill for a few years may remember the A to Z Connect Directory.  It is a great way to stay in touch with other Fairhill families and plan birthday parties and playdates.

The directory can be accessed from the Membership Toolkit Mobile App or from a browser.

The directory is available to all families who did not opt out.  

Logging In and Creating an Account

Before you can use the directory, you need to set up your account. To set up your account, you must go through a browser.  Once the account is established, you can use the mobile app for your searches.  The URL for the Fairhill A to Z directory can be found HERE

• Click the “Register/Login” button on your home page.
• Use the email address that you have on file with the Fairhill office and select a password.
• Watch for an email that will ask you to verify your email address.
• Once you have verified your email address, you need to finish setting up your contact information for the database. Complete the parent & student forms and the directory & publish preferences.

Please note, your email address is the only information that is required to access the directory.  You do not need to provide your home address or phone number.  When you are asked to verify your account information, you are welcome to add your address and/or phone number and can select to have this information displayed through the publish preferences page.  The default is for only your email address to be displayed.

For support, please contact fairhilles@gmail.com