FH End-of-Year Update

Dear Freedom Hill Community,

Thank you to everyone for another wonderful year "on the Hill". As we all know, it truly "takes a village" to have a successful school year supporting our students, and this is another year in which we are so grateful for support from many areas. We hope you family has some time this summer to reflect on everything they have accomplished this year. While it was another year of isolation, masks, hand sanitizer, and health notifications, it was ALSO another year of growing as readers and mathematicians, becoming deeper thinkers, and learning to be supportive friends. 

We'd like to take a moment to appreciate many of those involved this year:

  • Thank you to our wonderful staff, who have overcome so much uncertainty this year, from viruses, a lack of substitutes, new assessments, and more - you are what makes "the magic happen" each day for our students! A special thank you to our team leaders and everyone who volunteers extra time to make Freedom Hill an extra special place, from Green Team, Patrols, chorus, and many other areas. 
  • Thank you to our parents and guardians. Whether we saw you this year in the building or not, it is so clear to us that our students are well supported and ready to learn at school each day. Thank you! 
  • Thank you to our PTA, who do so many big and little things to enhance our school culture, to bring us together, to provide needed resources, and to help us celebrate our successes!
  • Any finally, thank you to our students! You inspire us each and every day with your love for learning, your resilience, and the way you make us smile. Thank you for your hard work this year. Rest up this summer (and don't forget to read a few good books!), have some fun, and we will see you for another great year of learning in August. 

In partnership,

Nicholas Zapadka, Principal

Eric Kopacz, Asst. Principal


Upcoming Dates for Your Calendar

2022-23 FCPS School Calendar

  • June 21 - Sprout School Supply Orders Due
  • June 22, July 6, July 20, August 3 - FH Bookmobile Dates
  • July 16, August 16 - Kindergarten Playdates
  • August 19 - Open House, 10:00
  • August 22 - First Day of School!

FH Summer Bookmobile

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The FH Summer Bookmobile is BACK again this summer! See the flyer below for details. For more information about summer reading check out this great blogpost with great book suggestions by grade level and ideas for reading as a family over the summer!

Dates: June 22, July 6, July 20, August 3


Departing Staff "Farewells"

The following staff members will be departing this summer. While some wonderful opportunities await them, we will certainly miss them next year. Thank you to the following staff members for their many contributions to our school community:

(you may click on links for a goodbye message from the individual)

  • Seham Wooten (Kindergarten Assistant) is retiring! Congratulations, Ms. Wooten!
  • Caitlin Wilson (2nd grade) is moving to Baltimore with her new husband! She plans to continue teaching. 
  • Emily Boomer (Enhanced Autism) and her husband are returning home to San Francisco! She plans to continue teaching. 
  • Abigail Manzo (6th grade) and her husband are moving, and Mrs. Manzo is beginning a new role in the private sector. Good luck!
  • Christina Winkler (Special Education) is joining FCPS Assistive Technology Services. Congratulations, Ms. Winkler!
  • Meihua Qian (ESOL) will be transferring to Haycock ES and continue as an ESOL teacher. Best of luck, Ms. Qian!
  • Randenese Greene (Intellectual Disabilities) is transferring to West Potomac High School, where she will continue in special education.
  • Sarah Robles (part-time Music) has been hired full time at Parklawn ES. Congratulations, Ms. Robles!

Another big thank you to our "one year" staff members / IAs who supported our students this year - we hope to see them again!:

  • Kate Gibson (Music)
  • Liz Finnerty (Math Intervention)
  • Julie Oh (Long-Term Sub)
  • Patricia Ingram (Long-Term Sub)
  • Patrick Reilly (Long-Term Sub)
  • Evelyn Arevalo, Nikki Hairston, Tori Brent, and Angeeza Sayedy, Angela Park (Classroom Monitors, IAs)

With the exception of the three job listings below, we are fully staffed for next year! We look forward to introducing our new staff members in August. 


We are hiring!

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We are busy hiring amazing educators for the 22-23 school year! Freedom Hill currently has the following vacancies:

- Special Education Teacher, Cat A

- Special Education Instructional Assistant

- Music Teacher (part time)

We ask the community's assistance in alerting any educators to our vacancies. Interested individuals can email Dr. Z. 


Free and Reduced-Price Meal Applications Due This Summer

For the past two years, the federal government has provided no-cost meals to all public school students without the need to complete the annual Free and Reduced-Price Meal application. 

 

 

The extension of the no-cost meals benefit to all students is expected to expire at the end of this school year, meaning families must submit an application and be approved to be eligible for free and reduced price meals for the 2022-23 school year. 

Interested families are encouraged to submit the Free and Reduced-Price Meal application before the first day of the 22-23 school year. The online application will be available later this summer and accessible via the FCPS homepage.

Students approved for Free and Reduced-Price Meals may qualify for additional benefits such as waived or reduced fees for instruments, uniforms, field trips, FCPS class fees, and Parktakes classes. 


Tutor.com Summer Access

Freedom students will continue to have unlimited access to 24/7, on-demand, online tutoring support services through Tutor.com this summer. Students are able to use Tutor.com to review and/or practice in subject areas of interest or need. Students may also choose to access other tools such as practice quizzes in a variety of subject areas.

Details about how students can access Tutor.com through archived courses in Schoology are provided in Summer Access at Tutor.com - Online Tutoring Services


SOL Score Report Preview

If your student took SOL tests this spring, you can view their scores in SIS ParentVUE now. Use a web browser to log into your SIS ParentVUE account: https://sisparent.fcps.edu. You will find spring SOL test performance levels and overall scores in the Test History section. You will also get an official score report in ParentVUE Documents by the end of July. Don’t have a ParentVUE account? Create one today: https://www.fcps.edu/resources/technology/student-information-system-sis-fcps/sis-parent-account-registration


PTA Updates

Three cheers for finishing the school year! And parents, give yourselves a pat on the back for navigating your kids through it. Our newsletter frequency will be reduced during the summer to center around only when there is an activity. Have a great summer!

 

ORDER SCHOOL SUPPLIES FOR FALL

Time to plan ahead and skip the trip to the store this summer! Your student's exact teacher requested school supplies for the 2022-23 school year are available now!  Go to www.sproutsupplies.com and enter school code FHES001 by June 21st. Check out the flier for details. Thanks to Nicole Camara for organizing!

 

KINDERGARTEN PLAYDATES

For our rising kindergarteners, we will have a couple of Kindergarten playdates on Saturday July 16th from 10-11am and on Tuesday, August 16th from 5:30-6pm for our special education kindergarteners and from 6-7pm for all the kindergarteners together. Bring some water and meet us at the playground to meet other families! We'll have a tasty treat for the kids. *Incase of inclement weather or excessive heat, we'll send a note out closer to the date.

 

BOOKMOBILE IS BACK

Check out the Bookmobile this summer. The BookMobile is where you can get FREE Books, see FHES Teachers and get some cold treats! Bookmobile will be located at Idylwood Village West at the corner of Los Pueblos and Pimmit Run Streets in Falls Church. The dates are Wednesdays from 10-11am on June 22, July 6, July 20 and August 3. Keep up your summer reading with the bookmobile! Thank you to Melissa Rossman and Mary Gutenson for running this effort!

 

HARRIET BEST AWARD WINNERS

Let's give a huge round of congratulations to our two outstanding Harriet Best Award winners for the 2021-2022 school year. Drumroll please...the two recipients are: Katherine Cadena-Gonce and Elizabeth "Liz" Spinney! Read all about their awesome endeavors and why they won this award on our Facebook group.

 

NEURODIVERSITY AND ABILITY INCLUSION COMMITTEE

The NAI committee will continue to virtually meet (for 30 minutes) every two weeks through the summer to support the goals established over the last few months. They will be working to create NAI Moments and highlights to be in communication. They will be supporting the play date for families connected to special education in August held adjacent with the rising K play date.

The NAI committee would love to have some additional members. Parents of children connected to special education and parents of children in general education are welcome. The next meeting will be on 23 June (Thursday). Reach out to Monica Joyce (m5gia.dpswct@gmail.com) to bring your enthusiasm!

 

DEBATE CAMP

Is your child skilled at debating with you? Here's their chance to take it to the next level! Two now seniors (formerly at FHES) from Thomas Jefferson founded the Nation’s Capital Debate Academy four years ago with a passion to teach public speaking and debate to elementary and middle schoolers. They are running an online debate camp during the upcoming summer break for 5th to 8th grade students. On top of that, there's a special code for FHES students! Use the 2022FHES code and 10% of their camp fee goes back to the PTA. Also, this summer, we are offering a discounted fee for need-based students too! Check out the site and the registration link. Here's the flyer with more details!


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