Stratford Landing News You Choose

Mr. Morris’ Message

Greetings, Stratford Landing Families

We are excited to share our first edition of Stratford Landing News You Choose. SLES News You Choose messages will be sent out at least bi-weekly and sometimes more frequently if there is important information to share with our community.

As you may know, News You Choose publications are published on our website as well as sent to families via email. FCPS/SLES web content can be translated online with the click of a link. This ensures all our families can access our communication in their language spoken at home. News You Choose is a self-subscribing publication, so tell a friend to sign up for SLES News You Choose notifications if they haven’t done so already.

This past summer, the learning never stopped at Stratford Landing. We’ve been busy! After school ended in June 2022, we got right back into it with our summer learning programs. We offered many learning opportunities for our students throughout the summer. Our SLES students participated in both academic and wellness intervention and enrichment programs led by external and internal staff.

For adult learning, we hosted SLES staff workgroups to help reflect on our previous school year and plan for our new school year. We also focused on culture, relationships, and collegiality. One of our teacher workgroups created our new SLES homework policy, which will be shared with our families on Back to School Night, Thursday, Aug 25. We were a host site for Responsive Classroom’s summer learning conference, a weeklong conference with about 75 participants from many different states. SLES was also a host site for FCPS’ Great Beginnings (new staff and teachers) Orientation for new Pre-K teachers (Head Start Program). Our own Ms. Reiss, our new Pre-K teacher, is a Great Beginnings coach for new teachers.

Our annual Kindergarten Orientation and Jump Start program sets our kinders (and teachers) up for success. We welcomed about 60 new dolphins to SLES over the span of two days. We played games, read stories, built relationships, and learned how to go to school. This year, we also implemented jump start student assessments. Several staff members provided quick letter and number assessments for our incoming kinders. This additional data helped us make informed kinder class groupings to ensure equitable classes in kindergarten. Because our kinders are new students, we cannot make informed, thoughtful groupings like we do Gr 1 -6. Additional assessment data collected during Jump Start help us make more informed decisions. The teacher feedback on this new process for kinder class placements was positive.

We spent time in our communities during our SLES Staff Community Bus Visits. All our staff members piled into two FCPS buses and visited several communities, interacted with families, hugged, high-fived, and ate a lot of popsicles. In our SLES gym, we hosted our first community morning meeting where students, families, and teachers came together for a positive relationship-building morning meeting style. At SLES, our students participate in morning meetings each school day. One parent shared that the community morning meeting “just really helped my son get back in a school mood.” Another parent shared they were appreciative to make connections with other families in the same grade level. Another parent bragged they won the rock, paper scissors contest!

We hosted a joyful open house and community resource fair. Our students were beaming as they met their new teachers, visited previous teachers, and interacted with their peers. Many families shared they felt kindness throughout the building. Our community partners were appreciative they had the opportunity to engage with our students, families and staff.    

Our custodians did a terrific job keeping up with the large summer workload with a building full of people, and at the same time ensuring our building was adequately prepared to open for teachers, students, and families.

We can’t wait for the school year to begin. 

With first day anticipation,

Kevin Morris, Principal

Countdown to #FirstDayFairfax

2022-2023 SLES Bell Schedule

9:10 am - 3:55 pm

8:55 am - Student arrival begins 

4:15 pm - Student dismissal ends

To help facilitate successful arrival and dismissal procedures, it is best for students to use their normal transportation plan on the first day of school. Families are welcome to walk their child to their classroom on the first day of school. It is expected that this is a quick drop off and kiss/hug goodbye.

Biking to school? Complete this form before riding to school.

FCPS parents, students, and staff members are invited to share their favorite pictures or videos from the first day of school on social media using the hashtag #FirstDayFairfax. We will share some of the photos on the FCPS Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages. 

Back-to-School Night & Community Resource Fair

We welcome our families to school on Thursday, August 25th, from 6- 7:30 pm to learn important details and critical information about grade levels, classrooms and other school year messages. Check out the list of participating vendors at the Back-to-School Night Resource Fair!

This event is for adults only, but please bring your student if childcare is a challenge this evening.  

Schoology

Teachers use Schoology to post their classroom materials online, to provide a safe forum for students to discuss their ideas and collaborate on projects, and to assign and collect homework electronically. It helps students stay organized, and it keeps the class connected.

A Schoology Parent Account gives you access to:

• Your child’s classes.
• Your child’s upcoming assignments.
• School, class, and group announcements.

Parent accounts will be available after August 18. To access Schoology, parents will need to have an active SIS/ParentVUE account.

More information on how to log in and use Schoology is available online.

2022 Student Rights & Responsibilities Includes Cell Phone Usage Update

The Student Rights and Responsibilities document (SR&R) explains expectations for student behavior and adult responses to enhance school safety and to create a fair, equitable, and supportive school environment. Read the Letter from the Superintendent on the 2022-23 Student Rights and Responsibilities: A Guide for Families. Key changes to the document for the 2022-23 school year include: 

• Adding rights to protect citizenship and immigration status from unauthorized sharing.
• Changes to FCPS’ Acceptable Use Policy Regulation for Technology.
• A new section on cell phones.

The new section on cell phones prohibits cell phone use in classrooms. We recognize that this new policy will be a shift for many students and families this year, but research shows that managing phone use during class time will support students’ attention and ability to fully engage in their learning. Schools are partnering with parents to have students understand the importance of putting their phones away to minimize distractions during class.

• Students in K-8 must keep phones silenced and in backpacks for the duration of the school day unless there is a medical need or emergency, or teachers have allowed the usage of cell phones for instructional activities where they are the most appropriate tool. Cell phones may only be used on campus before and after school. (Except in secondary schools where students in grades 7 and 8 may use phones during passing periods)

If a parent or guardian believes their child requires access to a personally owned device(s) as an accommodation, they should contact child’s school team—i.e., 504 Committee, Individualized Education Program (IEP) Team, English Language Committee, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) Team—to schedule a meeting to have their request considered. 

Parents should talk to their child(ren) before the start of the school year about these expectations for this upcoming school year. Families may also review the parental controls available for all iPhone and Android users. More information about the SR&R is available online.

Health and Safety Guidance for 2022-23

We are excited to welcome students back to school on August 22. While we had hoped that the pandemic would be behind us, it seems that COVID will be something we must manage as a community for the foreseeable future. FCPS will continue to follow the guidance of national, state, and local health experts when determining the layered prevention strategies that are needed to keep our schools safe and open for learning. It is important that we all work together towards this goal.

Below are important updates to this year’s layered prevention strategies. More detailed information can be found in the Health and Safety Guidance Document on our website.

Staying Home When Sick

FCPS continues to require families to review the Daily Health Screening before sending students to school. The 5 Day Isolation Period will also continue for COVID positive students and staff.

Supports for Students in Isolation (StreamIn/CheckIn)

Our StreamIn/CheckIn continues for students who are in isolation due to COVID-19. No later than day three of the isolation, students will be able to access:

• Recording or Live Streaming of direct instruction for core classes 
• Asynchronous class assignments via Schoology 
• Interactive check-ins with teachers

Vaccinations

The CDC recommends the COVID vaccine as a safe and effective way of significantly lowering your risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death if you get infected. Vaccines are now available for our youngest students. However, COVID vaccines are not part of the required immunizations for school entry. 

Masking

FCPS requires all students to wear a face covering when indoors (except while actively eating/drinking) on school property (to include the buildings, school buses and other school provided vehicles) when the CDC COVID-19 Community Level for Fairfax County is high. The current level for Fairfax County is medium. The Code of Virginia allows parents/legal guardians to elect for their child not to wear a face covering while on school property.

Ventilation

FCPS will continue to optimize ventilation and improve indoor air quality. The Virginia Department of Health is providing nearly $400,000 to FCPS for ventilation repairs, upgrades, and/or replacements for this school year.

Testing Options

Diagnostic testing will be available beginning Tuesday, August 16 for FCPS students and staff who are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19. Diagnostic testing will only be available during specific dates when FCPS has previously experienced an increase in testing requests. Information on diagnostic testing will continue to be updated on our website.

Screening testing is being developed on a limited basis for our students at the greatest risk. Specific schools will share that information to their eligible families.

COVID Case Notifications

FCPS will no longer send a daily or weekly COVID case update. Parents/Guardians will only receive an email from their child’s school when several cases of COVID-19 occur in a single classroom, sports team, or extracurricular activity within a 14-day period. Individual case reports will be available on the FCPS COVID-19 Dashboard on our website.

To stay up to date, please continue to review our Health and Safety Guidance on our website.

Meet Your Family Liaison

Hello SLES Families! My name is Andrea Howard, and I am excited to begin this school year with you! As your family liaison, my goal is to keep you informed about the valuable resources, events, and family engagement opportunities available through SLES, FCPS, and the community. My office hours are Monday - Friday from 9:30 am - 1:30 pm, and I can be reached at ahoward@fcps.edu or 703-619-3690. Please visit the SLES Family Liaison homepage for additional information and resources.

Here are some of the latest resources, news, and events I’d like to share with you: 

Family Needs Assessment: We Need Your Input!

The Wellness Team at Stratford Landing Elementary aims to support the students and their families throughout the school year. We are seeking parent/guardian input to help us identify, understand, and support specific family needs. Our goal is to use the information to encourage family engagement and connect families with the appropriate school and community resources. As parents/guardians, your involvement and input are vital to the school improvement process. Please complete this form at your earliest opportunity. Thank you for your continued support and collaboration! 

SLES Family Resource Center (Rm. B152)

The Stratford Landing Family Resource Center (FRC) is open and accessible to all SLES students and their families. It is designed to expand our ability to meet the needs of our school community and to facilitate community partnerships to enhance support for our families. We want to ensure your child has the resources they need for a successful school experience. Every family has different needs. Some examples include needing information about community and FCPS resources, food assistance, clothing, school supply assistance, and more.  

If you and your family or someone you know needs assistance, please contact Andrea Howard, at 703-619-3690 or ahoward@fcps.edu.  All information shared will remain confidential.

If you are interested in donating and contributing to the Family Resource Center, you may drop off donations in the red collection bins located outside the main front office. Donations may include but are not limited to educational games, books, non-perishable food, kid’s clothing, shoes, toiletries, and school supplies. We welcome contributions throughout the year.