Oak View Review

Fantastic First Week

Oak View was delighted to welcome back our more than 750 students to school last week. The return to instruction was met with joy, a few nerves and more smiles than tears so a win for all! We were so impressed with how students fell right back into our school routines and we were thrilled to have so many students new to Oak View join our nest. They quickly connected with classmates and their teachers. We look forward to continuing strong again this week and thank you for your continued support!

Save the Date - Back To School Nights (Virtual Information Sessions)

Oak View invites families to join us for Back to School Nights at the dates and times below:

Wednesday, August 31

• 5:30 PM Kindergarten
• 6:30 PM 2nd Grade
• 7:30 PM 4th Grade

Wednesday, September 7

• 5:30 PM 1st Grade
• 6:30 PM 3rd Grade
• 7:30 PM 5th & 6th Grade

These events will be held virtually this year and Zoom links will be emailed to families in advance of the scheduled event.

Important Forms Reminder

Oak View reminds all families that students brought home Emergency Care Cards (ECC) and Health Information Forms (HIF) in their Friday folder last week. Please return the forms as soon as possible and thank you to all who have already done so. We must have a completed ECC and HIF form for every student. In addition, please reference the email sent Friday by Assistant Principal Lora Adams regarding other important form requirements to begin the school year. Thank you for your support and partnership!

Calendar Reminders - No School Friday & Monday

Oak View reminds all families that school will be closed on Friday, September 2 and Monday, September 5 in observance of the Labor Day holiday. We wish you safe travels and enjoyment of the extra time to spend with family and friends.

Oak View is Hiring Student Monitors

Oak View has had a wonderful start to the school year. As we plan forward, we are seeking to hire monitors to supervise students at non-instructional blocks of their day. The hiring of monitors will promote additional valuable planning time for the teachers on a consistent basis and is required per new county regulations. Monitors will be trained to cover recess for a classroom teacher a time or two a week. Again, these are hourly paid positions and required at all schools. We look forward to welcoming Oak View community members to express interest via email to our Assistant Principal, Mrs. Hanson, at rnhanson@fcps.edu. The monitor position is paid at an hourly rate of $16.36 per hour and assistance is needed between 10:30 AM and 2:30 PM most days. There is flexibility within this time and days of the week. Thank you for considering joining our Oak View team!

NEW! Oak View Birthday Book Donations

Oak View is excited to start a new tradition to grow our library collection!  We would like to invite you to donate a book to our school library in your child’s honor during their birthday month! The book you purchase will receive a bookplate inside indicating the book was purchased in honor of your child’s birthday. Please see current wish list and book purchasing guidelines listed in Friday Folder Flyer linked here. July and August birthdays are welcome in September or June!

You are also welcome to purchase the book from any local bookstore. Bard’s Alley, Scrawl Books, and One More Page Books would all be willing to order and ship books. 

If you wish to purchase something not on this list, please email our school librarian, Mrs. Atkins first (mfatkins@fcps.edu). All books in the library must follow the acquisitions guidelines from FCPS. 

This is a completely optional activity and one we thank you for considering as we start this school year. All student birthdays are recognized at Oak View through their name on the morning announcements and a post card and birthday pencil from administration. Oak View does not permit food celebrations due to severe and life-threatening food allergies.

Buses and Delays are Improving

Oak View has been pleased that our bus schedules have been improving every day since the start of school. We appreciate your patience as our drivers learned their new routes. If a student’s bus is delayed, parents may access the Bus Delay Notification System or use the Here Comes the Bus mobile app to receive the delayed bus report. E-Notify (School Messenger) email messages will also be sent to announce significant bus delays. Contact the Area 3 Transportation Office at 703-249-7000 with questions during school hours.  For any concerns after hours (after 5:30 p.m.), contact Safety and Security at 571-423-2000.

Safety Drills During the School Year

Oak View is committed to keeping students and staff safe. Each school has an emergency preparedness plan to respond to incidents such as fires and tornadoes. Schools are required by state law to practice emergency drills, including lockdown drills, each year.

• Within the first 20 days of school, Oak View is required to practice two fire drills and one lockdown drill.
• Schools are required to notify parents and guardians at least 24 hours before a school conducts a lockdown drill. For safety, schools are not required to give the specific date and time of the drill in advance.
• Preschool and kindergarten students are exempt from practicing the first lockdown drill.

Your child may come home and talk about their experience during the drill. We encourage you to talk with your child about the importance of being prepared for emergencies. Here are some helpful tips for families to use to support their students before and after school lockdown drills. Working together, we create a safe, secure environment for students to learn and grow in our schools and we thank you for your support.

Free and Reduced-Price Meal Applications NOW AVAILABLE

Oak View reminds families that 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. 

IMPORTANT: The extension of the no-cost meals benefit to all students expired at the end of the 2021-22 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. The application for the Free and Reduced-Price Meal program is now available online. 

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. Schools also benefit from funding opportunities based on Free and Reduced Price Meal application numbers. 

Community Conversations with Dr. Reid

Please save the date for a very special event! Dr. Michelle Reid, FCPS superintendent, will host Community Conversations at our feeder high schools. Woodson was held last week and the Robinson information is below:

Robinson Secondary School

• Thursday, September 29 ~ 6:30 PM -7:30 PM
• Please register to attend: https://forms.gle/KgpZRCJPG4cWfkCW8 

These events will be a unique opportunity to help Dr. Reid get to know our school community and learn more about her vision for our district.

Language interpretation will be provided, as available, as well as child care and light refreshments. 

[SPANISH - AMHARIC - ARABIC - CHINESE - KOREAN - URDU - VIETNAMESE] 

Up-To-Date Immunizations Required

As we begin the 2022-23 school year, Oak View encourages everyone to Be Wise, Immunize! Immunizations are required for public school entry and help keep children protected from many diseases. Many children missed their well check-ups and their recommended childhood immunizations during recent years of disruptions from COVID-19. It is critical to catch up now to keep children healthy and protect them from serious diseases.

Please check with your healthcare provider to make sure your child is up to date on required immunizations for the 2022-23 school year as soon as possible. If your child needs a vaccine to complete their records, you can make an appointment with your healthcare provider or visit the Fairfax County Health Department website for a schedule of child immunization clinics. 

If updating immunizations, please remember to request documentation of your child’s immunizations and bring that to Oak View.  

Text Messages for Parents

Parents can Receive Text Messages from FCPS for Emergencies and Essential Information

Make sure your cell phone numbers are listed in the parent/guardian contact information section on the emergency care information form for each of your children. Parents and guardians can view and update emergency contact information online using weCare@school. 

Text messages will be sent in the event of emergencies, delays or school closings, if buses are running more than 30 minutes late, if your student missed the morning attendance deadline, and for other important reminders. 

Standard message and data charges may apply for text messages depending on your cell phone service plan. More about text messages is available online.

Annual Notice of Survey, Records, Curriculum, Privacy, and Related Rights

Fairfax County Public Schools wants all parents to understand its policies regarding surveys, records, curriculum, privacy, and related rights.

Please look for an email that you should have received August 18 in which FCPS shared the Annual Notice of Survey, Records, Curriculum, Privacy, and Related Rights and Opt-Out Forms (Annual Notice), FCPS provides explanations of the rights listed above as well as forms that may be used to exercise opt-out choices. Two versions of the Annual Notice are available—a grades K-8 version and a grades 9-12 version. If you have children at different grade levels, please read each applicable version of the Annual Notice because the notices and opt-out rights vary depending on the student’s grade level.

Get more information and view the 2022-23 Opt-Out Booklets.

Tutor.com Available All School Year

Oak View and FCPS students continue to have unlimited access to live, 24/7, 1-to-1, online tutoring services through Tutor.com at no cost to families during the 22-23 SY. Student participation is optional and parents/guardians can opt their student(s) out of accessing the services. Detailed information and FAQs are available on the Tutor.com Online Tutoring Services website.

Students will continue to access Tutor.com via a link in Schoology.  Information about how to log in and access a tutor is provided in the following instructional video: 

• Tutor.com: How it Works Elementary

Lightspeed Parent Report on Child’s Device Activity

FCPS has tools to help parents and guardians know more about their child’s activity on any FCPS device. These tools are provided by Lightspeed, our internet content filtering service, at no cost to families. You may sign up for a weekly Parent Report, which will provide a list of the top sites your child visited. If you want more detailed information, sign up for the Internet Use Parent portal and log-in anytime to see more detail about your child’s browsing and “pause” access to the internet during non-school hours. Find out more and sign up for these services on FCPS website.

SOL Test Results

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has announced 2021-22 Standards of Learning (SOL) data for school divisions that shows Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has made steady progress towards a return to pre-pandemic levels.

FCPS annual pass rates for 2022 indicate that, while the road to recovery continues, FCPS students made promising gains in reading, mathematics, and science over the course of the 2022 school year. Read more about our plans for continued improvement of the SOL pass rates.

COVID Updates & Reminders

Earlier this week, FCPS sent an update on COVID-19 layered prevention strategies that will continue to be in place this school year. 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. 

Highlights from that guidance include: 

• FCPS continues to require families to review the Daily Health Screening before sending students to school. 
• The 5 Day Isolation Period will continue for COVID positive students and staff.
• 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. 
• At this time, masks are not required. The current CDC COVID-19 Community Level for Fairfax County is low. However, should the community level rise to “high,” FCPS would then require all students, staff, and visitors to wear a face covering when indoors on school property (to include the buildings, school buses and other school provided vehicles; except while actively eating/drinking). The Code of Virginia allows parents/legal guardians to elect for their child not to wear a face covering while on school property.
• 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. Information on diagnostic testing will continue to be updated on our website.
• 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.

Good News Around FCPS

Oak View is glad to share the good news happening around FCPS in this section. Each week check back for happenings around FCPS!

• Parents and teachers cautiously optimistic for new school year (Washington Post, August 20)Metro area back to school begins with Fairfax, Alexandria City opening (Washington Post, Metro Section Cover Story, August 22)
• Back to class: Students returning in Virginia’s largest school systems (WTOP, August 22)
• Several northern Virginia school districts head back to class (Fox5, August 22)
• 5 DMV districts welcome back students for 2022-23 school year (ABC7, August 22)
• Fairfax Co. Public Schools opens doors to over 180,000 students for new school year (ABC7, August 22)
• Fairfax County Public Schools welcome students for the new school year (WUSA9, August 22)