Dear Mount Vernon Families and Staff,
As we begin the winter break, I want to take the opportunity to wish everyone the happiest of holidays! I hope everyone has a joyous break.
It truly is a joyous time of year and I have had the opportunity to visit many of our schools and participate in holiday gatherings which included distributing toys to some of our neediest families. I am inspired by the generosity of our community. A personal favorite every year is to join Deputy Fire Chief Will Bailey at his toy give away at the Penn Daw Fire Station. Will also organizes a coat drive in the fall and arranges for haircuts and back packs at the start of the school year. He truly brings joy to all the children who benefit from the generosity of his organization.
 Left: Penn Daw Fire Station Toy Distribution; Right: Mount Vernon HS Breakfast with Santa
Last week, I was humbled to be amongst 4 honorees to be recognized by George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government as a Regional Elected Leader last week. The evening provided a great opportunity to hear about the inspiring work of Del. Ken Plum, Mayor Justin Wilson and Chuck Bean, the Executive Director of the Council of Governments. |
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Walt Whitman’s Students Get a STEAM Lesson From Vice Chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff
I was honored to join students in James Shabazz’s Engineering 2 class at Walt Whitman Middle School who had the opportunity to impress the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Christopher W. Grady, as they demonstrated their engineering skills with a special STEM challenge on December 5th. With only 30 sheets of paper and a roll of tape, students were instructed to create a tower that could support a can of tomatoes for one minute. Adm. Grady and his wife, Mrs. Christine Grady, traveled from the Pentagon to speak to students and test their designs.
“We’ve never seen a square design before! That’s a first!” Adm. Grady said as the first team of students placed the can of tomatoes atop their paper tower.
Students were given the challenge a week in advance, worked in teams and sketched their designs before building prototypes to demonstrate their proof of concept for the Admiral. Team’s were scored based on the number of pieces of paper used (the fewer, the better), the height of the tower (the taller, the better), and if their tower successfully held the can for sixty seconds. Eighth grade students Zen Tran and Darpan Barua built the square structure that went on to win first place in the competition.
“I thought a square shape would be best because when you see structures, they are usually squares,” Darpan said. “When you put weight on top, it stands up well."
Adm. Grady said he hopes this challenge encourages students to think outside the box and prepares future generations to play a core role in our nation’s security. “Skills associated with STEM are life skills - creativity, curiosity, trial and error, and decision making,” Adm. Grady said. “It’s about solving wicked hard problems, and the students at Walt Whitman Middle School did that with enthusiasm and determination.”
“I hope that the students cherish this experience, knowing that the Pentagon visited our class and is invested in their future,” said engineering teacher Mr. Shabazz. “The students really put the effort and time into this leaving today with their head held high.”
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Challenge Winners
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Dr. Reid and Adm. Grady with third place winning team members Nathan Kelley and Everett Paone. |
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Dr. Reid and Adm. Grady with second place winning team member Emerson Chavez. |
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Mr. Shabazz, Dr. Reid, and Adm. Grady with first place winning team members Darpan Barua and Zen Tran. |
Learn more about Technology and Engineering Education at FCPS.
Learn more about STEAM and Computer Science at FCPS.
Strategic Planning
At the December 13th work session, the School Board was presented with an update of activities surrounding the Strategic Planning development. The consultants and staff reviewed the work of the planning teams, particularly the Family Team, the Core Planning Team, and the Faith Community/Houses of Worship Team, which include numerous community members.
Please review the work session documents for additional information.
Beginning in late January 2023, FCPS will host a series of community forums in each of the magisterial districts as part of the Strategic Plan development. The meeting in the Mount Vernon District is scheduled for February 7th at South County HS from 6:30 – 8:00 pm. There will also be numerous opportunities to participate in virtual sessions.
Interested parties may attend any or all of the forums. The full schedule, including several virtual options, is available on FCPS' Strategic Planning webpage.
Preparing for Winter Weather
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kHubbZru2k
Winter weather is upon us! The inclement weather procedures for FPCS will remain the same as last year. The first five inclement weather days are traditional “snow days” with no school activities. After the first five days, FCPS will access the flexibility provided by the Virginia General Assembly to provide unscheduled virtual learning days, whenever possible, to maintain the continuity of learning. Virtual learning on these days will be synchronous/live instruction, following the inclement weather virtual learning day schedule (includes a two-hour delay).
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The FCPS website is generally the first mode of communication during emergency weather closings. Other communication channels will be used as quickly as possible including email, text, social media, and news stations. Watch this video to see how weather-related closing decisions are made. Learn more about how schedule changes are communicated. Make sure your contact information is up-to-date in weCare@school, bookmark the FCPS website, plan for childcare, if appropriate, and know what items your child may need to take home before a weather event.
Through rich story-based mathematics experiences, math week offers families and students in K-8 an opportunity to experience math, literacy, history, and geography in a positive way from the comfort of their own homes. The games and stories feature several countries around the world.
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All content will be available completely free on the Math Week website starting January 9, 2023 in English and Spanish. To access the games, families will be able to simply click on the day of the week and find their child's grade and language. For families that want to reduce screen time, there will be physical print options for access to the content and games as well.
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Tutor.com
Free, On-Demand, Online Tutoring. FCPS students who’ve used Tutor.com have provided positive feedback:
“This tutor was very helpful! She didn't tell me the answers. When needed, she helped me solve them! She was very kind and she really helped me!” –Elementary Math Student
“This was an awesome tutor! She explained why I needed to do specific steps, and she gave me practice problems! Best tutor I have had!” –IB Chemistry Student
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Unless they’ve been opted out, students can access Tutor.com through Schoology. Every session is personalized to meet students’ needs from remedial to advanced levels. Sessions focus on conceptual learning and critical thinking—not quick answers.
Learn more on FCPS’ Tutor.com webpage.
FCPS Actions Addressing Learning Loss
The COVID-19 Pandemic had significant impacts on student achievement outcomes around the world. In FCPS, overall student achievement levels declined by 8% points in Reading and 25% points in Math on state standardized assessments as a result of the pandemic.
However, in SY21-22, the first full year of in-person instruction following pandemic school closures, FCPS students made significant learning gains. Reading performance is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels and Math performance is rapidly progressing towards baseline levels. Academic recovery in FCPS is significantly outpacing progress in Virginia as a whole. As a result of division support provided during SY21-22, FCPS saw a significant decrease in the number of students needing intervention services by the end of the school year. The number of students needing intervention services decreased by 27.5% in Reading and 35.7% in Math by the end of SY21-22.
Overall, approximately $102.8M of ESSER III funding has been allocated for targeted student academic and wellness support, and summer school programming. Each FCPS school received significant ESSER funding allocations to provide students with individualized academic and wellness support. The school specific funding allocations were determined by the number of students demonstrating need on standardized academic and wellness assessments at each school. This funding supports students by providing:
All FCPS schools have created School Improvement Plans that are posted on the FCPS web site and provide detailed information on how the school is using their ESSER funding to support academic and wellness recovery. All schools are engaging in a quarterly reflection process to update their school improvement and spending plans to ensure supports are meeting the immediate needs of students. Staff across the Departments of Instructional Services, Special Services, and School Improvement and Support are providing schools with resources and guidance on Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions to enhance services to students who still need academic recovery support.
Multicultural and Language Resources for Families
November was National Family Engagement Month. The Office of Family and School Partnerships would like to remind families of some resources available to them:
- Bilingual community liaisons support student registrars by providing families with information about school and community services offered in Fairfax County. Once registered at a school, families can contact their family liaison for assistance.
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Early literacy programs are available to Fairfax County residents for parents of children up to 5 years old. These programs help prepare children for school and build confidence in parents as their child’s first teacher. They also help parents become active partners in their child’s education. Programs are available in African-Heritage, Arabic, Spanish, and Korean.
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Parent Information Phone Lines are available in eight languages for parents who speak languages other than English.
- A Multilingual Family Podcast is produced by the offices of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Family and School Partnerships, and Professional Learning and Equity. It covers important information for parents in English, Spanish, Arabic, and Korean.
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ESOL services are available in Fairfax County for students as well as adults. Information on spring classes will be posted in March 2023.
Additional resources are available on the Family Engagement webpage.
Hiring: Bus Drivers and Food & Nutrition Services
Upcoming School Bus Driver Job Fairs
Join one of the upcoming FCPS school bus driver job fairs and learn how to become part of the FCPS team! The job fairs will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on:
In addition to a $3,000 signing bonus for all new drivers, FCPS also offers competitive pay, excellent retirement plans, health and dental plans, paid training, and other benefits.
Learn more about upcoming school bus driver job fairs. If you have questions, please call 571-423-3000 or email driveforfcps@fcps.edu.
Food and Nutrition Services
From Food Services van drivers to managers-in-training, FCPS has many job opportunities related to food and nutrition. Benefits include paid training and school holidays off, and some positions offer full-time benefits for part-time work. See Food and Nutrition Services job opportunities to apply. Call 703-813-4800 with any questions.
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Calendar Reminder: Winter Break
As a reminder, winter break will take place from December 19 to January 2. To ensure a restful break, FCPS has asked that no homework be assigned during this time. Teachers may assign long-
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range assignments in the weeks ahead of the break, allowing students to practice time management skills, but no assignments will be due immediately following the break. We look forward to welcoming students back in the new year.
Classes will resume on Tuesday, January 3, 2023. See the complete 2022-23 School Year Calendar.
Upcoming School Board Meetings
Regular School Board Meetings (Luther Jackson Middle School)
- January 12, 2023 at 7 p.m.
- January 26, 2023 at 7 p.m.
Work Sessions (Gatehouse Administration Center)
- January 3, 2023 at 12:30 p.m.
- January 10, 2023 at 12:30 p.m.
- January 17, 2023 @ 11 a.m.
Public Hearings (Luther Jackson Middle School)
- January 12, 2023 at 6 p.m. (CIP)
- January 23, 2023 at 6 p.m. (Budget)
All meetings will be broadcast live on Channel 99 (Verizon channel 11) and on the FCPS website. The meetings are recorded for future viewing and posted to the FCPS School Board YouTube channel.
Visit the community participation webpage to sign up to speak at a regular meeting or public hearing.
For our families who are receiving this newsletter for the first time, welcome! You should already be receiving FCPS This Week, which has important information about Fairfax County Public Schools. Be sure to subscribe to your child’s school newsletter, as well. If you are not receiving those, make sure you go to the News Your Choose site where you can manage your subscription preferences.
The views contained within this newsletter reflect the views of the individual school board member who is the publisher of this newsletter and may not reflect the views of the Fairfax County School Board.
© Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax County, Virginia
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