Glasgow Parents and Community:
Greetings! I hope this message finds each of you well. This Saturday, it was good hanging out on University of Maryland’s campus for a dedication of the new Agora Building. Also, I attended the Terps men's lacrosse game against Syracuse. I am finishing up a book called The Second Mountain and making an attempt to get back on some exercise workout schedule. Not sure if any of you can relate *smile*.
HOOP IT UP NIGHT IS BACK! The 23rd Annual Students vs Staff Basketball game is approaching fast on April 28th, 2023 from 530 – 9 pm. Tryouts occur February 21 (8th Grade), February 22 (7th Grade), and February 23 (6th Grade) after school. Practices begin March 6th after school. Student teams will be coached by players of the boys and girls basketball teams from Justice High School. Don’t miss it! New Date for INTERNATIONAL NIGHT is March 24th from 5-9PM.
The Fairfax County School Board approved a calendar for the 2023-24, 2024-25, and 2025-26 school years at their February 9 meeting. Learn more about the approved calendar. The first day of the 2023-24 school year will be Monday, August 21, and the last day will be Wednesday, June 12. Developing a school year calendar is a balancing act, involving multiple factors that must be considered. Community input is one of those factors, and we appreciate our community for being involved in the calendar development process.
Wednesday was School Resource Officer (SRO) Appreciation Day. We are so lucky to have Officer Victor Nardone at Glasgow Middle School. Everyday he’s in our hallways, cafeteria and outside interacting with our students. He’s regularly in the hallways chatting with kids, and he has built some good relationships. If you see Officer Nardone consider introducing yourself and saying hi. Lastly, a reminder that Monday is Presidents’ Day and there is no school that day. Enjoy the long weekend, and we’ll see everyone on Tuesday. Have a great weekend, and as always, reach out to Student Services or Administration if you have any questions.
The After School Program is proud to announce the return of iCAN Bike. iCAN Bike is a program in partnership with iCAN to work with students with disabilities learn how to ride a two-wheel bike independently. iCAN Bike will take place March 13- 17th, 2023. Students must meet certain criteria in order to participate. If you’re interested in participating, please contact me for more information, please attachments.
Humbly,
Victor L. Powell, Principal
Contact Information:
Email: vlpowell@fcps.edu
Twitter: @VictorLeonPowe1
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As a reminder, all schools and offices will be closed on Monday, February 20th for the Presidents Day holiday. Learn more about Presidents Day in Britannica.com. Classes will resume on Tuesday, February 21. See the complete 2022-23 school year calendar
Food Distribution Event
Glasgow Middle School and Communities in Schools are holding a food distribution event for all families who would benefit from additional food. The food distribution event will take place during the school day on 2/24/2023 from 8am-2pm, and food will be given out on a first come first serve basis. If you are interested, please contact our CIS coordinator Calvin Anderson Jr (calvin@cisofnova.org) or our Family Liaisons, Ms. Donovan or Ms. Nafisa.
Math Counts Club
MathCounts is a national organization that promotes engaging mathematics for middle school age children. MathCounts is a Glasgow club, a national competition, and a national video challenge. At Glasgow, MathCounts meets after school every Tuesday during the academic block. We play strategy-based games, complete mathematical challenges, and practice for competition. Our club is large and very active! In early February, 68 schools gathered to compete in our regional competition at Chantilly High School. We fielded a team of 4 students to compete in the local competition as well as one individual to compete in individual rounds. Our region is the NOVA Chapter which brings high levels of competition to the event. Our team scored in the “highly commendable “ range and was made up of Algebra 2 and Geometry students: Liam Cowan, Graham Martin, Joshua Vincent Obiar, Elaina Wi, and Noah Zekarius. Elaina Wi and Liam Cowan were the school’s highest scores, also scoring in the highly commendable range. Our individual competitor, Joshua Vincent Obiar also scored in the highly commendable range. We are very proud of these competitors and appreciate the donation of their time on a Saturday to represent Glasgow in such an amazing way! Stay tuned to hear about our Video Challenge submission, Math Middle School Musical.
If you are interested in joining Math Counts at Glasgow, just sign up for it on Tuesdays after school and join Ms. Millsap and Mr. Chen in Room F205 for the fun! Sixth graders are encouraged to attend.
Celebrating 2nd Quarter Honor Roll
We are proud of the hard work students have been doing so far this year in all of their classes and we look forward to celebrating students who have earned either All A or A/B Honor Roll. All A and A/B Honor Roll Certificates will be handed out in Panther Time on February 24th.
Please congratulate students on all of their hard work!
College Partnership Program - recruitment window now open.
The College Partnership Program (CPP) is an enrichment program that supports students as they explore, apply to and enroll in college. Students attend monthly school-based meetings focused on academic advising, college visits, parent engagement and preparation beyond high school. Students who participate have the opportunity to visit colleges, explore careers, attend SAT prep courses, and attend a three-day summer college experience. CPP is designed to systematically mitigate the impact of barriers to access, opportunity, and attainment and support students who are from populations that are historically underrepresented on college campuses including:
- Students who are the first in family to attend college in the U.S
- Black or African American students
- Hispanic students, of one or more race
- Students with disabilities
- English Learners
- Economically disadvantaged students
Attached please find flier in English and in Spanish with all the necessary information:
College Success-CPP Recruitment Flyer- English.pdf
College Success-CPP Recruitment Flyer- Spanish.pdf
The application will close on March 10, 2022. Here is the link to the online application CPP Application 2023-24. Students will have to access the link from their FCPS account. Parents will not have access. If you would like more information, please contact Mr. Craig Small, csmall@fcps.edu.
February 15 is School Resource Officer Appreciation Day. Thank you to all our SROs for working hard to keep our schools safe every day!
Student Vue and Parent Vue
All FCPS students have a Student Vue account. All student schedules are active and up to date in SIS Student Vue and SIS Parent Vue. If you do not have a SIS Parent Vue account, we strongly encourage you to sign up for an account. You can find directions on how to do so at this link: https://www.fcps.edu/resources/technology/student-information-system-sis-fcps/sis-parent-account-registration.
Once you have signed up for an account, you’ll need an activation code - which we will work as quickly as we can to provide to you. You can find a video that provides information on how to use SIS Parent Vue and all that you will be able to access with your account here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLwkkemipws.
International Night
Hello, Glasgow Community!
Please join us celebrate our diverse cultural community by participating in the International Night! We are hoping to have Food, Performances, and Art/Objects that showcase various cultures from around the world. This event will not happen without your participation, so please sign up and join in any way you can!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e094aaba92eaaf85-international#/
Kiss and Ride
We have many families who choose to drop off and pick up students at school. We ask that you please use the kiss and ride lane and do not double park in our parking lot or the kiss and ride lane to drop off or pick up students. In order to keep the flow of traffic moving along and to maintain safety, we ask that you pull your cars up and stop at the locations our monitors direct to before allowing your child to exit your vehicle. We often have a long line of traffic waiting behind you and we want everyone to get through the line quickly and safely. Please be sure students have all of their belongings ready to exit car doors onto the sidewalk. If you need to enter the building, please find a spot to park in our lot. Most importantly, please maintain a safe speed - we have students and staff members who are crossing the street to enter our building. We want to be sure that everyone does their part to keep Glasgow safe. Thank you so much for your cooperation.
Calendar
The School Board approved a calendar for the 2023-2024, 2024-2025, and 2025-2026 school years at the February 9th School Board meeting. The approved calendar is an amended version of the draft BLUE calendar.
I appreciate the time and effort taken by our community to respond to the survey which included the 4 options: Blue, Orange, Green and Purple – each for the next three school years. At its closing, 2,748 individuals responded to some part of the survey from the Mason District. The feedback regarding the Blue calendars resulted in the following:
- 71% (341 of 479 respondents) indicated the calendar did not have sufficient 5-day weeks;
- 83% (1009 of 1216 respondents) indicated a 2-week Winter Break was preferred;
- 56% (1258 of 2247 respondents) indicated the start dates of Aug 21, 2023, Aug 19, 2024 and Aug 18, 2025 met expectations;
- 55% (79 of 143 respondents) indicated the number of instructional days did not meet their expectations.
Because the calendar presented for the Board’s vote did not align with the feedback from the Mason District families, I did not vote in support of the amended BLUE calendar. However, the calendar did pass with a vote of 7-5.
The Board is scheduled for action on proposed follow-on motions which will be addressed at the Next Regular Business Meeting on February 23, 2023. I will be seconding a motion for the development of a calendar policy to be established prior to any future calendar discussions. Such a policy would serve as a framework by which factors impacting the calendar are identified and prioritized.
Dr. Reid presented the FY 2024 Proposed Budget at the regular School Board meeting on January 12, 2023. The Fiscal Year 2024 Proposed Budget for the School Operating Fund totals $3.5 billion. The proposed budget includes an increase of $249.6 million, or 7.6 percent, over last year’s budget.
The Proposed Budget focuses on several key areas:
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Proposed increases in employee compensation:
- 3% Market Scale Adjustment (MSA) - $80.9 million
- Step Increase for eligible employees - $58.2 million;
- 1% Retention Bonus for eligible employees - $19.9 million;
- Step Extension for all scales - $4.3 million.
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Investments that close the achievement gap for all students:
- Equitable Access Literacy Plan - $15 million;
- Achievement Gap Closing Strategies - $6 million;
- Cybersecurity - $3.5 million;
- Early Childhood Expansion - $2 million;
- Employee Background Checks - $1 million;
- Middle School Athletics - $0.6 million;
- FCPS Lighthouse Schools Pilot - $0.5 million;
- Safety and Security - $0.4 million
The School Board held Budget Work Sessions on January 17th and January 24th to discuss the Superintendent’s Proposed FY 2024 Budget.
My priorities continue to center around the allocations of staffing and resources based on the needs of our schools. In addition, I remain concerned about the recruitment and retention of teachers in our Title 1 schools and of special education teachers. To that end, I have posed the questions below for further exploration by staff and the Board.
- Survey WABE participants to determine if divisions provide additional pay or benefits (compensation) for Title 1 teachers to assist in teacher retention at Title 1 schools. If WABE participants are not providing incentives, research school divisions nationally to identify incentives being offered to stem teacher attrition at hard to staff schools.
- Survey WABE participants to determine if divisions are providing additional pay or benefits (compensation) for special education teachers due to the critical shortage. If WABE participants are not providing incentives, research school divisions nationally to identify incentives being offered to retain special education teachers.
- What would be the cost to provide a stipend at interim periods, (i.e. 10 days, 20 days etc.) to IAs serving as classroom substitutes?
- What would be the cost to provide all Title 1 schools family liaisons 1.0 FTE contracts?
There are many important issues in the Superintendent’s proposal and I urge you to review the documents provided. More information on the FY 2024 Proposed Budget is available online.
Next steps in the budget process:
- February 21 Fairfax County Executive releases FY 2024 Advertised Budget Plan
- February 23 School Board Adopts FY 2024 Advertised Budget
- February 28 Joint Budget Meeting between School Board and County Board of Supervisors
History Standards
As previously mentioned, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) recently proposed major changes to History and Social Studies learning standards. After significant public feedback, the VDOE removed the documents from their website.
On January 5, 2023, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow delivered a draft revision of the commonwealth’s K-12 history standards to the state Board of Education. The proposed 2023 History and Social Science Standards of Learning incorporate content from earlier drafts and include new content to foster a more complete story about how the past has shaped the Commonwealth, the nation and the world. On February 2, 2023, the VDOE accepted the proposed standards on first review.
Public comment regarding the proposed standards are being accepted through March 21, 2023 via public hearings or the online public comment form. For information about the review process and public hearing details, refer to the VDOE History and Social Science Standards of Learning Revision website.
iCAN Bike Program
The After School Program is proud to announce the return of iCAN Bike. iCAN Bike is a program in partnership with iCAN to work with students with disabilities learn how to ride a two-wheel bike independently. iCAN Bike will take place March 13- 17th, 2023. Students must meet certain criteria in order to participate. If you’re interested in participating, please contact Mr. Williams for more information, please attachments.
iCan Bike ASP Rider Recruitment Guide.pdf
iCan Bike ASP Rider Registration Form-2022-2023.pdf
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