WPHS Winter Break Updates

Fairfax County Public Schools sent this bulletin at 12/28/2023 11:03 AM EST

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Para leer este boletín en otros idiomas, visite nuestro sitio web.
School Seal

Table of Contents:

  • Administration Updates
  • Curriculum Night / Rising 9th Grade Family Night / Electives Open House

Happy Winter Break Wolverines! 

I am happy to announce our two new Assistant Principals joining us in January:

  • Janet Babic will be joining the West Potomac administration as an Assistant Principal, serving the English and ESOL departments, the Library, as well as students with the last names A-Carc.  Ms. Babic’s educational career began at West Potomac High School in 2006, when she completed her student teaching.  She then spent 12 years as a social studies and leadership teacher at Hayfield Secondary.  Ms. Babic returned to West Potomac in 2018 as the School Based Technology Specialist and has spent the last five years supporting teachers and students with instructional technology.  Ms. Babic holds a bachelor’s degree from Penn State University, a masters in curriculum and instruction from George Washington University, and a masters in administration and supervision from George Mason University.  She lives in Lorton with her husband Chris, and two children, Kenny and Ginny.  She is thrilled to be able to serve the West Potomac community as an assistant principal.  She will start her new position on January 2.
  • Katie Raffaelli will also be joining the West Potomac Administration as an Assistant Principal, supervising World Languages, supporting Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), as well as students with the last names Fot-Kh.  Ms. Raffaelli grew up in Northern Virginia and is a graduate from Alexandria City High (formerly TC Williams). During her career in FCPS she has worked at Edison High School, Annandale High School, and Woodson High School.  Since 2015, Ms. Raffaelli has been at Hayfield Secondary where she supported students, families and teachers as the Lead Middle School Counselor and Middle School Test Coordinator. Ms. Raffaelli holds a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University, a masters degree in public relations from Syracuse University, a masters degree in School Counseling from Marymount University, and completed the Educational Leadership program at Longwood University. She lives in Arlington with her boyfriend and three dogs. She is thrilled to be joining the Wolverine family!  Her tentative start date is Tuesday January 16. 

Wishing all of you a restful remainder of winter break.  We look forward to seeing all our Wolverines in 2024!

Take care,

Jessica Statz

WPHS Principal

Curriculum Night

Rising 9th Grade Family Night / Curriculum Night /

Electives Open House / Academic Advising 2024-25

10th-12th Curriculum Night / Rising 9th Grade Family Night / Electives Open House

  • On January 9 (snow dates 11th and 17th) we will have Curriculum Night / Rising 9th Grade Family Night / Electives Open House.
    • 6-6:50pm
      • Rising 9th Grade Presentation – Springbank Auditorium
      • Rising 10th-12th Grade Presentation – Kogelman Theatre
    • 7-8:15pm
      • Break out sessions by department
      • Electives Open House in Cafeteria
    • This is a great opportunity to learn about courses and plan for 24-25 Course Selection.
    • We will start academic advising in January so that we are prepared for FCPS Staffing meetings the end of March. Below are the dates school counselors will be meeting with students.
      • Rising 9th graders – January 16-19 - @Sandburg Middle School
      • Rising 12th graders – January 29- Feb 9 – through English 11 classes
      • Rising 11th graders – February 12-23 – through PE 10
      • Rising 10th graders – Feb 20 – March 1 – through PE 9
    • Our Academic Advising / Course Selection website will go live January 8 – stay tuned for more information!
  • In addition, West Potomac 9th-11th graders will receive information after winter break about the January 12th in person electives fair.  Students will be able to choose three electives they’d like to learn more about.  They’ll receive a schedule to visit those classes during advisory and on January 12 our period schedule will be 1, 7, 5, 3 and we’ll finish the day visiting elective sessions.  There will also be quiet studying sessions if students already know what electives they want to select.  Then on January 17 during advisory students will review a video from Mr. McMahon going over the course selection process.  More information to come in 2024!