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Dear Island Creek Families,
We wanted to take a moment to express how proud we are of our Crocs! Students have done an outstanding job learning the rules, procedures, and expectations of Island Creek. Their positive attitudes and willingness to learn have made for a smooth and successful start to the year. Thank you for your support at home in helping them get off to such a great start.
- Field Trip Chaperones are now considered Level 3 volunteers and must register to volunteer.
- School will be closed this Tuesday, September 9, for Special Elections
- Our 4th Annual Croc Rock-N-Run will be held on Friday, September 19. This is a special event for the entire school and families. Thank you to the Island Creek PTA, Christine Mehrtash, and Lindsey Barber for their partnership with the run. You can register and set up your students' fundraising page and learn more about school-wide goals here: https://app.givebacks.gives/croc2025
Have a wonderful weekend, and we hope you spend some time with a great book!
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Warmly,
Jen Fallert, Principal
Karen Baxter, Assistant Principal
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❤️Questions?
❤️Suggestions?
❤️Concerns?
Should you have questions, suggestions, or concerns, please reach out to your child's teacher. Additionally, the following staff are here to support and may be reached via email or by calling the front office at 571-642-6300.
Nikki Bohnert, School Counselor (anbohnert@fcps.edu)
Sarah Trevino, School Counselor (smtrevino@fcps.edu)
Amy Garcia, Family Liaison (ajgarcia@fcps.edu)
Jeremy Cox, Military Family Life Counselor (jrcox@fcps.edu)
Jermaine Perkins, School Psychologist (jtperkins@fcps.edu)
Allison DeGregorio, Social Worker (amdegregorio@fcps.edu)
Melissa Lord, Public Health Nurse (mlord@fcps.edu)
Karen Baxter, Assistant Principal (kpbaxter@fcps.edu)
Jen Fallert, Principal (jrfallert@fcps.edu)
Please join us to connect with other families and learn about school and community resources available for your family. Meet Island Creek’s Child and Youth Military and Family Life Counselor, the FCPS Military-Connected Youth & Families specialist, and more!
Questions? Please contact Family Liaison Amy Garcia, ajgarcia@fcps.edu, 571-642-6307.
. *All attendees must check in at the main office. Please bring your Driver’s License.
🐊 Mark your calendars for Friday, September 19*!
This year, the PTA and Island Creek Administration have teamed up to direct funds toward exciting new initiatives that support our students and staff.
📩 Look for a printed flyer from the PTA and a digital flyer from your child's teacher, which will include all the details.
👉 Register and set up your students' fundraising page and learn more about our school-wide goals here: https://app.givebacks.gives/croc2025
🙌 Parents and Guardians, sign up to volunteer during the event: https://tinyurl.com/Croc2025Volunteer
📣 Families can also register to attend and cheer on their student: https://tinyurl.com/ParentsCrocRocknRun
💚 Want to make an even bigger impact? Join the ICES PTA today—just $10 and takes less than 2 minutes: https://tinyurl.com/PTA25membership
*The rain date for this event is September 26.
📅 Date: Monday, September 22, 2025
🛒 Pre-order Online: https://shop.imagequix.com/g1001268861
📸 Images Available: Approximately two to three weeks after picture day
📧 Questions about Ordering? Email Victor O'Neill Studios at underclass@vosphoto.com
Please remind your child that FCPS is phone-free! For elementary school students, this means:
- Smart watches that serve a dual purpose may be worn, but the phone features (texting, Internet viewing, and calls) are to be turned off when phone use is prohibited.
- Cell phones and personal devices (airpods, earbuds, headsets, other items connected to the internet) must be off and away for the entire school day.
Learn more about FCPS’ cell phone and personal device policy.
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Early Release Wednesdays (12:20) for school-age students
If you’d like to learn more about the FCPS Advanced Academics Program (AAP), please plan to attend our AAP Overview Family Session on Thursday, September 18, at 6 p.m. in the Island Creek Library.
In the meantime, you can find details about the Full-Time AAP referral process, forms, and timelines on the FCPS AAP website.
We have had a lot of fun getting kids signed up to participate in the Band and Strings Instrumental Programs! It was great to see all of the families that came out to the Hayfield Petting Zoo (pictured below).
Registration is now closed, and lessons will began this week for 5th and 6th graders, and next week (Sept. 8) for 4th graders. Please try to have your instruments and all supplies by your first lesson.
Many of you are renting your instruments from a music store. Some of the recommended music stores are Foxes Music, Music and Arts, Day Violins, Potomac Music, Encore Strings, and Sweetwater. If you qualify for a reduced-fee instrument, please reach out to the Band/Strings teachers. We look forward to making beautiful music with you!
Please feel free to email the Band and Strings Teachers with any questions you may have.
Strings Teacher: Amber Hicks, anhicks@fcps.edu
Band Teacher: Lela Hamilton, lhamilton@fcps.edu
Lunch with your Child(ren)
To ensure school staff have time to teach and reinforce cafeteria routines and procedures, we will be delaying the visitation of family members during lunch until Monday, September 15.
FCPS has launched a new system to help ensure student and staff safety. Effective immediately:
- If you plan to volunteer more than twice this school year or chaperone a field trip, you must register in Volunteer FCPS.
- The process involves multiple steps and cannot be completed last minute, so we encourage you to start early.
Volunteer Levels
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Level 1 –Infrequent volunteers (monthly or less frequent) who are always supervised do not need a criminal background check. However, they do need a sex offender registry check, which is performed by signing in at the school's visitor kiosk.
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Level 2 – Frequent, ongoing, or regular volunteers (daily, weekly, bi-weekly) who are always supervised are subject to the same requirements as Level 1—no criminal background check, but a sex offender registry check via the kiosk is mandatory.
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Level 3- Volunteers with direct, unsupervised interaction with students must complete a criminal background check, including fingerprints and child abuse and neglect checks. This applies to roles like mentors, tutors, or field trip chaperones who are alone with students (not accompanied by an FCPS staff member) at any time during the activity.
How to Register as a Volunteer:
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Review FCPS Volunteer Guidelines – All volunteers must read the FCPS Volunteer Protocols before getting started.
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Register in the FCPS Volunteer Portal
- Select “Schools”
- Search for Island Creek Elementary School or
click here
- Sign up for available opportunities (You can register as a general volunteer to start).
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Choose Your Volunteer Level (NEW) – If you might volunteer at a higher level later, we recommend registering as Level 3 now.
All volunteers (new or returning) must:
- Register in Volunteer FCPS
- Complete volunteer orientation
- Sign in through the visitor kiosk at each visit
- Complete a background check if required
For full details, visit the Volunteer FCPS website or contact Island Creek's Volunteer Point of Contact, Ms. Kathleen Black (knblack@fcps.edu)
Field Trip Chaperones are now considered Level 3 volunteers and must register to volunteer.
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) provides a comprehensive, sequential Family Life Education (FLE) program for students in grades kindergarten through grade twelve. Instruction is seen as a partnership among parents and guardians, the school, and the community in supporting the learning essential to the development of strong families, positive relationships, and a healthy community.
Parents/guardians may choose to opt their child out of all or part of the Family Life Education program. Students who are opted out are provided with age-appropriate, nonpunitive alternative health instruction, and every effort is made to foster respect for family choices. If you wish to opt your child out of all or part of FLE for this school year, opt out forms are available in Parent Digital Consent. Paper opt-out forms are available from your child’s school. Students receiving special education services and accessing modified curriculum will receive a printed opt-out form for modified FLE lessons.
Detailed grade-level program descriptions are available online at Elementary (K-6), Middle School (7-8), and High School (9-12). FLE grade level-specific lessons and media that FCPS has streaming rights for are available for parents online in Schoology. Parents/guardians login to Schoology using the same username and password as their Student Information System (SIS) Parent account. Grade level-specific lessons are also available at the City of Fairfax Regional Library (this location does not have media). Grade level-specific lessons and media that is not streamed online are available for review at your child’s school library. Due to copyright permissions, we are unable to stream all media online.
Program questions may be addressed at your child’s school or by contacting Instructional Services at 571-423-4550 or by email to fle@fcps.edu.
Fairfax County Public Schools now uses the Naglieri General Abilities Test (NGAT) as its official ability screener/nationally normed ability assessment. This assessment will be administered in grade 2 and select students in grades 3-7 this fall. The NGAT replaces both the CogAT (formerly given in grade 2 and selected students in grades 3-7) and the NNAT3 (formerly given in grade 1) as one piece of information used when identifying students for advanced academic programs.
Since we are no longer offering the CogAT or NNAT3 for general ability testing, we cannot honor requests to retake either of these assessments. If a parent/guardian requests a retake and the student has not previously used their one-time ability test retake option, they can be offered the NGAT for the fall administration. The NGAT provides a multi-domain score, similar to the CogAT, but the test is designed to be language independent, similar to the NNAT3. All retake requests are due no later than September 30, 2025.
Please contact Island Creek's School Testing Coordinator, Ms. Karen Baxter (kpbaxter@fcps.edu), if you have any questions.
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Family and School Partnerships (FSP) will be facilitating a virtual workshop given by the Office of Special Education Procedural Support on Tuesday September 30 2025, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
The Office of Special Education Procedural Support will present information on the IEP/504 process within FCPS, provide resources to help families navigate receiving these services in accordance with the Military Interstate Compact, and answer questions from workshop participants. The presentation will be geared towards military families, and parents/guardians may submit questions beforehand.
This virtual event will be held via Zoom. To register for the workshop, as well as submit questions, please fill out this Google form by Wednesday, September 10, 2025.
FCPS uses specific terminology to describe the actions school staff and students should take to ensure safety in a variety of situations. It is important for staff, families, and students to understand what the different terms mean and how they impact school operations.
Watch this video to learn about safety terms including lockdown; secure the building; and stay put, stay tuned.
If students, staff, or families have a safety concern at school (that is not an immediate emergency), they should submit a tip to the FCPS Safety Tipline. In an emergency, please call 9-1-1.
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Do you have a child interested in joining Girl Scouts? Join us on September 16, 2025 from 6-7pm in the Cafeteria to learn about Girl Scouts at Island Creek. There will be an older troop that will lead a craft with interested girls during the meeting. RSVP here:
https://forms.gle/wxL23Aj8uWB4Jv3AA
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❤️Tuesday, September 9: School Closed (Special Elections)
❤️ Friday, September 12: Military Families Meet & Greet (8:30, Theatre)
❤️Wednesday, September 17: 3-Hour Early Release at 12:20 for school-age students
❤️Thursday, September 18: Advanced Academics Overview (6:00 PM, Library)
❤️Friday, September 19: Croc Rock-N-Run (rain date: 9/26)
❤️Monday, September 22: Picture Day!
❤️Tuesday, September 23: School Closed (Rosh Hashanah)
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