Save the Dates
October 1, 2025 - Students Wear Blue to Show Support for Military Connected Families
October 2, 2025 - Holiday - Yom Kippur
October 14 & October 15th - Picture Day through PE Classes
October 20, 2025 - Holiday - Diwali
2025-2026 School Year Calendar
2025-2026 Cooper MS Events Calendar
School Picture Day is Coming!
📅 Date: Tuesday October 14th & Wednesday October 15th 2025
🛒 Pre-order Online: https://shop.imagequix.com/g1001271129
📸 Images Available: Approximately two-three weeks after picture day
📧 Questions about Ordering? Email us at underclass@vosphoto.com
Kiss and Ride Reminder
We are now a month into the school year, and we want to thank you for your partnership in making our morning arrival a safe and efficient process. Your cooperation with our designated Kiss and Ride system has been a huge help in ensuring students get to school safely and on time.
However, we need your help to address a persistent and dangerous issue. We are still seeing students being dropped off on Dead Run, Georgetown Pike, and Balls Hill Road. This practice is extremely unsafe for students, our staff, and other drivers. Pulling over on these busy roads and making unsafe three-point turns creates significant traffic hazards and puts everyone at risk.
We also ask that you be a good neighbor to our community members on Dead Run. Please do not use their private driveways as a drop-off location or a turnaround. We want to be respectful of our neighbors’ property and privacy.
We ask that you partner with us to ensure the safety of all students by using our designated Kiss and Ride location. This is the only safe and approved place for student drop-off. By working together, we can ensure a smooth and secure start to every school day.
Blue Star Welcome Week
September 27th - October 5th
Blue Star Welcome Week is a nationwide initiative to ensure military families feel a sense of belonging to their school communities. Fairfax County Public Schools will intentionally celebrate and acknowledge Blue Star Welcome Week. Every year, approximately 600,000 military-connected families relocate, and schools are a primary way they get integrated into their new location. Most of these families move to new duty stations, while some transition out of the military and others transition in. Most of these moves take place over the summer, and Fairfax County Public Schools is committed to ensuring our military families feel welcomed and a sense of belonging to their local community.
If your student is military-connected and has not yet been identified as such, please complete and submit the SS/SE 329: Identification of Military Connected Students form to smdossmann@fcps.edu.
Blue Star Welcome Week is an opportunity for our community to welcome our military-connected families and show them our appreciation for their service and sacrifices. Throughout the week, FCPS will help ease their transition through events, messages, actions of welcome, and opportunities to make meaningful connections. Please help us welcome our military families during Blue Star Welcome Week, September 27 - October 5, 2025, and throughout the year! #BlueStarWelcomeWeekFCPS
Cooper Families on the Go
As a Purple Star Designated School, we have multiple events for our military families and students throughout the school year. In addition to our military affiliated families, we would like to be inclusive of families of the State Department, FBI, diplomats, and others that move/transition frequently. We plan to share information about upcoming "Cooper Families on the Go" events, best practices, and serve as a support network for one another. If you would like to included in these events and / or receive emails for this group, please fill out this google form.
Community Service Information
Please remind your students about the FCPS expectation that they will need to complete fifteen (15) Community Service hours by the end of 8th grade. This is a combined amount from 7th grade and 8th grades. The attached slide deck (Google slides or PDF) provides instructions about service hours, how to register or log hours on x2Vol, and how to join the Schoology Group for more resources. Teachers can send the PDF version to parents. For additional questions, our Community Service liaison is Pam Konde, pgkonde@fcps.edu.
Take the K-12 School Start Times Survey
FCPS is continuing to explore options for adjusting school start times, with the primary goal of starting the middle school day at 8 a.m. or later. In order to minimize any cost for this project, elementary and high school start times would need to shift as well.
Providing feedback opportunities for the community is a critical part of this effort. Since 2024, FCPS’ consultant has hosted five community forums and administered two surveys. That feedback helped in developing two options for adjusting school start times. The options are designed to support student well-being, align with research, and balance transportation logistics.
We invite you to provide input on the two options by taking a short survey. This voluntary survey will close on Tuesday, September 30. Visit the FCPS website for more information on adjusting school start times.
Signs of Suicide (SOS Screening)
Parents/Caregivers of our 7th graders
Please refer to the Cooper e-Notify sent to you on September 22nd with important details about our upcoming Signs of Suicide (SOS) screening on Wednesday, October 15th, 2025.
Fall Full-Time AAP Screening
Parents and teachers interested in referring students for the fall full-time AAP screening must submit a full-time AAP referral form to the school’s Advanced Academic Resource Teacher (AART) by October 15, 2025. Fall 2025 screening is only available to students newly enrolled in FCPS after January 1, 2025, who were not screened in Spring 2025.
For information pertaining to the screening process, testing and identification timeline or identification and placement, please contact Rachel Wolfe at rawolfe1@fcps.edu.
GET2GREEN Assistance Needed
PARENTS: Do you have a standard sized large cooler (40-60ish quarts) in relatively good shape looking for a new home? We are looking for a cooler for our food sharing table. Contact Leslie Psaltis - lmpsaltis@fcps.edu -if you can help!
Students are encouraged to donate unopened and uneaten food to their fellow classmates. At the end of the week, the remaining food items will be donated to a local food bank. Food sharing can reduce food waste in the cafeteria and help address food insecurity concerns.
Cross County (XC) Information
XC season is just around the corner! Thank you to everyone who has signed up and submitted a physical. If you haven’t signed up yet and would like to compete this fall, there is still time! Start by registering using the FCPS google form included in this message. Then submit an up-to-date sports physical to jtkaden@fcps.edu.
Link - MS Fall Sports Registration
Link - MS Sports Physical
Link - Emergency Care Form
First Practice Monday - 9/29 A Session 2:30 – 3:30
Weekly Practice Mondays and Thursdays A Session
Meet Schedule:
Meet 1 - October 18 @ Twain MS 7:30 AM
Meet 2 October 25 Franklin MS 10:00 AM
Meet 3 November 1 Herndon MS 10:00 AM
Meet 4 November 8 Carson 7:30 AM
Meet 5 November 15th (District Championships) Liberty MS 7:30 AM & 10:00 AM
World Languages Credit by Exam
This year's World Languages Credit by Exam will be administered at each FCPS middle, high, and secondary school. The World Languages Credit by Exam is an optional test for students in grades 7-12 who can speak and write (type) proficiently in a language other than English. Based on the results of the exam, they can earn 1, 2, and/or 3 passing world language credits. If that language is one of the languages listed below, consider registering your student for the World Languages Credit by Exam!
The 2025 World Languages Credit by Exam will be administered at Cooper Middle School on November 18th and 20th. Students will be assigned a test date once registration closes.
Registration closes on Friday, October 17, at 4 p.m. Late registrations will not be accepted.
Please contact your student’s school counselor to register for the exam.
More information, including the list of languages offered on the exam, how to prepare for the test, and how to register is available online.
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7th Grade
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8th Grade
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Keyosha Lewis (A-K)
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Laura Wiley (A-K)
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Jill Donnelly (L-Z)
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Michele Saint Germain (L-Z)
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Join a Community Conversation with Superintendent Dr. Reid
Your voice matters, and Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid wants to hear from you! At FCPS, parents are partners, working with us to set our students up for long-term success at school and in life.
A series of Community Conversations will be held across the school division to discuss current challenges and future opportunities. These events are also a chance for you to share your thoughts and ask questions. Events are planned for the following dates:
- Monday, September 29, from 6:30-7:30 p.m., at McNair Upper Elementary School
- Friday, October 3, from 6:30-7:30 p.m., at Annandale Terrace Elementary School
- Friday, December 5, from 6:30-7:30 p.m., at Churchill Road Elementary School
- Tuesday, December 9, from 6:30-7:30 p.m., at Fairhill Elementary School
- Thursday, December 11, from 6:30-7:30 p.m., at Bull Run Elementary School
Registration links will be shared soon. Childcare and interpretation services will be provided. Events are open to all.
Note from Langley HS:
Langley HS Football Games
Reminder that if your child is attending a Langley HS Football game, they must be accompanied by an adult. If your students try to attend without at least one adult, they will be turned away at the ticket booth. Also, there are no backpacks/food/drink allowed in the stadium. We love when Cooper Cougars attend our games and hope they are good representatives of our community. Lastly, at the conclusion of the game, all spectators are expected to leave Langley in a timely fashion.
GO SAXONS!
News from Cooper Clinic
Vision and hearing screening will be held on Tuesday, October 21st and Wednesday, October 22nd, for all 7th graders during their PE block. Students who are new to FCPS will also be screened on these dates. The purpose of screening is to identify students who need further evaluation due to difficulty seeing the screening chart or hearing the screening tones. If your child wears glasses, please be sure that glasses are at school on screening day.
Parents will be notified by letter if screening results indicate that further evaluation is needed. Prompt follow-up with your health care provider is recommended as vision and hearing difficulties can interfere with learning.
If you would like to assist as a volunteer with the screening process, please register through Volunteer FCPS. Click “Learn More,” then “Sign Up” to create a profile, watch the orientation video, and complete the application.
SIS Progress Reports
Did you know you can receive weekly progress reports for your middle and high school children via email? Log in to your SIS ParentVUE account, click My Account, and confirm your primary email address is there. If not, add it and click Update Account. Once confirmed, you can activate the reports and set your preferences. Reports for all your middle and high school children will be included in one email.
Learn more at https://www.fcps.edu/family-resources/technology/student-information-system-sis/sis-parentvue/sis-parent-weekly-progress
Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteers are a vital part of Cooper Middle School, and we value their time and dedication. To enhance student safety, FCPS has updated its volunteer process to include sex offender registry checks and, in some cases, background checks.
We invite all who are interested in becoming a volunteer to register through Volunteer FCPS. Click “Learn More,” then “Sign Up” to create a profile, watch the orientation video, and complete the application.
All volunteers — including field trip chaperones, book fair helpers and classroom assistants — must be registered. Those working unsupervised with students will also need a background check.
We know these changes may be new for long-time volunteers, but they help ensure every student feels safe and supported.
Reminder: All volunteers and visitors must sign in using the visitor kiosk and scan their ID. For more details, visit the Volunteer FCPS FAQ page.
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📚 Order Your Yearbook Today!
🗓 Deadline: November 30, 2025
🌐 Order Online: YearbookOrderCenter.com
🏫 School Order Number: 5267
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Attention Parents!
We need photos of your students and their Cooper friends for the yearbook. We are specifically looking for photos from last summer, sports, weekends, holidays, first day of school, and students with their families.
Please email any photos you would want to see in the yearbook to Cooperyearbook@gmail.com ASAP. THANK YOU!
From the Yearbook Staff.
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