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 Hello Mustangs,
It has been a great week getting to know the amazing students and staff at South County Middle School. I’m so honored to be here temporarily; it is an impressive operation to see! Students show care and compassion for each other, and staff are working together to ensure the learning is high level in all departments. I was thrilled to hear of the successes of our Science Olympiad team at their competition last weekend; check out our website and Instagram for great pictures. We’re getting really excited for our theatre production of Seussical, Jr. February 20th-22nd, and for the PTSO basketball game coming up February 27th; both sound like Grade A entertainment! Our testing team has been working diligently to get identified students through their annual WiDA testing, and our guidance team is knee-deep in course selection season. We’re busy, but we love what we do. Thank you for sharing your children with us! Please reach out if I can be of assistance!
Jamey Chianetta | Interim Principal | South County Middle School
Calendar Reminders
Monday, February 16 - No School, President’s Day
Tuesday, February 17 - No School, Teacher Workday
Friday, February 20 - Seussical The Musical, 7:00 PM
Saturday, February 21 - Seussical The Musical, 1:00 PM & 7:00 PM
Sunday, February 22 - Seussical The Musical, 1:00 PM
South County Middle School is proud to announce that after a rigorous competition sponsored by the American Legion Post 162, three students have been recognized for their exceptional perspectives on American life.
This year, the competition was steeper than ever, with 129 students from seventh-grade English submitting entries. Each student tackled the poignant and timely prompt:
"I like living in America because..."
Out of over a hundred submissions, the American Legion Post 162 in Lorton identified three standout essays that captured the essence of the theme with clarity and passion. The students recognized for their superior writing skills are:
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Alina H.
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Luella B.
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Rina P.
Among the finalists, Rina P. was named the overall winner for her essay. In recognition of her achievement, Rina was presented with a "Certificate of Appreciation" signed by the Post Commander and the Post’s Essay Chair.
The journey doesn't end here for Rina—her essay will now move forward to represent the Lorton community at the District level competition.
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Seussical The Musical
Seussical Jr., our after-school musical, is coming on February 20, 21, and 22!
Come watch Horton the Elephant, the Cat in the Hat, and many of your favorite Dr. Seuss characters come to life on stage in this fun and exciting musical.
Be sure to buy your tickets early! All shows sold out last year. Once a show is sold out, no more tickets will be available. Buy your tickets as soon as possible so you don’t miss it 🙂
If you have any questions, please email Ms. Israel at jrisrael@fcps.edu
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Student Fasting Meal Kits
From February 18 to March 19, 2026, a Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) waiver allows students fasting during the school day to request take-home meal kits. These kits include a complete school breakfast and lunch to be eaten after the school day ends.
Important Meal Kit Information:
- Kits are charged based on a student’s meal status (Free, Reduced, or Paid).
- Students may claim one breakfast and one lunch kit per day.
- Students who eat a meal at school during the day are not eligible for a take-home kit on the same day.
- Kits are distributed at the end of the school day. Students must pick up their own kits; adults are not permitted to collect them.
Parents or guardians must submit a weekly request form via the FCPS FNS website by the deadlines:
- February 11, 2026 for week of February 18, 2026
- February 16, 2026 for the week of February 23, 2026
- February 23, 2026 for the week of March 2, 2026
- March 2, 2026 for the week of March 9, 2026
- March 9, 2026 for the week of March 16, 2026
Forms must be submitted on time to receive meal kits for the following week.
Weekly Math SOL Reviews
Students have recently started completing weekly SOL Review assignments for their math classes. Here is some key information:
- Students are permitted to use their notes, slides and information posted in Schoology, Mathspace textbook and practice questions, and other resources used in class. Students may also ask for teacher support in seminar. They may not collaborate with other students.
- Each review will count as half of a formative assignment. These assignments are in Mathspace and students should use retries before submitting their task. They do not have retries on #5 and #10.
Due dates and more detailed information is posted in your student’s Schoology course. Thanks for your support at home!
National School Breakfast Week
During National School Breakfast Week (March 2–6, 2026), Food and Nutrition Services will be running a small breakfast promotion at middle schools to encourage students to participate in school breakfast.
How the event works:
- A limited number of juice boxes at breakfast will have a hidden sticker on the bottom.
- Students who find a sticker (3 per school) will be directed to the school office for a prize.
What the school office will need to do:
- When a student presents a sticker:
- Please have the student throw away the juice box.
- Provide the student with one gift bag, which includes:
- A golden ticket (redeemable in the cafeteria for one à la carte item)
- A fruit or vegetable plushie
Tissue Donation
Cold and flu season is here. We are asking each family to send in two boxes of tissues to help our school during this time. We have already used most of the tissues that were brought in at the start of the school year. Thank you for helping keep our school healthy.
We have two food drives left for this academic year. If you are not currently signed up to donate would you please consider doing so? It’s super easy - you sign up on line, we drop off a bag to your house and then you set it out the morning of an event for pick up!
Our school partners with Food For Neighbors to help feed our local students who deal with food insecurity outside of school hours. Even in an area as wealthy as Northern Virginia, one in four kids are struggling with hunger.
Food For Neighbors is a local organization addressing this problem by collecting food from our community via the Red Bag Program and donating directly to our local schools. The food is then distributed to the students every week through our food pantry.
We hope you will consider participating in the Red Bag food collection program. You can make a difference in a local student’s life by simply adding a few extra items to your shopping cart every two months.
Here’s how it works:
- Request a reusable Red Bag here and Food For Neighbors will drop it off at your house.
- Fill the Red Bag with food items that are listed on a tag on that bag.
- Put the Red Bag outside your front door in the morning on the next bag collection day.
Collection dates are also listed on the bag tag. And don’t worry, FFN will send reminders.
Your Red Bag will be picked up from your house, the food sorted at a local school and delivered directly to our school food pantry. As an added benefit, you can get a tax deduction for the food that you donate!
With your help, even more kids can be fed. For more information on the Red Bag program click here. Check out what items FFN collects as they are targeted to ready-made, individually packaged food items that students and teens can eat on-the-go or with little preparation.
As we partner with FFN, other critical volunteer opportunities include: Driving to pick up filled Red Bags and Sorting the donated food during the Red Bag Day events. Visit the FFN FAQ page to find out more and to sign up to volunteer in these two very important roles. These are great opportunities for our students to receive volunteer service hours, too.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Karen McGuinness at southcountyec@foodforneighbors.org
Thanks for helping us provide food to students who need that extra support!
Hunger Is Closer Than You Think | www.foodforneighbors.org
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Middle School Transition Fair
Future Planning for Elementary and Middle School Students in Special Education
For families, caregivers, and educators of students receiving special education services.
March 4, 2026 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Luther Jackson Middle School 3020 Gallows Road Falls Church, Virginia 22042
Join Career and Transition Services (CTS) to learn about planning for life in and after high school!
It’s never too early or too late to start preparing for your future. We want to help you start planning for a successful transition from school to life as a young adult. Ensuring postsecondary success of our students with disabilities is dependent on what is known as transition planning. Please join CTS and other support service personnel for an evening focused on planning for the future.
You will have the opportunity to meet and ask questions of representatives from CTS programs and services for students with disabilities, as well as learn about short and long-term postsecondary supports, employment, postsecondary education considerations, Supported Decision Making, and student self-determination as an evidence-based predictor of post school success.
The schedule for the evening is:
6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Exhibitor and Participant Registration
6:30 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. Opening Session (Auditorium)
6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Resource and Exhibitor Fair (Cafeteria)
7:15 PM - 8:15 PM: Family Panel (Auditorium)
A questions/answer session will follow the family panel.
Click here to register for the event.
“Guiding the College-Bound Athlete”
Monday March 16 at 6:00 p.m. in the South County High School Auditorium.
Many middle school students play sports, and some have a high level of talent.
It is not too early to prepare for playing college sports, so learning what it takes to be a college athlete mentally, physically, and especially ACADEMICALLY, before they get to high school, will be a tremendous help! This seminar will help our parents to be more knowledgeable and REALISTIC about athletic scholarships and the recruiting process.
This seminar will teach our parents and athletes how to:
- Setup COLLEGE Visits
- Receive a SCHOLARSHIP or GRANT
- Get NOTICED & RECRUITED
- Ensure NCAA Freshman Eligibility
- Create a “RECRUITING BLUEPRINT”
- Communicate with COLLEGE COACHES
- Why they should start as early as 8th grade
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