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The Feather Report

Volume 2, Issue 27

Photo of the Week: Students in STEAM practice their coding skills by programming Finch, a robot, to use a dry erase marker to draw a square on their tables. Students were challenged to make squares of different sizes and needed to troubleshoot both their code and the robot to be successful!

Leadership Ledger

Westlawn Families,

As we move deeper into the spring semester, I want to take a moment to focus on something that makes a tremendous difference in your child’s success—consistent attendance. Every school day is filled with meaningful learning, collaboration, and connection, and even missing just a day here or there can add up quickly. In our News section we have a special feature about chronic absenteeism that we crafted after observing our data here at Westlawn and getting feedback from families. Check it out--you might learn something new!

I also want to encourage every family to take a few minutes to complete the bi-annual Family Engagement Survey. Your feedback truly matters. It helps us reflect, grow, and ensure we are meeting the needs of our diverse and wonderful community. We value your voice and your partnership, and we carefully review the data shared with us.

Please note there will be no school for students on Tuesday, April 21, due to the Virginia statewide election. Student activities, athletic practices, and events may still proceed as scheduled, so please stay connected with your coaches and sponsors for details.

Finally, our partners at Creative Cauldron have extended an invitation to families to explore their Spring Break Camp. The one-week musical theater camp will be offered at their location at 127 East Broad Street, and scholarships are available for families in need. Call Laura Connors Hull at 703-436-9948 for more information about this opportunity.

Thank you for your continued partnership, your support, and the many ways you show up for Westlawn each day. Together, we make our school community stronger!

In partnership,

Christoph Hill, Stephanie Carpenter, and Erin Theiss

Proud Principals

News

Family Engagement Survey 📩 The bi-annual FCPS Family Engagement Survey arrived in your email on Monday morning! This is your chance to give feedback on your school's welcoming environment, communication, and other topics. At Westlawn we use the survey results to set schoolwide goals and make changes to the ways we welcome families, communicate with families, and work with families each and every day. Please take the survey now.

Encuesta de Participación Familiar 📩 ¡La Encuesta de Participación Familiar de FCPS, de carácter semestral, llegó a su correo electrónico el lunes por la mañana! Esta es su oportunidad para brindar sus comentarios sobre el ambiente de acogida de su escuela, la comunicación y otros temas. En Westlawn, utilizamos los resultados de la encuesta para establecer objetivos a nivel escolar y realizar cambios en la manera en que damos la bienvenida a las familias, nos comunicamos con ellas y trabajamos junto a ellas día tras día. Por favor, complete la encuesta ahora.

Chronic Absenteeism Update

Our chronic absenteeism rate is currently at 9.4%, and as a school we have a goal to keep it under 11% this year. Based on patterns we are noticing and conversations we have had with families, here are some tips that might help!

• If your child has a runny nose, send them to school! Learn about which conditions require a child to stay home. Note that FCPS regularly updates the requirements for attendance for each condition. For example, students with strep throat used to have to stay home for 24 hours after they started taking antibiotics. Now they only need to stay home for 12 hours after taking antibiotics! The updates to the attendance requirements are based on new and expanding scientific research, and there are links to it on the bottom of the page.
• Note: even if your child is sick and has an “excused” absence, it still registers as an absence. Once upon a time excused absences were “forgiven” and did not count against the student or the school. (That might have been the reality when you were a student!) However, currently all absences count against the student and the school. This is a decision that comes from the state, not from FCPS or from Westlawn. It does not matter if your child was at the doctor or on vacation; every absence is totalled and applied to your child. When your child reaches enough absences, they are labeled “chronically absent.” At the end of the year, the total percent of students considered “chronically absent” is considered along with other metrics, such as standardized test scores, and results in Westlawn receiving a school rating.
• Try to make doctor’s appointments at the start or end of the day whenever possible. If your child attends for part of the day, even if it is only for a few hours, it does not count as missing school. Therefore it also does not count toward being chronically absent! Plus, at Westlawn we learn “from bell to bell.” That means your child will still be learning something during the time they are in school on any given day.
• Do you have transportation issues? For example, if your child misses the morning bus due to a doctor appointment, then they can’t get to school after that? Services like Uber Health can help get your child from the doctor to school and they work with most insurance. If you need help getting this service set up, please call our main office. Ms. Sanchez has helped at least one family with this service and would be happy to help others!
• Finally, if your child goes to the doctor, get a doctor’s note! Sometimes one is required. And while “excused” absences aren’t really excused when it comes to counting missed days for chronic absenteeism, having a history of doctor appointments or illness helps us identify which students or families might need more support in other ways.

As always, we are here for you! We know that healthy, happy students make the best learners, and we are eager to partner with you to ensure that your child is at Westlawn, healthy and on time, as much as possible!

Still Collecting Parent Consent!

If you have a student in grades 3-6, we are continuing to collect your consent to give your child an SOL retake assessment if their first assessment has an eligible score. We appreciate those families who have provided consent via the Digital Consent Portal, and those who have quickly replied to teachers’ TalkingPoints messages! If you have questions about this, or think you might need to provide consent, please reach out to Ms. Dushok via email or TalkingPoints.

Countdown to Kindergarten: Supporting a Smooth Transition

Is your child heading to kindergarten this fall? Join FCPS staff for Countdown to Kindergarten, a virtual event designed to help families prepare for this exciting transition! The webinar will take place on Friday, March 27, from 10 to 11:30 a.m.

During this webinar, families will learn practical tips and essential information to support their child's smooth and successful start to kindergarten in Fairfax County Public Schools. Register to receive the event link.

Also visit our kindergarten registration and orientation announcement for more details and tips!

Summer Camp Time

It’s time to register for summer camps! We will keep track of all summer camp-related information in one place on our website. Recently added:

• VIP Summer Camp
• Creative Cauldron Summer Camp

We will keep re-running this News item, and will replace the listed camps with any new camps that we add to the announcement on our site over the course of the week.

Reminder: Reading-Themed Fun Clothing Wednesdays

March is Reading Month at Westlawn in honor of Read Across America Day on March 2. We’ll be celebrating the joy of reading all month long with special literacy activities and a series of reading-themed Fun Clothing Wednesdays. Join us as we show our school spirit and our love of books!

• March 18, 2026 – Graphic Tee Day: Graphic Novels in Action 👕📖 Celebrate the power of graphic novels and visual storytelling! Wear graphic T-shirts featuring characters, words, or images—especially those inspired by comics, graphic novels, superheroes, or illustrated stories.
• March 25, 2026 – Hat Day: Hats Off to Reading 🎩📚 Top off our reading celebration! Wear any school-appropriate hat or headband as we give a big “hats off” to readers everywhere.

FCPS News

In case you missed it in FCPS This Week, the school division shared updates on the following topics:

• Family Engagement Survey
• Student Honors
• No School on April 21

Read FCPS This Week to learn more about these topics. If you are not already receiving this weekly newsletter, please sign up today.

Dates and Events

March 13 - March 29: Free theater tickets to the 12 Dancing Princesses are available to Westlawn families from our partners at Creative Cauldron. Claim your free tickets by selecting your preferred performance and entering the code WESTLAWN at checkout.

March 14: Reading Opens the World Literacy Fair from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM at the Lorton Community Center (9520 Richmond Highway). Families can get up to 10 free books per child!

March 18: Early-Release Wednesday; students will be dismissed at 12:30 PM.

March 18: Fun Clothing Wednesday: graphic tees

March 18: Westlawn Restaurant Night at Shake Shack in Mosaic from 10:30 AM - 10:30 PM. Tell the cashier about the fundraiser or use the code DONATE in the app or in-store kiosk for Westlawn to get 25% of the proceeds from your order!

March 20: No School in recognition of Eid al-Fitr

March 24: Grade 5 Writing SOL

March 25: Fun Clothing Wednesday: hats

March 27: 2-Hour Early Release; students dismiss at 1:30 PM

March 27: Smooth Transition Webinar for New Kindergarten Families from 10:00 - 11:30 AM

March 30 - April 3: Spring Break

April 6: No School for Students; Teacher Workday

To see more schoolwide and community events, remember to check out our website calendar! You can also subscribe to our calendar to make it even more convenient. Click on the little calendar icon in the top right corner of the calendar page of our website to add all current and future events to your cell phone calendar.

Engage with Westlawn

Help the PTA President Get Back on Her Feet

Our wonderful PTA President, Simone Rose, will soon be undergoing hip replacement surgery. Jenny Erwin has organized a meal train for Simone and her family. If you are able to support Simone with a meal or gift card, it would be greatly appreciated.

Join a Community Conversation

Join us on Wednesdays at 11 AM on Zoom to hear the important news from the school from Principal Hill! If you miss a Community Conversation, you can catch up with slides and recordings on our website.

Volunteering in FCPS in 2025-2026 requires you to fill out an online application, and then select the school(s) where you want to be. Learn more and apply today!

Mind Matters

Fun on a Budget: What’s Nearby? 

As I write this it’s snowing outside, but Spring Break is coming! Every year we like to share some great places in our area for free or low cost outings. You can enrich the conversation in your house by sharing some of these activities with the whole family!

• Check out any of the Fairfax County history and Nature centers, all of which are FREE. There are often exhibits in the main building then multiple trails or highlights outside, as well as events. The closest to our neighborhood is Hidden Oaks.
• Chessie’s Big Backyard offers fun accessible playground equipment and interesting trails (and a water park opening later in the season).
• Any of the FREE Smithsonian museums offer a chance to build knowledge in virtually any area of interest from art to space to history. (Head to the Mall early to see the Cherry Blossoms around the Tidal Basin!) Don’t forget the Zoo is a part of the free Smithsonian.
• More FREE ideas include: Tour the Capitol, explore the fascinating US Botanical Garden, go to the top of the Washington Monument, check out the multiple interesting areas of the US National Arboretum, stroll among the many DC Memorials and Monuments, watch one of the free college sports at George Mason University (cross country and track, softball, tennis, golf, swimming and diving, wrestling, lacrosse, rowing) (or pay for a ticket to see basketball, soccer, volleyball, or baseball)
• Check out the Cherry Blossom Festival with events like the Kite Festival on the mall on March 28 or Petapalooza on April 4 that ends with Fireworks!
• For our oldest students and older siblings, Glenstone is a really fascinating private (but free) art and nature experience.

If you’ve got a cool free idea to share, let us know and we can share more in a later newsletter!

Tech Talk

Your Brain, Please!

Last week we shared our staff’s favorite ways to track their reading, and we asked our readers to share some of their own! But, we only received two replies! (Sad!) Make our weekend--please email Ms. Dushok (or send her a TalkingPoints message) about your favorite way to track your reading so she can share them next week. Let's all learn from each other!

Is there a technology topic you want us to tackle in a future issue? Email your questions to Ms. Dushok (school based technology specialist) and Mr. Dinkins (technology support specialist).

Soaring Staff Spotlight

This week the Soaring Staff Spotlight is on Nadjet Guen! Ms. Nadjet is a teacher in one of our preschool autism classrooms at Westlawn. Let’s learn more about Ms. Nadjet! What was your favorite subject in school? Physics What is your favorite children’s book? Harry Potter What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Be yourself whoever you are. If you weren’t in education, what other job would you want? I’d want to be a journalist, which is a career I used to have! If you had a superpower, what would it be? Bringing our beloved ones who passed away back to life. What is one thing that always makes your day better? My kids at home and at school. Is there someone you hope to see featured in an upcoming Soaring Staff Spotlight? Tell us by text to 571-355-2321.

Connect with Westlawn

• Contact the main office: 703-241-5100
• Submit an absence: 703-241-5151 | email the absence box | using ParentVUE
• Contact Ms. Caballero (student information assistant): email Ms. Caballero | 703-241-5100 | TalkingPoints: Silvia Caballero
• Contact Ms. Reyes (family liaison): email Ms. Reyes | 703-241-5125 | TalkingPoints: Hilda Reyes
• Contact Ms. Cortez (social worker): email Ms. Cortez | 703-241-5190 | TalkingPoints: Pamela Cortez

Westlawn website | Westlawn Instagram | Westlawn Facebook | TalkingPoints

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