Employee News Blog for the Week of March 21, 2022
Building Teacher Knowledge to Support Student Literacy
March 25, 2022
Fairfax County Public School’s Equitable Access to Literacy Plan is a long-term commitment to align literacy instruction with science-based reading research, giving all students the opportunity to gain the reading skills necessary for life-long success. To support this work, the division is investing in the continued development of teacher expertise by launching five LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) Region Cohorts.
These cohorts, which launched in March, include 200 literacy leaders, reading specialists, literacy coaches, literacy resource teachers, ESOL teachers, special education teachers, and classroom teachers.
Developed by renowned literacy experts Dr. Louisa Moats, Dr. Carol Tolman, and Dr. Lucy Hart Paulson, LETRS teaches the skills needed to master the fundamentals of reading instruction—phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, writing, and language. Teachers learn about the research that supports evidence-based teaching practices with opportunities to bring what they are learning back to their classrooms and schools.
Going beyond teaching the how-to of the skills, LETRS is unique in that it explains why specific strategies are used. That deeper understanding helps teachers to adapt lessons or offer individual support based on each students’ unique needs.
This work is critical to the success of the long-term implementation of the Equitable Access to Literacy Plan. Investing in teacher education when implementing new programs makes the impact on student learning more powerful. “The best way we support our students is to empower our teachers with knowledge and skills to meet every child where they are in their literacy journey,” explains Dr. Louisa Moats.
LETRS is a significant commitment of time and resources supporting equity in literacy education, as educators will engage in 90 hours of professional development in one year. This long-term time and financial investment is a major component of the early stages of the division’s Equitable Access to Literacy plan.
2021 Flexible Spending Account Filing Deadline Is March 31
March 23, 2022
If you participated in the Flexible Spending Account (FSA) for 2021, remember that you have until Thursday, March 31, to submit claims for your 2021 FSA expenses. You can file your claims through your Optum account. Instructions for filing a claim can be found on the Benefits News and Updates website. As a reminder for plan year 2022 only, any unused Dependent Care or Health Care dollars that you have remaining from plan year 2021 can be used for expenses incurred in 2022. This is a special rollover provision for plan year 2022 only.
Please note: At the end of 2022, standard rollover provisions will apply. No dependent care spending account funds may rollover to 2023; $570 rollover is permitted for the health care FSA.
GMU Education Leadership Program Information Sessions
March 22, 2022
Have you been thinking about your next steps in leadership and seeking your endorsement in administration and supervision? The George Mason University Education Leadership Program is currently recruiting for a Fall 2022 Fairfax Campus hybrid program. Maximizing the online and face-to-face formats, you will find the perfect balance for furthering your career.
Also, a new hybrid cohort for the Fairfax region is forming for Fall 2022. The intent of this new cohort is to provide professional development training and education to build leadership capacity within and across school divisions.
Learn more at the virtual information sessions:
FCPS Online Classifieds Free for Employees
March 21, 2022
The FCPS Online Classifieds system—which is for employees only and can be found on the Hub at http://commapps.fcps.edu/classifieds—is a free way for employees to post ads for personally owned items that they are seeking to buy, sell, or give away. Examples include electronics, children’s items, fitness and sports equipment, furniture, cars, and tickets. It's also a great tool to help an employee look for someone to share a ride to work, find a roommate, or rent real estate. The FCPS Online Classifieds system is completely self-service and allows users to post new ads or update or renew existing ads at any time.
Ads for employee-owned businesses or school or workplace fund-raisers will not be accepted. A complete list of rules of use can be found at http://commapps.fcps.edu/classifieds/Policy.cfm.
Because of the system’s technical restrictions, electronic photos cannot be uploaded along with postings. Feel free to include information in your posting that a picture is available by email upon request. For answers to some other frequently asked questions, go to http://commapps.fcps.edu/classifieds/FAQ.cfm.
For more information, contact Andy Grunig at [email protected].
Add the Classifieds to Your Hub Quick Links
If you would like to add the FCPS Classifieds to your Hub quick links, you can do so by:
- Going to the Hub home page - https://hub.fcps.edu/.
- Clicking the “Update My Quick Links” button.
- Doing a search for Classifieds.
- Clicking on the + sign in the right hand corner.
