FCPS This Week - August 16, 2023
Orange Hunt Elementary School teachers Denise Belmega, left, and Zoe Walker, right, collaborate in their Great Beginnings cohort training.
Five Days to go Until the First Day of School!
Are you ready? Join our countdown on the FCPS homepage, Facebook, and Instagram!
Since Friday, we’ve provided reminders to:
- Register your children for school.
- Update your child’s immunization records.
- View the school year calendar.
- Sign up for SIS ParentVUE.
- Sign up for your school newsletters.
Check out today’s tip to learn all you need to know about preparing your student for meals at school.
Share in the countdown fun with us and make sure you, too, are ready for #FirstDayFairfax.
📅 Start Strong: First Day of School
The first day of the 2023-24 school year is Monday, August 21. Parents/caregivers, students, and staff members are invited to share their favorite pictures or videos from the first day of school on social media using the hashtag #FirstDayFairfax for a chance to be featured on the FCPS Facebook and Instagram pages.
🛑 Traffic-Related Back-to-School Safety
Back to school also means back to more traffic congestion in the mornings and evenings. Review safety advice from the Fairfax County Police Department on how to keep commuters — and students — safe on the roads.
Update Contact Information to Receive Messages From FCPS
Be among the first to know about weather closings, bus delays, and other critical communications from FCPS by providing your cell phone number and email in SIS ParentVUE. Make sure you complete the Emergency Care Form for your child every year and update when necessary.
To update your contact information in ParentVUE, click the “Online Packets” tab in the upper right of the screen, then select the “Online Verification/Update” form in the drop down menu. Click “Begin Packet.”
Parents who do not have a SIS ParentVUE account continue to have the option to communicate updates to their student’s school via the normal paper process. They can also print and complete a blank Emergency Care Information Form needed for updates and submit it to their student’s school.
Managing Back-to-School Anxiety
The start of any new school year tends to bring about a mix of emotions for students. Many students will feel excited about the return to school. Some may also feel increased worry about the year that lies ahead.
Read the latest Healthy Minds Blog for ideas to help ease children's anxiety as they transition back to school.
What Is Schoology?
Teachers use Schoology to post their classroom materials online, to provide a secure forum for students to discuss their ideas and collaborate on projects, and to assign and collect homework electronically. It helps students stay organized and it keeps the class connected.
A Schoology parent account gives you access to:
- Your child’s classes.
- Your child’s upcoming assignments.
- School, class, and group announcements.
Parent accounts will be available after Monday, August 21. To access Schoology, parents will need to have an active SIS ParentVUE account. More information on how to login and use Schoology is available online.
📃 Updates to High School Transcripts
In order to increase transparency on high school transcripts, FCPS has made updates to high school course titles for courses that receive an additional 0.5 or 1.0 weighting.
For all enrolled high school students in the 2023-24 school year and beyond, high school course titles will now reflect:
- An HN (Honors) for any course that has a 0.5 additional weighting.
- An AV (Advanced), AP (Advanced Placement), DE (Dual Enrollment), or IB (International Baccalaureate) for any course that has a 1.0 additional weighting
The new AV label was created to address several college-level courses that previously had a 1.0 additional weighting without a designation.
The course title changes will apply to all weighted courses across all high schools.
Seniors who have already started to enter their senior year course lists through any college applications, should review their course list to ensure they included appropriate course titles.
Read more about transcript updates.
🏗️ What is a Bond?
Fairfax County Public Schools will have a bond referendum on the ballot this election day, Tuesday, November 7.
To finance large-scale construction and renovation work, the county sells bonds, which allows the county to pay for these projects over time — like a home mortgage. By maintaining its triple-A bond rating, Fairfax County bonds are purchased by institutional investors at very low rates, saving the county considerable amounts of money that might otherwise be paid in interest. The county estimates that the triple-A rating has saved Fairfax County taxpayers at least $1 billion in financing costs!
Read more about the FCPS 2023 Bond Referendum. Learn more about registering to vote.
✨ The 2023-30 Strategic Plan — Foundation of Four Pillars
The division’s new strategic plan is built on a foundation of four pillars — what FCPS must do well to reach its goals for all students. The pillars are:
- We design innovative learning experiences that meet the needs of each and every learner, and implement professional practices that engage, empower, include, and challenge the whole learner through varied opportunities.
- We share responsibility to build trusting partnerships that sustain a safe, inclusive culture for learning and work, and we collaborate proactively with respect, honesty, and transparency.
- We recruit and retain staff who reflect the diversity of students and families; provide meaningful continuous learning, exceptional compensation, and balanced workload; and create a safe and culturally responsive environment that values staff voice.
- We nurture processes and structures that are grounded in intentional partnerships, shared responsibility for equitable resource allocation, and data-driven continuous improvement and innovation.
Stay tuned to learn more about our five goals of the new strategic plan, or visit our Strategic Plan webpage.
📝 Central Tutoring: Meeting Student Needs and Watching Students Grow
Last spring, FCPS started advertising for a new kind of tutoring position. As part of a response to pandemic-related learning loss, the Office of School Support and Tutoring Services analyzed the needs of students across the division and pinpointed the schools where there were the largest gaps between what students were achieving and the goals they should be reaching. Starting with the schools with the greatest needs, they began to match tutors to small groups of students.
Cheryl Temple, an adjunct instructor at George Mason University and a retired teacher, liked that Central Tutoring enabled her to help local students, and that it was flexible to work with her schedule. She had worked as an intervention teacher, and was interested in a similar position.
Read more about why Cheryl became a tutor and why she recommends the job to others!
Are You Interested in Tutoring?
FCPS needs qualified tutors to provide in-person academic support to small groups of students. These tutors will be paid hourly at a rate of $48.58. The position is flexible, and the amount you work and where you work will be based on your availability, qualifications, and the needs presented throughout FCPS. However, tutors must work at least three days a week for a total of 12 hours a week on a consistent basis. Email [email protected] for more information.
Annual Notice of Survey, Records, Curriculum, Privacy, and Related Rights
Fairfax County Public Schools wants all parents to understand its policies regarding surveys, records, curriculum, privacy, and related rights.
In its Annual Notice of Survey, Records, Curriculum, Privacy, and Related Rights and Opt-Out Forms (Annual Notice), FCPS provides explanations of the rights listed above as well as forms that may be used to exercise opt-out choices. Two versions of the Annual Notice are available — a grades K-8 version and a grades 9-12 version. Parents with children at different grade levels should read each applicable version of the Annual Notice because the notices and opt-out rights vary depending on the student’s grade level.
