Superintendent's Weekly Reflections
Hello Team FCPS,
What another fantastic FCPS week!! There continue to be so many exciting activities going on all across this amazing division. It reminds me to be so grateful for all that we have here and not to take for granted the special experience we have each and every day. It also reminds me to be mindful of so many places in the world today where education is not a basic human right. I am so proud to serve alongside each of you as together, we continue our journey into the future. “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” --- Malala Yousafzai
Congratulations to Kathleen Jacoby, project manager in our Department of Human Resources. Kathleen is the winner of the James Madison University (JMU) Outstanding Music Educator Award! According to the letter announcing Kathleen’s honor, “The award is given to a JMU undergraduate or graduate music education alumnus or alumna who has taught for at least ten years and who exemplifies JMU’s commitment to musicianship and pedagogy.” Kathleen previously worked for 21 years as a high school band director at Herndon High School. During her tenure, Kathleen organized three trans-oceanic trips for the Herndon High School Band, representing both Virginia and the U.S. at military commemoration events, including the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day Invasion in Normandy. Also, in a unique collaboration with local government officials, Kathleen arranged for the Herndon Band to become the only student group to perform at CIA headquarters. She also served for four years on the elected executive board of the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association which oversees instrumental music for the entire state and was elected president last year. Kathleen has adjudicated State Concert Assessments in many of our 16 state districts and conducted District Honor Bands.
Herndon High School Principal Liz Noto shared, “Kathleen Jacoby has been a highly recognized member of the Herndon High School staff and an integral part of the Herndon community as a whole. To be honored as the JMU Music Teacher Alum of 2024 is another great honor reflecting her dedication to her students. It was a great loss when she took a position in FCPS Department of Human Resources in October. She has most certainly left a legacy of music education excellence and will be missed by our students and staff.” Go Team FCPS!!
Congratulations are also in order for Hunter Guthrie, a student at Madison High School, who received the Cox Conserves Heroes award from Cox Communications! Hunter was the winner in the youth category and received the Planet Protector Award for his commitment to waste reduction. Once Hunter learned that 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food waste, he was determined to take action in his own community — while also helping end hunger. At 16 years old, he has donated over 700,000 meals that would otherwise have ended up in landfills through a nonprofit he founded in 2022. He received $30,000 for the non-profit of his choice to continue improving his community. FCPS supports community service and has an environmental stewardship program called Get2Green that encourages students to positively impact their environment through sustainable practices and conservation. Our students will lead us!!
Recently, students in the Advancement for Individual Determination (AVID) program at Lewis High School visited Fort McHenry and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. According to their teacher Skyler Verloop, “It was a great trip that was made possible through a grant I applied to and received from the American Battlefield Trust. Forty-five students, ranging from ninth graders to twelfth graders, and six chaperones attended this trip. Seeing Fort McHenry was the highlight as most of the students got to see a historic military fort for the first time. Fort McHenry waived the admission fee so our students could attend for free. Students also enjoyed seeing John Hopkins and the college led great tours for our students. They also provided free lunch for all the students and chaperones in their dining hall. Overall, it was a great day mixed with an educational experience at a historic monument and top ranked private university.” Go Lancers!!
AVID is designed to support students who have the potential to succeed in advanced courses but may need additional academic and personal support. The program targets students who are often underrepresented in higher education and helps them prepare for college and career success through intensive mentoring, collaboration, and a focus on rigorous coursework. AVID is part of Goal 3 of the 2023-30 Strategic Plan: Academic Growth and Excellence.
On Tuesday morning, I visited South Lakes High School. I was greeted by two students in the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) program, Merlyn Canas and Alisson Ramos Parada. Meryln and Alison graciously guided me during my visit and also shared their impactful stories around their leadership development, the impact of JROTC in their sense of belonging, and how their multilingualism and being a student at South Lakes has shaped who they are. We visited with Amol Patel, an International Baccalaureate (IB) Design Technology teacher. His students are working on creating a "chair of the future" with multiple purposes and levels of comfort. It will be presented to him for research and development approval, simulating a high-quality real-world experience. We also visited with two English teachers, Jill Pellerin and Sydelle Keisler, who demonstrated the impact of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework and sense of belonging on student engagement. Kudos to the South Lakes team for focusing on student voice and leadership, as well as building strategies around UDL and the pyramid continuum of IB learning. Go Seahawks!!
Later on Tuesday morning, I stopped by the Kilmer Center School, where I was greeted by assistant principal Haley Guglielmi. Kilmer Center serves students ages 5-21 with multiple disabilities, intellectual disabilities, autism, and other developmental disabilities. Ninety percent of their students use assistive technologies to communicate, such as an Accent 1400 communication device, which uses eye tracking technology.
Throughout the visit, students were working on building their communication skills. Our first stop was Natasha Jordan White’s art classroom, where the elementary-age students were developing dream houses for their families and taking their inspiration from Mary Blair, a well-known Disney artist. We also stopped by the Tiger Zen Den, a trauma informed space that allows students to advocate for time to self-regulate. After that we went to the gym for PE class, went to a high school classroom where students were learning about behavior expectations and how to communicate their feelings, and finally stopped by Mary Onusko’s middle school class where the students were working on comprehension strategies for reading.
I am so thankful for the collection of beautiful cards the students created for me! During my visit we were accompanied by Daniel, a Kilmer Center School student and budding photographer, who took pictures around the building. Great job, Daniel! Providing an environment that serves the needs of every student is part of Goal 4 of the 2023-30 Strategic Plan: Equitable Access and Opportunity. Go Tigers!!
Later Tuesday, I attended a forum organized by the NAACP on the State of Education for Black Students and Teachers in FCPS. Some of the topics discussed were literacy and numeracy data for Black students; Black staff recruitment and retention over the past five years and how to increase those numbers; access to educational opportunities; what recourse do families have when racial incidents occur; and whether the Black student population has increased or decreased over the last 20 years in FCPS. I welcome the opportunity to partner with our community advocacy groups as we work to provide a world class education for each and every one of our students; together all things are possible.
On Wednesday, I attended the Family Vision Group meeting for Quad 2 at Shrevewood Elementary School. We had a great discussion about safety and security and the cellphone policy. As always, I appreciate the parents and caregivers who attend these meetings and provide their feedback on ways we can improve our schools!
On Thursday, I had the opportunity to connect with our building leaders from across the division at the All-County Principals’ Meeting. Together, we revisited the key shifts in the measurement of school accountability within the new Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) 2024 Accountability System. It remains important for us to tell our story and not let others tell our story for us.
Stories from our schools about high-leverage strategies they have in place helped us focus on specific areas where our teachers and staff can make a direct impact on student learning every day. These strategies include promoting strong student attendance (more on that below) and engagement to increase the quantity and quality of instructional time, supporting multilingual learners through explicit English language development instruction and ongoing progress monitoring, and providing consistent access for all students to scaffolded instruction aligned to grade level and course standards. As additional details about the School Performance and Support Framework are released, my team and I will continue in our advocacy to ensure that our students’ academic achievements are appropriately recognized.
View data from the “What is chronic absenteeism” graphic in an accessible format.
During the Academic Matters section of last Thursday’s School Board meeting, I discussed student attendance and engagement, in particular reducing chronic absenteeism. As we all know, regular attendance is important because:
- Missing just 10% of school (the definition of chronic absenteeism) negatively affects a student’s academic performance. That is just two days a month.
- Only 17% of students who were chronically absent in both kindergarten and first grade were reading proficiently in third grade, compared to 64% of those with good attendance.
- Students who fail to read at grade level by the end of third grade are four times more likely than students who achieve proficiency to drop out of high school.
- By sixth grade, chronic absenteeism becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school.
After the pandemic, chronic absenteeism in FCPS rose to a high of 17.1% in the 2022-23 school year, but thanks to our multi-tiered systems of support, we reduced that to 12.8% in 2023-24. This is the result of a great deal of hard work and strong partnerships between our schools, staff, and families. We are making good progress, and I’m confident our efforts will continue to pay off in this area. Go Team FCPS!!
Friday evening, Dr. Ponce and I attended a great family event at the business center at Trillium hosted by Marshall Road ES Principal Matthew Chapman. We had a packed house of predominantly multilingual families and students. Dr. Jose Luis Zelaya shared his experience with the students and families and we all enjoyed the community building and broke bread together. Go Roadrunners!!
Saturday morning I attended the Special Education Parent Teacher Association (SEPTA)/FCPS 2024 IEP Palooza at Jackson Middle School. The event was a beautiful reminder of how learning happens best in community! The School Board, FCPS Leadership, FCPS employees, community partners, families, and students attended the informative event filled with various breakout sessions, a community resource fair, and a simulated Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting. Our goal is to remove barriers for families to access and understand these resources and for staff to feel equipped to support their students and families.
Later on I attended Our Voices, Our Future, a day of service for multilingual secondary students and their parents. The event took place at Edison High School. I was honored to address this crowd of multilingual learners eager to harness their strengths. This event was a wonderful opportunity for secondary students to earn service hours, network with their peers, and familiarize themselves with college and career readiness resources. Our responsibility is not only for the time our students are in the classroom, but to be able to lead and empower them for the rest of their lives!! Together, all things are possible.
Our students are talented actors, musicians, and visual artists. I saw that for myself this week in several high school performances. On Wednesday night, I saw Edison High School’s production of Peter Pan and Wendy. Friday evening, I stopped by South Lakes High School to see a performance of Radium Girls. On Saturday I went to Mount Vernon High School to check out their production of Radium Girls, and later that evening I went to Herndon High School to see Macbeth. This afternoon, I was able to enjoy the Langley High School production of Beauty and the Beast; it was nice to end the weekend with an upbeat story ;>) More to come on all these performances in my coming notes. So many stories so powerfully told…
Participating in theater helps students improve communication, build confidence, and work collaboratively in a team. It fosters creativity, empathy, and self-discipline while offering a supportive community and opportunities for self-expression. Theater also enriches academic learning and serves as a positive outlet for stress. Congratulations to all for their fantastic performances!! Go Eagles, Seahawks, Hornets, Saxons, and Majors!!
Thank you to Jeff Walker, theatre arts and film studies teacher at Edison, for sharing, “Our production of Peter Pan and Wendy was not only a premiere of our new adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s novel version of the classic tale, this is the first time Edison’s theatre department collaborated with a member of Synetic Theater Company, Vato Tsikurishvili, to create a vocabulary for movement, enhance the staging, and include all sorts of choreography. It was so exciting seeing Mr. Tsikurishvili work with the cast, and confer with the sound department, to build exciting and beautiful moments throughout the story. When all was said and done, we have been able to give audiences a theatrically-magical journey of imagination.”
Thank you to Principal Josh Douds at Centreville Elementary School for sharing a special school tradition for this week’s Advancing Literacy segment! Centreville Elementary School has been hosting virtual Bedtime Stories for families as a way to promote literacy at home. Last week they read “Eggasaurus” by Jennifer Waugh (pictured above) and “Hattie Harmony” by Elizabeth Olsen.
Josh writes, “Prior to and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we engaged our community with virtual Bedtime Stories on Facebook Live. These readings took place from diverse locations, including my office, home, and even the city of Seattle. While the program temporarily subsided post-pandemic, recent requests from our PTA have inspired us to bring it back.
“We've transitioned to Zoom and are thrilled to welcome both of our assistant principals as storytellers, adding a new layer of excitement to the experience. Students and families alike enjoy participating, and the program provides administrators with a valuable platform to model and discuss the significance of literacy.” Thanks for sharing, Josh! What a wonderful way to spread the joy and importance of reading. And thank you to everyone on Team FCPS who’s helping our students become stronger readers and writers. This work matters!!
Saturday also provided me with an opportunity to attend the elementary science Olympiad competition at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST). I was so inspired by the number of high school student volunteers who gave their time and talent to supporting this event. There were a number of elementary students participating and a great deal of excitement!!
Alex, a TJHSST student, was one of the volunteer high school students who shared his time and talent with young scientists on the topic of hydraulics. What could be more fun to study and share time collaborating on than science ;>) It was also great to talk with Alex about his future plans and engineering ideas.
In Girls’ Volleyball competition, I enjoyed the Saturday afternoon game hosted by Chantilly High School. Principal Amy Goodloe and I enjoyed watching a great State match and celebrated the Chargers winning in convincing style. I continue to be so impressed with the hard work and dedication of all of our student athletes!!
As you may recall from previous issues of Weekly Reflections, the first set of Boundary Review Community Meetings will begin tomorrow, Monday, November 18, at Glasgow Middle School. Be sure to view the schedule and attend a meeting if you can.
I am excited to share that two parents or caregivers from each of FCPS’ 24 high school pyramids have been invited to join the Superintendent's Boundary Review Advisory Committee! More than 1,600 applied! Selections were made by assigning a number to applicants who confirmed their ability to attend meetings in person through January 2026. Numbers were chosen via a random number generator. Other advisory committee members include school-based administrators, teachers, operational staff, and representatives from community groups. Please stay tuned as we begin this process as we will be providing regular updates.
The Boundary Review Committee’s unique perspectives will be invaluable, as we work together to ensure the boundary review process is transparent, includes significant community participation and feedback, and always keeps students at the center of every decision. Stop by the FCPS website for more information.
And so, we traverse this bountiful fall season with all its palette of amazing colors and celebrations. I trust that each of you will enjoy this fall week ahead. “I found I could say things with colors that I couldn’t say in any other way --- things that I had no words for.” -- Georgia O’Keefe. So too, we continue to wonder at the beauty around us…
Take good care,
Michelle Reid, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Fairfax County Public Schools
