Superintendent's Weekly Reflections

Hello Team FCPS,

What another great week!! It is hard to believe that it is already the second week of December!! The winter concerts and activities are in full swing. I have been so enjoying getting out and hearing the student musicians as they share their many gifts!! The schools and streets are alive with a festive energy as we await winter. I for one can wait a bit for any more inclement weather ;>) As these days get shorter, it is wise to remember that these are our very best days – let us rejoice in one another, our mission driven work, and the many ways we lift one another up; together, all things are possible.    

Early Saturday afternoon, I attended the Community International Festival hosted at the James Lee Community Center JLCC and the Asian American Community Center AACC. This was a great opportunity to visit with advocates, families, and students from our Asian American community. It was great to attend and to connect with several of our Woodson High School students who also shared with me the story of the Dragon Dance as they performed it for the community event. Keeping our cultural traditions alive is an important part of our community connectedness. Learning continues to happen best in community and our community remains strong!!

I’d like to share some good news I received from Sarah Steely, the director of No Kid Hungry Virginia, about FCPS and our Director of Food and Nutrition Services, Shaun Sawko. Sarah writes, “No Kid Hungry has been analyzing breakfast data in Virginia since 2012. In the 2023-24 school year, we saw Virginia's largest year-over-year increase, with over 25,000 more students eating breakfast at school, compared to the previous school year. Fairfax County Public Schools led the way for the state, adding nearly 4,000 additional students to your daily breakfast participation (based on September-February data).

“Please know that this is not likely ‘new need.’ Rather, it is your tremendous school nutrition team, and the leadership of Shaun Sawko, who continues to iterate and innovate and find new ways to break down barriers and make breakfast more accessible for students. It takes more work to feed more kids – through initiatives like the expansion of hot menu items and implementation of Breakfast After the Bell programs. But your team doesn't settle when there are opportunities on the table. They've even pursued our grants for the past two years, pulling in an additional $50K+ to support this work. Shaun is an incredible person, and he has made Fairfax County Public Schools a leader in this space. Thank you for your support for your school nutrition team. That makes all the difference.” I am so proud of Shawn and our Food and Nutrition Services team for the great job they are doing! Together, everything is possible!! This work is part of the 2023-30 Strategic Plan’s Goal 2: Safe, Supported, Included, and Empowered. 

Thank you to Deborah March, senior manager in the Instructional Services Department, for sharing the success of the Lewis High School Leadership Program. Launched in August 2022, the Lewis Leadership Program honors the legacy of Congressman John Lewis by developing students’ leadership skills through field experiences, guest speakers, service learning, specialized coursework, internships, and university partnerships. Through this innovative whole-school program, all students engage in leadership development experiences supported by more than 70 organization and university partners, including the family of Congressman Lewis. Students access these experiences through their classes and as optional enrichment opportunities. 

Deborah says, “Our program is for all Lewis students, including those who don’t yet see themselves as leaders. In just our third year, we are already noticing growth in students’ agency as learners and change-makers. Students are taking informed action in ways that improve our community and strengthen their connection to school. This is all the result of an intentional, sustained collaboration among the incredibly talented and dedicated staff members of Lewis High School, the Instructional Services Department, and community partners outside of FCPS – adults who are committed to partnering with young people to make learning relevant and empowering.” Go Lancers! This work matters!! 

This week we held two Boundary Review Community Meetings, the first one Monday at Westfield High School, and the second one Tuesday at Lake Braddock Secondary School. I want to stress that no boundary changes have been proposed yet. We are only in phase 1 of the process that will continue until spring 2026.

These meetings allow attendees to hear more about the boundary review process and provide insights into our community’s priorities and needs. I appreciate the many engaged community members who have attended these meetings so far and the caliber of the thoughtful discussions I’ve heard from our families, staff, and students!

The next meetings will be Monday, December 9, at Mount Vernon High School, 6:30 to 8 p.m., and Thursday, December 12, at Annandale High School, 6:45 to 8:15 p.m. I encourage you to attend a meeting in your region to learn more about the boundary review process and provide input. All meetings are in person and will follow the same format. Registration is not required but does help us plan. You can also sign up to receive the School Boundary Review newsletter by email. 

Friday evening, we held our first meeting of the Superintendent Boundary Review Advisory Committee. As you may recall from previous issues of Weekly Reflections, the committee includes two parents or caregivers from each of FCPS ’25 high school pyramids. 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. Their unique perspectives and insights will be invaluable as we work together to ensure this process is transparent, includes significant community participation and feedback, and always keeps students at the center of every decision. Eventually, they will help develop boundary scenarios and make recommendations to me. The Fairfax County School Board will review final recommendations and approve any boundary adjustments. Look for more to come on this work in the coming days. 

On Wednesday, we had a meeting of the Family Vision Group for Quad 3 at Oak View Elementary School. We had a great discussion about the new Family Academy, safety and security, the cell phone pilot, as well as challenges with digital literacy. As always, I appreciate the parents and caregivers who attend these meetings and provide their feedback on ways we can improve our schools!

In the Academic Matters section of last Thursday’s School Board meeting, I discussed inclusion. Last week was Inclusive Schools Week, and in past years, our schools have celebrated with many incredible activities, such as:

• Floris Elementary: Annually, Floris provides 4th - 6th grade students with an opportunity to take part in our annual awareness program called Walk in My Shoes to complete activities aimed at building empathy by putting them in situations that simulate how students with disabilities interact in our world. 
• Many schools participate in Spirit Week to promote acceptance and inclusion. This year, Key Center’s themes are:
           • Show Your Strengths (workout clothes day)
           • Come As You Are (pajama day)
           • Unite in Spirit (spirit/colors day)
           • Kaleidoscope Day (tie dye or mismatched colors)
           • The Future is Bright (bright colors) 
• Many of our high schools, like Annandale, West Springfield, and Woodson, sponsor buddy clubs, which are after-school clubs to welcome students of all abilities and hold monthly events. 
• Robinson, Annandale, Frost, and Woodson all participate in Special Olympic Unified Sports programs to promote inclusion in sports teams. 
• Herndon High School is fostering collaboration between the Work Awareness and Transition (WAT) Program and Astronomy classes to work on a special constellation project.  

I also discussed Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which is an educational approach for how we meet the needs of every student with an emphasis on minimizing barriers to learning, and how we’re re-envisioning inclusive practices in FCPS. There will also be an FCPS Family Summit on March 15, 2025, that will feature a keynote by inclusive schooling experts Julie Causton and Kristie Pretti-Frontczak. See tuned for more information on this in 2025!

In the Strategic Plan update portion of the School Board meeting, I discussed Leadership Development and Support, which is part of the 2023-30 Strategic Plan’s Pillar C: Diverse, Adaptive, and Supported Workforce, and is led by our Office of Professional Learning. The goals of this program are to:

• Empower employees. 
• Cultivate a strong leadership pipeline.
• Promote professional growth. 
• Enhance school climate and student success. 
• Strengthen organizational coherence.  

These programs help aspiring and current leaders to:  

• Develop essential leadership skills. 
• Gain confidence.
• Build strong relationships and networks.
• Drive positive change within FCPS.

We offer short-term as well as long-term leadership development programs. My presentation included this video, which highlights how FCPS supports both instructional and operational employees — from hire to retire!   

On Friday, staff at the Gatehouse Administrative Center were treated to a performance of the West Springfield High School Chamber Ensemble. The orchestra director, Alexandra Blaine (pictured above with Region 4 Assistant Superintendent Pablo Resendiz), shares the following about the group, “The West Springfield Chamber Orchestra is a group of talented and hardworking student musicians who love bringing music to life. Their performance showcases some classical favorites and some modern works. As part of the West Springfield High School Performing Arts Department, the Chamber Orchestra strives to create memorable performances and inspire a love for the arts.” Thank you for the wonderful performance! Being a part of ensembles such as this are so important to the healthy development of our students. Go Spartans!! 

This week’s Advancing Literacy segment is an update on the Virginia Literacy Act (VLA). As part of the VLA, each school division is required to create a 2024-25 Division Literacy Plan which details how schools will align evidence-based literacy instruction practices with science-based reading research. FCPS’ plan has been approved by the School Board and resubmitted to the Virginia Department of Education. The components of the plan are:

• Planning for Comprehensive Communication
• Selecting High-Quality Instructional Materials
• Ensuring Virginia Literacy Act Evidence-Based Reading Research Training
• Monitoring Student Assessment and Progress
• Assessing Division Level Progress
• Engaging Parents, Caregivers, and Community

Click the links above to view each section or visit our FCPS Division Literacy plan webpage to learn more. And as always, please keep your submissions for Advancing Literacy coming my way! Each week, I’m thrilled to share the work of our dedicated teachers and staff who are helping our students find their love for — and develop their success in — reading and writing. This work matters!!

Continuing our look at the new Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) 2024 Accountability System, I’d like to focus this week on the area of the School Performance and Support Framework (SPSF) referred to as Mastery. As I mentioned last week, there are only two areas common across all grade levels in the SPSF: chronic absenteeism and Mastery. 

The term “Mastery” was chosen by the Virginia Board of Education with the intention of communicating the goal of challenging all students to meet or exceed grade level expectations. Mastery is critically important to the SPSF because it makes up the majority of the School Performance score in each grade span (65% in elementary, 60% in middle, and 50% in high). Mastery outcomes are based on reading, math, and science performance on state standardized tests and progress for multilingual learners on their annual English language proficiency (WIDA) assessments.

• Reading, math, and science mastery calculations use a weighted index, where higher test performance receives a higher point value and lower test performance receives a lower point value. For example, students scoring Pass Advanced will count for more points in the calculation than students scoring Pass Proficient.
• Multilingual progress mastery measures whether students met their individual targets for English language development. These individual targets are based on the multilingual learner’s current grade level and the English language proficiency level from their previous year’s WIDA test score. Students at higher grade levels and those who are further along in their English language development require a smaller increase to show progress, while students at lower grade levels and those earlier in their English language development require a larger increase to meet their progress target.

Our FCPS 2023-30 Strategic Plan shares a focus on elevating academic outcomes for each and every student, and our schools pursue continuous improvement in these goals. Our schools are actively striving to meet each student’s needs every day and provide appropriate supports to help them reach their full potential, not just on state assessments, but on all aspects of academic achievement. 

Friday morning, I attended the Educate Fairfax Board meeting at the Chantilly Academy.  Our Foundation is such a great partner for the success of our school division. While there, we heard from Chantilly High School Principal Amy Goodloe, and Academy Administrator Scott Settar, and several of their students and staff. The students were so thoughtful in their business plans and sharing what they learn about managing customer service as well as product support.  I continue to be so impressed with the quality of our CTE programs and the student experiences; this work continues to matter in ways both large and small.  

Later Friday evening, I stopped by to watch the Girls Basketball action at South Lakes High School. It was a very close game between the Seahawks and the visitors from Marshall High School. Both teams boast youthful rosters and played hard throughout all four quarters. Early Saturday morning, I attended the First Annual Queen of the Ring Classic Girls Wrestling event at Herndon High School. This is one of our new sports we launched this year as well as Boys Volleyball. 

The girls are excited and are competing hard, particularly as this is a recently added Olympic sport. Above, you see me joining several of the Falls Church High School student athletes as they readied for competition. Go Jaguars!! I also visited with families and coaches as this is a great start for our new winter sport. It is so important for our young people to be involved in something where they connect with one another, are active, and a part of positive energy. I so appreciate all our athletic staff, coaches, principals and school based administrative staff as it takes all of us to support positive experiences for our student athletes. 

Later Saturday afternoon, I attended the state semi-final football game between Madison High School and Lake Braddock High School hosted at Madison High School. It was a beautiful late fall afternoon, albeit a bit on the cold side ;>) It was a hard played game and the result will send the Warhawks of Madison High School to the State Football Championship Game this coming weekend. Well done both Warhawks and Bruins!!

As we shift to the winter sports season, I received a note from one of our staff members who shared several quotes from John Wooden, a former basketball coach and teacher that I thought was applicable this late fall week ...."I think the teaching profession contributes more to the future of our society than any other single profession ... It's the little things that are vital. Little things make big things happen." Thank you one and all for all the little things you do each day to shape this amazing division and community in big ways; it matters...

Take good care,

Michelle Reid, Ed.D.

Superintendent