Superintendent's Weekly Reflections

Hello Team FCPS!

What an amazing close to December classes and wow, what an amazing week !! ... and all through the school division many creatures are stirring and the excitement is contagious. It is such a beautiful time of the year with such a generous spirit abounding. I recently received a holiday note that reminded me that; “This season represents tenderness for the past, courage for the present, and hope for the future.” There are so many examples of our students and staff going above and beyond to support those less fortunate in our community this holiday season. This speaks so highly of the character and grace abundant in our great division; a real Fairfax family feel to be sure.

Congratulations to Woodson High School senior Nathaniel Grannis and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) senior Rem Turatbekov. Nathaniel and Rem recently returned from the Junior World Diving Championships in Rio de Janeiro, where Nathaniel represented the U.S. and Rem dove for his birth country, Kyrgyzstan! You can read all about their experience here. Congratulations are also in order to Chantilly High School, which won the VHSL League of Legends Esport Tournament Championship, and to Woodson High School, which won the VHSL Rocket League Esports Fall Season Tournament Champio\nship at Shenandoah University last weekend! Competitive gaming can provide many of the same benefits as other team sports, such as fostering communication, persistence, and social connections. Beyond that, esports can help instill an interest in STEM coursework and careers. Go Chargers and Cavaliers!!

I’d like to share part of a letter I received from Moy Drake, parent of Andrew, a senior at South County High School and a member of the boys varsity volleyball team. As you probably know, boys volleyball is a new varsity sport for FCPS this year. 

I visited with Moy at a girls wrestling (another new FCPS varsity sport!) tournament at Herndon High School recently. In an email to me, Moy wrote, “This video was made by my son, Andrew, a senior on the team. He was one of the student advocates that gave testimony and submitted several videos to the board to showcase the amazing talent of the boys volleyball players present in FCPS. … When these seniors graduate this year, they may not remember their record in 10 years, but I know that they will remember every teammate that stood alongside them on the court as well as the coaches that helped them become great athletes, and even better humans… Since Andrew's freshman year, he was determined to make a team at South County and to be a Varsity Boys volleyball player by the time he graduated. We had no idea if this was even possible. Now he knows, when you combine persistent effort and advocacy with listening and effective leadership that change is possible. As parents, we could not be more grateful for the opportunities that boys volleyball and girls wrestling have given for our children to belong, to build their confidence, to learn from their failures … and of course manage their time to succeed in the classroom too. … My youngest joined the team as a freshman and prides himself as being the loudest cheerleader. While he was a very successful wrestler, he switched to playing volleyball because he was inspired by his brother and saw the incomparable camaraderie amongst the volleyball players. My daughter also benefited from the addition of girls wrestling. Thank you for the difference your leadership has made for our students, school, community, and family. I hope you enjoy seeing the joy, hard work, and passion in the faces of these students. This is the legacy that you and those that supported them have left all those student athletes and their families, and those that will follow.”

Thank you for sharing your son’s experience, Moy! Student participation in extracurricular, co-curricular, or leadership activities is one of the measures of the 2023-30 Strategic Plan’s Goal 2: Safe, Supported, Included, and Empowered (more on that below!). Go Stallions!! 

Dr. Ann Bonitatibus, former principal of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST), shared a recent hands-on student learning experience with a mobile lab from Thorlabs, which makes high-end optics equipment for education and research. Ann writes, “The Thorlabs Mobile Photonics Experience offers students an interactive journey into the fascinating world of light and optics through real-world applications and hands-on experiments. Inside the mobile lab, students can explore cutting-edge technologies such as laser communication systems, fiber optics, and infrared imaging.” 

“For those with some knowledge of quantum optics, the experience includes a special opportunity to conduct the Hanbury-Brown-Twiss experiment, which demonstrates the particle-like behavior of light, and the Grainger-Rogers-Aspect experiment, which provides insights into quantum entanglement and the non-locality of photons. These groundbreaking experiments highlight fundamental principles of quantum mechanics while illustrating the profound applications of photonics in advancing modern science and technology. Nearly 400 TJHSST students visited the mobile lab. Quantum Physics Lab Director Mark Hannum, shared that the scientists running the mobile lab said, ‘We are very happy with the turnout and impressed with the level of interest and questioning skills of TJ students.” Thank you for sharing, Ann! These types of experiences are important because we are educating our students for a future yet to be imagined and jobs that don't exist yet. Leading for Tomorrow’s Innovation is Goal 5 of our 2023-30 Strategic Plan.  

Some additional good news this week comes from Vonda Hampton, a parent of a Langston Hughes Middle School student and member of the FCPS Family Vision Group. She writes: “I'm excited to share the incredible and most excellent showing of your South Lakes Pyramid FCPS students and staff at the recent CORE Foundation Giving Gala & Impact Awards in Reston, which celebrated community heroes who made significant impacts on the lives of Restonians (and beyond) this year.” 

Recognized FCPS students and staff were:

• 2024 Impact Award Winners: Avery McCusker (Langston Hughes Middle School eighth grader) and LucyLynn Tombul (South Lakes High School ninth grader). Recognized for their summer clothing drive and distribution event, completed as part of their Girl Scout Silver Award project, in which they collected 383.3 pounds (567 items) of clothing, organized 26 volunteers and served 112 customers. In addition to their CORE Foundation Impact Award and Girl Scout Silver Award, their community service efforts this year also earned them each Gold Level President's Volunteer Service Awards.
• CORE Cause of the Year: Reston Stars. Founded in 2023 by then-South Lakes High School student August Rivers (now a freshman at Yale), Reston Stars is led by current South Lakes students Liam Birch, Audrey Nord-Murphy, and Itsuko Scoville. The mission of Reston Stars is to increase access for economically disadvantaged Reston youth to participate in performing arts enrichment programs. Audrey and Liam were also recognized with Gold Level President's Volunteer Service Awards. South Lakes student Jocelyn Looney was recognized with a Bronze Level President's Volunteer Service Award.
• President's Volunteer Service Award - Lifetime Achievement Award: Jessica McInerney is an FCPS Family Liaison and serves as an AVID Tutor. The President's Volunteer Service Award Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to the rare individual whose tireless efforts and unpaid acts of volunteer service benefiting others totals more than 4,000 community service hours.

Incredible work! I am so proud of these students and staff for their dedication to our community. Together, all things are possible! 

Shifting gears, I recently met with two students from Woodson High School, Lily and Leah, leaders of the school’s March for Our Lives Club, to hear their perspectives about gun violence prevention, the challenges of mental health crises, and the importance of safe gun storage to protect youth and our communities. This is a timely topic given the devastating news of another school shooting this last week – this time in Wisconsin. Please take the time to watch this video of our conversation. Our children will lead us! In addition, gun violence prevention resources and student mental health resources are available online.

This week, we held two Boundary Review meetings. On Monday we held a meeting of the Boundary Review Advisory Committee at Gatehouse Cafe. Some of the key takeaways from the meeting can be found here. You can also see materials that were shared with the committee. As you may recall, the Superintendent’s Boundary Review Advisory Committee includes parents, caregivers and/or community members from each of FCPS’ 24 high school pyramids, together with school-based and division administrators, teachers, operational staff, and other community representatives. 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. 

On Wednesday, we held a Boundary Review Community meeting at Madison High School, our last boundary meeting of 2024. These meetings allow attendees to hear more about the boundary review process and provide insights into our community’s priorities and needs. Thank you to the many engaged community members who have attended these meetings to share their thoughts with us! Look for more information on upcoming virtual Boundary Review Community meetings in 2025! You can also sign up to receive the School Boundary Review newsletter by email. 

On Tuesday, I attended the annual Fairfax City-Fairfax County School Board dinner at Marshall High School. For more than 60 years, City of Fairfax Schools and Fairfax County Public Schools have collaborated under the School Services Agreement (SSA). The SSA establishes that the City of Fairfax is responsible for the tuition of City students as well as capital improvements of City school buildings. The City of Fairfax contracts with FCPS for instruction, staffing, transportation and special education services. City of Fairfax schools are located in Region 5 of FCPS. These schools are Fairfax High School, Katherine Johnson Middle School, and Daniels Run and Providence elementary schools. This annual dinner is an opportunity for the members of each School Board to get to know each other, as well as to work together on issues that affect both City and County students.

At last Thursday’s School Board meeting, I presented an update on the 2023-30 Strategic Plan Goal 2: Safe, Supported, Included, and Empowered. Goal 2 states that every student will experience an equitable school community where student health and well-being are prioritized, and student voice is centered. Specifically, I discussed chronic absenteeism, discipline disproportionality, and student academic inclusion. 

We have seen significant gains in improving Chronic Absenteeism attributed to:

• A division wide focus on systems that support good attendance for all students. 
• Targeted supports for schools with higher rates of chronic absenteeism. 
• Personalized supports for students and families to remove or reduce individual barriers inhibiting attendance.  

Discipline disproportionality occurs when students who belong to a given group are disciplined at a higher rate than students who are not a member of that group. To improve discipline disproportionality, FCPS is currently focusing on strategies that: 

• Minimize discipline incidents from occurring in the first place.
• Increase consistency of response to behavior incidents.
• Strengthen data collection and monitoring of discipline incidents across the Division.
• Provide targeted support.
• Reduce the risk of future discipline occurrences.

FCPS’ vision for inclusion is for all students to have the same access to academic, non-academic, extracurricular, community activities, and educational settings, as appropriate, in the most inclusive environment to meet the needs and goals of each individual student. To achieve this, FCPS is currently focusing on strategies that:

• Better meet the needs of students with disabilities in a general education setting. 
• Strengthen the IEP process for considering placement in more inclusive settings. 
• Offer additional supports to schools and regions with low levels of inclusion. 
• Leverage external expertise on best practices and current research on inclusive education in its planning. 
• Increase inclusion for preschool-aged children, as outlined in the 2024-25 Goal 1 Report. 

You can see the full Goal 2 report online. 

View data from the “AANIC Data Points” graphic in an accessible format.

In the Academic Matters section of the School Board meeting, I discussed Algebra 1, specifically 2023-30 Strategic Plan Goal 3: Academic Growth and Excellence, Measure C, which is the successful completion of Algebra 1 by eighth grade. The strategy for this measure is to expand the Middle School Algebra Access Network Improvement Community (AANIC) each year in order to build school-specific systems to support student success in Algebra 1. There are currently 18 schools in all six regions in AANIC, and we want to expand by four schools each year in 2025-26 and in 2026-27. The data from AANIC is promising:

• South County Middle School: 17 percentage point increase in enrollment since joining AANIC and 7 percentage point increase in students earning verified credit (2023-24 school year). 
• Longfellow Middle School: 19 percentage point increase in enrollment since joining AANIC and 7 percentage point increase in students earning verified credit (2023-24 school year).
• All AANIC schools: The percentage of eighth grade students who enrolled in Algebra 1 or higher has increased from 56% in 2021-22 to 70% this school year. 

Completing Algebra 1 by eighth grade is important because it lays a strong foundation for advanced math and STEM subjects in high school and beyond. Early mastery of algebra helps students develop critical problem-solving skills and logical thinking, which are essential for success in areas like science, engineering, and technology. Additionally, students who complete Algebra 1 early have the opportunity to take higher-level math courses in high school, such as Geometry and Algebra 2, which can improve their chances of excelling in college admissions and pursuing competitive careers. This work matters!

And in the Superintendent Matters section of the School Board meeting I thanked all of our students, staff, and families for their hard work so far this school year, and discussed my recent school visits to Poplar Tree Elementary, McNair Elementary, and McNair Upper Elementary, the winter concerts at Woodson High School and Hutchison Elementary, the FCPS CARES of the Quarter presentation at West Potomac High School, and the girls wrestling tournament at Herndon High School that I wrote about in last week’s Weekly Reflections. 

On Friday morning, I stopped by West Springfield High School to join in a Donut Day celebration with students and staff on the last day before winter break. Donut Day was an absolutely dough-lightful ;>) way to end the year with 2,736 donuts bringing smiles, laughter, and community spirit to West Springfield High School. Principal Michael Mukai shared “This special event reminded us of the joy in small moments and the strength of our Spartan community. As we look ahead to 2025, let’s continue to dream big, work hard, and be proud.” Go Spartans!!  

For this week’s segment of Advancing Literacy, I’d like to highlight the Readers Theatres that have been taking place across FCPS. Readers Theatre is part of each Benchmark Advance unit for our elementary school students. Through these lessons, students practice reading aloud and get the opportunity to practice their performance skills as they get to know their characters and the stories. This week, several first grade classes at Bonnie Brae Elementary School shared their growing literacy skills with peers and parents with performances during class parties held before winter break. The students pictured above performed the book “How the Chipmunk Got Its Stripes.” 

Cheryl Clark, first grade teacher, shared that the Readers Theater lessons are not only engaging for students, they really make a difference in the students’ reading fluency. Through repeated readings, the students learn to recognize words rather than having to sound them out. “The kids really did love it and were so proud,” she said. Thank you for sharing, Cheryl! When it came to performing the chipmunk story, it sounded like these young learners were nut-urals! ;>) Great job Scotties!!

The new Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) 2024 Accountability System has a School Performance and Support Framework (SPSF) which includes two measures for middle school readiness: Chronic Absenteeism (discussed above) and a new indicator for Advanced Coursework. For this first year of SPSF implementation, the Advanced Coursework indicator focuses only on mathematics, looking at opportunities for middle school students to access and succeed in high school level courses. 

For middle school Advanced Coursework calculations, the state calculation defines success as passing the Algebra 1, Geometry, or Algebra 2 Standards of Learning (SOL) test while in middle school. The state views these successes out of all middle school students who attempted a high school level math test, PLUS any eighth graders not enrolled in a high school math course whom the state feels should have had the opportunity to access Algebra 1 based on “pass advanced” SOL performance on their grade 7 math test. 

While this is the first time middle school advanced mathematics has been incorporated in the state’s accountability system, completion of Algebra 1 by eighth grade has been part of federal Civil Rights Data Collection for many years, monitoring students’ equal access to this educational opportunity. We know that Algebra is a gateway for Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) fields critical in an uncertain future of artificial intelligence and ever-changing workplaces. 

As I think ahead to the new year just around the corner, I am proud to be a part of Team FCPS, where (as mentioned above) our 2023-30 Strategic Plan Goal 3 explicitly names successful completion of Algebra 1 by eighth grade as one of its measures. Providing our students the encouragement, structures, and scaffolds to reach and succeed in Algebra 1 and beyond is a core value for the FCPS community, as reflected in our strategic plan. Holding our focus on this work will make a difference in closing achievement gaps and launching our students into their futures. This work matters!! 

Friday evening, I had the opportunity to attend the presentation of A Charlie Brown Christmas at South Lakes High School. It was a great show and I continue to be so inspired by our students who in this case produced and directed the show. The audience was excited and enchanted. Our students, in all their strengths, continue to lead us in so many ways!! 

Saturday evening, I attended the Festival Ballet Virginia performance of the Nutcracker at NOVA Community College. The many performers were so amazing in their presentation of their various roles. I continue to be so inspired by the many students and staff who go so above and beyond to provide amazing performances; it matters.  

As we approach the winter break, many have noted the following; “This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays!” What a joyful wish to come true for each of you…

Warm wishes for a blessed and joyful holiday season,

Michelle Reid, Ed.D.

Superintendent