Superintendent's Weekly Reflections

Hello Team FCPS!

Well, it is finally Groundhog Day!! I have to say this is one of the more exciting holidays for me as it is filled with such anticipation and hope. I was so looking forward to the final word on whether or not we will be having six more weeks of winter. And as the morning got started, it appears that we will be having a bit more winter weather as Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, signaling six more weeks of winter. Sigh… 

Thank you to Cindy Conley, principal of Irving Middle School, who shared the following good news, “Irving Middle School is excited to announce that Marissa Bossard (8th grade physical science teacher) and Adelaide Schmitz (8th grade student) have been selected to participate in the JASON Argonaut program! The Argonaut Expedition is an opportunity for participants to step outside their everyday lives and immerse themselves fully in the environment and objectives of the program. Each year, JASON selects 10 teachers and 10 students from around the country to participate in their annual expedition. While the program aims to select a teacher and student from the same district, it is rare that the teacher and student are selected from the same school. We are incredibly proud that both of this year’s Fairfax County participants are from Irving Middle School.” 

“For this year’s expedition, Ms. Bossard and Ms. Schmitz will travel to Portland, Oregon, to engage in design thinking, research project design, and place-based problem solving as they explore how the dynamic landscape of the Columbia River gorge has shaped how organisms live and thrive. It will be a week filled with science, innovation, and adventure! We can’t wait to hear all about it.” Congratulations, Marissa, and Adelaide! Go Horsemen!!

Congratulations also go out to RaMell Ross, a graduate of Lake Braddock Secondary School, who received two Oscar nominations for a movie he directed and released this past summer! "Nickel Boys," which according to IMDB chronicles the powerful friendship between two young African-American men navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Florida, received nominations for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. RaMell graduated from Lake Braddock in 2000 and then attended Georgetown University. He played basketball at both schools before finding a love of photography that changed everything for him. His 2018 documentary "Hale County This Morning, This Evening" won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Creative Vision at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2019. I'm excited to root for Ramell at the Oscars next month. Go Bruins!!

Sixteen FCPS students from Robinson Secondary School and Centreville, Chantilly, Oakton, Mountain View, and Westfield high schools participated in Virginia State Senator Stella Pekarsky’s High School Youth Leadership Program for the 2025 Legislative session last weekend. This program gives high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to visit Richmond during the Virginia General Assembly's legislative session and learn about political leadership on the state level. Students engaged in hands-on learning as they observed committee hearings and floor debates, toured the state capitol, participated in panels with advocates, lobbyists, and political leaders, and met lawmakers and their staff. They were also introduced by Senator Pekarsky on the Senate Floor. This was a great opportunity for our students to learn about future careers in government, politics, or law.  Leadership matters now more than ever. 

The recent Give Together Day of Service at the James Lee Community Center was a powerful reminder of the impact of community service, honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Through the collaborative efforts of Educate Fairfax, Volunteer Fairfax, Wegmans, and countless dedicated volunteers — including many FCPS students — the event truly exemplified the spirit of giving back. To address food insecurity, volunteers packed 300 snack bags for students at our four Title I middle schools — Glasgow, Holmes, Key, and Poe. Educate Fairfax delivered these snack bags to each of the schools last week, ensuring they reach students who need them most. In addition, volunteers wrote 129 heartfelt thank-you cards for our Global Ambassador Teachers, sharing appreciation and encouragement for their dedication. These cards will be distributed throughout February, accompanied by special discounts and resources from Lakeshore Learning Store. A heartfelt thank you to all the volunteers who took part in this day of service. Your generosity and commitment make a real difference in our community!

This week, we held virtual Community Boundary meetings on Monday and Tuesday. These meetings allow attendees to hear more about the boundary review process and provide insights into our community’s priorities and needs. If you have not been able to attend a Community Boundary meeting yet, there is one virtual meeting remaining on Monday, February 10, 6:30-8 p.m.

I encourage you to register and receive your unique Zoom link by clicking the date above. This virtual meeting will follow the same format as the recent in-person meetings, and the same information will be shared. Please note that the virtual meeting will be capped at 400 participants to help provide a meaningful experience for all. Language interpretation will be available. You can also sign up to receive the School Boundary Review newsletter by email.

Also on Monday, I hosted the FCPS Family Vision group meeting for Quad 1 at South Lakes High School. Similar to other recent Family Vision group meetings, we had a great discussion about the comprehensive school boundary review, which was led by Janice Syzmanksi, our chief of Facilities and Capital Programs; and reading intervention and strengthening literacy in FCPS, led by Noel Klimenko, our assistant superintendent of Instructional Services. Other topics included middle school start times, the budget for FCPS and schools, the Capital Improvement Program, and snow removal. Thank you to the parents and caregivers who attend and provide feedback on ways we can improve our schools. Learning happens best in community!

Tuesday morning, I met with the delegates of the Superintendent's Student Advisory Council at Woodson High School. The group consists of students from every high school in FCPS. Our discussion centered around five topics and their corresponding goal in the 2023-30 Strategic Plan. The topics were:

• Student Attendance - Goal 2. 
• Grading Standardization - Goal 3. 
• Student Workload - Goal 3. 
• Inclusion for All - Goal 4.
• College and Career Access - Goal 5. 

The students had lots of great questions related to these goals. I’m looking forward to continuing our discussion in March!

Next, I paid a visit to Weyanoke Elementary School, which is led by Principal Felicia Usher. We had an opportunity to stop in and see the new literacy program and materials being used and also reviewed the writing of our young students. Go Woodchucks! Looking forward to celebrating their special anniversary this week!!

And on Tuesday afternoon I held the first meeting of the 2e Superintendent’s Advisory Committee at Gatehouse Administration Center. 2e stands for twice exceptional learners. In FCPS this means that they: 1) Are eligible for subject-specific, part-time, or full-time Advanced Academic Program (AAP) services, and 2) Have either an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or 504 Plan. This is work that is critical for many of our students and their educational journey.

Tuesday evening, I stopped by Robinson Secondary School to watch the varsity girls basketball game against Lake Braddock Secondary School. This was a great game that featured a number of great plays and an overall strong athletic performance by all involved. Go Rams and Bruins!!

Wednesday morning, I attended the annual FCPS Communicators Conference at Robinson Secondary School. This conference, hosted by the Office of Communications, is for staff members who produce and manage their school’s newsletters, websites, social media accounts, or other communication efforts. These dedicated employees — including our school-based technology specialists, administrative assistants, assistant principals, and principals — help keep our schools and families engaged, inspired, and informed. As I told those in attendance at the conference: this work matters now more than ever!  

The conference included awards for exemplary work in school communications. Congratulations to the winners below! 

Newsletters

• Falls Church Academy
• Weyanoke Elementary School

Outstanding Websites

• Chantilly High School
• Whitman Middle School
• Annandale Terrace Elementary
• Bryant High School

Outstanding Social Media

• Annandale High School
• Columbia Elementary School

Best in Show

• Woodson High School.

More information about these outstanding communicators is available online. This work matters!!   

Later on Wednesday, I participated in the Department of Information Technology’s Mid-Year Virtual Conference. We had a great discussion with FCPS leaders and students about the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) in education and its impact on reshaping learning experiences. Leading for tomorrow’s innovation is Goal 5 of the 2023-30 Strategic Plan. I expect that we will provide a link to the panel podcast in the coming days. Thanks to all who are working on this important topic. 

Thursday morning, I attended the All-County Principals meeting at our Willow Oaks administrative office. The topic was inclusive schooling, which is part of the 2023-30 Strategic Plan’s Goal 2: Safe, Supported, Included, and Empowered. As part of the discussion, we heard from Dr. Julie Causton and Dr. Kristie Pretti-Frontzak from Inclusive Schooling on the What, Why, and How of an Inclusive Education, particularly its core principles, the research behind its benefits, and practical strategies for implementation. This is such important transformational work as we stay focused on our core tenets, excellence, equity, and opportunity.  More to come on this topic in the coming weeks. 

Friday we were treated to a performance of “Seussical” by the Robinson Secondary School’s Rambunctious Theatre Company (RTC). Katie Brunberg, Robinson’s theater arts director, shares the following about the group, “Robinson Secondary School’s Rambunctious Theatre Company (RTC) activates exceptional student artists in their exploration of performance and technical theatre through imaginative, boisterous, and larger-than-life productions, connecting the community to one another and to the arts. The collaboration between the middle school cast and crew and their high school student leaders is what makes RTC so special. This partnership provides our middle school students with mentors to look up to and inspires them to one day become leaders themselves. It took over 200 people to make this show happen, including 41 middle school cast members, 101 middle school and high school crew members, 38 high school designers/managers/directors, countless adult volunteers, and more! To top it off, the show is entirely choreographed by high school students! If that statement alone isn't enough to amaze you, just wait until you see how much dancing is in this thing.” The show will be held February 14-23. I encourage you to check it out. Go Rams!!

On Friday night, I attended the girls varsity basketball game at Herndon High School, where Langley High School was playing against Herndon High School. It was a great game for the Saxons and the Hornets!! 

On Saturday, I stopped by to visit as FCPS hosted its most highly attended job fair to date on Saturday at Lake Braddock Secondary School. Nearly 80 schools interviewed 236 candidates. Our impressed administrators offered contracts to 63 exceptionally qualified candidates. We're excited that 44 professionals signed "Yes to FCPS" on the spot! In addition to the pending acceptances, schools scheduled dozens of follow-up interviews with other promising candidates. Our next instructional job fair is February 22, and it will be virtual. We are well on our way toward meeting our goals for FCPS Strategic Plan Pillar C, building a Diverse, Adaptive, and Supported Workforce. 

At the Job Fair, among the brightly decorated tables representing our various schools, South Lakes High School had a unique team of recruiters. According to Principal Carlos Seward, “Merlyn Canas, a senior at South Lakes, served as a student recruitment team member. Merlyn, a student leader at South Lakes and the Reston community, attracted and conversed with candidates about her experiences at South Lakes and her hopes for the future. She engaged with the candidates and was pleasantly surprised when after talking with them, some of the candidates doubled back to the South Lakes table to interact with the team further. She shared her perspective of a South Lakes pyramid student (Dogwood Elementary School, Langston Hughes Middle School, and now South Lakes High School) developed her love for her community and her passion for service. Reflecting on the experiences of the fair, Merlyn shared that it was an amazing learning experience for her as this was the first time she realized the amount of time, energy, planning, and care that goes into hiring the teacher that stands in front of students every day.”

Merlyn’s engagement in the job fair embodies the commitment by South Lakes High School around Goal #2 of the FCPS Strategic Plan and Equity Commitment around amplifying student voice to honor student identities and experience, and the focus on growing our diverse, adaptive, and supported workforce. Thank you, South Lakes High School team, for elevating Merlyn’s voice and experiences! I continue to be inspired by our students and know that the JROTC experience Merlyn has enhanced her leadership. 

At the invitation of Alison Wolfe, the co-coach for the Robinson Secondary School’s Speech and Debate Team, I stopped by the Speech and Debate Tournament hosted at Robinson Secondary School. Alison explained, “Our school has the honor this year of hosting the last regular season tournament for the Washington Arlington Catholic Forensics League (WACFL) on Saturday, February 1, 2025, for the speech and Lincoln-Douglas debate events. WACFL is comprised of schools from Fairfax County, Loudoun County, City of Alexandria, Arlington County, Prince William County, Montgomery County, the District of Columbia, and private schools within the DMV that are within the Washington and Arlington Diocese boundaries. Below, I chat with debaters from Falls Church High School, Go Jaguars!!

This was one of the biggest tournaments the league holds during the year since it is the last one for these two events. Because the league is so big and school space is limited, the public forum, student congress, and policy debate tournament for February will take place on a different weekend at a different school. There were almost 250+ student competitors across all 3 events, along with 75+ adult judges who scored and provided critiques to these students.” Great event for our students!!

Saturday, I also attended the Girls Wrestling Zone Qualifier at Hayfield Secondary School, one of the first ever VHSL Zone Qualifiers for Girls Wrestling in the State of Virginia. According to FCPS Coach Dick Adams, “The tournament was hosted by Hayfield Secondary School which did an outstanding job of running the event. ADSA Jeff Herbert, Head Coach Ian Mills of Hayfield and his wrestling team did all the set-up and ran the score tables. Mr. Seth Cameron and Rick Adams of Brentsville organized the event on Track wrestling and Directed a smooth and extremely streamlined tournament. Out of the 6 different school Districts represented, 211 young ladies competed for a chance to place Top 4 and advance to the Girls State Championships on February 26-27 in Henrico, Virginia. Originally there were 265 girls who entered with over 50 having to scratch due to illness or injury. Wrestling is hard and demanding on the body and to watch the effort these young ladies put into competing is incredibly impressive. FCPS had 151 girls that competed with 29 Girls advancing to the State Meet.” I continue to be inspired by our students and their dedication to excellence. 

From that group FCPS had six Tournament Champions:

114 lbs     Allison Hegg        Oakton 

120 lbs     Zoe Rodriguez     Westfield

126 lbs     Jayelle Jones             Thomas Jefferson

132 lbs      Raya Fowle         Westfield

145 lbs     Hana Coutts        Oakton

235 lbs     Eja Gatewood       Herndon

Continuing our look into the new Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) 2024 Accountability System’s School Performance and Support Framework (SPSF), I’d like to begin an exploration of the new “3E Ready for Life” measure as part of Readiness. “3E” represents experiences which promote a student’s readiness for college Enrollment, meaningful Employment, and military Enlistment after graduating high school. It replaces the previous College Career Civic Readiness Index (CCCRI) that was used in the former Standards of Accreditation (SOA) system. 

When determining 3E performance within the SPSF, schools are assigned points for each student who is graduating or completing high school based on their highest level of eligible experiences within each of the 3E categories from across all their high school years. For high schools, the 3E measure makes up 25% of their overall SPSF points, making it the largest single measure for high school accountability. 

Looking more closely at the Enrollment category, we see a focus specifically on performance in dual enrollment (DE) courses – courses that award the student credit from a local college – as well as college-ready performance on Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) exams. College ready scores are defined as 3 or higher for AP exams, 4 or higher for IB Higher Level exams, and 5 or higher for IB Standard Level exams. All 3E points are assigned at the school level and have no direct impact on an individual student’s academic record (no impact on GPA, etc.). Within the Enrollment category, schools can receive:

• 1.25 points if a student earns an Associate Degree while in high school; 
• 1.0 point if the student is an Early College Scholar or completes any combination of 3 or more college ready experiences (B- or higher in DE courses and/or qualifying scores on AP/IB exams);
• 0.75 points if the student completes any combination of 1-2 college ready experiences (B- or higher in DE courses and/or qualifying scores on AP/IB exams); or
• 0.5 points if the student completes 1 or more advanced experiences (C- or higher in a DE course or performing below the qualifying score on an AP/IB exam).  

Our 2023-30 Strategic Plan’s Goal 3 - Academic Growth and Excellence features a similar focus on monitoring our students’ successful completion of advanced coursework, including DE course grades and AP/IB exam scores. Goal 5: Leading for Tomorrow’s Innovation, focuses on the availability of work-based learning opportunities and successful transitions to postsecondary opportunities. In FCPS, we value expanded access and achievement in advanced coursework as one important avenue to support our students’ future success. We know that the successes of our students after they leave us is the true measure of our success as an educational system. 

For Advancing Literacy this week, I’m sharing more about the Readers Are Leaders partnership between Annandale High School and Braddock Elementary School. This ten week program, which was featured in a recent FCPS video, brings together Annandale athletes and Braddock third graders for literacy mentorship. The high schoolers receive training and use materials from Benchmark Advance, our new K-6 Language Arts curriculum, to support what the younger students are learning in the classroom. The program is leading not only to academic progress and more school engagement, but students are also making meaningful connections with their older mentors. At the end of the 10 weeks, the Braddock Eagles visit Annandale to cheer on their mentors and thank them with a medal during a special ceremony. It’s wonderful to see our high schoolers acting as role models and helping younger learners spread their literacy wings — go Atoms and go Eagles!! Thank you to everyone who’s shared how Benchmark is being implemented in your classrooms and schools for our Advancing Literacy segments — keep sending your creativity and enthusiasm my way! Go Team FCPS!!

And finally, as we review our upcoming Goal 3 report, I am reminded of the following quote, “We must not see any person as an abstraction.  Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph.”  -- Elie Wiesel  …. So too, I am so grateful that here in Our House, we never forget that data alone does not depict or describe us as we, each of us and each of our amazing students, are so much more. We will continue to nurture some measure of triumph for each of our students as we continue to imagine the possibilities for all of our students …  

Take good care,

Michelle Reid, Ed.D.
Superintendent