School Board Report

Dear Friends, 

I hope you're all keeping safe and warm and have power.  I know I very much appreciated getting mine back!
 

Snow Day Make-Up: Because of the snow days this week, school will be open on Monday, Feb. 21 (which was to be a holiday). Because of the missed time this last week, principals have been told they may extend grading and reporting timelines for the quarter and/or semester that ended today. All grades must be completed no later than Friday, Feb. 4.
 

Pre-Labor Day Start Survey/News: FCPS conducted an online survey to get parent and teacher opinion on starting school before Labor Day.  Those answering the survey supported the change, 64% of parents and 71% of staff.  However, we have also been informed that bills required at the state level to allow the a pre-Labor Day start have all been killed in committee. So for the time being, no change is in the offing.

The FY2012 budget will occupy most of the School Board's attention in the next week. Our Work Session on the budget, originally scheduled for Jan. 27, will be held at 7 pm Monday, Jan. 31, at Luther Jackson Middle School.  At our regular meeting at 7 pm, Thursday, Feb. 3, the School Board will consider amendments to the Superintendent's
 

FY2012 Proposed Budget and approve an Advertised Budget. It then goes to the Board of Supervisors, which determines in April how much the transfer to the school system will be. The School Board adopts a final Approved Budget in May, after making any needed adjustments.

The Superintendent's budget includes no increase in class size while giving our dedicated teachers and other employees a step increase and 2% salary increase.

Both the Jan. 31 and Feb. 3 budget meetings will be televised on Channel 21. Please contact me if you'd like to share your views on budget priorities or amendments.

Background materials and budget questions and answers are posted on the FCPS website.

A public Budget Forum will be held from 9 am to noon Saturday, Feb. 26 at Falls Church High School. The forum will include information about the budget, with opportunities fro the public to ask questions and raise issues. I urge you to attend.

Annandale Regional Study: A reminder that you can still weigh in on options for dealing with overcrowding at Annandale High School and Poe Middle School in a survey.  A high school/middle school ad hoc study group gave its report earlier this month, with many creative options.

A new survey is also available at the FCPS web site about proposed options for drawing boundaries for the new elementary school being built at the site of the old Lacey Center in Annandale, due to open in fall 2012. The elementary group in its report provided six boundary scenarios.  The schools with the most potential impacts from various scenarios are Annandale Terrace ES, Beech Tree ES, Belvedere ES, Columbia ES and Woodburn ES. One scenario (A1) would affect Sleepy Hollow ES, Westlawn ES and Pine Spring ES.

Thank you! To The Falls Church (Episcopal) for its generous donation of school supplies to Stuart students.  After reading here about the need for these supplies at Stuart, Nancy and Jim Councilor consulted with Principal Pam Jones and organized the contribution of these items: 17 scientific calculators, 120 mechanical pencils, 120 ballpoint pens, 96 highlighters, 24 spiral notebooks. Their generosity is much appreciated!

School Board Report

Dear Friends,  

Happy New Year!

January is a very busy time for the School Board. Among the issues highlighted below are the FY2012 budget, the Capital Improvement Program and the Annandale Regional Study, which is very important to a number of schools in our area. One of the community meetings on the high school report is TONIGHT (Jan. 13), 7 pm in the Annandale High School Lecture Hall. Two more are next week (see below).

Annandale Regional Study:

The Annandale Regional Study reports--on ways to reduce overcrowding at Annandale High School and how to draw boundaries for the new elementary school being built at the old Lacey Center site--are posted on Board Docs now. I was very impressed with the work of the two committees in outlining options for the School Board to consider.

The high school/middle school group was very creative in giving us a number of non-boundary-change options, and I am looking forward to getting community feedback on these out-of-the-box ideas. While the focus of the study was to relieve AHS and projected overcrowding at Poe Middle School, other surrounding schools could be affected by the various proposals. If we do have to move toward boundary changes, it would affect other schools that would be receiving more students, for example.

The elementary group provided six possible boundary scenarios for the new elementary school at the site of the old Lacey Center (3705 Crest Dr.) in Annandale.  The schools with the most potential impacts from various scenarios are Annandale Terrace ES, Beech Tree ES, Belvedere ES, Columbia ES and Woodburn ES. One scenario (A1) would affect Sleepy Hollow ES, Westlawn ES and Pine Springs ES.

That group also grappled with whether the new school should be K-5 (as most of our Mason District ES are now) or K-6 (as most ES in other parts of the county are).  Their preference was for the new school to be a "clean-feeder" to Glasgow MS and Stuart HS. Another interesting option they explored and offered was for the school to be K-8, which would be unique for our county.

Please give me your feedback on the reports and the options offered by writing to my FCPS email address, ssevans@fcps.edu . Community input is critical to this process. One way to express your views is to attend one of the community meetings and fill out a survey form.

Next steps: FCPS staff will analyze the options, the School Board will start work on these issues in April, we will hold hearings on recommendations and plan to take final votes in July.  While I was reluctant to have action on these important issues take place during the summer, taking a vote in June would leave less time for staff work and public input and waiting until September would give parents less than a year to plan for any changes.

Whatever we adopt is scheduled to become effective in Fall 2012, when the new elementary school opens.

Here's the links to the reports:

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/8CVKTL53587A/$file/ARPC%20DRAFT%20FINAL%20-%20ES%20Presentation%20%201-05-11%20SF.pdf

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/8CVKTA53456B/$file/Annandale%20Regional%20Planning%20Study%20Committee%20-%20MS%20%20HS%20%20Report%201-6-11.pdf

Community meetings are scheduled to discuss these studies tonight at Annandale High School (Lecture Hall), as well as Jan. 18 and 19 (HS focus on the 18^th, ES focus on the 19^th).  Here's the link to more details on when and where:

http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/annandalestudy/index.htm

Please let as many people as you can know about the community meetings. There will be other opportunities as we move forward to voice opinions, but these meetings offer a chance to see the presentations and ask questions about the Ad Hoc study groups' work.  
 

To see more background documents, Frequently Asked Questions and who represented you school on the committee, go to this link:

http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/annandalestudy/index.htm

FY2012 Budget: Superintendent Jack Dale released his FY2012 Proposed Budget on Jan. 6. It includes no increase in class size, none of the onerous program reductions we were facing this time last year, and a step increase and 2% salary increase for teachers and other employees. It would, however, continue the fees for AP/IB tests and for sports.

Next steps: School Board members will be asking questions and considering amendments to the Superintendent's budget.  Public hearings will be held on Jan. 24 and 25, the School Board will hold a work session on Jan. 27, and the Board will adopt its Advertised Budget on Feb. 3. It then goes to the Board of Supervisors, which determines in April how much the transfer to the school system will be. The School Board then adopts a final Approved Budget in May.

I'll be communicating with you more on my thoughts about the budget as we go through this process, but do want to hear your views. If you'd like to testify on the FY 2012 budget, please sign up online at this link:

http://www.fcps.edu/schlbd/requestspeak.htm

Capital Improvement Program: The School Board will consider the Capital Improvement Program at our Jan. 20 regular meeting.  For more information on the CIP:

http://www.fcps.edu/news/cip.htm

School Board Report

Dear Friends,

As we enter the holiday season, I wanted to focus this newsletter on what a few of our schools are doing to help children and families and let you know ways in which you can contribute to these generous efforts.

Bailey's Elementary Holiday Bazaar: This event serves 120 needy families and will be held on Dec. 20. Donations needed: New toys and books; new or gently used stuffed animals; $25 gift cards to Target, Safeway, Shoppers or Sears. Donations (take to the front office at Baileys, 6111 Knollwood Dr , Falls Church, VA 22041) are needed by Dec. 15.

Sleepy Hollow Elementary:   Each year, the Sleepy Hollow School community provides holiday  gifts anonymously for SHES families that may be in need of assistance. If interested, you may sponsor an entire family or individual children within a family. They want to make sure every child  has two presents. You will be provided with the gender and age of a child in order to help you with purchasing the gifts. For information, please contact Mr. Devlin at john.devlin@fcps.edu or 703 237-7000.

Westlawn Elementary: An ongoing need at this school under renovation is to have enough umbrellas for students going to and from classrooms in trailers. If you have extras, please take them to the front office at 3200 Westley Rd, Falls Church, VA 22042

Stuart High School: Has an ongoing need for school supplies, including binders, notebooks, pens and pencils (the students particularly like mechanical pencils), highlighters and basic calculators.  If you can contribute, please taken them to the front office at 3301 Peace Valley Ln Falls Church, VA 22044.

Poe Middle School: Has an ongoing need for books to provide plenty of reading material for students during Poe's DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) period. Please take any donations to the Poe office at 7000 Cindy Lane, Annandale, 22003.

Holiday Meals and Gifts for Fairfax County Families: Local non-profit Our Daily Bread, Inc. administers a holiday program that matches local families with donors who provide holiday meals, as well as gifts for the children in the family. For more information, to sign up or to donate to this effort: http://www.fcps.edu/mediapub/publicat/familygram/fall2010/page2.html#Holiday

And now a few School Board updates:

2011-12 School Calendar Set: The School Board approved the calendar for the 2011-2012 school year at its Dec. 2 meeting. I appreciate all the comments I received on the issue of whether we should eliminate Columbus Day as a holiday in exchange for more time at Winter Break or an earlier end to the school year.  The reaction was decidedly mixed.

When we considered this issue on Dec. 2, I offered an amendment to delay the vote for two weeks before approving the school calendar to give us more time to get feedback--including a short survey--from parents, teachers and other stakeholders.  My amendment didn't pass, the Columbus Day change was defeated, and the Board approved the calendar: http://www.fcps.edu/about/11-12cal.htm

PTA Presidents' Meetings: I recently had two meetings with Mason District PTA presidents and very much enjoyed their ideas and feedback, both on systemwide school issues and on school-specific concerns.  Future meetings will be held every two or three months.

AP/IB Fee Payments:  High school parents have received bills for this year's new $75 fees for AP and IB courses. Some parents have expressed concerns about the timing of these bills, coming as they have at a time when families often feel strapped due to holiday expenses.  Please note: Superintendent Dale has advised us that no one will be penalized for payments after the first of the year.  Further note: I continue to look for ways to eliminate these fees, which I'm concerned will discourage some students from taking high-level courses.

2012 Budget: The Board will start budget season in earnest in January. We will receive the Superintendent's recommendations on Jan. 6, hold public hearings on Jan. 24 and 25, and approve an Advertised Budget on Feb. 3.  For more information and to take a brief County survey on the budget: http://www.fcps.edu/news/fy2012.htm

Construction at Lacey Center Site: Construction has started at the Lacey site (3705 Crest Dr., Annandale) on the new elementary school, set to open in fall 2012. This elementary school will be the first in Fairfax County to have a geothermal cooling and heating system. That's great news, but it also means that we will be drilling wells for the system over the next three months. For more information and updates on this project (as well as photos of the groundbreaking ceremony): http://www.fcps.edu/cluster3/LaceyES/index.html

Annandale Regional Study:  This study of overcrowding at Annandale High School and Poe Middle School has its last meeting scheduled at Annandale High School on Dec. 15. This meeting is open to the public and I urge interested individuals to attend. The group is due to report to the Board on its conclusions on Jan. 10. The study could have a significant impact on schools surrounding Annandale and Poe.

To see background documents, Frequently Asked Questions and who represents you school on the committee, go to this link:

http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/annandalestudy/index.htm

Sandy Evans School Board Report

Dear Friends,

It's hard to believe we're already at the end of the first quarter of the 2010-11 school year! Here is an update on a few School Board items.

Budget:  We have started the task of developing next year's budget, and I welcome your input on what is most important to you as we start this process.  My priorities include keeping class sizes down, efficient use of resources, and a pay raise for our dedicated teachers and other employees, who have gone two years without one. Timing: the Superintendent will release a proposed budget, based on School Board guidelines, in early January; we will hold public hearings on Jan. 24 and 25; then we will hold work sessions and approve a budget in early February.

Lacey Site Elementary Construction: Demolition at the Lacey Center site (3705 Crest Dr., Annandale) is just about completed, and we will be breaking ground soon on this project. The new elementary school is scheduled to open in Fall 2012. Please join me for a groundbreaking ceremony at the Lacey site at 1 pm Friday, Nov. 12.

Annandale Regional Study:  The ad hoc committees continue to work on ways to relieve overcrowding at Annandale High School and how to draw boundaries for the new elementary school at the Lacey Center site.  The committees are to develop options and bring them to the School Board in January.  

A boundary study is expected this spring. Anyone who has gone through a boundary study knows they tend to be contentious. But the more informed we are the better able we will be to weigh different proposals.

It's too soon to tell what the exact impact will be, but it is bound to be significant. Schools that feed into Annandale or that border on Annandale or the Lacey Center site could be affected, either directly or indirectly. At this point, my main goal is to make sure all these school communities are paying attention and voicing their views as this process moves forward.

The schools with representatives to these two committees include: Annandale, Stuart, Falls Church, Lake Braddock, Edison, Lee, Woodson, West Springfield high schools; Poe, Jackson, Glasgow, Holmes and Frost middle schools; Beech Tree, Annandale Terrace, Belvedere, Braddock, Columbia, Sleepy Hollow, Westlawn, and Woodburn Elementary Schools.  In addition, I am urging those at Bren Mar Park ES, Weyanoke ES and Parklawn to send observers to meetings to keep their communities informed.

To see background documents, Frequently Asked Questions and who represents you school on the committee, go to this link:

http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/annandalestudy/index.htm

Schedule:

The Annandale study committee will meet at Annandale High School on these Wednesdays, 7-9 pm.  All are in the Lecture Hall, except Nov. 10, which is in the cafeteria: Nov. 10, Dec. 1 and Dec. 15. All meetings are open to the public.

Discipline Policy and Practice Review: The Board is considering doing the first comprehensive review in years of our FCPS discipline policies. As a first step, we have asked the Superintendent to provide data and research on this issue. When we have seen his report, we will decide whether to pursue a more thorough look at discipline issues. I support such a review. We need to make sure our policies and practices are those that work to keep our schools safe while being fair, reasonable and consistent.

School Supplies Needed at Stuart High School: Do you have spare school supplies-notebooks, binders, pencils, etc.? If so, please donate them to Stuart High School for use by their students.