June 2008 PTSA
Newsletter Posted
NEW!!
Check out the
June 2008 PTSA Newsletter
which includes year end acknowledgements, and news on outgoing staff,
programs for the upcoming freshman class and summer and fall start-up
activities.
Survey on FCPS
Student Transportation
NEW!!
Thank you for
taking the time to complete this survey about student transportation in
Fairfax County Public Schools. Your feedback is important This survey
should only take about 5 minutes of your time. Your answers will be
completely anonymous. This survey will close at midnight on Wednesday,
July 9 and will be unavailable after that. The information in this
survey will be presented to the School Board at its July 14 work
session. The following link will take you to the online survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=LYJ8WKsQCS7H0LjKHzvDVA_3d_3d
Questions can be directed to
fcpsinfo@fcps.edu
Deadline for
Responding to 2008 Virginia School Census
NEW!!
If your household
has not yet responded to the 2008 Virginia School Census, please visit
http://www.fcps.edu/news/census.htm where you can respond
electronically or send in your form as soon as possible by mail or fax
to 703-329-0791. If you have misplaced your form, visit the FCPS
website. For each child counted, a portion of your state sales tax
dollars—approximately $3,000 over three years—goes directly back to our
schools. We need your help to return our tax dollars back to our kids
and our communities.
Summer Reading
Assignments
McLean High School
has published a list of summer reading assignments for students. For
your reference, attached are links for English and AP classes:
http://www.fcps.edu/McLeanHS/academics/english/Summer%20Reading%20List2008%20(2).htm
http://www.fcps.edu/McLeanHS/academics/AP%20Summer%20Assignments%202008.htm
FCCPTA Survey re:
Later Start Times for High Schools
The Fairfax County
School Board believes that later start times would be beneficial for
high school students and is looking into the possibility of changing
school start times to better correspond with children's sleep cycles.
The primary reason for the change would be to improve student health
and academic performance.
A
Transportation Task Force composed of parents, principals, teachers,
coaches and representatives from a wide range of community groups
recently proposed changes to transportation and bell schedules. The
Task Force considered an incredibly broad range of issues related to
these subjects over a 6-month period. To
review the recommendations presented to the School Board, please visit:
http://www.fcps.edu/fts/taskforce07/documents/finalreport/majorityfinalreport.pdf.
The
Fairfax County Council of PTAs (FCCPTA) has asked us to help promote a
survey they are doing to learn more about parent perspectives with
regard to school start times and the daily schedule.
Please take a few
minutes to fill out this survey
http://www.fccpta.org/trans_survey/ start_time_survey.htm It
takes about 3 to 5 minutes to complete—depending on how much thought you
put into your answers.
Background:
Here are some items to keep in mind as you take the survey:
~ Bell schedules (start and end times of the school day) are
based on using buses to make more than one trip.
~ Now, buses are used 2 or 3 times each morning, so start times are
staggered across three basic time frames.
~ Elementary schools are in all three time frames from 7:50 am to 9:25
am.
~ If bell schedules change, elementary schools would still be in all
three time frames, but more elementary schools would start between 7:50
am and 8:55 am.
~ Some elementary schools would still be in the latest time
frame, starting between 9:00 am and 9:40 am.
The Fairfax County Council of PTAs (FCCPTA) would like to know about
your student's school-related habits and your views on this issue.
Responses are anonymous. Please submit one survey per household. If
you have questions, please contact the FCCPTA School Start Survey
Coordinator.
McLean High
School PTSA support of FAIRGRADE
At its March 10
meeting, the McLean High School PTSA voted to endorse and support the
mission of FAIRGRADE: “…to revise FCPS grading policies so that
FCPS students are no longer at a disadvantage in competing for college
admissions, merit-based scholarships, and admissions to honors
programs…”.
Co-founded by
three FCPS parents, including two McLean High School parents, FAIRGRADE
is a coalition of concerned parents which evolved from their children’s
personal experiences with the college admissions process. In a
relatively short time, it has grown into a broad coalition of concerned
parents.
At the initial
public forum hosted by the McLean High School PTSA, FAIRGRADE presented
compelling data which demonstrated the negative impact of the county’s
current narrow grading scale on our students' GPAs and showed how this
grading policy places our students at a disadvantage in comparison with
their peers from nearby jurisdictions as well as across the country.
As a result of FAIRGRADE’s initial presentation, many emails and
petitions have been sent to members of the FCPS School Board and to Dr.
Jack Dale, FCPS Superintendent. Dr. Dale reported at the April
Superintendent's Parent Meeting that they will be meeting with FAIRGRADE
representatives to obtain further research on this issue.
As this effort
develops, the McLean High School PTSA will communicate how you can help
and what our next steps will be. An ad hoc committee of the MHS PTSA
has been formed and has developed a plan of action. There was a
FAIRGRADE presentation at McLean High School on May 27th.
FAIRGRADE Co-founder Marcy Newberger appeared on the Kojo Nnamdi Show
on WAMU 88.5FM– The Politics Hour – on Monday, June 16th. To
listen to the segment
click here.
Sign the FAIRGRADE Petition
See the Channel 9 Article by Peggy Fox and View
the Video
For more
information, or to find out how you can help please visit the FAIRGRADE
website
www.fairgrade.org
or contact FAIRGRADE at
fairgrade.fcps@gmail.com.
Follow-Up to Teen
Summit
Parent Task Force Volunteers Needed
The 12th
Annual Safe Community Coalition (SCC) Teen Summit was held on February
5, 2008. Over 100 teens discussed problems facing the teens in our
community and brainstormed solutions using the following framework: 1)
What can I do to help myself? 2) What can my family do to help me? 3)
What can my school do to help me? 4) What can my community do to help
me?
Following the Teen
Summit, the SCC established task forces in each of the six topic areas:
Academic Pressure and College Stress; Alcohol, Drugs and Smoking; Values
Clarification; Safe Social Alternatives; Mental and Physical Health; and
The Internet and Technology. The task forces will include SCC members,
parents, teachers and school administrators, students, and community
members. Parent volunteers are needed to serve on the six task forces to
help respond to the needs and suggestions developed at the summit.
If you would like
to volunteer for one of the task forces, please contact SCC Board Member
Laura Zoll at
laurazoll@hotmail.com. You can learn more about the Summit and read
the students’ statements by visiting the SCC website
www.safecommunitycoalition.net
