Dranesville District Schools and Community News
Getting Started as Your New School Board Member
I am humbled, excited and grateful for the opportunity to be your Dranesville School Board Member. The first 2 months on the job have been filled with orientations, retreats, and full on attention to the FY21 Budget and the Capital Improvement Program (CIP). I am currently assigned by the school board to work with the Joint Environmental Task Force, the Audit Committee, and the Human Resources Advisory Committee, and I will be the school board liaison to the Park Authority. Meetings have started for all of those organizations.
By far the best part of my job is getting out to schools to see the wonderful work being done by our administrators, teachers, and students. I am engaging in conversations across Dranesville to see where I can most effectively support our schools and our families. With my passion to inspire young people to be active learners and citizens, I started my “A Day in the Life” program during the month of February and am shadowing students at Herndon HS, Langley HS, and McLean HS. I am already setting this up for our middle schools in March. I am excited to share with you what I learn from these experiences.
I am also working on my priorities of relief for the overcrowding at McLean High School and some of our elementary schools, student wellness, teacher retention, community building and workforce opportunities for our students. I will be getting out into the community to hear your concerns and to begin building relationships and communication channels.
Strengthening the ties between the Board of Supervisors and the School Board is high on both my and Supervisor John Foust’s priorities for Dranesville. We will be working closely to monitor the needs of Dranesville residents and to jointly communicate information to the public on overall county topics.
A Day in the Life
A Junior at Langley High School -- February 11, 2020
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I had the pleasure of shadowing Kelly Chinn, a junior at Langley High School on February 11. Kelly is a quiet, kind and reserved golf champion, and I enjoyed meeting him. He has a full junior year course load, and we had a busy day. I was tired at the end of it and glad I did not need to rush off to golf practice and homework. We started the day off in Physics 1 learning about gravity and Kepler’s Laws and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. From there we moved on to English 11 Honors where we discussed Hemingway short stories. The discussion was lively, and it was evident that most if not all of the students had done the reading needed to participate. Third period brought a Precalculus test that was the talk of the morning. It seemed everyone was a bit nervous about this test. I elected to attend English 10 Honors instead of watching everyone take the test and was rewarded with small groups acting out chapters of A Tale of Two Cities and learning about the themes present in the book. Outside this room was the display of “Love in Literature” sponsored by the English Honor Society where students wrote letters to characters or poems to celebrate Valentine’s Day. The incredible creativity and writing skill shown in these samples was inspiring.
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I finished off the day in Japanese 5. I was so happy to have spent enough time living in Japan years ago to at least sort of follow along. When the students started writing in Kanji, I was lost!
Overall, I was impressed with the variety of teaching techniques I saw throughout the day. Students were engaged and active throughout the class periods, and I saw very little lecturing on topics going on. Technology in the form of computers, iPads and smartboards, and Google Classroom were used in innovative ways and for relatively short periods of 20 minutes or less during the classes.
In my next newsletter, I’ll tell you about my visits to Herndon HS on February 24, McLean HS on February 25, and my middle school visits to Cooper, Herndon and Longfellow in March. Follow #Adayinthelife on twitter @elainetholen.
FY21 Budget
The Superintendent’s proposed budget seeks an increase of $172.2 million, for a total of $3.2 billion to educate approximately 189,000 students and employ 24,000 people in 200 buildings. Of this increase, $31.4 million are required (“fixed”) costs for employee health care, retirement benefits, and workman’s compensation.
I am happy to see the Superintendent’s proposed FY21 budget focus on many of the things I feel strongly about, such as increasing our student health and wellness efforts, workforce development, market competitive compensation for our teachers and instructional assistants, and serving our special needs families. Adding money for activity directors, counselors, on-time graduation coordinators, substance abuse prevention specialists, and behavior intervention specialist training can make sure we are providing students and families some of the supports they need to be successful. Our Trades for Tomorrow program is just one way to make sure we are providing students with the opportunity to enter our Northern Virginia workforce, and I would like to see that expanded. I am also asking for additional staff for our Office of Planning to increase our work on development data collection and analysis and funding for renovations of the McLean HS bathrooms.
The Board passed the proposed budget on February 6. The budget now goes to the County Board of Supervisors, and the process continues through May. Learn more about the budget here. You will have opportunities to comment on the budget this Spring. Local meetings are being held as follows:
McLean Citizens Association
February 27, 2020, at 7 p.m.
McLean Community Center
Great Falls Citizens Association
March 18, 2020, at 7 p.m.
Great Falls Library
Capital Improvement Program (CIP)
Our Capital Improvement Program (CIP) covers new construction, additions and renovations done by our school system. The Board recently voted to approve, with amendments, the FY21-25 CIP. I used the amendment process to ask for the following:
Getting to the bottom of our capacity number questions.
Increased collaboration between our county offices and staff and our school Office of Planning to make sure we have the best and most comprehensive capacity data possible to make our future CIP decisions
Moving up our analysis of buildings to create an updated renovation queue.
Asking for an analysis of bathrooms in schools that are overcapacity to determine bathroom renovation needs.
Highlighting the overcrowding at McLean HS and the need for multiple plans to solve this issue in a newly revised Table 7 on page 40
Adding Kent Gardens ES to a new Table 8 on page 40 that lists schools that need to be monitored for future capacity relief measures.
How does the Bond Process Work? Click here for more information about bonds and the school renovations and improvements that are being funded.
Potential Boundary Change
We are investigating a potential boundary change to move students from McLean HS to Langley HS. There are no plans to move any students out of Langley HS. Boundary scoping meetings were held in December. The community feedback from those meetings and subsequent emails are being analyzed. One strong comment was that the middle schools need to be included in the boundary scoping process. I am investigating the best and most timely way to have the middle schools incorporated so we can move forward in this process. More information will be coming soon on this issue. Thanks to all of you who attended the December meetings, commented, sent emails, spoke at school board meetings, signed petitions, etc. Your feedback is being analyzed and considered.
Advisory Committees -- Do you have Human Resources Expertise?
The School Board has multiple advisory committees that meet regularly to advise the Board on various topics. These meetings are open to the public and welcome public comment! Come check out one of these meetings, sign up to speak, or just attend and learn.
Dranesville needs a representative for the Human Resources Advisory Committee. If you have expertise in this area and are willing to attend one meeting per month with a few hours of work between meetings, please contact me to apply. With the myriad of human resources issues FCPS deals with and our need to recruit and retain talented staff, we can use your help.
Resources/Events For You
Parent Resource Center -- The PRC has a wealth of information, resources, and offers many free workshops for our families and staff
Parent Resource Center Liaisons offer supportive consultations for families and staff to get answers to questions, find resources, and discuss any concerns you may have about your child. Register here for free workshops. Attend free parent and educator workshops to learn the latest information to help your child succeed.
Can't make it to the workshops in person? View them online anytime on the PRC YouTube channel.
Operation Drug Prevention -- February 29
Great Falls Citizens Association will hold a discussion on drug prevention. Learn how to recognize and address the signs of drug use. Family involvement is key.
Saturday, February 29 from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.
Christ the King Lutheran Church
10550 Georgetown Pike, Great Falls
Fairfax County Teen Job Fairs and Career-Building Workshops, March 7 - March 28
This event is open to all Fairfax County teens who are looking for employment or tips on career-building skills such as networking, building a resume, and interviewing.
Event schedule:
• Saturday, March 7, 10 a.m.-noon, at Woodson HS
• Saturday, March 7, 2-4 p.m., at South County HS
• Saturday, March 14, 2-4 p.m. at Chantilly HS
• Saturday, March 21, 10 a.m.-noon, at Mount Vernon HS
• Saturday, March 28, 10 a.m.-noon, at West Springfield HS
Get more information.
Student Questions for FCPS Event by McLean Citizens Association
You are invited to a special event where FCPS Superintendent Dr. Brabrand and I will be taking student questions at a special forum on March 16 that has been organized by the McLean Citizens Association’s Education and Youth Committee. Dr. Brabrand and I will only take questions from students, and we applaud this effort to give students a voice in their education. This event will take place on Monday, March 16, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the McLean Community Center. Join us to learn more about what the students have on their minds.
Meet ECO Advocates in Northern VA
We’d love to have you join us for an Audubon Naturalist Society Conservation Cafe on Thursday evening, March 26 from 7pm - 8:30pm at the Providence District Community Center. We’ve organized an open panel-discussion, and the title of the event speaks for itself: “Meet new NOVA Eco-Advocates and Tell Them What They Can Do for You”
In 2019, we saw environmental and smart-growth organizations staffing up across Northern Virginia. Join these new hires and other area advocates to hear about the panelists' 2020 priorities and how we work together to further healthy community priorities. More information:
Free Sessions on Digital Learning and Citizenship
FCPS will be holding a series of events free to the public to discuss digital citizenship and learning. For more information and dates click here.
Special Education Conference
FCPS will hold its 15th Annual Special Education Conference on Saturday, April 18, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Hayfield Secondary School, 7630 Telegraph Road, Alexandria. The conference theme this year is Supporting Inclusive and Evidence-Based High Leverage Practices for Students with Disabilities. For additional information and to register for the conference, please click here.
Opportunities for Students
Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts Scholarships -- Deadline is March 11, 2020
The Educational Foundation of the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts annually offers several $1,000 scholarships to graduating seniors for college study. The scholarships support students with an interest in studies related to natural resource conservation and/or environmental studies. The application and all accompanying documents must be received at the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District (NVSWCD) office by March 11, 2020. The NVSWCD includes all residents of Fairfax County. Each of Virginia’s 47 conservation districts may choose one student to nominate for consideration by the state committee. Applications will be reviewed by evaluation panels, and all applications and information contained therein shall remain confidential.
For more information on the scholarships, click here.
Student Environmental Action Showcase—April 21 at George Mason University
The showcase is an opportunity for students in the region to share the projects they are working, network with other students, learn about green careers and engage in hands-on STEM activities with environmental professionals. This is open to any team of students with an adult sponsor—private schools, home schools, public schools. There is a special track for high school students. Do you know of young people engaged in environmental stewardship? Is your school working on a project? Want to learn how to expand your work? Get more information at www.novaoutside.org. Transportation funding is available for schools that need it. Email showcase@novaoutside.org to apply for funding or to ask questions.
Volunteers Needed: How can you help our students?
The 65th annual Fairfax County Regional Science and Engineering Fair will be held at Robinson Secondary School on Saturday, March 21, 2020.
Each year, over two hundred judges are needed to evaluate hundreds of science fair projects in a wide variety of categories ranging from astronomy to plants sciences to physics.
Chairpersons for each category and Grand Prize judges are also needed.
Prospective judges should hold an advanced degree or possess extensive academic and/or professional experience in a science or engineering field.
In addition to category judges, chairpersons are needed to help oversee the judging for each category.
Parents, teachers, and family friends are not allowed to judge in categories in which their child, student, or family friend’s child is competing. Contact Linda Peterson at lkpeterson@fcps.edu if you are interested in volunteering.
Ethics Days
Langley High School — Langley Ethics Day Committee is excited to open adult volunteer registration for the annual Senior Ethics Day on March 17, 2020! Imagine approximately 500 seniors spending a day learning and practicing ethical decision-making for life after high school. Click here to find out more or to register for an opportunity to impact high school seniors as they embark on the next chapter of their lives.
If you have additional questions about volunteering, please contact Danica Alink at danica.alink@hotmail.com and (469) 744-7130. Thanks for supporting Langley seniors and the Ethics Day Committee!
Safe Community Coalition 6th Grade Ethics Day Workshops -- This program serves all 6th graders in the McLean and Langley school pyramids, with the goal of helping students navigate difficult ethical situations that may arise as they progress through middle school, high school and beyond. During the program, students are provided with an ethical decision-making model called “Could, Should, Would” and participate in an exercise with the Anti-Defamation League about learning to be an ally, where they consider the many roles a person can play in a social situation. In addition, students discuss what it means to be a “person of integrity.” The Ethics Day workshops will be held March 6, 13, 20, and 27 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Holy Trinity Church in McLean (850 Balls Hill Road). This is a half-day event, with lunch provided by the Safe Community Coalition. Volunteers are needed to serve as table leaders for small groups of students. No prior experience is needed, and training is provided.To sign up to volunteer and for additional details, please click here. Maria Barnett, barnetthome@yahoo.com, may also be contacted for more information.
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Your At-Large School Board Members
Your At-Large School Board members are listed below for your interest. Click on their names to reach their individual School Board webpages.
Karen Keys-Gamarra
Abrar Omeish
Rachna Sizemore Heizer
How to Reach Me
To learn more about me or to contact me, visit the School Board section of the FCPS website.
Follow me on Twitter at @elainetholen. I am working on additional social media and will share those links with you soon.
Office Hours
Look for me at the Great Falls Farmer’s Market—Great Falls Grange--on March 14 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Please stop by to say hello or to chat for a few minutes. No appointment is necessary.
I'm also hoping to schedule one evening in March for office hours, so look for more information on that to come.
Supervisor John Foust's Newsletter
I will have a note in Supervisor John Foust’s newsletters, so please sign up for his newsletter here. It is a good way to stay in touch with overall Dranesville happenings and topics of interest.
Please stay in touch!.
Elaine
The views contained within this newsletter reflect the views of the individual school board member who is the publisher of this newsletter and may not reflect the views of the Fairfax County School Board.
© 2020 Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax County, Virginia
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