BEAM UPDATE

Dear Fitzgerald Families, Employees, and Community,

We are off to a great start! Our school is quickly learning routines and procedures and students and staff continue to work hard in the area of academics. We are beginning our fall testing to assess each student's academic needs. Expect the results from your student's assessment to be shared with you by the classroom teacher after all testing has completed and the data analyzed. These assessments will be helpful with tracking your student's progress in reading and math over the course of the year. In addition, we will use this when recommending next steps. Take a moment to read about the Virginia Growth Assessment (click here) and other local assessments (click here) on the Division's website. You will read letters of notification in this newsletter.

Thank you to the many families who have completed The Back to School Packet. If you have yet to do so, please be sure to complete the packet in ParentVUE as soon as possible. The Back to School Packet provides critical information for the School Division to reach you in the event of an emergency as well as other important information about your student(s). If you need assistance, please contact the school or visit the Back to School webpage for more information and resources.

We have an organized arrival and dismissal process. Following the procedures will render a pleasurable experience. We have roughly 950 students that attend our school. You will always see many people at arrival and dismissal due to this. However, the process moves quickly so be patient and trust the process. If you are waiting more than 20 minutes in our car rider lane, double check to make sure you are not arriving too early. Students cannot get into the building until 8:50 am and they are dismissed at 3:45 pm. Listed below are a few arrival/dismissal reminders.

• Do not arrive too early. Come at 8:50 am in the morning to unload and 3:30 pm in the afternoon to pick up. Our school day ends at 3:45 pm. If you arrive prior to 3:45 pm you will wait. The line is constantly moving starting at 3:45 pm and after. The average wait time is 5 minutes when the line is moving. If you arrive too early, you wait longer because we have not opened or concluded our school day. If you don't like to wait, arrive later.
• Stay in your car. The car rider lane is an expedited process. Getting out of your car impacts this. You may be asked to park. A slow line impedes our buses from getting in and could prevent 700 students from getting home on time.
• Obey the traffic laws. If your light is red, do not turn. It creates more traffic and you could be ticketed. In addition, obeying the traffic laws will help us get more buses on campus and the line to have a steady flow.
• It is important for your student to complete their entire school day. Do not pick them up early to avoid the dismissal process. Early releases are marked on their attendance record. If you have a scheduled appointment for the afternoon, arrange to pick them no later than 3:00 pm. Keep in mind that they will be missing out on instruction when scheduling appointments during the school day.
• At 3:45 pm our staff is focused on making sure each student gets home safely. Change in dismissal must be completed prior to 3:00 pm. You must contact the office (703.583.4195) and you can send a courtesy email to your student's teacher. If it is not an emergency, plan to have your student participate in the regular dismissal process.

Thank you for your helping us to make Fitzgerald Elementary a place to Connect, Experience, and THRIVE!

George Wright, Principal

You're Invited to the Dedication of The Courageous Four Marker

Sponsored by the Prince William County Office of Historic Preservation, Fannie W. Fitzgerald Elementary School, and the Prince William County Historical Commission

Saturday, September 10

2:00 P.M.

Fannie W. Fitzgerald Elementary School

Please park at the A.J. Ferlazzo Building, located at 15941 Donald Curtis Dr., Woodbridge, VA 22191. Transportation from the parking location will be provided.

Parent Advisory Council Meeting (Every 2nd Tuesday)

Sep 13, 2021 5:30 PM

Click Here to join via Zoom.

PTO Meeting Dates (Every 2nd Tuesday)

Sep 13, 2021 6:30 PM

Click Here to join via Zoom.

Meeting ID: 822 6340 3442

Passcode: 277385

School and Offices Closed

September 26- Holiday

October 5- Holiday

October 10- Divisionwide Professional Learning Day-No school for all students

Book Fair

October 11-18, 2022

Back to School Night

October 11: Grades K-2- 5:00-6:30

October 13: Grades 3-5- 5:00-6:30

Dear Fitzgerald Family:

The Virginia Board of Education has adopted the Virginia Assessment Program to help track progress in the Standards of Learning (SOL). The SOLs indicate Virginia’s expectations for what students should know and be able to do in the subject areas of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and history/social studies. Each year, students in specific grade levels and courses are expected to participate in SOL testing unless exempted by state or federal law or by Board of Education regulations. In the past, most students participated in SOL testing during the spring. However, recent legislation requires Grades 3-8 students to also participate in a growth assessment twice per school year.

This school year, Grades 3-8 students will participate in both a reading and math growth assessment during the fall and winter, and then regular SOL testing in the spring. The growth assessments will be taken onsite at schools just like the regular SOL tests. At the conclusion of the test window, your student’s school will provide you with a report of their performance. Please note that there are no passing or failing scores associated with the growth assessments. Rather, they are designed to help track your student’s progress in reading and math over the course of the school year.

If you have specific questions about SOL testing, the growth assessments, or the date that testing will occur, please contact your student’s teacher directly. For more information about the growth assessments, please visit the Virginia Department of Education website at:

https://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/test_administration/growth-assessment/index.shtml

Thank You!

Prince William County Public Schools will participate in the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) in grades K-3 to measure a child's knowledge of important literacy skills. This assessment takes place in the fall and spring. Your student in K-3 will be participating in the PALS assessment.

This assessment measures a child's knowledge of several important literacy fundamentals: phonological awareness, concept of word, knowledge of letter sounds and spelling. PALS provides a direct means of matching literacy instruction to specific literacy needs and provides a direct means of identifying those children who are relatively behind in their acquisition of these fundamental literacy skills and are at risk of reading difficulties.

Teachers can use the results to more effectively plan their instruction to meet the needs of each student. Families can use these results to partner with their child's teacher and school to extend skills and develop a plan for continuous growth.

Please feel free to contact your child's teacher if you have questions.

What Is Paper?

All PWCS students now have access to free online tutoring 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.

Through our partnership with Paper, every student has unlimited access to trained tutors to ask questions, work through problems, get feedback on their writing, and grow their confidence.

Paper is a secure, online tutoring service that provides students with unlimited, 24/7 academic support. Whether you’re stuck on homework, studying for a test, or need someone to read and make suggestions for your essays, there will always be experts available online to assist students in all subjects and more than four languages. Click Here!

Register for the upcoming webinar that explains more:

All elementary families: September 13 at 7 p.m. (Click to register)

According to the Virginia Department of Education, "All students in tested grade levels and courses are expected to participate in Virginia's assessment program, unless specifically exempted by state or federal law or by Board of Education regulations." On December 10, 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) was signed into law. Section 1112(e)(2) of ESSA states that parents of students in Title I schools have a right to know about state or division policies regarding student participation in any assessments mandated by ESSA, including any policy, procedure, or parental right to opt students out of such assessments. The Commonwealth of Virginia does not currently have an Opt Out policy for SOL assessments. However, Section 22.1-253.13:3.C of the Code of Virginia states that, “The Board of Education shall not include in its calculation of the passage rate of a Standards of Learning assessment for the purposes of state accountability any student whose parent has decided to not have his child take such Standards of Learning assessment, unless such exclusions would result in the school's not meeting any required state or federal participation rate.” Prince William County Public Schools regulations state that, if a parent or guardian decides to not have a student take a state or local assessment, then the person making the request should be informed about the academic consequences that decision could have on the student.

If you would like to receive more information about this topic, please contact the principal.

Thank you!

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, most recently reauthorized as the Every Student Succeeds Act, states that parents in Title I schools have the right to request certain information about their child’s teachers. The information that you have a right to request about your child’s teacher is:

1. Whether the teacher has met state qualifications and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subjects the teacher is teaching.
2. Whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which state qualification or licensing has been waived.
3. The baccalaureate degree major of certification or degree held by the teacher, and the field of discipline of the certification or degree.
4. Whether the child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications.

At Fitzgerald Elementary, we are extremely proud of our teachers and paraprofessionals, and are happy to provide you with any of the information above pertaining to your child’s teacher(s). If you have such a request, please call the school at 703.583.4195 and ask for the information you are interested in.