Sunday, May 19, 2013
Four students were selected of 39 participants.
FCPS held the third annual Global Awareness Technology Fair at Lee High School on May 14 where four students from West Potomac High School participated in the events. The fair showcased technology based projects, produced by Level 3 English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students. Ninety-five students, selected by their peers and teachers, participated in the fair representing high schools throughout Fairfax County. Students representing West Potomac included Brenda Andrade, Maddy Medrano, Ben Lachhab and Gema Cerna. Their teachers are Ms. Susan Boswell-Sears and Ms. Virginia Easley. These four students were selected, from 39 participants, during the WPHS Share-Fair, which occurred earlier in Maty. The students' project focused on …
Friday, May 17, 2013
Fairfax County School Board will hold listening sessions next week to help develop a strategic plan for digital learning.
Teachers, students and parents in Fairfax County didn't have the smoothest experience with digital learning in 2012-2013. As Fairfax County Public Schools rolled out a new online math program in Fall 2012, students and teachers complained they had difficulty navigating the books, saying there were publisher errors and inconsistencies, technology roadblocks and student difficulty in accessing the information, among other complaints, like a lack of teacher buy-in to the program. They said the program, instead of advancing learning and achievement, was pushing it back, calling the $10.4 million initiative "a big disaster" with no clear solution. The short-term solution was to re-negotiate contracts to get some hard copy books back in the …
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Teacher pay and foreign language cutbacks are also concerns as Fairfax County School Board looks for another $30 million in reductions for next year's budget.
If push came to shove, Jane Lipp would give her right kidney to keep an instructional coach at her school. The principal of South County High School, which has a 49 percent minority population, said that's the kind of sacrifice she'd make, drama aside, to keep a position that's been 'instrumental" in helping her teachers push the school's diverse student body to succeed. More than a dozen of the 40 speakers who addressed the school board Tuesday night in a public hearing about Fairfax County Public Schools' budget spoke about the role coaches play in the day to day lives of teachers and students, including their help toward narrowing student achievement gaps. The public hearing comes as the school board prepares to adopt a $2.5 billion …
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Dale underwent surgery for an aortic aneurism Tuesday evening.
Jack Dale, the outgoing Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent, underwent emergency heart surgery Tuesday evening after suffering an aortic aneurism. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Dale, 64, was conscious and resting at the intensive care unit of Fairfax Inova Hospital in Falls Church. He was taken to the hospital in an ambulance Tuesday evening after telling coworkers he was feeling unwell, the Post reported. As of Wednesday afternoon, he was in stable condition. Hospital officials were unable to comment further on Dale’s condition Thursday afternoon. Dale is planning to retire this summer but it’s unclear whether he will return to his post after recovering from surgery. FCPS spokesman John Torre told Patch on …
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
After medical emergency, Fairfax County Public Schools leader in stable condition at a local hospital.
Update 1:18 pm: "We are optimistic Dr. Dale will return to work before his scheduled retirement," Schools spokesman John Torre said. Original: Just more than a month before he is set to retire, Fairfax County Public Schools superintendent Jack Dale has been hospitalized after a medical emergency. Fairfax County School Board Chairman Ilryong Moon said Dale had a medical emergency late Tuesday afternoon. He is in stable condition at a local hospital, Moon wrote. Deputy Superintendent Richard Moniuszko will step in to manage superintendent duties, Moon said. "On behalf of the entire FCPS community, our thoughts and prayers are with Dr. Dale and his family and we look forward to his return," Moon wrote. Schools spokesman John Torre said no …
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Superintendent from Lubbock, Texas will step in as leader of Fairfax County Public Schools on July 1.
Karen Garza was officially appointed Thursday as the next superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools. Garza, currently the superintendent of the Lubbock Independent School District in Texas, will start July 1. The school board approved Thursday a four-year contract for Garza, through June 30, 2017. Read: New Fairfax Superintendent: 'I Am A Constant Learner' In remarks after the unanimous vote, Garza said her primary focus will be on teaching and learning, "for that is our core work." "To our stakeholders, our employees, our parents and our business and community partners, I pledge to be responsive and accountable to all Fairfax County schools stakeholders," she said. Garza also said she planned to be "very visible," noting the best …
Fairfax County Public Schools new leader says she'll focus on teaching and learning as she succeeds Superintendent Jack Dale, who retires June 30.
In her first public appearance in Fairfax County, incoming superintendent Karen Garza said her focus would be on teaching and learning and responding to students and their needs — a philosophy she intends to continue if she begins work here this summer. At a press briefing late Thursday afternoon, she said she'd seek input from a wide range of stakeholders when approaching difficult situations. "I think every decision you make and every challenge that you face, having various voices included in those solutions ... makes for a much better decision," she said. Garza, currently the superintendent of the Lubbock Independent School District in Texas, was officially appointed the next leader of Fairfax County Public Schools at the school board's…
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Of the 3,121 students who applied to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, 76 percent of applicants were from Fairfax County.
For the second consecutive year, the majority of students accepted to the incoming freshman class at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST or TJ) will come from middle schools in Herndon and Falls Church. According to data from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), Carson Middle School in Herndon had the most students accepted, a total of 64, for the class of 2017. Longfellow Middle School in Falls Church and Rocky Run Middle School in Chantilly each had 55 students accepted. Last year, 76 students were admitted from Carson and 72 from Longfellow. A total of 3,121 students applied to TJ this year, according to statistics released by FCPS last week. Seventy-six percent of those students are from Fairfax County …
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Parent and student input needed for surveys, part of independent assessment of the district's food program.
Do you love the food at Fairfax County Public Schools? Hate it? This weekend is the last chance for parents and students to weigh in on the system's food services through two surveys run by Prismatic Services, Inc., the company hired by the Fairfax County School Board to conduct an independent assessment of the district's food program. The study was approved last year thanks to advocates from Real Food For Kids, a Fairfax County-based parent group working to offer more fresh food options to students in area schools. Prismatic Services Inc. was hired in January; results from tthe company's assessments are expected in June. Some changes could be implemented as early as the 2013-2014 year. The parent and student surveys will play an important…
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Karen Garza, currently a superintendent in Texas, will likely become the next leader of Fairfax County Public Schools.
A "strategic planner, a systems thinker, a stellar manager, and a highly effective communicator" is how the Fairfax County School Board described Karen Garza, the Texas superintendent leaders announced as their preferred candidate for superintendent Wednesday. Garza, who for the past four years has led the 30,000-student district of Lubbock, Texas, will assume the role pending final negotiations and a board site visit to the Lubbock Independent School District (ISD). She will become the system's first female superintendent as she takes the place of current Superintendent Jack Dale, who retires June 30. Garza was selected from 47 applicants for the position, and came out ahead of the 18 other candidates who were interviewed largely because…
Sandra
3:44 pm on Friday, May 17, 2013
The online programs they support should be tailored to what teachers and students can use. The online math books were nothing more than regular texts that were scanned and put online. They were hard to use (especially if you needed to page back and forth to find topics), and they were not downloadable and pages could not be printed. That meant that students could only access their texts in … more ›