August 2020

Dear Glen Forest Elementary School Community:

Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year!  This has been an unprecedented period in our lives, and we hope that you and your family have made the necessary adjustments to remain safe and healthy, while also finding ways to enjoy this opportunity to spend quality time together.  As many of you know, after ten years as the proud principal of Glen Forest, I am retiring effective September 1^st. I have thoroughly enjoyed serving this vibrant community, will miss you tremendously, and wish you and your family continued success.

Though there will be a change in administration, we are fully prepared to welcome all students back to school.  Please know that we have been extremely busy over the summer preparing for the opening of school on Tuesday, September 8^th, 2020.  We have hired new staff members, cleaned the entire building, revamped our school in preparation for in-person instruction when this becomes possible, and have trained our staff for an exciting and successful virtual opening.  We look forward to welcoming back those of you who have been a part of our outstanding school community.  We are equally excited about meeting those of you who are about to join our school family for the first time!  It is great to be a Glen Forest Eagle!

We are excited to have the opportunity to serve as your administrative team and feel extremely fortunate to work with a school community that is committed to high expectations, instructional excellence, and collaboration.  As those of you new to our school will quickly discover, Glen Forest is a neighborhood school serving an international community in which all of our students “Believe, Achieve, and Succeed!”   This is due to our families’ commitment to a strong school/home partnership and to Glen Forest’s collaborative and dynamic learning environment.

Here are some important dates and information for this school year:

Virtual Orientation with Teachers                                                                           August 21, 2020                                  

We are excited to connect your child with his/her teacher virtually using the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (BBCU) link.  On the evening of Tuesday, August 18^th, you will receive this BBCU link in an email from your child’s teacher.  The email will provide the BBCU link as well as the time for your grade level specific Orientation Meeting. This is a great opportunity to meet the teachers and staff members who will foster your child’s love of learning while also supporting their social and emotional needs during the year.      

During this event, you will learn about:

• your child’s teachers
• the attendance policy and instructional schedule
• our virtual classroom expectations
• and how to support your child in this virtual setting

School Hours    

Please note that while we are virtual, our school hours will remain the same as last year.  School starts at 9:20 am and ends at 4:05 pm.  It is very important students log in 10-15 minutes before class begins, so they are ready for their Morning Meeting as they greet their classmates. 

Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)        

One of the wonderful things about our Glen Forest community is our diversity. We have families representing 50 different countries attending our school.  Our PTO sponsors many enriching opportunities for our students and ways for parents to get involved.  We will continue offering after-school clubs for our students in a virtual platform.  This will be available for those families that have joined our PTO.  Look for more information in the coming weeks.   Paul Monsky, PTO President, and other members of our PTO will be available during our Back to School Night in September to explain how the PTO impacts your children. Please start thinking about how YOU can make a difference in the lives of our Glen Forest students through your help with the PTO! 

Family Tech Resources

As we begin this year in a virtual format, we have created a technology support page on our Glen Forest website.  The resources are in multiple languages and have step by step instructions; as well as videos to ensure we have a successful launch to Distance Learning. Click here to visit the site.

Food Services Information

We are fortunate that due to the Universal Breakfast in the Classroom Program and the Community Eligibility Provision granted by the Virginia Department of Education, ALL children at Glen Forest receive free breakfast and lunch every day.  While we are virtual, the school system is arranging for various methods to continue to help with families who request meals.  Please use this form.

Parent Concerns

If you should have any questions or concerns regarding your child, please feel free to contact the staff member directly using their email address which is located on our school website. You can also call us at 703-578-8000 and request to speak to your child’s teacher, counselor, or administrator. This information will be forwarded to the appropriate staff member.

In closing, thank you for sharing your children with us!  We are looking forward to working together with you and your children to have a wonderful school year!

Sincerely,

Cindi Choate, Principal

Amber Richard, Assistant Principal

Liz Manning, Assistant Principal

September 7, 2020

 

Dear Glen Forest Families,

 

If you have not yet picked up a laptop for your child(ren), please do so on one of the following distribution dates:

 

Thursday	September 10, 2020	1 - 4 pm
Friday	September 11, 2020	9 am - 12 noon
	At Door 1 @ GFES

 

 

Once you have an FCPS school laptop, you will need to do the following system upgrades to ensure proper functioning of this device.

1.  Plug the device into an outlet.
2. Turn the device on and let it boot up.
3. Ensure it is connected to the internet at that location.
4. Let the device sit for 30 minutes. No additional log-in’s or activities are required.
5. Do this once per week beginning in August to ensure the laptop has the latest updates. 

 

And...

Do you still have LIBRARY books from Glen Forest ES? 
If yes, please bring your library books back to school on any of the laptop distribution days.
There will be a collection box just outside of the main school entrance for your convenience.
No fines!   ~~  No worries!
The library would like the books back and hope it’s not too long, before the kids are back in school and can check out again!

Thank you,

 Glen Forest Elementary

 

You must respond NO to all questions before coming to laptop distribution: 

1. Do you have a cough and/or sore throat? 

2. Have you had a fever in the last 72 hours (3 days)?

3. Do you have any shortness of breath or is it hard for you to breathe?

4. Is anyone in your house ill with a fever or a cough? 

5. Have you had any contact with someone known to have or under investigation for Coronavirus in the last 14 days (2 weeks)?

 

Dear Glen Forest Families,

With a virtual start this school year, we have very important forms that parents need to submit for the security and safety of your children.  We are sending you this letter as we have converted these forms to an online version for ease in completing and submitting to school.

1.   We need all parents to set up an account in weCare@schools which will provide an online version of the Emergency Care Card and the Health Information Form.  Directions for how to set up an account are below:

• Parents are first asked to set up a SIS ParentVue account. 
• The link for that is https://fcps.blackboard.com/  (If you need assistance in setting up the ParentVue account, please call our school’s main office.)
• Then parents can log into the weCare@school program with the same username and password as ParentVue. 
• Then select ‘emergency care information’ and ‘health information form’, complete each form and submit.

2. Fairfax County Public Schools and Glen Forest Elementary School use a variety of pre-approved resources to support student learning.  The tools have been carefully reviewed to ensure that they align with the FCPS learning model.   All FCPS approved vendors must adhere to security and privacy requirements specified in their contracts, and none of these tools collect, use nor share any personal information.

At Glen Forest ES, the tools listed on the link below are for our entire study body of Pre-K through 5^th grade.  These programs are not used by all students as some are grade-specific nor are these tools used every day in class.  You may contact your child’s teacher directly to determine which tools they will be using this school year in that class.

This information is provided to you in compliance the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).  Parental permission must be provided in order to proceed with using these tools.  By completing the digital form linked below, you provide permission for your child to use the FCPS-approved online tools listed as part of an instructional program. 

Resource tools LINK:  https://glenforestes.fcps.edu/adopteddigitalresources

Application Permission Form LINK:  https://isweb.fcps.edu/iscontacts/techpermform.cfm?secure

The first day of school will be September 8, so please review, sign and submit the permission form online no later than Wednesday, September 2.

Thank you,

The Admin Team

Glen Forest Elementary School

 

Dear Glen Forest Community,

Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year!  I know this school year looks different from any previous school years; however, I am positive with families and GFES partnering, that we will have a successful school start and robust distance learning.  In addition, I am new too!  I will be serving as your interim principal.  I look forward to meeting you and working with your children.  I have been a school principal in FCPS for over 20 years.  I know each school is different and I plan to jump right in and learn all I can about the GFES school community. 

Our staff has been busy preparing for the opening of school on Tuesday, September 8, 2020.  We look forward to virtually welcoming back those of you who have been a part of our outstanding school community.  We are equally excited about meeting those of you who are about to join our school family for the first time!

Our school hours will be 9:20 am to 4:05 pm.  Please ensure your child(ren) are excited for their education, on time to their virtual classrooms and that they know your expectations for their best behavior.  Remember attendance is not only important but will be collected during distance learning.

FCPS has created a Parent Technology Hotline to assist with any technology problems or needs that parents might have.  The hotline number is 1-833-921-3277 (833-921-FCPS).  Additionally, we are creating a “Virtual Home Page” on the GFES website that will have helpful information for our families at the click of a button.  It will also be important to keep your school laptops current and up to date with FCPS content, and to ensure this happens, you will need to entirely shut down your laptop each night so updates can load.  Doing this nightly will help ensure that your connectivity and programming are always current.

Please be sure to check your email regularly as we will send school communications and mandatory forms through e-mail.   School forms will soon be available on our school webpage as well.  Additionally, while we are limited on our in-person activities, please know that we have several virtual activities already planned that will be shared via email.   We will be hosting a virtual Back to School Night on Thursday, September 24 from 6-7:30 pm.   We will send out more details as well as the BBCU in the very near future. 

I want to take an opportunity to personally invite you to join the GFES Parent Teacher Organization (PTO).  This is a wonderful organization that helps our teachers and students by enhancing the instructional processes with fun and interesting events.  PTO information will be emailed and posted on our school web page during the 2^nd week of September.

If you should have any questions or concerns regarding your child, please feel free to contact your child’s teachers, counselor or assistant principals by email.   

          Amber Richard - @email

          Liz Manning - @email

I am excited to have the opportunity to serve as your principal and feel extremely fortunate to work with a school community that is committed to high expectations, instructional excellence and collaboration.

Sincerely,

  Dwayne Young

Dwayne Young

Interim Principal

@email

Our 1st day of school was terrific!  Thank you to our teachers and staff for ensuring we had a robust start to our distance learning.  There were a lot of fun and engaging activities today to build those teacher-student relationships.  And thank you to our parents for making education a priority for your child(ren).  We value the partnership in education between GFES and it's parents.  AND a big thank you to our GFES students!  We saw your smiling faces, we heard the joy in your voices and we admired your get-to-work attitudes for your learning.  We can all soar on GFES Eagle's wings when we come together.

We had over 780 students connect today to distance learning.  Many of our classes had 100% student attendance.  This is amazing!  To date we've distributed over 950 laptops.  If you have not yet picked up a laptop, please do so this Thursday (1-4 pm) or Friday (9 am-12noon).  

Parents and students can ensure their laptops stay up to date and with strong connectivity.  How you ask?  At the end of each school day, shut your laptop completely down.  Over night important upgrades are uploaded.  And each morning before your school day begins, log onto your laptop at least 15 minutes before class start time to ensure the log in process and restart have enough time to get ready for learning.

Parents you also know that at each new school year start we ask you to complete a number of forms.  Even with distance learning, we still have these required and important forms, but we've made them even easier for you.  Please check out this page to see the forms  You will see each form listed as well as a link to the form.  The forms are fillable PDFs so you can complete on a computer and we provide 3 return options for your convenience.  Please take some time before this Friday to complete and return these very important forms to us.

Thank you again for a great school start.  We look forward to a very successful school year!

Your GFES Admin Team

October 23, 2020

Dear Parent, 

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is planning to bring additional student groups back to school for in-person instruction in the near future. We will follow strict safety and health protocols to minimize health risks for students and staff. To learn more, visit here.

The following groups of students will be returning to in-person instruction (start dates below are tentative and subject to change):    

Group 5:

November 16 – tentative date

      Early Head Start (infants and toddlers) 

      PreK (three and four year olds)

      Kindergarten

      Intensive Support Needs(students instructed w/ modified curriculum for at least 50% of their core courses and instructed in special education settings 50% or more of their instructional day),

      Specialized Center-based Programs – Special Education (Vision Program @ Robinson)

      Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) Programs at Canterbury Woods ES, Frost MS and Woodson HS - students with 50% or more of core content areas in Special Education settings 

Group 6:

November 30 - tentative date

            Grades 1-2

            Specialized Career Centers – Special Education (Davis and Pulley Centers w/ target     learner profile)

Group 7:

January 4 – tentative date

            Grades 3-6

            Secondary Public Day Programs — Special Education (Burke MS, Cedar Lane,Quander Road) Davis and Pulley Centers (students w/ target learner profile)

 

Group 8:

January 26– tentative date

            Grades 7-12 

            Davis and Pulley Career Centers

The following special education groups will receive in-person instruction four (4) days per week (Tues - Fri)

- Intensive Support Needs - Group 5

- Center Based Programs (Vision and Hearing) - Group 6

We will be using concurrent instruction for students who receive in-person instruction. This means that students who elect in-person instruction will receive two days of teacher-led instruction in the school building and two days of teacher-led instruction at home. Students who elect all-virtual learning will continue to receive four days of teacher-led instruction at home.

In either format, Mondays will be a full day of independent learning for students to give our teachers more time to prepare and plan the week’s lessons. 

• For Group 5, Monday, November 9, 2020 and all following Monday’s will be independent learning days to provide time for teacher planning. In addition, November 12 and 13 will be teacher workdays and independent learning days.
• For Group 6, November 16, 2020 and all following Monday’s will be independent learning days to provide time for teacher planning. In addition, November 20, 23, and 24 will be teacher workdays and independent learning days for Group 6 students.

Some schools are already piloting concurrent instruction. The Superintendent will report his findings on the pilot program at the November 12 School Board work session.  

Here is a video that demonstrates how a concurrent classroom will look.

We will honor the choice you made in the FCPS July survey to determine the setting for instruction. Please confirm with your child’s classroom teacher your choice of either in-person or virtual instruction. Please contact your child’s teacher or the main office (703-578-8000) no later than October 30, 2020.

We will strive to minimize the impact of this transition; however, some students may experience a change in schedule or class assignment as we work to accommodate everyone’s preferences.

Thank you for your support and cooperation as we continue on this journey to deliver the best instruction for all FCPS students. 

Sincerely, 

Dwayne Young

Interim Principal

Glen Forest Elementary School

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Each year, the Office of Transportation Services reviews the bell schedules for all Fairfax County public schools and makes minor adjustments as necessary to improve on-time arrivals.  

As you can imagine, developing this school year’s bell schedule has been extremely challenging due to the pandemic. 

You may remember that new school bell schedules were announced in July. Our school’s bell schedule was changed. However, given the all-virtual start to the school year, there was no need to implement the new bell schedule. 

At the School Board Work session on December 10, Superintendent Brabrand presented a revised phased- plan to return all students who have selected the in-person option starting in January 2021.  Staff worked to improve start times and end times for all levels.

Barring any changes to the plan that may be impacted by the pandemic, the following bell schedule will be in place effective January 12, 2021 for both virtual and in-person instruction.  

Glen Forest Elemenary School will be 9:45 am to 4:15 pm Monday through Friday starting on January 12, 2021

Return to School Bell Schedule

Middle School	7:30-2:00
Secondary School	8:20-2:50
High School	8:20-2:50
Thomas Jefferson	8:40-3:45
Elementary School	9:00-3:30 or 9:45-4:15

We feel this plan is a significant improvement and less disruptive over what was presented in the original plan last summer.

The fifteen (15) minute reduction in the school day is due to the increased cleaning time required between bus runs. Additionally, as more students return to school, the number of students allowed on each bus will be reduced substantially to meet social distancing requirements. With fewer students able to ride a bus at the same time, FCPS has no choice but to adjust the times that our buses are transporting students.

We understand that changes may present a hardship to some of our families and staff. However, it is the only way we can return all our grade levels to in-person learning, while following the critical guidelines to help keep our students and staff safe. 

Thank you for your understanding. 

Sincerely, 

Dwayne Young

Interim Principal

Glen Forest Elementary School

Starting on February 16th, we will be following a new schedule. Please click here to view the schedule for each grade.

You will receive a form when you arrive at the Kiss N Ride area. After you have turned in your completed form, you will receive a hang tag for Kiss N Ride. 

Click Here to see our Kiss N Ride Procedure page.

April 7, 2021

Greetings to Glen Forest Families,

Our Superintendent, Dr. Brabrand, sent a message to all FCPS families regarding expanding opportunities to return additional students for four days of in-person learning for identified students.  Glen Forest staff is currently working on our school plan in regards to who is eligible, what spacing we have available and the number of staff members available to support the transition.  You will be contacted in the coming weeks by the school if your child is eligible to attend for four days.  Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Sincerely,
Diane L. Herndon-Wilson

Principal

Glen Forest Elementary School

Across Virginia, students will be taking Standards of Learning (SOL) tests this spring. Federal and state education departments have decided not to cancel this year’s assessments. In Fairfax County Public Schools, testing for grades 3-8 will be scheduled between April 26 and June 4, 2021. For any SOL assessments this spring, you have the right to refuse testing for your student. If you choose to refuse the SOL tests you must complete the SOL intent form. 

Visit our SOL page to fill out the intent form and for more information. 

Click here to visit our SOL page

May 18, 2021

 

Dear GFES Parents, 

 

All laptops, chargers, and MiFi’s must be returned at the end of the school year. If your child will be attending summer school, or your child is a preschool student you do not need to return the devices at this time.

 

The last day of school is Friday, June 11^th. 

 

In person students:

Students will return their laptop, charger, and MiFi during school hours (with the exception of kindergarten, and Ms. Schiavoni’s class). Look below for the in-school collection dates: 

Ms. Talbot’s class & 1^st grade & 2nd grade collection will be June 9th 

Ms. Aronson/Ms. Spoth’s class & 3rd grade & 4th grade collection will be June 10th 

Ms. Drisko/Ms. Moll’s class & 5th grade collection will be June 11th

 

Kindergarten, and Ms. Schiavoni’s in-person students will need to drop off their laptop, charger, and MiFi to school on June 8^th from 3 to 4:30 PM for a drive-through collection. Please come to the kiss & ride lot and look for the laptop collection sign. Please stay in your car, and a staff member will come to your window to collect your devices. 

 

Virtual students: 

Virtual students will need to come to school to return their laptop, charger, and MiFi. We will be doing a drive-through collection for virtual students. Come to the kiss & ride parking lot and look for the laptop collection sign. Please stay in your car, and a staff member will come to your window to collect your devices.

Look below for the drive-through collection dates: 

June 11^th 3 to 4:30 PM

June 14^th 10 AM to 12 PM

June 15^th 1 to 3 PM

 

If you are moving or leaving before the last day of school, please drop your device off beforehand to the main office.  

 

If you are currently not using your FCPS device and would like to return it before the scheduled collection date, you are welcome to drop off your device beforehand to the main office.

On Monday, May 17th at 4:25pm, you should have received an email from FCPS informing you of the boundary process that is being considered to relieve overcrowding at our school. Information about the proposed boundary adjustment was presented at community meetings in March and April. Feedback was collected and was used to create the boundary adjustment options that would be considered.

On Thursday, May 20 at 7:00 p.m., the Superintendent made a recommendation to the Fairfax County School Board to approve a boundary adjustment for the elementary schools in the Justice pyramid. The recommendation will be presented as new business. No vote took place at this meeting.  The plan proposes that part of Skyline Towers and the area surrounding 

On Tuesday, June 8 at 6:00 p.m., the School Board will hold a public hearing. Students, parents, staff and the community are invited to sign up to speak about the recommended boundary adjustment. The public hearing will take place at Jackson Middle School, 3020 Gallows Road, Falls Church, VA 22042. Sign up to speak. 

The School Board will take action and vote on the proposal at its regular meeting scheduled on Thursday, June 17 at 7:00 p.m.

For more information about the proposal, please visit Proposed Boundary Adjustment for Elementary Schools in the Justice Pyramid.  

Link for School Board Meeting on the proposed boundary changes:

https://glenforestes.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/Justice%20HS%20Pyramid%20ES%20Boundary%20Presentation.pdf