City of Fairfax Schools

Welcome to the first issue of the City of Fairfax Schools Close-Up Online

A NOTE FROM JANICE MILLER
Chairman, City of Fairfax School Board

Janice is pictured here with City Schools Superintendent Ann Monday, Fairfax City Mayor Rob Lederer, and Scott Brabrand, Fairfax High’s former principal and the new Assistant Superintendent for FCPS Cluster IV

Hello, and thank you for viewing the inaugural issue of our newsletter, Close-Up Online — an evolution of the award-winning newsletter, City School Close-Up, that we’ve been publishing since 2001.

We’ll be using this powerful tool each month to share current information about the four City Schools. Our goal is to do an even better job of communicating with our parents, residents and business owners about the good work being done by the students, teachers, and the City of Fairfax School Board.

We’ve also launched a new website, www.CityofFairfaxSchools.com, and we hope you find it useful, interesting, and easy to peruse.

I am also proud to announce that we have good academic news about our four City Schools. The Standards of Learning (SOL) scores are on the rise (see graphs and stories below) and all of our schools have made Adequately Yearly Progress (AYP).

Fairfax County Public Schools Cluster VII Superintendent Linda Burke presented the scores to the City of Fairfax School Board at its October work session. She said: “While test scores do not tell the whole story about the quality of a school, they do reflect how well students are learning the core curriculum.”

Below, Superintendent Ann Monday explains what those SOL scores mean. You’ll also find graphs of the stellar scores for the City Schools, and an analysis of what they mean for our schools and our students from each of our four City School principals.

We’ll look forward to reaching out to you each month through Close-Up Online, and encourage you to click the “Tell A Friend” tab at the top of this newsletter so all of your friends, neighbors, relatives, and fellow city residents can learn about what is going on in their local schools.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving, and continued school success. — Janice

IN THS ISSUE

COVER STORY: The City Schools make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Superintendent Ann Monday shares the impressive Standards of Learning scores earned by the City Schools this year — and she explains what those scores really mean. “I am pleased to report that all of the City of Fairfax Schools made AYP for 2009. This accomplishment shows how hard our students, teachers and principals are working — including students with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency. This is an impressive feat.”

SPOTLIGHT ON PROVIDENCE ELEMENTARY: Providence Elementary’s new principal Jesse Kraft says the reason for the rise or fall in SOL test scores is tough to predict. So his teachers have been working for the last few years to hone in on each subgroup in the school (including ESOL students, free and reduced lunch students, and disabled students) to find ways to help each and every child succeed academically.

SPOTLIGHT ON DANIELS RUN ELEMENTARY: Principal Kathy Mullenix is proud her students made AYP and says, “We have a variety of programs in place at Daniels Run to ensure that our students are mastering the curriculum, which is reflected in the increasingly better SOL scores. Remember that each year, the students need to score in an increasingly higher percentile for the school to make AYP. So it’s important that we are vigilant in our efforts to be sure they are staying on task, doing their homework, and getting help when they don’t understand a lesson.”

SPOTLIGHT ON LANIER MIDDLE SCHOOL: Students at Lanier Middle School made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) this year, an improvement over 2007 and 2008, explains Principal Scott Poole. “The interesting thing about AYP,” Poole shares, “is that there are 28 subgroups and all need to make progress each year or the entire school fails to make it. And, the percentile by which we need to pass goes up every other year. It’s pretty daunting. But this year, we did it. We celebrated the afternoon we got the news, and then we starting hunkering down so we do it again in 2010.”

SPOTLIGHT ON FAIRFAX HIGH: Fairfax High’s new principal David Goldfarb says he’s extremely pleased with the strong results from the Fairfax students across the entire curriculum as well as in different tests. “These recent results are just another chapter in the story of continuous improvement that has been authored by the Fairfax High School instructional staff,” he explains. “Our teachers care very much for their students and are committed to helping their students be successful. They believe that every student can be successful.”

Join us for the next City School Regular Board Meeting: Monday, November 2

Topics of discussion will include:

Student Representative Report
Presentation by: Jonathan Earley, Fairfax High School senior

Parent Program at Providence Elementary School
Presentation by: Principal Jesse Kraft

Roadmap to Academic Success Focus Group Report
Presentation by: City Schools Superintendent Ann Monday

LOCATION: Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are held on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Fairfax City Hall:
10455 Armstrong Street, Fairfax VA 22030

View Our Board Meeting Calendar for 2009-2010.

Don't Miss This Work Session: November 16

MAIN TOPIC: Projections for School Capacity
The Fairfax City School Board will hear a presentation on projections for school capacity by FCPS’ Denise James, Ajay Rawat and Larry Bizette.

Other topics of discussion will include:

School Board Communications Plan
Presentation by: City Schools Superintendent Ann Monday and Communications Specialist Hope Katz Gibbs

Budget FY2011
Presentation by: City Schools Superintendent Ann Monday

Legislative Agenda
Presentation by: School Board Chariman Janice Miller and Vice Chair Jon Buttram

LOCATION: Unless otherwise indicated, all City School Board Work Sessions are held at Fairfax High School:
3501 Rebel Run, Fairfax, VA 22030-1867

View Our Work Sessions Calendar for 2009-2010.

Fairfax High has 14 National Merit Commended Scholars!

NOVEMBER 2009 — Congratulations to the 14 Fairfax High students named 2009-2010 National Merit Commended Scholars.

They include: Arabella Ahn, Katherine Barlow, Jack Bechert, Aditya Bhatnagar, Anurag Bhatnagar, Yen-Ming Chen, John Gillen, Lailah Irani, Joo Young Jo, Gi Young Kim, Gary Kochetkov, Sathya Mathavan, Bailey McDade, and Carrol Vander Clute. This year we also have one National Merit Semifinalist, Emily Schutz.

AUGUST 2009: WELCOME TO TWO NEW CITY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS

The City of Fairfax School Board is pleased to announce that Fairfax County Public Schools have hired two new principals to fill some big shoes for the principalships at Fairfax High and Providence Elementary School.

AT FAIRFAX HIGH

Taking Scott Brabrand’s place as the head of Fairfax High is David Golfarb, who was named principal of Fairfax High last summer after spending two years as an assistant principal at South Lakes High School.

Scott Brabrand has been promoted to the position of Assistant Superintendent of Cluster IV for Fairfax County Public Schools effective July 1. He replaces Brian Binggeli, who has been named superintendent of Brevard (Florida) Public Schools.

Read more about Scott Brabrand’s promotion here.

AT PROVIDENCE ELEMENTARY

Replacing retiring principal Joy Hanbury at Providence Elementary will be Jesse Kraft, an experienced, respected educator in FCPS who began his teaching career in 1996 as a 3rd grade teacher at Newington Forest Elementary. In his nine years there, he taught 4th and 6th grade and served as a “Great Beginnings” coach supporting new teachers during their first-year in FCPS.

In 2001, he achieved National Board Certification, and in 2004 was nominated for the prestigious FCPS Teacher of the Year award. Kraft then became the assistant
principal at Westlawn Elementary in Falls Church in 2005, and in 2007 was the AP
at Oak Hill Elementary School.

They join the two other City School principals, Kathy Mullenix, the long-time principal of Daniels Run Elementary, and Scott Poole, Lanier Middle School’s principal since 2006.

Read entire article.