School news roundup

The following news briefs cover schools in the Annandale/Mason District area.

Collective bargaining – The Fairfax County School Board will hold a public hearing on a resolution to allow collective bargaining on Dec. 15, 6-7 p.m., at Jackson Middle School. Registration for 25 speakers will open at 6 a.m. on Dec. 1.

Legislation approved by the General Assembly to allow counties, cities, and school boards to bargain with employee unions took effect May 1, 2021.

This resolution will determine the scope and breadth of collective bargaining for Fairfax County Public Schools. A work group consisting of FCPS leaders and representatives of certified employee associations developed a proposed resolution.

Employees will have the option of whether or not to participate in a bargaining unit. Employees who choose not to join a union would not pay dues. Once a contract is approved, it will cover all employees. The state law requires bargaining agreements to remain subject to fiscal and budget limitations.

Solar schools – The School Board will consider a proposal to award a contract to Sun Tribe LLC for installing solar panels on the roof of Mason Crest Elementary School in Annandale.

The next step is approval of a solar power purchase agreement calling for FCPS to purchase electricity generated by the solar panels from Sun Tribe for 25 years at the rate of $0.1098 per kilowatt hour. The project is expected to result in energy cost savings of over $26,000 per year.

On Nov. 3, the school board approved a solar power purchase agreement with IpSun Solar to install rooftop panels at Annandale High School. The installation is scheduled to start in late 2023 or early 2024.

Hoop stars – The Annandale High School basketball team is gearing up for a great season, says coach Jerome McAvoy.
Five high-scoring players from last year are back on the team for the 2022-23 season, including captain Samuel Dailey and Andrew Nields.

Last year, the Atoms ended the season with 16 wins and eight losses. They won the George Long Christmas Tournament and defeated Alexandria City High School in the regional playoffs.

“They have a chance to definitely surpass last year’s totals,” says McAvoy, who transferred from Justice High School this year.

Nields has already committed to play for Catholic University, and Dailey has gotten offers from numerous Division 3 schools. Steve Liu, the Atoms’ best jump shooter, is also one to watch.

McAvoy urges the community to come out to a game. The Atoms usually play Tuesdays and Friday nights at 7:30. The first game of the season is Nov. 29.

As members of the Readers are Leaders group, basketball players volunteer to tutor students at Braddock Elementary School.

McAvoy is planning to host a basketball skills clinic this winter for students at Poe and Holmes middle schools.

A national leader – The National Alliance of Black School Educators (NASBE) has named Justice High School a National Demonstration School in recognition of its instructional achievements. Principal Tiffany Narcisse will give a presentation on strategies and best practices at the NASBE annual conference.

Winning projects – Educate Fairfax awarded grants totaling $82,000 to teachers this fall for 52 innovative projects, including the following projects at Annandale/Mason District schools:

• Annandale High School – The AHS PACE Independent Living Skills Lab helps intellectually disabled students ages 18-22 become more independent while learning basic job functions.

• Annandale High School – Launching Careers in the Health Sciences brought students to the NOVA Medical Education Campus to gain hands-on experience and learn about medical careers.

• Belvedere Elementary School – Third-graders organized and ran a Seed Sale, where they collected seeds, decorated and labeled envelopes, packaged seeds, advertised the event, and staffed the sale.

• Braddock ES – Outstanding Creative and Critical Thinking with Ozobots teaches programming basics in a fun and interactive way and encourages students to be creative and critical thinkers.

• Holmes Middle School – New Citizens in Action calls for eighth-graders to use skills they learned from workplace mentors and their civics and English classes to solve real-world problems in their communities.

• Justice HS – Capable Candle Co. helps students practice workplace readiness skills and use creativity and critical thinking in the classroom.

• Sleepy Hollow ES – Building STEM Skills to Design our Futures has fifth-graders explore STEM careers and collaborate in engineering design at Virginia Tech’s local Thinkabit Lab.

• Wakefield Forest ES – STEAM Microbit Engineering offers students tools for coding and solving problems.

• Wakefield Forest ES – The Makey Makey project has students turn everyday objects into a touchpad that interacts with a computer program.

• Woodburn ES – FutureMakers Sparks calls for students to work independently and collaboratively to create motorized robots.

• Woodson HS – The I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream project has students work on ice cream brand development, marketing, packaging, and production.