School news: Town hall on gun violence

Students from Jackson Middle School finished third in the state in the construction challenge at the Virginia Technology Student Association state competition.

Town hall on gun violence – Del. Kaye Kory and school board member Sandy Evans invite the public to a Student Town Hall on the Prevention of Gun Violence, Monday, June 4, 7-9 p.m., at Holmes Middle School.

The student panelists include Lena Ebadi and Mayada Hassan, organizers of the walkout at JEB Stuart High School; Michael McCabe of Students Demand Action; Niharika Vattikonda, the student member of the FCPS school board; and Fred Hagen-Gates of Youth for National Action.

According to a report in the Washington Post, 2018 has been deadlier for schoolchildren than for the members of the U.S. armed forces. “This is a horrifying statistic. This is a horrifying statement about our society,” Kory says.

While all levels of government need to act to prevent gun violence and protect schoolchildren, the Republicans in the General Assembly have voted down any sensible remedies and have instead called for arming teachers and requiring students to wear transparent backpacks, Kory says. “Schools should never be fortresses. Teachers should never be soldiers. There must be better ways to prevent gun violence.”

A new principal – Diane Leipzig has been appointed principal of Canterbury Woods Elementary School, effective July 1. Leipzig has scheduled a meet-and-greet with parents for June 7.

Leipzig is currently an educational specialist for dyslexia in the FCPS Instructional Services Department, where she leads a team to help schools implement needs-based and innovative instructional practices for students in grades K-12. Before that, she was assistant principal at Timber Lane Elementary School in Falls Church and taught at several other FCPS schools.

Watershed studies – Ecologists from Fairfax County’s Watershed Education and Outreach program will be at Camelot Elementary School June 11 to create a meadow strip along the edge of the school grounds with native milkweed plants. This Revitalize, Restore, Replant! project fits in with students’ efforts to analyze data to determine the relative health of a local stream and the impact of humans on the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The meadow strip with native plants will improve the quality of water runoff from school grounds to the stream and ultimately to the bay. It will also provide a habitat for monarch caterpillar breeding to support a second-grade science unit.

Students at Bailey’s Elementary School work on art projects.

A vision of success – Sleepy Hollow Elementary School is having Junior Achievement Day on June 11. Professionals from a variety of careers will come to the school to engage K-5 students in activities aimed at promoting 21st century skills, such as collaboration, communication, and critical thinking.

Junior Achievement is a national organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to plan for their futures, make smart academic and economic choices, and work toward becoming successful adults.

Family life – The Fairfax County School Board will consider at its June 14 meeting changes to the Family Life Education (FLE) curriculum that will make it more LGBTQ-inclusive and help protect the health of all students.

The FLE program prepares younger students for being members of families, cautions older students about some of the hazards of adulthood, and contains lessons that encourage all students to be safer in this world. The program respects the values of families of different perspectives and cultural backgrounds. Parents are given an opportunity to examine the FLE materials and opt out their children from any part or all of the FLE at any grade level.

This year, FCPS is considering proposed changes to make FLE objectives more inclusive of transgender students. If adopted, FCPS will begin using language in line with major medical groups, such as the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American Psychiatric Association. That includes the phrase “sex assigned at birth” when discussing human sexuality, rather than “biological sex,” physiological sex,” or “natal sex.”

FCPS is also considering whether the FLE curriculum should inform high school students about Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), which, when taken properly, is as an effective way of preventing HIV infection.

National far-right organizations, such as the Family Research Council and Liberty Counsel, are lobbying heavily against the changes and are mobilizing activists to show up in force at the June 14 school board meeting.

To counter that pressure, those who support the proposed changes have been asked to wear purple, rainbow, and trans-pride colors to the meeting. Public comments can be submitted by June 8 via mail to [email protected].

Plant project – Eighth-graders at Frost Middle School will be participating in a service project through their civics classes on June 11 and 12 involving the planting of strawberries, grasses, pollinator plants, bushes, and small trees in the courtyard and other areas around the school. This project was made possible by generous grants from the Frost PTA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

School newspaper – When a student at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School asked a teacher about starting a school newspaper, Principal Eric Johnson agreed, as the project would fit in with the school’s “balanced literacy framework.” The first edition of the Sleepy Hollow Scoop, written by and for students in grades 3-5 under teachers’ supervision, includes current events happening at school, student writing samples, comics and jokes, game guides, and math challenges.

Farm shares – The Arcadia Center for Food and Sustainable Agriculture, the nonprofit organization that brought a mobile farmers market to the lower campus of Bailey’s Elementary School, is starting a new farm share program. Beginning June 20, customers can pick up packages of seasonal produce every Wednesday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., through Aug. 22 in the parking lot at Woodrow Wilson Library.

The weekly cost for a farm share is $25 for vegetables and $28 for a package of vegetables and fruit. Customers who participate in SNAP or have children in FCPS’ free and reduced-price lunch program are eligible for discounted prices – $10 a week for vegetables and $12.50 a week for vegetables and fruit.

Arcadia will also host First Friday Cooking Demos for the Bailey’s community. The first session, July 13, 9:30 a.m., is all about salads. For more information about farm shares and cooking demonstrations, contact Julie Miller, [email protected].