Principal's Note - March 11, 2022
Good afternoon, Holmes Families!
I hope that you have had a wonderful week! It was an exciting week at Holmes, and we had two wonderful chorus performances at Annandale High School! And for the first time in months, we had NO COVID cases, and NO paused students this week!! I am feeling hopeful that maybe - two years after all of this started - that we will actually experience some real relief. And just three short weeks until Spring Break!
Holmes Family Meeting on Thursday, 3/17 re: Prayer Rooms
This year, we have seen an increase in the number of students accessing our prayer rooms during the school day. We are excited to be able to support students in this way, and there are some guidelines that we are required to follow as a public school. Students have had a number of questions about these guidelines, and we would like to invite you to join us in a conversation about what that looks like in the school setting. We are mindful that Ramadan will begin in April, so we have scheduled our meeting prior to spring break.
We will be meeting from 6:30-7:30 on Thursday, March 17th in the Lecture Hall at Holmes Middle School. We will also provide a virtual option. Interpreters will be available. We encourage you to attend with your Holmes student so that we can all have the conversation together.
If you plan to attend, please complete this form by Tuesday, March 15th, so that we can plan accordingly.
We hope that you will be able to join us to collaborate with to us ensure that we are providing a supportive and welcoming environment for all students and families.
Help Needed with Upcoming Events
If you are interested in helping out with the 5K Fun Run that will be on Saturday, April 23rd, or the 8th grade celebration that will be on Friday, June 3rd, please email me at @email to let me know. For those who have already emailed me, THANK YOU! I will send an email out to everyone next week to kick things off.
Family Engagement Survey
Our Family Engagement Survey is coming to your email the afternoon of Sunday, March 13. Please participate—your feedback is critical in helping to inform and improve FCPS’ practices to best support our students.
Taking this survey will also help strengthen the partnership between your family and your school. When that partnership is strong, students can experience a range of benefits including improved school readiness, higher student achievement, and better social skills and behavior.
FCPS is partnering with independent firm K12 Insight to administer the survey, and it will be available in eight languages. For more information, please watch this short video from Superintendent Brabrand and visit the Family Engagement Survey webpage. Your voice matters!
Middle School Grade Level Configuration
During the 1990-1991 school year, the Fairfax County School Board piloted a grade level change at Glasgow, Holmes, and Poe Middle Schools, in which these schools adopted a Grades 6-8 configuration.
In April 1991, the School Board approved this model for all FCPS middle schools, but this change was never implemented across the rest of the school division.
Recently, parents have raised questions about why these three schools use a Grade 6-8 model, while the rest of FCPS’ middle schools use a Grade 7-8 model, either in a stand-alone building or within a secondary school that extends through Grade 12.
This advocacy, along with numerous gaps which became evident during the planning of virtual learning and the subsequent phasing of in-person instruction, resulted in two follow-on motions which were presented as part of the CIP approval process on February 4, 2021. The School Board unanimously approved two follow-on motions to assess the configuration of Mason District middle schools and provide research regarding the most effective grade configuration:
I move that the School Board direct the Superintendent to conduct a program audit of middle schools with grade six to determine if the current grade level configuration offers the most efficient use of facilities and/or meets instructional best practices. (Anderson)
I move that the School Board direct the Superintendent to engage the Mason District community to obtain parental perspective on the placement of grade six in middle school. (Anderson)
The first follow-on motion culminated in research which generally shows the quality of instruction at a school is more important than the grade arrangement. See the Grade 6 in Middle School Executive Summary for details.
As per the second follow-on motion, the Mason Community is urged to participate in this engagement opportunity to learn about each middle school grade configuration and share their feedback.
Parent/Caregiver engagement for Poe, Holmes, and Glasgow Middle Schools and the elementary feeder schools is now scheduled as follows:
- Parent/Caregiver Meetings. Interpretation services available in Amharic, Arabic, Korean and Spanish. American Sign Language available on request.
- Monday, March 14, 6-7 p.m.: Register now.
- Monday, March 14, 7:30-8:30 p.m.: Register now.
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Friday, March 18, 12-1 p.m. (NEW): Register now
- Focus groups
- Survey in eight languages (coming March 25 via email)
See the Middle School Grade Level Configuration webpage for more information.
Arabic (العربية), English (English), Chinese (中文), Farsi (فارسی), Korean (한국어), Spanish (español), Urdu (اردو), Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)
Here are today's newsletter topics:
Holmes Updates
- Student Services - Important Information
- 2021-22 Blue-White Calendar
- 2021-22 Bell Schedule
- Next Week's Schedule
- After School Program Next Week
- A Message from Mr. Kruk
- From Ms. Oncho, Our Family Liaison
- Holmes Spiritwear Sale
- 17th Annual Special Education Conference
- Lightspeed Parent Report on Child's Device Activity
- Short-Term Behavioral Health Service For Children and Youth (STBH)
- Back-to-School Immunization Clinic - March 12
- Albuterol Availability for K-12 Students
- Job Opportunities at Holmes & in FCPS
- Important Upcoming Dates
- How to Stay Connected to Holmes MS
FCPS & Community Updates
- Free COVID Testing
- Stay Connected with FCPS
Summer Learning and Camps
- Annandale High School Volleyball Camp for Rising 9th Graders
- Annandale High School Sports Camps
- Middle and High School STEM Camps at West Point Military Academy
- Park Authority Camps
Please feel free to reach out and let us know what questions you have. Thank you, and have a wonderful weekend!!
Sincerely,
Margaret Barnes
Proud Principal, Holmes MS
HOLMES UPDATES
Next Week's Schedule: 3/14-3/18
The Blue-White Calendar can also be found on the inside cover of student agendas and can be found HERE on our school website.
- Monday, 3/14 - BLUE DAY (SOAR & ER 6)
- Tuesday, 3/15 - WHITE DAY
- Wednesday, 3/16 - BLUE DAY (SOAR & ER 7)
- Thursday, 3/17 - WHITE DAY
- Friday, 3/18 - BLUE DAY (SOAR & ER 8)
After School Schedule Next Week
A Message from Mr. Kruk
ASP Student of the Week:
Congratulations to this week’s After School Student of the Week; Roger Sierra Montoya. Roger has consistently demonstrated a high level of maturity, honesty, and open mindedness during the program. Roger displays a growth mindset and accountability while serving as a positive role model for his peers. Great job Roger!
Movie Club
- The movie featured this Tuesday 3/14 will be Disney’s; The Emperor’s New Groove
- If you have any questions or concerns regarding movie club, please reach out to our After-School Specialist, Mr Kruk. (@email)
New Clubs!
- The past two weeks we’ve doubled our activities offered by providing clubs such as football, basketball, movie club, and girls basketball club.
- In the next few weeks we will be adding new clubs such as; volleyball, gardening club, and Lego club!
- Interested in starting a new club? Please see or email Mr. Kruk (@email) for a registration form and details.
Students Leaving After-School:
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- Any student staying after school must be signed out by a parent or guardian if leaving prior to 4:45. Walkers may sign themselves out.
- Students will remain in their clubs or under teacher supervision until they are called to the main office for pickup.
- No student is to leave the school until signed out of the main office.
For any and all questions related to the after school program, please contact Mr. Kruk at @email.
From Ms. Oncho, Our Family Liaison
March Parent Coffee
Get March Parent Coffee information from the Holmes Families Schoology Course. If you do not have a SIS ParentVue login/ Schoology Access, please fill out this form. Once you have a SIS Account, you will log into Schoology using the same login information.
April Parent Coffee
Our next Parent Coffee will be on April 14th from 6pm-7pm over Zoom. The topic is "Coping with Stress and Anxiety". In the one hour session, you will learn tips and strategies for helping your child manage their stress and anxiety from Dr. Brandynicole Brooks with the Prince William National Alliance on Mental Illness. For more information about Dr. Brooks, visit her website at www.drbrandynicole.com . We will send out more information about this coffee soon.
New Little Free Food Pantry On-Site
Be The Good Project, a local volunteer-run non-profit, has installed a Little Free Food Pantry at Holmes Middle School!
The pantry is located outside the front entry of the school. The goal of the pantry is to provide free, emergency non-perishable food for families who need supplemental groceries — 24/7, no questions asked. Please take what you need and leave what you can!
The pantry is maintained and filled by volunteers. If you have non-perishable donations to share, please place them inside the pantry any day, any time! You can learn more ways to help at bethegoodproject.org
Holmes Closet
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2022 Fairfax County Teen Job Fairs - March 12 & 19
These events will focus on students and young job seekers looking for a variety of employment opportunities: full time, after-school, seasonal positions, internship opportunities, and volunteer positions.
For more information and registration, click the link below:
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/springfield/teenjobfairs?_
Programs and Services for Kids and Teens
Neighborhood and Community Services offers a variety of out-of-school time
programs to keep Fairfax County kids and teens engaged outside of school hours. For more information, click the link below:
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/neighborhood-community-services/kids-teens
Free Online Career Series
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Holmes Spiritwear Sale
Holmes merchandise is now available on
https://www.selectspiritwear.com/v5store/pc/viewcategories.asp?idcategory=753(please ignore the February 12th deadline)
17th Annual Special Education Conference
Virtual 17th Annual Special Education Conference will be held Saturday, March 26 from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Lightspeed Parent Report on Child’s Device Activity
FCPS has new tools to help parents and guardians know more about their child’s activity on any FCPS device. These tools are provided by Lightspeed, our internet content filtering service, at no cost to families. You may sign up for a weekly Parent Report, which will provide a list of the top sites your child visited. If you want more detailed information, sign up for the Internet Use Parent portal and log-in anytime to see more detail about your child’s browsing and “pause” access to the internet during non-school hours. Find out more and sign up for these services on our website.
Short-Term Behavioral Health Service For Children and Youth (STBH)
Back-to-School Immunization Clinic - March 12
Albuterol Availability for K-12 Students
In accordance with the Code of Virginia 22.1-274.2 each school in FCPS will have stock albuterol inhalers and valved holding chambers available to be administered to K-12 students with no known history of asthma who are believed to be having a respiratory emergency.
Stock albuterol inhalers are not to be administered to the following:
- Students below the age of four
- Staff
- Visitors
The stock albuterol inhalers will be administered by school board employees (to include local health department employees assigned to public schools) who have received training in the administration of albuterol inhalers.
Job Opportunities at Holmes & in FCPS
To help us meet these critical needs, here is a reminder of some job opportunities that we have a available at Holmes and throughout FCPS:
- Student monitors (Holmes needs 1 or 2 more)
- Substitutes (short- and long-term) - School Board just approved an increase in pay for short- and long-term substitutes!
If you or someone you know is looking for work and may be a good fit for one or more of these positions, I encourage you or them to apply!
Important Upcoming Dates
- Thursday, 3/31 -2-hour Early Release & Activity Day / Last day of 3rd Quarter
- Friday, 4/1 - Student Holiday / Teacher Workday
- Monday, 4/4-Friday, 4/8 - SPRING BREAK
- Saturday, 4/23 - Spring 5K Fun Run
- Friday, 6/3 7-9 PM - 8th Grade Celebration
How to Stay Connected to Holmes MS
Please stay in touch with us throughout the year by:
- keeping your contact information up-to-date throughout the year
- visiting the Holmes MS website
- signing up for News You Choose
- following us on Twitter
- monitoring your student's progress with SIS Parent Account
- join the Holmes MS PTA and attend meetings
FCPS & COMMUNITY UPDATES
Free COVID Testing
Take a look at the flyer below for information about free COVID testing. For more information about testing and vaccination sites in Fairfax County, check out this link.
Other resources for testing and vaccination can be found here:
Summer Learning and Camps
Annandale High School Volleyball Camp for Rising 9th Graders - June 13-17
Annandale High School Sports Camps
Dear Annandale HS Pyramid Parents –
Annandale High School is hosting five weeks of sports camps this summer. The camps include:
- June 13-17 - Multi-Sport Camp
- June 20-25 - Boys Basketball
- June 27-30 - Olympic Sports Camp (4 days)
- July 11-15 - Girls’ Field Hockey, Girls’ Lacrosse, & Girls’ Basketball
- July 18-22 - Girls Basketball
The camps are open to students entering 2nd through 9th grade (ages 7-14). The price of each camp ranges from $100 - $125 and runs from 8:30am-3:00pm. Scan the QR Code to sign up and pay online. Any questions, email John Ellenberger, the Director of Student Activities at Annandale High School at @email.
Middle and High School STEM Camps at West Point Military Academy
The Center for Leadership and Diversity in STEM (CLD STEM) organizes and runs the West Point middle school and high school STEM camps. Each summer, middle and high school students from across the United States are invited to come to West Point for a week-long hands-on STEM camp. The overarching goal is to increase interest in STEM through inquiry-based projects; develop and reinforce student science, math and problem-solving skills that are prerequisites to success in high school and college.
Please click on the link below for more information:
Park Authority Camps
Click the link to register https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/camps
Stay Connected with FCPS
Being connected to your school and division is important every year, and even more so now as we navigate our return to school. The best way to stay informed is to sign up for newsletters through News You Chose.
Your school and FCPS have a variety of topics you can choose from, including:
- School Newsletters- featuring everything you need to know about your child’s school
- FCPS This Week- a weekly newsletter featuring news and happenings from across the division, published Wednesday mornings
- School Board Meeting Update- a recap of important news coming out of school board meetings, published the Friday morning after the meeting
- FCPS Employee News- weekly updates just for staff, published Tuesday mornings