Monday, February 15, will be a makeup day for the snow day taken on Wednesday, February 3, and schools and offices will be open. Elementary schools will follow a full-day schedule with no early dismissal. SACC programs will operate on a regular schedule. Schools will also be open for community use.

This webstory is updated to include the Thursday, February 18 snow date for the Informational Meeting for Parents of Rising McLean HS 9th Graders.

Informational meeting for Class of 2014. Curriculum, diploma types, graduation requirements, schedules, and general ‘house keeping’ questions.

Location:  McLean HS in the Burks Theatre.

Parents interested in doing a "read-ahead" might want to review two FCPS publications:

• Getting Ready for High School and Beyond provides road map to success regardless of the career path your student is in interested in pursuing.
• 2010-2010 Standard Course Offerings includes Graduation Requirements, Advanced Academic Programs, Academy Information and a standard course listing.

Curious About Advanced Placement Classes And International Baccalaureate (IB) Program?

• Click HERE For Information About Advanced Placement Exams
• Click HERE For A Listing Of AP Courses Offered In FCPS High Schools During The Current School Year.
• Click HERE For Information About The International Baccalaureate (IB) Program.

Staff representatives from McLean HS, Langley HS and George C. Marshall HS will visit Longfellow MS to discuss curriculum choices with rising 9th grade students for high school classes and to begin the registration process.  This will occur during science classes.

Families will have ten or so days to make their choices before handing in registration material. 

Parents are advised to look closely at the various diploma requirements and map out a strawman high school course schedule that stretches over the entire four years of high school.  The strawman should be updated every February to make sure your student is on track to meet his or her objectives.  Another piece of this is to compare university/college entrance requirements against the high school courses and plan accordingly. 

Outgoing Governor Kaine declined to fund the additional $61 million due FCPS from the recent LCI re-computation.  Current Governor McDonnell apparently has agreed with him that the LCI should be frozen which means that Northern Virginia will be cheated out of the money that is owed us.  Not Fair! 

On Sunday, January 24 Churchill Road ES PTA sponsored a School Budget Crisis Rally. Aside from speeches (and local media presence) attendees signed letters to Governor McDonnell, State Senator Janet Howell, State Delegate Barbara Comstock and a phone call list with script to the delegates on an influential House committee.

Our Northern Virginia delegation agrees with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the School Board that FCPS should receive the $61 million due us. 

Please click on the links to download letters that you should mail/fax to Governor McDonnell, Senator Howell and Delegate Comstock.  Also, please call the delegates and ask them to support Fairfax County Students, Teachers, and Parents. 

Be sure to add your home address and phone number to your letters. 

Please Click HERE To Sign A Petition Supporting Full LCI Payment To FCPS.

SCA/PTA Team up to support Haiti!

Under the direction of Ms. Bullard and Ms. Bafaro, the SCA team will be collecting cash to be donated to Project Hope. The drive will begin Monday January 25th! Make sure your students come to school with exact change, dollars; any and all donations will be appreciated. In addition, 6 teachers (Mr. O’Connor, Mr. Grady, Mr. McElroy, Mr. Chaney, Ms. Duggan, and Ms. Mulqueen) have agreed to shave their heads if the students are able to raise more than $8,000. The collection will take place by team. The team that wins will be given a Pizza Party by the PTA! Students donating $5 will have a chance to win the opportunity to shave a teacher’s head!

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Shoe Drive: Soles4Souls

A group of Longfellow students from Girl Scout Troop 6175, NJHS and the SCA will be conducting a shoe drive over the next three weeks to gather shoes to send to people in need in Haiti and elsewhere. The students will package the shoes and send them to Soles4Souls, an organization that distributes new and used shoes to those in need. There are three ways you can participate in this drive:

• Bring your new, gently used and even worn out shoes to school and put them in the collection box [outside the main office?] Please fasten pairs of shoes together with a rubber band.

• Donate $2 for each pair you bring in, to allow us to ship the shoes to Soles4Souls’ warehouse in Tennessee. Please make these donations out to “Girl Scout Troop 6175” and write “Haitian Relief” on the memo line, and put them in the box in the office.

• Support the NJHS Bake Sale raising funds for Haiti; some of the funds will be used to support the shoe drive.

If you would like more information about Soles4Souls, you can find it on their website: www.soles4souls.org. Your shoes will make a difference to someone who has none, or to micro-industry cobblers who will mend them and sell them to support themselves and their families. Shoes that are too worn out to re-use will be recycled, and shoes that are not appropriate for Haiti will be sent to others in need. Be Green, Be a Good Neighbor, and...Bring us your shoes!! We thank you in advance for your generosity.

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Donate To Haiti Earthquake Relief Effort Through The American Red Cross

Donate Through Oxfam America To The Haiti Earthquake Relief Effort

Give To The Salvation Army's Haiti Earthquake Relief Effort

Rising 9th graders and families requesting Spanish language assistance – Learn about high school requirements from Crissie Ricketts, Director of Student Services at McLean HS.

The PTA would like to thank the Lebanese Taverna for their warm hospitality and their generosity in offering us the opportunity to host our Longfellow Families Night Dining Fundraiser Monday, December 7th. It was a wonderfully successful event! We have no idea how much we raised but what we found was the way families came together in such a warm community-building atmosphere, was absolutely priceless. We look forward to holding this event again in the future!

Our sincerest thanks to the Abi-Najm family -- Dany, Jenifer, and Danielle (8-Spartan) -- for sponsoring this wonderful fundraiser! 

Be sure to stop in anytime.  

Reservations are accepted by calling (703) 847-5244.

Click HERE For A Map & Directions.

Treats for the Troops is a Girl Scout Silver Star service project that our very own Lisa Cofrancesco (8-Spartans) has created to . . . well, in her own words . . .

"get donations of beanie babies and beef jerky, ramen soup etc. for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. I called it Treats for the Troops because that is exactly what my project is about – getting treats for our troops. I felt like this would make them feel better and a little bit closer to home, just like we do when we have these same treats in our home. The beanie babies was a special kicker. I found out that beanie babies were being used by our troops to get local kids to help the troops find out where the explosives were hidden (IEDs). Through my research, I found two groups that send packages directly to the troops and they both agreed to accept the gifts that I raise for the troops (Operation Gratitude and Give2TheTroops). I am also sending packages directly to two platoons who have families in our community."

Lisa has several Treats for the Troops Collection Sites that have graciously agreed to help her with this worthwhile Silver Star service project:

• Longfellow Middle School front office, 2000 Westmoreland St, Falls Church, VA
• Bach to Rock music studio, 1440 Emerson Ave, McLean, VA
• Howrey LLP, 1299 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC 20004
• Datatel, 4375 Fair Lakes Court, Fairfax, Virginia 22033
• St. Luke’s Catholic Parish School, 7001 Georgetown Pike, McLean VA 22101

Thank You For Supporting Lisa Cofrancesco as she sends Treats for the Troops!