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What's Happening in March 2008

• President's Message
• Minority Achievement News
• Tidbits
• ANGP News
• Booster News
• Student Trip to Spain
• Special Ed News
• Reflections News
• Clinic News
• FCPS Newswire
• Community Programs
• Events Calendar
• Links of Interest

• Fairfax County Public School
• Fairfax County Council of PTAs
• Northern Virginia District PTA
• Virginia PTA
• National PTA
• US Department of Education
• Safe VA Highways
• Alliance for Virginia Students

• FCPS Family Gram
• FCPS Parent Resources
• FCPS Inclement Weather Plans
• Sign up for FCPS Keep In Touch

• Athletic Boosters
• Band Boosters
• Choral Boosters
• Guitar Boosters
• Orchestra Boosters
• Theatre Boosters
  
  

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President's Message

We're officially past mid year! In spite of the two hour delayed school start, the 2nd quarter Honor Roll Donut Reception sponsored by the PTSA was held on February 13. Over 1,500 students, who earned a 3.2 GPA or higher, received the honor. Thank you to Denise Stalnaker and her committee of volunteer parents who made the event possible!
     Thanks, as well, to Nancy Hutchison and Cindy Alls for coordinating the lovely array of Valentine's Day treats for school staff. Monte Carlo Night for adults, the fund raiser for ANGP on February 8, was a fun success. Thank you to Terry Schweinhart and Cindy Baker for coordinating the event. Join us in thanking our Monte Carlo sponsors and volunteers that made the event possible.
     This has been a busy season for the FCPS School Board. At the February 11 work session on the West County Boundary Study, adjustments and additional boundary scenarios were introduced for consideration. The School Board held an additional public hearing regarding the proposed boundary adjustments on February 19. A final decision about the West County Boundary Study should be reached by any time now. Read additional information.
     The School Board passed the FY 2009 FCPS budget on February 14. The budget totals $2.3 billion and restores programs initially identified for cuts and eliminates student fees for activities/athletics and Advance Placement, International Baccalaureate, and PSAT tests. The budget includes a requested increase in the transfer from Fairfax County of $63.7 million or 4.0 percent. Read complete budget details.
     The PTSA runs on volunteer power! Suzanne Olijar and Pam Murdoch not only coordinated volunteers for the school's February Blood Drive, they're helping with other school needs as well. Volunteers (and runners) are needed for our 5K Run for Scholarships on April 5th. Contact 5kPTSA@Westfieldhs.org to help out and or go to http://www.westfieldhs.org/5krace/index.htm to down load a form.
     On April 19th adults and teen volunteers are needed for ANGP Mulch Day (Bulldog Bucks available for WHS students). If you can't help then, we also need help in March delivering fliers to local neighborhoods. Drivers, navigators and even trucks are needed. If you have or know of any business that would be willing to donate their truck (with or without a driver on 4/19), please let us know. We need your help and connections in the community to make this a success! If you would like to be notified of events where volunteers are needed, please contact volunteerCoord@westfieldhs.org. If you have signed up to help with an event in the past and haven't heard from us, please let us know. We might have had problems with your emails, or misplaced your sheet!
     Our PTSA Committee is looking for people interested in serving in Executive and PTSA Committee positions. If you have any interest, please let me know. Hope you can join us at our next PTSA meeting on March 13, for our Saturday Night in the Suburbs presentation at 7pm in the WHS Lecture Hall!

Sincerely,
 Jennifer Campbell, WHS PTSA President
ptsa_president@westfieldhs.org

Minority Achievement News

The school year is moving forward and we have now completed the first school semester. So, how are your students doing in school? This is an excellent opportunity to touch bases again with your child's teachers to identify areas needed additional focus. Remember, parental involvement is the number one component for academic success. The Chantilly Pyramid Minority Student Achievement Committee (CPMSAC) hosted its Annual Dr. Martin Luther King JR Celebration on Sunday January 13, 2008 at Centreville High School. The audience was entertained with a number of musical, dance and poetic performances as the committee once again paid homage to one of America's great leaders. Representatives from Westfield's International Club and casts from the Westfield's play, "The Wiz" presented outstanding performances. We are very proud of our students and their continue commitment to this special occasion.
     The Minority Achievement Committee (MAC) is in the planning stage for our Spring Parent Coffee which will be held on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. in the Lecture Hall. Please put this date on your calendar now as we will status the current achievement gap at Westfield. Download flyer for Spring Parent Coffee March 12, 2008
     If you have not done so recently, please visit the MAC web site under the PTSA link on Westfield's home page. We have updated the site with current committee happenings, including monthly meeting minutes, newsletters and also some very important information on scholarship opportunities.

     Join this committee by signing up and become involved in your child's success. Read the latest MAC newsletter.

2008 Scholarship Resource Guide

Sincerely,
Mark Richardson, MAC Chairperson
Minority Achievement Homepage

Tidbits

• Westfield HS is awarded Governor's Award for Educational Excellence 2007-2008
• Effective immediately, BITS will no longer accept late arrivals after 9:40 am. Students and tutors are expected to arrive and sign in by 9:30. It is distracting for groups already working to have late arrivals join their groups. Please note, we changed our start time to 9:30 this year to accommodate those who had trouble getting here on time at 9:00 AM. Visit BITS Homepage for more information
• Interested in helping your peers? Want to share your knowledge? Do you need service hours? Then Bulldog Instructional Tutoring Services (BITS) is for you. We are looking for volunteers!! BITS meets 3 Saturdays a month from 9:15 am to 11:30. If you are interested, please visit the WHS web site for scheduled sessions and come by on Saturdays. We would love to have you participate in our program. For more information, please contact BITS committee chair Carol Jasper at bits@westfieldhs.org 
• FCPS Superintendent Presents Proposed FY 2009 Budget Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Superintendent Jack D. Dale has proposed a school system budget of $2.3 billion for FY 2009 that reflects cuts of $45.6 million and approximately 521 positions throughout FCPS and, for the second consecutive year, includes no new programs. The FY 2009 proposed budget represents a 3.3 percent increase over the FY 2008 approved budget. Read more In addition, FCPS Releases New Ten-Year Capital Improvement Plan
• New Antivirus Software Available for FCPS Staff Members and Students' Home Use FCPS recently adopted new software, McAfee VirusScan, to provide desktop and laptop computers with antivirus protection. As in the past, FCPS will offer the use of this product to employees and students for their home computers at no charge. Due to the licensing agreement with McAfee, all copies need to be accounted for. A student may check out a copy from his or her librarian. Questions about the process should be directed to the IT Service Desk by e-mail at ITServiceDesk@fcps.edu, or by phone at 703-503-1600.

ANGP News

Next ANGP Meetings: (6:30pm)

 Mar. 26, 6:30pm

 Apr. 9, 6:30pm

 Feb. 5, 6:30pm

 May 14, 6:30pm

 Jun. 4, 6:30pm

April 19 ANGP MULCH Day

Students in All grades can earn Bulldog Bucks for their Class All Night Grad Party. Learn how.

Tracy Porter

ANGP Chairperson

5K Run Information

2008 5K RUN FOR SCHOLARSHIPS The Tradition Continues... Plan to join us. Online Registration now available or download application. Read more how you can participate.

Booster News

News From the Guitar Boosters

The Westfield Guitar Ensembles are heading to New York City this month to compete in the Performing Arts Consultants National Freedom Festival. Our musicians have worked hard to get there both musically and financially through the Guitar Booster fundraising efforts. Thank you to everyone who supported these efforts.

On Friday, March  28th. The Bulldog Jazz Guitar Ensemble will be competing in the combo division of the two day Chantilly Jazz Festival at Chantilly High School. Members of the Jazz Guitar Ensemble are: Evan O'Gorman, Ryan Selove, Gregoria Rosa-Distefano, Mason Iaconangelo, Will Fruchterman, Iliana Fernandez, Spencer Duggan, and Brendan English. The exact performance time TBA.

     On Saturday, April 26th Westfield High School will be hosting the Mid-Atlantic Guitar Festival. Both the Bulldog Guitar Ensemble and the Jazz Guitars will be performing for adjudication. The MAGF is an all day affair (8:00AM-6:00PM) filled with ongoing rock, blues, jazz classical/flamenco, and guitar repair workshops; performances by nationally recognized guitarists, as well as booths set up by music vendors and colleges.

     Admission is free and all are invited to take advantage of this great opportunity being hosted by the Westfield High School Guitar program. Guitar students are especially encouraged to attend. In addition to performances and workshops, two guitars will be raffled off at the festival.

     For more information about the guitar program, please visit our web site at:

www.westfieldguitar.org, contact the director, Ken Hall at Kenneth.hall@fcps.edu, myself at: president@westfieldguitar.org

Kym Sunday

President, Westfield Guitar Boosters

Student Trip to Spain - Summer 2008  

Mr. Thomas Sakole, Mr. Phil Cox, and Mrs. Kimberly Watkins, History and English teachers, are hosting an educational trip to Spain in July. This is a great opportunity for your child to explore the world, learn about new cultures, and practice a language they may be learning. Students will tour 8 cities in Spain and have the option to take a day trip to Morocco. Students will visit museums, historical sites, and some of Spain's most beautiful Mediterranean beaches, while learning to be a world traveler and making life long friends. In the past two years, students have traveled with these teachers to England, France, Italy, and Greece, and many are returning for another adventure. Spaces are limited and will fill quickly, so please contact Mr. Thomas Sakole at Thomas.sakole@fcps.edu as soon as possible.

Special Education

Parental Rights at Stake

Reflections News

The results are in for the District level where artwork was judged with entries from Alexandria, Arlington, Falls Church, and all eight clusters of Fairfax County.

• Literature: Megan Smith, 11, Award of Excellence (2nd place)
• Music Composition: Sarah Crossland, 12, Award of Excellence (2nd place)
• Photography: Stephanie Watson, 12, Award of Merit (3rd place)
• Dance Choreography: Sarah Crossland, 12, Outstanding Interpretation (1st place). Sarah's entry has been forwarded to the state level where it is being judged with others from the entire state of Virginia.

Westfield has done very well in Reflections this year. ALL of our entries have been recognized in some way at EVERY level.

     Next year's theme (2008-2009) has just been announced. It is, "Wow!" Get to work on your artwork for next year!!

~Michele Ford Reflections co-chair

Clinic News

BEWARE of "Strawberry Quick" Meth

A new and dangerous form of the drug methamphetamine. This new form of the drug has a strawberry flavor and has a bright pink coloring. It is called "strawberry quick" and is designed for the young crowd. It has no connection with the popular Nestle QUIK flavored milk products now renamed Nestle Nesquik. Chris Harrison, a chemist at the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory, says that meth is bitter to the makers and so they try to take that edge off any way they can and have used lollipops, sodas, candy, and anything else they can to make it easier for first-time users. Even if the child just touches the drug, some may get into their system. Please talk to your children and remind them not to talk to persons they do not know and to never accept anything offered to them. It also comes in chocolate, peanut butter, cola, cherry, grape and orange. It looks just like pop rocks. The Strawberry meth has been reported in several states including Missouri, Washington State, Wisconsin, and Texas, Nevada, and California.

FCPS Newswire

Community Programs

Prom Dress Drive and Give-a-Way

The Reston Community Center is hosting its annual prom dress drive and give-a-way during the months of January - March. We are collecting gently worn formal wear, prom wear and accessories (i.e. shoes, jewelry, etc.) for young girls who otherwise would be unable to buy these items. The actual give-a-way event will be held April 12-13. Please pass the attached information onto your school for those who would like to donate, or for those who could benefit from that give-a-way event. In addition, there are options listed below for how any clubs/programs can assist us in this event: Please note this is just two ways your organization can help. If there is another way they wish to help, please let us know.
 The club/program can hold a "Mini Prom Dress Drive". The Reston Community Center will provide color flyers for advertisement, collection box, and an information letter explaining the purpose of the event that could be distributed by the club/organization and tax-deductible receipts for those individuals that donate. Please note that the schools/clubs/organizations that have chosen this option in the past, have collected dresses for a two-week period, at which point, a staff member from the Reston Community Center Teen Department pick them up. Once the prom dress give-a-way occurs, we place an ad in a local paper or provide a press release, thanking the individuals, companies, schools and restaurants who helped us this year. Download more information.

Arlington, VA, March 12, 2008: Arlington Public Schools' high school PTAs, continuing the coalition's effort to bring awareness to underage drinking issues, sponsor a session on beach week and teen drinking on March 12, 2008, 7 pm at H-B Woodlawn School, 4100 N. Vacation Lane, Arlington, VA 22207. Beach Week is a popular high school graduation celebration that brings groups of teens to beach towns the week after June graduation. Read more.

Westfield Community Coalition

Please join us for a parent program, Saturday Night in the Suburbs, on Thursday, March 13 7pm-8:30 at the Westfield High School Lecture Hall. The purpose of the program is to provide an evening of dialogue with a panel of high school seniors to discus drugs, alcohol abuse, parties, teen driving, and communication with parents. You will find the evening to be very informative from the perspective of a teenager.

Underage drinking parties can be reported anonymously to the police at 703-691-2131 where they will disperse police assistance, or 703-246-2333 for the "Shut it Down" Hotline, to report date, time, and location of an underage drinking party. To report WHS security concerns, contact Ray Clements at 703-488-6307 or Ray.Clements@fcps.edu

Under Age Tip Line 703-691-2131. Underage drinking parties can be reported anonymously to the police at this number. They will disperse police assistance.

Shut It Down Hotline 703-246-2333, to report date, time and location of an underage drinking party if you hear about it ahead of time.

Leslie Churn, MA, Substance Abuse Counselor for Westfield HS - Contact 703-488-6308 or at Leslie.Churn@fcps.edu for a free and confidential assessment.

Ethics Day at Westfield HS (Cluster 8; Westfield HS)
Sophomores learn valuable lessons about decision-making and consequences. (5:15)http://www.fcps.edu/DIT/streaming/is8_ethicsday.asx

Parents Who Host Lose the Most (Safe and Drug Free Youth; All Clusters)
Interview with Diane Eckert, Safe and Drug Free Youth and Tim Thomas, Westfield HS. (4:26)  http://www.fcps.edu/DIT/streaming/is8_int_hostlosemost.asx

Westfield Community Coalition Coordinator: Jennifer Cooper (jalcooper@aol.com) 703-966-8304. Contact Jennifer to be on the email list to receive free information about prevention programs and upcoming events:
   Western Fairfax Community Day, Free Event
   Saturday April 19, 10am-3pm
   Stone Middle School Yard
   Entertainment-International acts, local students and more; Free food donated by local corporations booths of all the Fairfax agencies that can assist those in need. Fire department with truck, Police with Robot and more. Additional parking will be available at the Park n Ride on Stone with a shuttle bus running the 5 hours.

Parent Guide to Personal Safety for Youth

Because of the exceptional popularity of the KidSafe Virginia parent guides, the Governor's Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (GOSAP) recently worked to revise, update, and combine the previous parent guides into one guide. The purpose of the new publication, Prevention Comes First: Parent Guide to Personal Safety for Youth, is to educate parents about some of the potential safety threats children may face and to assist parents in communicating with their children about personal safety.
   The topics covered in the guide include: fire safety, internet safety, driving safety, bullying, gangs, inhalant abuse prevention, and underage drinking.
   Beginning December 1, 2007, the parent guides will be available at fire and rescue stations and Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices throughout the Commonwealth. To locate your nearest visit DMV office homepage.
   Copies of the parent guide may also be downloaded from the GOSAP Web site.
   Questions may be addressed to Jacklyn Varela, special assistant to the Secretary of Public Safety at (804) 692-2568 or by e-mail: jacklyn.varela@governor.virginia.gov.

DonorsChoose.org

SIGN UP FOR GIANT BONUS Bucks

You can turn your grocery shopping into cash for Westfield through Giant’s A+ BonusBucks program. Sign up for the program and designate Westfield High School. Go to A+ Bonus Bucks Homepage, click on A+ Bonus Bucks ["designate your schools"], and provide the first three letters of your last name and your 12-digit card number (if you already have one) with no spaces. To designate Westfield High School enter the School ID number 03798. You can designate up to three schools and your Bonus Bucks will be divided equally among them. If you don’t have a Bonus Bucks card, you can pick one up at any Giant grocery store. The program runs from October 5, 2007 through April 3, 2008. Even if you have signed up in the past, you must do this each year to allow Giant to designate funds to the school of your choice.

Office Depot 5% Back to School Program

Every time parents, students, faculty, and other Westfield High School supporters make purchases at Office Depot, the school receives 5% of the qualifying purchases to use for free supplies. All you need to do is tell them at the cash register when checking out that you want Westfield High School to get credit for the purchase. They will look up the Back to Schools ID number for our school and enter it into the system at check out.

GoodSearch.com

Search the Web? Westfield can earn a penny every time you searched the Internet. GoodSearch.com is a search engine (similar to Google) that donates half its revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. You use it just as you would any search engine, and it’s powered by Yahoo!, so you get great results. Go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter Westfield High School PTSA, Chantilly VA as the charity you want to support. Just 500 of us searching four times a day will raise about $7300 in a year without anyone spending a dime! And, be sure to spread the word to family and friends who want to support our high school.

Watch D.O.G.S. (Dad’s of Great Students)

WATCH D.O.G.S.® (Dads Of Great Students) is the safe school initiative of the National Center for Fathering that involves fathers and father figures to help create a more safe and secure learning environment in our nation's schools. A great starting point to explore ways to get more men involved in PTA.

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