News from our President, Jennifer Campbell

January 2010

"10 Years of Tradition—A Decade of Excellence"

Happy New Year! Hope you’ve had the opportunity to review your student's interim grades and had a restful winter break, especially after digging out from our first snow of the season! The PTSA Minority Achievement held their annual potluck holiday celebration Dec 16th. Attendees enjoyed catering by Anthony Holliday of Happy Hollidays as well as solo and duet performances by Mr. Stack, WHS Step Team and the Men's Leadership Team. Thanks to Milan Coleman and Evelyn Spain for putting it all together.

A belated thank you to Mary McLaughlin-English and Sue Bark for their leadership with the county-wide Reflections Art Contest. The 27 participants and accomplishments were listed in the December 2009 Bulletin and the 3 first place student entries went to the next level for judging.

The PTSA is sponsoring a practice SAT/ACT, sponsored by Princeton Review, on February 6th, 9am—12:45pm in the WHS Cafeteria. Registration is open and forms are available on our web site or in the school’s main office. The practice test allows your student to gain confidence in taking the test, but at a fee substantially lower the actual test fee. The test will be given at Westfield and will be available to students in the surrounding community. The cost is $15, which includes an evening follow-up session on February 23rd in the cafeteria to help understand how your student performed. This event is a PTSA fund-raiser. Checks should be made payable to WHS PTSA and sent to the main office at school. If you know you are available the morning of February 6th, we could use a few adults to help with registration and distribution of test materials. Please contact me if you can help at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text96626 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //--> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . If your student recently received results from the PSAT taken this past October, you can view a tutorial for explanation of the results at http://www.fcps.edu/WestfieldHS/student_services/psat.htm.

Student directories are still available, while supplies last. They come in handy for carpooling, for kids working together on school projects, keeping track of your kids' whereabouts, spelling names correctly and contacting other parents or the school. Directories are available in the main office for $10 cash or check made out to WHS PTSA or other arrangements can be made through Gary Flather at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
By now you should have heard plenty about the $176 million dollar shortfall with the FCPS 2011 school budget. Check out http://www.fcps.edu/news/fy2011.htm. Our schools will see cuts due to the budget shortfall. The process of holding public hearings will continue throughout the budget process starting in January to give citizens an opportunity to weigh in on the possible cuts. Among the items under consideration for cuts are: an increase in class size by one student per teacher; elimination of full-day kindergarten to all but Title I schools; elimination of elementary band and string; elimination of elementary school foreign language programs; and elimination of the special needs staffing in high school. The School Board may also institute a number of fees FY 2011, including fees for athletic participation, Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) tests and increased fees for community use of facilities. The public hearings on the FY 2011 budget will be held at the Government Center between April 6 and April 8, 2010. For a list of all County and School budget-related calendar dates, go to http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dmb/county_budget_calendar.htm.

The Westfield community will need to think creatively about how to minimize the impact of budget cuts on our children's education. Please consider matching funds from employer donations or volunteer hours, our silent fund raisers, and other in kind donations to Westfield groups.
Westfield's annual Blood Drive will be held on January 13 & 14 in the R Wing basement. We are looking for four (4) parent volunteers for each shift to help out with registration, refreshments and watch after students who are giving blood and help with refreshments. The drive will run from 7:30am to 1:30pm on both days. Contact Suzanne Olijar, Volunteer coordinator at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text81457 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //--> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

We'll be forming a nominating committee to fill PTSA board slots for the upcoming school year including the Treasurer, Newsletter and the Website. It is optimum to think early about volunteer opportunities so you can shadow your predecessor before they vacate the position and allow for an easier transition. If interested in being on the nominating committee or in any PTSA position, please contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text16523 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //--> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .