Greeting Chancellor Chargers,

We are almost at the midpoint of the second quarter. Dealing with COVID-19 related regulations has presented a challenge to many of our students who long for a return to normalcy. Thank you for support as we continue to push our students to log in to classes, participate in class discussions/activities, and complete assignments on those days in which virtual learning is taking place. Interim grades will be available for you to view in Parentvue on Thursday, November 12th. Virtual Parent Conferences are scheduled for Tuesday, November 17 from 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm.

Stay safe and have a great week!

Leading the Charge!

Cassandra Crawford, Principal

Last month, Jenna Freeman received a ribbon for competing in the Virtual Virginia State Fair competition, placing 6th in the Agriculture Issues Poster Competition. Great job Jenna! Congratulations!

Congratulations to the Artistic Team, Cast, and Crew of the original short film, Unconscious Constellations. The film received a rating of Superior at the Virginia Theatre Association's virtual conference. Destani Butler was selected for a "Best Acting" award and was one of ten students selected for this award in the state. The judges also gave the theatre department two additional discretionary awards: "Judges Choice for Video Production" and "Rethinking What Theatre Can Be." Unconscious Constellations was entirely written, directed, designed, composed, and performed by the seniors listed below at Chancellor High School. There will be a virtual screening of the short film on Thursday, November 12 at 7 pm.

At the VTA Conference, Lexi Carter played the lead role of Will in a world premiere of a musical, called Will and Whit. There were students cast from 15 different schools as a part of the production and the musical was featured in a conference-wide event on Thursday evening. There will be a virtual screening of Will and Whit on Friday, November 13, run by a theatre company based in Charlottesville named DMR Adventures.

Cast and Crew List

Director: Miranda Cochran

Screenwriter: Cara Hadden

Production Manager: Natalie Roenke

Cast: Ronnie Bates, Precious Wheeler, Destani Butler, Emma Leighton

Art Director: Andrea Rojas

Composer: Lexi Carter

Additional Voice-Overs: Andrea Rojas and Natalie Roenke

Ensemble: Cara Hadden, Miranda Cochran, Natalie Roenke, and Andrea Rojas

Editing Team: Aston Jazvic, Miranda Cochran, Cara Hadden, Natalie Roenke, and Matthew Armentrout

Theatre Faculty Sponsors: Matthew Armentrout and Connor Worthington

• Students with IEPs or 504s that plan on taking an AP test, PSAT, or SAT must submit a signed consent form requesting testing accommodations to Mrs. Morganti by November 20th. (Form is attached)

  
  

  ssd-consent-form-accommodations

• To make an appointment with your counselors, please use this Google Form. https://forms.gle/kQ2HbAb2VDprFJ7MA or use this QR code

• Seniors, please complete the Diploma Name Verification Form. https://forms.gle/YBdZVyB9ooHEcoRc6

Here's this week's Lightning Fast Broadcast.

Enjoy!

The Oxford Dictionary defines mindfulness as a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique. Here is a great resource on everyday mindfulness that may be of benefit to you and your student. Please take a look at it when you can do so.

There are no virtual college visits this week.

SCPS has completed our first month of hybrid in-person learning and are about halfway through our second quarter of the school year! I continue to be deeply thankful for our dedicated staff and family partners who work together to engage our students in learning experiences during this challenging time.

Announcements & Reminders

• The school board will have its general meeting on November 9th. It will again include updates on the hybrid model success and challenges. On November 16th, the board will meet to conduct the FY2022 pre-budget work session.

• The instructional delivery model for Monday, November 23rd and Tuesday, November 24th is changing. As a school division, we will be providing asynchronous learning opportunities for both dates. At this point in the year, we will have completed nine weeks of distance learning and six weeks of hybrid instruction. Having these two days asynchronous will permit students, families, and staff a more flexible schedule to transition into the Thanksgiving break. It will also provide an opportunity for each of our buildings to be thoroughly cleaned prior to the return from the holiday. We do, however, expect students to be present with their learning opportunities on both days. Wednesday through Friday will remain student and staff holidays as reflected in the current Instructional Calendar. Further communication will be on-going.

• We are finalizing the placement of the 11 mobile hotspots throughout the county. These mobile hotspots will provide another way for students to access online materials. An announcement will be shared next week with the locations. This information will also be posted in the Return to Learn section of our website. Many thanks to our partners in education S-Power, Atlantic Builders, and Spotsylvania Education Foundation who funded the construction of each of these mobile hotspots.

• We emailed information about the annual Impact Aid Form to all parents. If you have not already done so, please complete the docusign form that you received by email. The School Division receives funding for students who have parents that are in the military or work on a federal government property based on the Impact Aid forms that are completed. Thank you for your assistance.

• This week, we met again with the superintendent’s Parent Advisory Team. Updates were shared regarding our Return to Learn Health Mitigation Strategies. We are creating a video of the information that was provided to the Parent Advisory Team and will share that in next's week's message.

• Be sure to save the date, our next Family Connection webinar will be live-streamed on Thursday, November 12 at 5:00 p.m. at www.regionalwebtv.com/family-connection. This month’s topic will focus on Student Support Services and community resources. If you are unable to view it live, it will be recorded and posted at the same link for viewing at any time.

• As a reminder, our COVID-19 Dashboard is updated weekly and can be viewed in the Return to Learn section on each school’s website or by clicking this link: SCPS COVID-19 Dashboard. We have added to our webpage the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Dashboard link. This site provides data and statistics regarding COVID-19 positivity rates and cases per 100,000 by locality, region, and state. Along with cases identified in our own school division, we monitor this data in cooperation with the local VDH. We continue to remain in moderate ranges according to the 14 day averages.

• As we navigate through the continued changes from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding COVID-19 mitigation and contact tracing recommendations, one thing remains constant - our commitment to provide a safe environment for our students and staff. To that point, we need your help. It is extremely important that if someone in your immediate family is diagnosed positive or is pending a test for COVID-19, even if your child has no symptoms, please keep your child home for 14 days and notify their school nurse. Taking these measures will help minimize the spread of COVID-19 and assist us with continuing the hybrid in-person instruction model.

Thank you so much for your continued partnership and support! Have a great week!

Dr. S. Scott Baker