Dear Parents,

It's hard to believe that 2022 has come and gone. Such much was accomplished between wrapping up the 2021-2022 school year as well as successfully starting the 2022-2023 school year. We sincerely hope that your winter break was full of family, fun, food and whatever else put a smile on your face!

We continue to press forward with everything we have to ensure the success of our students. Let's not forget that success looks different for each student on a day to day basis. I think we can all agree as parents that little things can be a HUGE deal one day (like getting kids out the door in time!) but "normal" another. Thank you for partnering with us to ensure that we are meeting kids where they are at any particular time with the goal of creating creative problem solvers that will one day care of us old people!

Continuous improvement is still at the forefront of our planning. We continue to progress monitor and use proven protocols to look for opportunities to get better at our craft. One piece of data that we collected was the Parent Engagement Survey and the Student Sense of Belonging survey (grades 3-5 only). This gave us some good information that I plan on sharing at the next Advisory meeting in February.

Last, I want to give some staffing updates:

1. Congrats to Ms. Viviane Vu who has completed her course work is now considered a full time employee at Haymarket ES! She used to be a Teaching Professional on Temporary Assignment (TPOTA).

2. Welcome Trish Poore, our 3rd full time counselor! Her welcome letter and bio we a part of the December newsletter.

3. Scott Brown will be starting as our full time security assistant shortly! After some training, he will be here starting Monday, January 9th...more information about him below!

From all of us here at Haymarket ES, Happy New Year!

We are SUPER excited to have Mr. Scott Brown join us as the Security Assistant! You will see him at arrival, dismissal, and sometimes at the foyer desk...and students will see him all over the place! Here is a message from Mr. Brown:

Hello Haymarket Elementary Bear Cub family,

My name is Scott Brown and I have been assigned as the new security assistant for Haymarket Elementary School. I recently retired from the Fairfax County Police Department after 28 years, 23 of which I spent as a Detective. After a short time with Amazon as a Data Center Security Manager charged with the safety and security of an Amazon property, I decided I was looking for something a little more rewarding. My wife Kori and I moved to the Haymarket area in 2009 where two of my four boys attended Haymarket Elementary School. I grew up a resident of Fairfax County before attending college at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN. I am truly excited about the opportunity to fill this new position and believe that my extensive background in safety and security will only increase and improve the high standard already in place at our school. You may see me in my daily functions patrolling parking lots, school entryways and hallways, and evaluating and improving security of the premises to assure the protection of students, staff and property. Please don’t hesitate to say hi as I get to know the HMES family.

Sincerely,

Scott Brown

Wednesday, January 11th - PTO meeting (in person) - 6:30pm

Monday, January 16th - No School - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Friday, January 20th - Movie Night ("The One and Only Ivan" to kick off our One School, One Author) - 7:00pm

Thursday, January 26th - Haymarket Iceplex Spirit Night - 5:10pm-6:30pm

Friday, January 27th - End of 2nd Quarter

Friday, January 27th - Early Release - Conference Day (12:35pm)

Monday, January 30th - No School for students - Teacher Workday/Professional Development Day

We are always looking for new and creative ways to share the wonderful and informative world of literacy! This year we are celebrating literacy by focusing on books by Katherine Applegate who is a Newbery Medal-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author of numerous books for young readers, including The One and Only Ivan, the Endling series, Crenshaw, Wishtree, the Roscoe Riley Rules chapter books series, and the Animorphs series.

We will kick off this year with a movie night featuring "The One and Only Ivan" thanks to the support from our PTO (more details coming from them soon). Students in grades K-2 will read "Roscoe Riley Rules #1 Never Glue Your Friends to Chairs" and students in grades 3-5 will read/listen to "The One and Only Bob." All the students in grades K-5 will listen to "Ivan, The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla" in Library during Encore time as they prepare for movie night!

We have a great deal of clothes, water bottles, winter accessories and more in our Lost and Found. Please remind your child to look for any lost items. If you would like yo take a look, you may come between 10:00am and 2:00pm. The best times would be during school events and/or when students aren't present (movie night, 1/2 early release in the PM, PD day for teachers, PTO meeting night, etc.)

Mid-year PALS testing will begin this month. This gives us another data point to ensure our students are making progress. All K-2 students will be tested as normal and students in 3rd grade who are currently receiving services will be progress monitored. This is no change from the past and is an opportunity to see how students are doing and adjust instruction to meet their needs. If you have any questions, please reach out to your child's teacher.

For the first time at Haymarket Elementary School, we will hold a spelling bee in order to determine the student who will represent our school in the 2023 Prince William Regional Spelling Bee in March. Students in grades 3rd – 5th grades are eligible to participate. First, we will determine a grade level winner. After that, grade level winners will compete against each other to find our Haymarket Elementary School Spelling Bee Champion! If you have a child in grades 3-5 and you would like them to participate, please see the letter below. This form should be returned by Friday, January 6, 2023. A study guide will be distributed to interested students. Only students who return this form will be able to participate. Studying of the words is expected to occur mostly at home. We will hold one optional practice session in January and one in February that students can choose to attend for additional practice.

Code Red: Schools Closed for Students & Employees. (Exception: Inclement Weather Employees) “All Prince William County Public Schools and Offices will be closed Code Red.”

 Schools and offices are closed.

 Virtual classes are canceled.

 The School Age Child Care (SACC) program will not open.

 All school activities (day and evening) are canceled including field trips, team practices, club meetings, interscholastic contests, and athletic contests.

 All non-school activities (day and evening) are canceled including Adult Education, night school classes, and recreational programs scheduled in school buildings.

 Students may use the day optionally to catch-up or voluntarily work on assignments already assigned.

Code Orange: Virtual Learning Day for Students & Remote Work for Non-

Essential Employees. “All Prince William County Public Schools are operating on Code Orange.”

 Asynchronous Learning Day for students and remote work for non-essential employees.

 School buildings and office buildings are closed.

 Buses will not operate.

 In-person and live virtual classes will not occur. Students enrolled in Virtual Virginia should follow their schedule.

 Students should use the day to work asynchronously on assignments related to curriculum previously taught.

 Teachers will hold live office hours via Zoom. Please refer to your school for the schedule.

 The School Age Child Care (SACC) program will not open.

 All in-person school activities (day and evening) are canceled including field trips, team practices, club meetings, interscholastic contests, and athletic contests.

 Remote (virtual) activities may occur.

 All non-school activities (day and evening) are canceled including Adult Education, night school classes, community use including recreational programs scheduled in school buildings.

 Visit the Aquatics Center website for operation schedule during inclement weather.

Code Green: Schools Closed for Students and Teachers. “All Prince William County Public Schools will be closed Code Green.”

 Schools and offices are closed.

 Virtual classes are canceled.

 The School Age Child Care (SACC) program will not open.

 All school activities (day and evening) are canceled including field trips, team practices, club meetings, interscholastic contests, and athletic contests.

 All non-school activities (day and evening) are canceled including Adult Education, night school classes, and recreational programs scheduled in school buildings. Students may use the day optionally to catch-up or voluntarily work on assignments already assigned.