Thunderblast 2024
Respecting EACH Student, Staff, & Family- February 25, 2024
Week in Review
After struggling as a community last weekend to cope with tragedy, our students have bounced back. On Tuesday, our UMHT was checking on students and calling families, which was similar to our process over the weekend. We also had an advisory lesson that allowed for students to share how the event affected them. On Wednesday, we had therapy dogs Amos and Solomon in the building to support students and staff. All the while, our students were empathetic and treated the situation with the gravity it demanded.
We also tried to get a sense of normalcy in the building for students and staff. By Thursday, we had an engineering event (see below) and we tried to shift towards business as usual. I did move the Parent Coffee up a few weeks from March prior to the gas explosion occurring to tackle discipline trends as a team, so we were able to open up by discussing the event, then shift to the original intended agenda items.
How Can We Help?
Many of you- students, staff, and families have asked how you can help. I think you already knew the answer to that question because Tuesday morning, I had students with cards they made for our first responders ready for me to sign before I even got in the building. Below are some other options for support as we continue the healing process together.
To send condolences to the family of firefighter Trevor Brown and encouragement to the injured first responders, please email LCCFRScondolences@loudoun.gov. These messages will be shared with our first responders and families.
Donations may be made directly to Sterling Volunteer Fire and Rescue at https://sterlingfire.org/support-the-svfc/donate/. Contributions can be designated directly to the family of firefighter Trevor Brown by adding a note as you make your gift.
Monetary donations may be made to The Loudoun First Responders Foundation online at www.LoudounFRF.org. The foundation provides immediate financial support to benefit injured firefighters. You may designate your donation by adding “Brown Family” in the memo line.
If you are willing and able to donate goods or services, please email LCCFRSdonate@loudoun.gov. A representative will reach out to coordinate.
Our UMHT will continue to look for ways to support the Seneca Ridge HOA.
One other way we can support our community and heal together is by attending our elementary feeder schools' staff volleyball extravaganza on Friday. We will be honoring members of the Sterling Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company at the opening and our SGA is doing a fundraiser to support their heroic efforts.
UMHT
General Resource Page
Seneca Tutor List
Thank you to Seneca's UMHT for their continued outreach to our students and families following last week's tragedy. This is a strong and caring team with an amazing collective work ethic.
Our counselors have also been working hard on next year's courses and student schedules, while still helping with this year's work. You should have seen an email regarding expunging high school level courses to all 7th and 8th grade families this week. Reach out to your counselor with any questions.
Course Selections- Between now and May 1st is the time to ask questions so we can partner up and make decisions together about the next best steps.
We are working together with Dominion on Fentanyl Awareness on Thursday, February 29th at 7:00 PM. Flyer attached.
Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day
On Thursday, we had the opportunity to host Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day through Microsoft. 59 girls from Seneca Ridge and 16 girls from River Bend grades 6-8 participated. The students heard from several women who currently work with Microsoft in various positions. Hearing their stories and learning about their diverse backgrounds was extremely empowering to the students. The students also participated in two hands on activities, one of which was Adafruits which is a circuit board invented by a woman, Limor Fried. We are beyond grateful that we were chosen to host this event and we are so excited to see how we might be able to extend it in the future.
Friday, February 23rd Parent Coffee
Boy, did I drop the ball on this one. I talked about recording. I hit the button for recording. I did not record. I had three screens working and the pop up window that warned me I was recording was not on my main screen. I never clicked continue. In short, I blew it. To the right is the agenda and I will try to do it brief justice in the newsletter. Please check-in with me if you would like to review anything in more detail.
Parent Coffee- PTO Meeting Recap
We had an opportunity to hear from the Assistant Superintendent of Facilities, Kevin Lewis, to see what the future of Seneca's campus holds. Our goal from this meeting was to understand how we can advocate for EACH student and staff that come here EACH day giving their all. Below is what we found:
- We will write letters to Dr. Spence and the school board to support renovating/ reviving our current space, or building a new space. Parent letters, student letters, and staff letters will be welcome. Right now, we are planning on 3 letters from our PTO, Student Equity Leads, and Principal. Our goal is to have that out by the 4th quarter.
- We will plan a time in the late spring or late summer to go to the school board meeting and share our unified thoughts as a community.
Parent Coffee- Student Behavior Data, School Improvement Plan, & Annual Family Surveys
We spent the majority of the Parent Coffee time talking about the State of the Ridge just past the mid-year. Some very brief highlights that always work better with an explanation, but I will share here because of my recording mishap. In short-
- Slurs and Hate Speech incidents have increased at Seneca over the last month. Unfortunately, it is well in line with the division data and our previous data... AND WE CAN BE BETTER! WE ARE BETTER!
- Racial Slurs and Spreading Rumors has been more of an issue in 6th grade than 7th and 8th. We are hoping to be better as a school at teaching our newest students to be upstanders, not bystanders.
- A large group of 7th graders that go down to the field are struggling with language and sportsmanship during football and soccer. We are hoping they will have conversations at home about how they can improve so they can keep this privilege.
- Hallway behaviors are our largest issue in 8th grade. We are looking at working with individual families of students who are spending an inordinate amount of time out of class to help with this.
- The survey images below are some snapshots from last year. We completed our highest number ever at 37% and I would love to hear from you again. We crave feedback and are using it to alter our practices. Annual Family Surveys are open now!
Did I mention the Annual Family Climate Survey? There is a Student Survey too!
Family Survey: The Research Office will email a survey invitation to parents/guardians on February 20. Parents/guardians are asked to respond once per school in which they have a child enrolled. The messages will be sent to the email addresses listed in ParentVue and include a unique link. We do not have a general link that you can send to families. All questions can be referred to Research@lcps.org.
Student Survey: A sample of the survey can be viewed on the LCPS website, https://www.lcps.org/Page/254196. The link for students will be provided in advisory on March 1. We typically have above 95% of our students completed it. We estimate that the survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete on March 1st during advisory.
Winter VGA- New Report
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The new report includes :
- Fall and winter 2023 vertical scaled scores
- VDOE’s parent and caregiver resources
- This report, combined with teacher input, classroom work, report cards, and the VGA Student Detail by Question Reports (SDBQ), which are already uploaded into the Documents Tab of ParentVUE, are intended to give families an expanded picture of student progress.
Please reach out to your student’s math or English teacher for more information.
Tutoring Opportunity
As highlited in the LCPS Letter sent 2/22/24, LCPS offers free, on-demand tutoring through Varsity Tutors to all kindergarten through grade 12 students. The free Varsity Tutors program provides homework help, writing support and live enrichment sessions available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week in various subjects, including math, science, writing and more. Parents/guardians should contact Varsity Tutors to learn more about all the available services. All tutoring sessions are provided in English only. Learn more about these tutoring opportunities.
7th Grade Field Trip
The 7th Grade students and staff are going to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, March 14th! Please complete and submit all PERMISSION SLIPS/FORMULARIO DE PERMISO by Thursday, March 7th if your student will attend. Additional information can be found HERE/AQUI. We still need chaperones, so if you're interested, please complete the chaperone form/ forma del padre acompañante. If you have any questions, please reach out to Ms. Tiera Sharpe, 7th Grade Dean, at 571-434-4427 or tiera.sharpe@lcps.org.
6th Grade Field Trip Chaperones
Please complete this google form if you would like to chaperone the 6th grade field trip to Udvar Hazy on Thursday, March 21st. All information regarding the field trip is in the google form. We appreciate your support!
Bounty of Books
2 Weeks of Greatness from our Students!
Staff of the Week
In her second year at Seneca, Ms. Taylor is always patient and caring when it comes to our students. She focuses on English and Language Arts and is a constant advocate for EACH student as they work through some of the more difficult material. She is skilled at small group instruction and is a great advocate for individual growth and high expecations. Thanks for always pushing us to be better, Ms. Taylor!
PTO Corner
PTO will be selling snacks on Wednesdays after school to raise funds for our 8th Grade Promotion ceremony.
NEXT PTO MEETING is on Wednesday, March 13th at 6:00 PM. See you at the school library!
Would your business, social group or family like to sponsor our staff appreciation events? We’d love to have your help! Contact Julie Garrett at staffappreciation@srmspto.org for more info!
Visit us on Website- https://srms.ptboard.com/ and follow us on Facebook- Seneca Ridge Middle School PTO & Seneca Ridge Home of the Thunderbolts.
Grab Your Spiritwear - https://srms.ptboard.com/formvw?store=4306&form=1
Reminders
Unclaimed Bikes- wanted to give you one last look before we donate- any takers?
I am excited about a great week and an auspicious start to March
📨 Email: nick.cottone@lcps.org
💻 Website: Seneca Ridge Middle School
🏫 Location: 98 Seneca Ridge Drive, Sterling, VA 20164
☎️ Phone: 571-434-4420