Dear Marshall Family, 

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is planning to bring additional student groups back to school for in-person instruction in the near future. We will follow strict safety and health protocols to minimize health risks for students and staff. To learn more, please visit here. Dr. Brabrand outlined the phase-in process at the October School Board meeting. If you would like to view the presentation it is located here. High school students are scheduled to return on January 26, 2021 (tentative) for in-person instruction. 

We will be using concurrent instruction for students who receive in-person instruction. This means that students who elect in-person instruction will receive two days of teacher-led instruction in the school building and two days of teacher-led instruction at home. Students who elect all-virtual learning will continue to receive four days of teacher-led instruction at home. In either format, Mondays will be a full day of independent learning for students to give our teachers more time to prepare and plan the week’s lessons.

Marshall High School, as well as several other schools, will soon run a small pilot of concurrent instruction. The Superintendent will report his findings of the pilot program at the November 12th School Board work session. 

In July, parents were asked to make a choice between in-school and all-virtual learning.  We will honor the choice you made in the FCPS July survey to determine the setting for instruction. If you chose in-person instruction, we will assume your student(s) will return to in-person instruction. If you chose all-virtual instruction we will assume you will continue in that format.

If your circumstances have changed, please go to this enrollment link and update your choice by 11:00 p.m. on November 6, and we will try to accommodate your request based on the availability of staff and space. 

We will strive to minimize the impact of this transition; however, some students may experience a change in schedule or class assignment as we work to accommodate everyone’s preferences. Additionally, due to health concerns, not every teacher will return to the building to teach in-person. If returning to in-person learning, your student may be in a class with a teacher instructing virtually and a staff member monitoring the class. Due to privacy issues, the school will not disclose which teachers will be teaching virtually.

To share additional information and answer questions, I will be holding a Town Hall meeting on Thursday, October 29 from 6 - 7:30 p.m. A link to the meeting will be sent one-hour before the meeting begins. The session will be recorded and posted to our school webpage. 

Thank you for your support and cooperation as we continue on this journey to deliver the best instruction for Marshall High School and all FCPS students. 

Sincerely, 

Jeffrey D. Litz

Principal