Opening Letter (2021-2022)

August 2021


Dear Parents, Guardians, and Students:


I am excited to welcome our Marshall Statesmen into the building for the 2021-2022 school year! Clearly, the past year and a half was challenging in many ways for all of us. I am extremely proud of the resilience and resolve shown by our faculty, staff, students, and families in the face of these difficult times. As summer comes to a close, I am eagerly looking forward to what this next year will bring when all 2,000+ students will be back in person. Certainly, there are challenges that remain, and I look forward to confronting these challenges head on. I am very confident our faculty, staff, families, and students are prepared to meet the moment.

In the coming weeks, our families will see a shiny school ready for learning. A HUGE thank you to our custodial staff who have been cleaning every inch of our beautiful building. Like our 21st century school building, we will continue to work collaboratively to instill 21st century skills in all our students this coming school year.

Even during the pandemic, our students continued to perform at high levels. For example, 95 out of 98 (97%) members of the Class of 2021 earned the prestigious IB diploma. Further, 18 out of 18 of these students who attempted to earn a bilingual IB Diploma earned it. Both of these statistics are the highest percentage in FCPS and match the highest percentage to ever earn this recognition at Marshall High School. Further, I was also happy to see that Marshall Academy students earned hundreds of industry certifications.

These results, coupled with our co-curricular, extracurricular, and athletic success during the school year continue to make Marshall one of the top-performing high schools in Fairfax County and the nation. Recently, U.S. News and World Report ranked Marshall High School as the #5 school overall, and the #1 IB school, in Virginia. I am most proud that Marshall has the second highest college readiness score next to only Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology (TJ). This puts us within the top 1% of all 22,000+ schools in the nation.

During these final weeks of summer, we will complete building preparations and finalize the master schedule. This year, all forms necessary for the beginning of the school year, as well as class-specific forms, will be on our website by August 9th and should be completed prior to Statesman Start.

Statesman Start

We will host our Statesman Start back-to-school kick-off on Wednesday, August 18th from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Statesman Start is an opportunity for our community to reunite. Our PTSA and Athletic Boosters will be present to handle your membership forms which can be found in this mailing as well as on the PTSA, Booster, and Marshall High School websites. Spirit wear, car magnets, and other items will be on sale. Clubs and organizations will also be present. School staff will be available to process ParentVue requests.

Sometime before Statesman Start, I ask your assistance with ensuring we have accurate information on your child’s Emergency Care Card. This year, you can correct this document electronically by going to https://www.fcps.edu/node/30943 and following the instructions to verify and/or correct all emergency and health information. Like all FCPS webpages, you can convert the instructions to your chosen language.

Freshman and New Student Orientation

We will be conducting an orientation for our freshman students and any student new to Marshall on Friday, August 20th from 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. The program will include a brief orientation followed by the opportunity for students to follow their schedules, meet their teachers, and meet in small groups with faculty members and student leaders. In addition, we would like to invite these students’ parents or guardians to join us in the auditorium from 10:00 am – 11:00 am to learn about Marshall High School and how you can help your student start high school successfully. This is an optional program.

Buses will pick-up students at feeder schools according to the following schedule:

 Marshall HS   Orientation Routes

 Pick-Up Time                      School Arrival Time at Marshall Departure Time from Marshall
 Bus Number
 MHOR-01		 8:45 Westgate Elementary 8:55 11:35
 Bus Number
 MHOR-02		 8:40 Kilmer Middle 8:55 11:35
 Bus Number
 MHOR-03		 8:35 Stenwood Elementary 8:55 11:35
 Bus Number   MHOR-04 8:40 Thoreau Middle School 8:55 11:35
 Bus Number
 MHOR-05		 8:40 Westbriar Elementary 8:55 11:35
 Bus Number
 MHOR-06		 8:40 Freedom Hill Elementary 8:55 11:35
 Bus Number
 MHOR-07		 8:40 Shrevewood Elementary 8:55 11:35
 Bus Number
 MHOR-08		 8:35 Wolftrap Elementary 8:55 11:35

Students should report to the auditorium for the opening session, which is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. Please be sure that your student is at the respective elementary/middle schools at least 5 minutes prior to the scheduled bus departure time. At the conclusion of the program, buses will depart Marshall HS at 11:35 a.m.

Parking Passes

Initially, we will only be selling parking passes to seniors. The price as determined by the school board is $200 for the entire school year. Seniors can purchase passes from 9:00 am – 11:00 am on August 18th. Sales will be in room 505D which can be found in the hallway by door number six in the bottom parking lot in the back across from the stadium. You need to bring the completed application and money with you. Additional parking spaces will be sold after school begins. If we find we have space, we may choose to open sales to a limited number of juniors after the 1st quarter. Applications are available in the main office beginning August 9th. Should you have any questions, please feel free to email our safety and security specialist, Steve Williams, at [email protected].

“Learn” is Now “Advisory”

This school year, FCPS has decided that all high school and middle schools will continue to utilize an 8-period schedule, similar to last school year. As you can see in the bell schedule shown below, 4th period will be called “Advisory.” Advisory will happen every other day. Just like Learn in the years before it, this will be time for students and teachers to take care of additional academic needs. Unlike Learn of the past, this will also be time for students to have their social-emotional needs met as well. This will happen in the form of mentoring, student and teacher-led lessons, discussion, club meetings, games and other events. Part of this period will be helping students come out of the pandemic and reacclimate to having school five days per week. This will be critical to ensuring all students are successful this school year.

We will continue our data collection and documentation of students’ use of Advisory by taking attendance in SIS during this period. You can support our efforts and your student by asking one simple question each day – “How did you use Advisory today?” You should expect an answer that includes a focus on remediation, intervention, and/or other types learning. Our goal is to build responsibility in students to use this time in a productive manner. It is unacceptable for a student not to access a teacher if his/her performance is less than satisfactory in any class.

Enclosed is a copy of our bell schedule for you and your student to review before the opening of school. Our bell schedule has four block classes per day in an alternating RED (periods 1,3,5,7) and BLUE (periods 2,4,6,8) format. As mentioned above, every student will have Advisory during 4th period. A 30-minute lunch is associated with our third block class (5th or 6th period). The lunch schedule will be sent separately as we get closer to the start of school.

Student Laptop

As we have done the past three years, each student will be given a school-issued laptop in the first two days of school. Like last year, FCPS is waiving any fees associated with accepting this laptop. There are several benefits to accepting this laptop. First, all the software students need for the school year is pre-loaded on every machine. Second, if the laptop breaks, the student turns it in for repair and is given a loaner until his/her laptop is fixed. There is no need to take it to a third party or pay any additional cost to have it repaired like a personnel machine would be. Third, FCPS software licenses do not allow families access to this software. Fourth, all standardized testing will be administered using this laptop. Finally, the student laptop contains a highly selective content filter which helps to ensure the laptop is used for schoolwork.

Immunizations

Effective July 1, 2021 all students entering twelfth grade are required to receive one dose of the Meningococcal vaccine (MenACWY) administered at age 16 or older, and prior to the beginning of school. Twelfth grade students cannot begin school in August without proper Meningococcal documentation.

Please provide one of the following documents as soon as possible:

  1. An updated immunization record showing that the student has received the Meningococcal vaccine.
  2. A note on a healthcare provider’s letterhead stating the date the Meningococcal vaccine was given.
  3. A healthcare provider’s written statement of a permanent or temporary medical exemption.
  4. A notarized Religious Exemption Form which is available online at: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/health_medical/certificate_religious_exemption.pdf

Immunizations are available from your student's healthcare provider or the Fairfax County Health Department. The Health Department clinic locations and hours are available online at: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/health/immunization/school or by calling 703-246-2411. You may drop the records off in the main office, fax the records to 703-714-5579, mail the records to Marshall High School Student Services, or email the records to one of the contacts below:

School Attendance

Families may not be aware that four years ago, the State of Virginia added student attendance to its list of criteria for annual school accreditation. Any student who misses 18 days of school or more, whether excused or not, counts against our school’s accreditation. Everyone agrees, and research clearly demonstrates, that the more a student is in school, the more successful they will be. We kindly ask that you do everything in your power to minimize the number of days your student is not in school. Even if they come for part of the day, we can improve our school’s chronic absenteeism rate to ensure our school stays one of the highest rated in the nation.

As the final days of break pass, please enjoy the remainder of your summer vacation. I look forward to seeing students return to school on August 23rd for another successful school year.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey D. Litz, Principal