EOS Student Survey (Delivered the week of October 25th)

Published last week:

Henrico County Public Schools Strategic Plan, Destination 2020 – A Plan for HCPS, includes strategies for providing all students with opportunities to engage in rigorous learning experiences. Towards this effort, a partnership has been established with Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) to support the school division’s efforts to increase equitable enrollment in rigorous courses, including Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) classes.

During the last two weeks of October your high school child will be asked to participate in the EOS School Culture Survey. The survey will be taken at school and will take approximately 40 minutes. Surveys will ask students about their self-view, learning mindset, sense of belonging, school climate, and advanced coursework enrollment and support. Results generated from the survey will provide schools with student-specific data and trends on information, expectations, and belonging in accelerated coursework. School teams will use this data to surface student potential, interests, and perspectives on school equity. We will be asking all students (besides those opting out) to take part in this survey because we believe it will help us better serve our students.

If you would like to opt out of that survey or if you have any questions, please reach out to Mr. Marshall via email or phone.

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**A Note about the EOS survey from Mr. Marshall:

This is a truly valuable survey that generates information the we will use as a school to better serve students. The survey will ask about interests, favorite subjects, approaches to studying and potential to take challenging courses. We will use this student-specific information to work with families to identify potential areas for our students to challenge themselves when selecting courses next year. I personally asked for the opportunity to work with EOS this year and believe it will help us help students at DSF. This survey will be administered during social studies classes throughout this week*. Students opting out (which is totally fine) will have a quiet study hall while others complete this survey. -John

*Note, a previous version of this message shared that the survey would be completed specifically on Thursday and Friday, but that may vary based on your student's social studies class.

Parental Notification Form - 2021 Virginia High School Youth Survey

Published last week

Our school has been randomly selected to take part in the 2021 Virginia Youth Survey. This survey is sponsored by the Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth with the support of the Virginia Department of Education and mandated by the state govnement to be issued to randomly selected students in randomly selected schools.

The survey takes about 40 minutes for the students to complete and will ask questions about the health behaviors of 9th through 12th grade students in areas related to physical activity, nutrition, sexual behaviors, injuries, tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use. Our school was selected as a part of a ramdomized sample and only some our students (a few classes selected randomly from a list of classes) will have theopportunity to take this survey.

The survey is voluntary; however, we would like all selected students to take part in it. No action will be taken against the school, you, or your child if your child does not take part. It has been designed to protect your child’s privacy; therefore, students will not put their names on it. Students can skip any questions they do not wish to answer and may stop participating in the survey at any point without penalty. In addition, no school or student will ever be mentioned by name in a report of the survey results.

If you do NOT want your child to take part in the survey, please follow the instructions below. A copy of the survey is available online at https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/content/uploads/sites/69/2021/08/VAH-Questionnaire-English.pdf

If you have any additional questions, you may contact the Virginia Youth Survey Staff at 804-864-7863 or 804-864-7649. Thank you.

If you would like to opt out of that survey or if you have any questions, please reach out to Mr. Marshall via email or phone.

**A note about the Virginia Youth Survey from Mr. Marshall:

This survey is mandated be the Commonwealth of Virginia to be delivered in selected schools (random) to a few students each year to provide them with valuable information about youth behavior. The survey is optional, anonymous, and only delivered to a handful of kids at our school. Students in a few classes at DSF completed this survey most recently in 2019, and we reached out to their families directly ahead of time for opting out. The topics are intense, which is why they publish the questions for parents and require me to notify families well in advance. This provides the opportunity for families to opt out, knowing that some families would prefer not to have their students engage with these topics in school. I apologize sincerely that the link didn't work last week, that was a copy/paste error on my part as I completed the Forward last Sunday.

We will select the classes (either Freeman Focus or First periods) in the next two weeks and then reach out directly to those families whose classes were drawn for participation so that families can opt out at that time. The survey will be taken in mid-November. If you don't receive and email directly from me, your student will not be one of the few classes selected. - John

Screening tests for winter athletics: Athletics is an important part of the development of our students, and we want to provide a safe environment for competition as the weather cools. That’s why HCPS will soon begin weekly screening tests of athletes and coaches, to identify asymptomatic COVID-19 cases early and stop transmission. Testing is expected to begin November 8 at the high school level and November 15 at the middle school level. Students participating in winter athletics must submit one student and parent/guardian consent form (electronically or paper copy) to their coach or athletic director for weekly participation in screening testing throughout the season. (Forms will be available through your coach, our school’s athletic director, on the HCPS website or soon through the vendor’s website.) Student-athletes can opt out of weekly screening tests if they are fully vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination to our school athletic director.

Click Here for the DSF COVID MITIGATION PLAN

HCPS will hold its annual College and Career night on Wednesday November 3rd at Henrico High School from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. Students and families are invited to attend the countywide event to talk with representatives of more than 100 colleges, professional programs and employers such as business, government agencies, and branches of the military. Important note: this is a location change from what was originally published.

Graduation 2022 may be months away, but planning for the All Night Graduation Party (ANGP) is well underway! Not sure what the All Night Graduation Party is? The Freeman high school ANGP is a tradition for the senior class. For over 30 years, parents, the Freeman PTSA, and the entire Freeman Community have been sponsoring this party, which takes place on graduation night in an alcohol and drug free environment. This long-standing tradition is something our graduates look forward to, and is the only party of its kind in Henrico County. This event provides the graduates with a fun opportunity to celebrate with their classmates and friends.

We don’t have a date yet, but will know when the graduation date is announced. We won’t know for sure the format of the party until closer to the date. We are definitely hoping for the best and that it will be held indoors as it was before Covid. No matter what, we will have some sort of celebration, we will adapt as we have to like the class of 2021 did and with a fabulous celebration at Deep Run this past summer.

There will be senior tabs and links on the PTSA website that you should keep an eye on to keep up with all the details and information regarding the party and fundraising for it. Remember, the ANGP is 100% planned and financially supported by senior parents and community donations. You can donate now on the PTSA website.

If you would like to volunteer to help with planning or the night of the party, please email Valerie Hendricks at DSFANGP2022@gmail.com.