Celebrating Our Amazing Principals!
October is National Principals Month. Please join us in thanking our principals for all of their hard work and incredible dedication!
To celebrate, students from each school are sharing thoughtful sentiments and quotes about what makes their principal special.
Please view the slideshow below to read your principal's feature. Don't worry if you don't see your school's principal yet! There will be more to come on FPS social media and website throughout the month.
Fairfield Student Wins Global Invention Convention
McKinley PTA Earns National Honor
Congratulations McKinley Elementary School PTA for being named a 2023-2025 School of Excellence by the National PTA! The McKinley PTA is one of a select group of PTAs and schools nationwide, and only one in four schools in Connecticut to be recognized with the designation.
The McKinley PTA earned this distinction for accomplishments in building strong, effective family-school partnerships and enriching the educational experience and overall well-being for all students.
Thank you members of the McKinley PTA for your hard work and dedication to our students, staff and community!
Get To Know Your SRO: Officer Felicia Clark
FPS is pleased to partner with the Fairfield Police Department to ensure a safe environment for all. Our SROs play an integral role in our school communities, including placing an emphasis on important topics such as peer pressure, bullying, internet safety and stress through the SHAPE Program. Click here to view 2024-2025 SROs.
Create that open dialogue with your kids. Monitor their devices. Social media is a huge issue right now. If you can push off getting them on social, do that. Have real conversations about the red flags.
- Officer Felicia Clark
Number of years serving as SRO in Fairfield: Four years
Fairfield Schools: Officer Clark serves as SRO at Tomlinson Middle School, McKinley Elementary School and Osborn Hill Elementary School.
How do you build strong relationships with your students?: It’s two fold. When we hold classes to teach about important topics, we can be more one-on-one with students. Also, just being visible every day at arrival, in the hallways or popping into lunch. This shows that we are just another resource and support, and that there can be positive interactions with police.
Has your perspective changed at all since you recently became a parent?: I have a new found passion for working with kids now that I have one of my own. Things have become more realistic for me, especially when I deal with certain calls.
What is your favorite part of the job?: When I walk down the hall and students yell out "hi officer Clark!"
Members of the English Learner/Multilingual Learner Department attended the annual ConnTESOL conference at Sacred Heart to collaborate and learn from colleagues across the state. McKinley's co-teaching team, Jessica Keane and Amy Fox presented a workshop highlighting the successful co-teaching model they developed to deliver instruction.
October 7-11 was CT Grown for CT Kids Week in Fairfield! Whitsons offered CT grown apples and peaches, and regionally grown potatoes and green beans throughout all schools. Students participated in "Taste Test Try Days" and sampled peach salad and a fresh green bean and tomato salad.
The Fairfield Collaborative for Youth Mental Health in partnership with local agencies, will host a free program for middle school students to help manage cognitive overload, stress, and develop essential skills for success. Click on the flyer above to register your child for this free opportunity.
ATTENTION SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS: SPLASH AT YALE THIS FALL!
Splash at Yale invites students to the Yale campus to take courses taught by undergraduates on anything and everything!
Who: Students, grades 7-12
When: Saturday, November 9, 2024 (Time TBD)
Cost: $20 - This price includes lunch. You can also purchase a $10 t-shirt. Financial aid available.
Where: New Haven, Connecticut on Yale’s campus! Check-in location and class locations will be announced after registration is completed.
Register: Click here
Reporting Dismissal Changes & Absences
Parents and guardians of middle and elementary school students should use School Dismissal Manager to update the school regarding dismissal plans. The system can be accessed via a smartphone, tablet or PC. Contact your school with questions on how to sign-up and download the application.
A Fairfield Warde High School AP Calculus student engages with classmates by sharing strategies on the Promethean Board
K-3 Acadience Results - October 18
K-3 Acadience Reading reports will be available in IC on Friday, October 18.
Acadience Reading is a universal screener that measures early literacy skills that students must master in order to become proficient readers.
For more information on Acadience Reading, please visit the assessment page on the FPS website listed under Acadience Reading Assessment.
Fairfield Ludlowe High School's RAAFT (Raising Abuse Awareness For Teens) Club students attended the Domestic Violence Vigil at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheatre in Bridgeport.
Fairfield Supports Comfortable Environmentally Conscious Learning Spaces
October is Energy Awareness Month. Through a partnership with energy management company Cenergistic, the district continues to audit facilities and implement strategies to support both comfortable and environmentally responsible learning spaces for students and staff.
Cenergistic engineers, technicians, and specialists work collaboratively with FPS custodial staff to track energy consumption at all schools utilizing state-of-the-art technology. This initiative helps identify and correct areas that need immediate attention, while providing the ability for FPS to apply savings to further reduce the district’s carbon footprint.
Cenergistic experts cover a range of energy conservation specialties including engineers, certified energy managers, boiler specialists, heating-ventilation-air-conditioning experts, measurement and verification professionals, grounds care, and organizational behavior.
2025-26 Kindergarten Admission Update
Is your child going to turn five between September 2, 2025, and December 31, 2025? If so, they will only be eligible to enter kindergarten during the 2026-27 school year or if you apply for an early admissions waiver. Information on an early admissions waiver can be found here under Kindergarten 2025-2026.
Parents will need to follow this process to request an early admissions waiver:
- Complete this form in its entirety, which includes a parent observational checklist, selection of a preferred assessment date, submission of a parent letter acknowledging that your child is developmentally appropriate to attend kindergarten early, and acknowledgment of individual testing and results.
Upon submission of the above form, a member of Fairfield Public Schools will be in contact with you to confirm testing dates and times. Each child will be assessed by FPS certified staff, at a designated elementary school, using an individually administered assessment and observation protocol. Only one assessment per child will be administered and the decision on early admissions made by the Fairfield Public Schools is final.
Children who will be five on or by September 1, 2025, will have typical enrollment. The typical registration and enrollment process will begin in January 2025.
If you have any questions, please contact James Zavodjancik, Chief Academic Officer, at JZavodjancik@fairfieldschools.org or 203-255-8390
Fairfield Woods, Tomlinson and Roger Ludlowe Middle School Chamber Choirs sang at the Bridgeport Islanders game
FPS Green Team Volunteers "Weigh In" On Recycling & Composting
Fairfield K-6 students are making a difference and helping the environment through the recycling and composting program in school cafeterias! Thanks to the leadership of the FPS Green Team and the hard work of volunteers and staff, on average, each school diverts around 640 gallons of biodegradable waste from the trash each week. Amazing job waste sorting wizards!
FPS Family Access To Move This World
To support our students’ social emotional needs, FPS uses video-based social emotional learning (SEL) curriculum from Move This World. Social emotional learning in school allows students and teachers to communicate with a common language for deeper connections.
To help inspire important conversations outside of school, families can access helpful curriculum at home. Visit the Move This World website and log in with the following username and password:
Username: Fairfield.Family
Password: movethisworld
Stay In The Know: ParentSquare
All district, school and classroom messages are sent to your computer or phone through email, and/or text via ParentSquare. This includes emergency messages and alerts.
Families should have received a link to log in to their ParentSquare account from their principal. If you have not received a link, please reach out to your school directly. Note: families who previously signed up for ParentSquare will not need to do so again.
To ensure that you receive messages via ParentSquare, please double check your contact information in Infinite Campus. If you would like to receive text messages, make sure that your cell phone is listed and NOT a landline.
Infinite Campus will continue to be used for a variety of purposes including report cards, grades and assignments, lunch payments, fees/school store and real-time attendance information.
