Please see the message below from Mr. Thorson. We also encourage you to let the PTSA know if you are nominating someone because we might be able to share that and gather additional letters of support from other PTSA members. You can e-mail that info if you wish (totally optional) to wshsptsa@gmail.com

Outstanding Employee Awards

Nominations are now open for the Outstanding Employee Awards! To submit a nomination for a West Springfield High School Outstanding Employee in one of the categories below, please complete the nomination through this Google form link. You may nominate one employee at our school or multiple employees (one individual may only nominate one employee per category.)

All that is required for a preliminary nomination is a paragraph or two about how this employee demonstrates exceptional work in the criteria for that category. The google form link has more information regarding the criteria for each of these awards and the eligibility requirements are below. 

Outstanding Teacher: Eligibility – Has at least three years of experience as a teacher (in any school/school district); librarians are included in this category

Outstanding New Teacher: Eligibility – Has up to three years of experience as a teacher (in any school/school district); librarians are included in this category

Outstanding Principal: Eligibility –  Has at least three years of experience as a building principal (in any school/school district) 

Outstanding Leader: Eligibility – At least one year of experience in their current position as a Schedule-C or School-Based Administrator scale employee (that is not the building principal): 

• Common positions in this category: Assistant and Associate Principals, Director of Student Activities, Director of Student Services

Outstanding Professional Employee: Eligibility – At least one year experience in current position as a Schedule-B employee or other non-instructional employee in a school that supports school leadership 

• Common positions in this category: School-Based Technology Specialist, Technology Support Specialist, Assessment Coach, Career Center Specialist, Instructional Coach, Psychologist, Social Worker, School Counselor, Safety and Security Specialist, Resource Teachers that serve in an administrative role in a school 

Outstanding Operational Employee. Eligibility – At least one year of experience in current position as Schedule-A or Classroom Instructional Support Scale employee

• Common positions in this category: Administrative and Office Staff, Safety and Security Assistant, Custodial Staff, Food Service Staff, IA, PHA, PHTA, All Family Liaisons

The deadline to submit a nomination is November 3. 

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. John Thorson.   

When: Monday, October 23rd

What: We need snack, coffee, and drink donations AND volunteers to help sort, deliver, and distribute items to the breakrooms on the 23rd.

You can order snacks on Amazon and they will ship directly to our teacher appreciation chair.

All items need to be delivered by the morning of Monday, Oct. 23 (unless you’re bringing them to the school that afternoon).

Please click to view the Amazon wishlist here

You don’t have to use Amazon — we just provide the wishlist for convenience. You can buy things elsewhere and drop them off in the donation box at XXXX , SPRINGFIELD, VA, 22152-1705, or at 4pm at the school on Oct. 23.

Delivery Volunteers needed – please sign up at our Sign Up Genius page to help us distribute the donations to the various break rooms!

***Students are welcome to earn volunteer hours for helping with delivery***

Please email our Teacher Appreciation Chair Elizabeth Diaz at teacherapp@wshsptsa.net if you have questions.

Thank you for your support of the PTSA and our teachers!

Please help support the PTSA while enjoying some great Thai food from a restaurant owned by a WSHS alumni parent!

This Wednesday & Thursday, Sept. 27 and 28. Pickup from WSHS available on Thursday, Sept. 28 at 7pm!

The West Springfield High School PTSA offers a scholarship to a WSHS senior who has had an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) in place for at least two of their four years in high school, and who has overcome obstacles on the road to either academic or other school-related success. The number of scholarships is determined by the annual budget. The purpose of the scholarship is to recognize the growth that a student has achieved throughout his/her high school career.

Applications Due: Friday, April 14, 2023 by 8 pm

For additional information and the application, please visit the PTSA Scholarships page

Order from Malek’s on Tuesday, December 13, from 4pm-9pm for pizza, gyros, souvlaki, baklava and all the delicious fare their menu has to offer: www.malekspizza.com

Carry-out and Delivery orders qualify! 15% of your purchase comes back to the PTSA! 

Restaurant fundraisers are the PTSA’s main source of income, so please order a lot while supporting a local business!

Remember to mention WSHS PTSA so that we get credit for your order!

We can’t wait to see you there!

Where: Malek’s Pizza Palace, 7118 Old Keene Mill Rd. Springfield, VA 22150 (Across Old Keene Mill from Garfield Elementary School)

Phone: 703-451-6969

Help us show our teachers & staff how much we care AND earn a $1000 grant for Teacher Appreciation Week: Stock the Break Rooms!

One of our major PTSA goals this year is to ‘Stock the Break Rooms!’; part of our teacher appreciation initiative.

You can help us reach our goal by signing up for our new givebacks program, where our over 25,000 local and national businesses will donate to our PTSA when you shop with them. And you’ll get cashback too!

Givebacks will send us an extra $1000 if we can get 100 parents to participate in the next 3 weeks! 

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP! 

Step 1 – Join givebacks! https://www.givebacks.com/join/7e1d24a5-46d2-4330-9a0f-e91615cab9c4

Step 2 – Add the givebacks browser extension if you didn’t during signup by clicking here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/givebacks-genie/djidapogageiehhmihamgimggepbnojp

Step 3 – Shop online via the givebacks app. You’ll need to activate the browser extension when it pops up for us to get credit.

Step 4 Help stock teacher & staff breakrooms by shopping from this list:

https://www.walmart.com/registry/ER/028ac518-0812-4f56-9bde-48702bfe1db2

Some items will ship directly to the school, while others are available for you to pick up in-store. We’ll send dropoff times and locations soon for those who want to shop/pickup in-store.

It’s fast, simple, and once you’ve joined, you can get cashback for yourself and for our PTA every time you shop at participating businesses! Everyone WINS!
Thank you for your support!

Message from Virginia PTSA, Sept 20, 2022

VDOE continues to implement the History and Social Science Standards of Learning, Overview of the Review and Revision Process.

Virginia PTA has been actively engaged with the Virginia Department of Education from the earliest stages of this process and encourages members to contribute to public comment on the proposed standards.

Public comment on the standards will be accepted until September 25, 2022.

The proposed standards can be found here: https://doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2022/08-aug/item-g-attachment-a.pdf

Individuals can visit the History and Social Sciences SOL page (https://doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/history_socialscience/index.shtml) to leave public comment. Each set of standards is listed by grade level or secondary level course topic.

Community Engagement sessions are expected to begin in October. The proposed standards will be presented to the Virginia Board of Education in November for first review. Afterwards, public hearings will be held in December.

Please support the PTSA fundraiser at the Asian Grille for TWO NIGHTS: Monday Sept. 19 and Wednesday Sept. 21.

You can order at https://www.asiangrillspringfield.com/

Please mention WSHS PTSA!

Asian-Grill-Sept-2022

Tuesday, September 13
7:30 PM via Zoom. Please register here to receive the link.

We’ll make quick work of some start-of-year PTSA business, hear from Principal Mukai, then Leah Conte (Director of Student Activities) and Sam Jonsson (Assistant Director of Student Activities/Student Government Advisor) will be speaking with us about ways for students to get involved with clubs and activities at the school. They’ll share important resources, offer some tips for families, and be available for questions.

CURRENT NEEDS:

_____________________________________________________________________

Restaurant Spirit Night Coordinator (1 Year commitment, a couple of hours per month) One of our major sources of funds comes from restaurant nights. Local restaurants agree to give us a portion of their proceeds for a particular day/night. The Restaurant Night Co ordinator will simply work with the existing list of enthusiastic restaurant managers to schedule our dates and times and work with our communications committee to promote them.

Think you’re interested in this important role or want a bit more information? Contact Laura Whitton at wshsptsa@gmail.com.

Community Education Coordinator (1 Year commitment, 2 events, a couple of hours per month) Our kids are stronger and safer and our community is richer when we learn together. The Community Education Coordinator would work with the Executive Board to help identify and coordinate topics and speakers for 2 to 3 events. Some suggested topics: digital/social media safety, mental health, growth mindset, etc. You would be supported by the Communications and Events committees.

Think you’re interested in this important role or want a bit more information? Contact Laura Whitton at wshsptsa@gmail.com.