Principal Updates - November 17

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

Important Dates

November 20 - National Honor Society Induction Ceremony

November 26-28 - No School, Thanksgiving Break

December 5 - Cougar Commendations

December 8 - Religious & Cultural Observance Day, Bodhi Day

December 22 - January 2 - No School, Winter Break

The FCPS School Year Calendars are available below by school year for your planning purposes.

Attendance Spotlight

Every Day Is a Stepping Stone to Success

Attendance is an important life skill that will help your child later in life. It’s a good habit to build now that will help them graduate on time and help them with time management. Parents and families can play a big role in helping kick-start good attendance habits.

Please take a look at the FCPS Calendar. Try to schedule any trips or family events on weekends and school holidays. Keep in mind that absences add up quickly. Students who are absent 10% of the school year (or just two days per month) are considered “chronically absent.”

When possible, schedule appointments for your child outside of school hours. If your child needs to miss school because of an illness or appointment, you must report the absence to our school. Visit our Attendance webpage for more information.

General Information

✅ Return Your Federal Impact Aid Survey

FCPS is asking all families to fill out a Federal Impact Aid Survey. The form is available in SIS ParentVUE under Online Packets, which is in the upper right corner of the screen after logging in. Please complete it as soon as possible. Paper forms were provided to students today who have not completed the survey in ParentVUE. We ask those be returned by Friday, November 21, 2025.

Completing this form for each school-aged child in every household is important. This year, FCPS expects to receive approximately $4 million in Impact Aid funding. These funds are used to support all Fairfax County public schools and centers.

For more information, visit the Federal Impact Aid Survey page.

Volunteer Registration Update

Due to the overwhelming response from our community, FCPS is temporarily pausing fingerprint requirements for most Level 3 volunteers.

If you are scheduled for an upcoming fingerprinting appointment, please cancel your appointment unless you are a mentor, host parent, or non-parent volunteer having frequent, direct, and unsupervised contact with students, which will still require fingerprinting. FCPS will be charged if individuals miss a fingerprinting appointment without canceling in advance.

Those who have already been fingerprinted will be processed to be eligible for all Level 3 opportunities.

Field trip chaperone opportunities will now be classified as Level 2 (not requiring a background check).

To ensure continuous safety, all new volunteers are required to sign a Volunteer Certification Statement. This statement is a legal attestation confirming you have no history of violent felonies, physical/sexual crimes against children, or crimes of moral turpitude.

Want to volunteer? Visit Volunteer FCPS to find and sign up for volunteer opportunities. Contact Volunteers@fcps.edu with any questions.

Fall Cougar Commendations

It is time for us to celebrate our Fall Cougar Commendations! Students will be nominated by Oakton Staff. If you would like to help us recognize our amazing faculty and staff, please consider nominating a deserving member of our team!

To nominate a faculty member: So often faculty and staff members’ hard work, passion, and innovation go unnoticed. Cougar Commendations for faculty/staff allow us to recognize a staff member for their work towards Oakton’s Core Values. Please use this link to nominate faculty/staff members for their noteworthy endeavors.

ALL nominations are due by the end of the day on Friday, December 5th.

Nominated students will be recognized in a ceremony on December 12, 2025 during CT 5.

Oakton Pantry - Holiday Donations

This Thanksgiving and Holiday season, the Oakton Pantry will distribute gift cards to support our community. We are collecting $50 Walmart gift cards for this distribution. Please sign up via this Sign Up Genius to participate in this initiative.

Thanksgiving gift cards are due by Monday, November 17, 2025.

Holiday gift cards are due by Friday, December 12, 2025.

Physical gift cards can be dropped off at the Oakton High School main office. Electronic gift cards ("Walmart eGift card") can be emailed to OaktonPantry@gmail.com (recipient name: Oakton Pantry).

Thank you for supporting the Oakton Pantry and our community. Happy Thanksgiving and Holidays!

This is for donating gift cards. If you feel your family needs assistance during the holiday season, please email Ms. Landis at mflandis@fcps.edu.

Partners for Safe Teen Driving Presentation

All students enrolled in Classroom Driver Education during the 2025-2026 school year must attend an in-person Partners for Safe Teen Driving (PSTD). The presentation is connected to successful classroom instruction and must be completed to receive a DEC-District 8 card (pink card). The parent-teen traffic safety presentation (PSTD) will be offered multiple times during the school year at Oakton. Students and their parents/guardians should plan to attend the presentation at Oakton at your earliest convenience.

All PSTDs begin promptly. Late admission will not be allowed.

2025-2026 Dates:

September, 29 2025 6:30-8:00pm
January 12, 2026 6:30-8:00pm
March 16, 2026 6:30-8:00pm
May 18, 2026 6:30-8:00pm

These sessions are intended for Sophomores. Juniors and Seniors can attend a session through Adult and Community Education.

PSTD nights are not available to freshmen.

Please find more information about driver education for parents by accessing this flyer.

Testing Information

PSAT/SAT School Day Scores Available

Students who participated in the School Day SAT/PSAT on October 8 are now able to access scores via the College Board BigFuture School App or their College Board accounts. Students who participated in a make-up test will have access to scores on Thursday, November 6. Video tutorials for accessing and understanding PSAT and SAT scores are available on the College Board website.

National Merit Scholarship Information

Eleventh grade students who participated in the PSAT may qualify for the National Merit Scholarship Program. Find information on the National Merit Scholarship Corporation website. Families can reach out to their student’s school PSAT coordinator if they have questions regarding PSAT score reporting or the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Student Services

Student Services Newsletter

Happy November Cougar Families. Check out the November Student Services newsletter.

Learn more about our recent events including:

National Merit Commended and Semifinalist Reception
Brain Breaks

Upcoming events include:

Freshmen Curriculum
Underclassmen Academic Awards Celebration
Governor’s School Application
Depression Screening for Freshmen and Juniors
Moving on to Life in the Community Resources Fair
ASVAB registration.

Finally, learn more about our College & Career Center Specialist, Erica Hosken.

Tutoring Resources for Families

Some families may be looking for additional resources to help support their child’s academic success. The FCPS Family Resource Center (FRC) maintains a list of FCPS employees who hold a valid Virginia teaching credential and who are available to hire as tutors. This list is a resource offered by the FRC, but families are responsible for contacting and working directly with the tutors. This list is not approved by FCPS and is only meant to be a resource to families.

FCPS also partners with Varsity Tutors to provide students and families with extra resources for learning. Every student can take advantage of Varsity Tutors' services, at no cost, including weekly live online classes, on-demand 24/7 chat tutoring, essay editing, and study resources such as recorded content, practice problems, and diagnostic tests.

Class Schedule Change Requests

Timeline for Schedule Changes

After November 10: Any student requesting a schedule change will need to fill out the schedule change request form, with permission from parent, student, teacher, school counselor, and administrator. If approved by the administration, schedule changes will only be processed if there is space available.
After March 27: There will not be any schedule changes, regardless of space availability. This date aligns with the last day of the 3rd Quarter.

For any questions you may have, contact your child’s school counselor

Health and Wellness Updates