Willow Springs School News, 1/16/26: MLK Holiday, SOL Calendar, GLOW Party, & more!

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Schools and offices will be closed on Monday, January 19, for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. See the complete school year calendar.

Outstanding Employee Awards:

Support Our Staff with Your Input

It fills us with great pride and gratitude to say that 33 of our staff members were nominated for an FCPS Outstanding Employee Award! We had a total of 56 nominations submitted and several staff members were nominated multiple times. Nominators included parents, students, and fellow staff members.

After a rigorous process, the finalists in each category were selected as our school winners. Those winners will go on for consideration in the Fairfax Pyramid selection process. In order to move forward, we must submit nomination packets for each of these employees:

1. Outstanding Teacher - Mrs. Bay, 3rd Grade AAP

2. Outstanding New Teacher - Ms. Sarah Kim, Special Education Teacher

3. Outstanding Operational Employee - Mrs. Renata Claudio, Office Assistant

4. Outstanding Leader - Ms. Laura Tapper, Assistant Principal

Mrs. Bay's nomination packet has already been submitted.

Now, we ask for YOUR help putting gathering information for the remaining nomination packets which are due by COB on Friday, January 30th. If you are interested in providing supporting statements and stories for one of the nomination packets, please use this Google form to submit your information no later than close of business (COB) on 1/30/26.

Thank you!!

The January PTA meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 14th at 7:00 PM in the library.

January PTA Meeting Slides

We had a really good PTA meeting on Wednesday full of updates and information on the following topics

upcoming school renovation plans
technology use in school
Outstanding Employee Awards
SOL testing schedule for grades 3, 4, 5, and 6
Glow Night on 1/23/26
Spirit Night on 3/13/26
Field Day plans, date TBD
PTA budget updates
and MORE!

We had about 30 people in attendance either in person or virtually. If you were unable to attend and want to stay up to date on school events, please see our meeting slides here.

Spring 2026 SOL Testing Calendar

Students in grades 3, 4, 5, ad 6 will take the Standards of Learning Tests in May. You can see Willow Springs' SOL Testing Calendar HERE.

GLOW Party

All students and families are invited to a Glow Party on Friday, January 23rd from 6:30 to 8:30 PM in the WSES Gym. This is a FREE event and there will be a DJ, lots of dancing, limbo, glow games, face painting, pizza, concessions, and a dance off. There will also be a cool-down area in another room for anyone who needs a break from the all the activity.

Wear white or neon colors and let's have a blast together burning off some of our extra winter energy!

Parents, this is not a drop off event. You must accompany your child.