education in brief

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Board Picks Leadership

The county School Board has elected Ilryong Moon (At Large) as chairman and Brad Center (Lee District) as vice chairman for this year.

The chairman and vice chairman are elected by board members at the first regular business meeting of the year. They serve for a year.

Moon, a partner in the law firm Moon, Park and Associates in Annandale, has served on the board since 2004. He also was a School Board member from 1995 to 1999.

Center is a senior program-business development manager for Karta Technologies Inc. and has been on the board since 2004.

Help With College Planning

A free college planning workshop for families is scheduled for 7:30 to 9:45 p.m. Wednesday in Annandale.

The workshop, at Little River United Church of Christ, will address strategies that high school juniors and seniors and their families can use to improve the students' chances of getting accepted by colleges. Topics will include the importance of academics, volunteer and other extracurricular activities, getting the most out of a college visit, how to obtain good recommendations, and selecting an essay topic for college applications.

The workshop will be presented by educator Jackie Shaffer, who is the parent of a freshman at Wake Forest University, and Shirley Bloomquist, an independent college counselor and former administrator at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in the Alexandria area.

The church is at 8410 Little River Tpk. For more information or to RSVP, call 703-978-3060.

How to Motivate Students

A professional speaker will talk about how parents can motivate students and help them be organized at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Herndon High School.

The speech by Jay Little is aimed at parents of students in fifth through 12th grades, but anyone can attend, according to a news release.

Little is a facilitator and trainer who provides professional development and management services to organizations in private industry and the public sector, the news release said. He is a frequent speaker for business, nonprofit, academic, community, association and government organizations.

Little's appearance is sponsored by the Greater Herndon Community Coalition. The talk is in the lecture hall at Herndon High, which is at 700 Bennett St.

Magnet School Openings

The county school system is accepting applications for elementary magnet school programs.

The programs are for students entering kindergarten through fifth grade in the fall at Bailey's Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences and for those entering first through sixth grades at Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences.

Selection for the magnet schools is by lottery. To be eligible, students must be working at or above grade level in language arts and math and must demonstrate good behavior with others and at school.

For Bailey's Elementary, students entering kindergarten should have attended preschool during the 2005-06 school year.

An information session will be held for families interested in the program at Bailey's at 7 p.m. Feb. 9; the snow date is Feb. 16. Bailey's is at 6111 Knollwood Dr. in the Falls Church area.

The Hunters Woods information session is at 7 p.m. Feb. 7; the snow date is Feb. 15. The school is at 2401 Colts Neck Rd., Reston.

For more information or to obtain an application, visit http://www.fcps.edu/news/magnet.htm .

Applications must be postmarked by March 1 and submitted to the Fairfax County Public Schools' Office of Elementary Instruction and Administrative Services, 3705 Crest Dr., Annandale, Va. 22003.

Planning for Special Needs

The county school system's Office of Special Education will hold two career and transition services sessions for students with disabilities.

The sessions will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday at Chantilly High School (snow date Tuesday) and from 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 1 at Edison High School (snow date Feb. 7).

The purpose of the sessions is to showcase services that support students with disabilities as they prepare to make the transition from school to adult life. Students and their families will receive information to help with transition planning before scheduling courses for the next academic year.

Information will be available on career assessment, employment and transition services, job coaching services, work awareness and transition, office technology and procedures, career academy and procedures, academy support, career centers, and technology support services.

Representatives from the state Department of Rehabilitative Services and the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board's Mental Retardation Services division will also be available to answer questions.

Chantilly High is at 4201 Stringfellow Rd. Edison High is at 5801 Franconia Rd. in the Alexandria area. For more information, call 703-876-5223 or send an e-mail to ann.cook@fcps.edu .

-- Compiled by DIANE MATTINGLY and STEPHEN C. FEHR