Principals' Update

Dear Freedom Hill Families,

Thank you to all of our FHES Veterans who were able to attend our breakfast this week! It was a pleasure to meet many of our community members who have supported our nation. We were also excited to represent Freedom Hill at last week's School Board meeting, where we were recognized for earning the Purple Star Schools designation. Thank you to all who supported this important work!

This week, we invite all to our annual Thanksgiving Luncheon. Times were sent home last week, and are available again below. Families are encouraged to purchase lunch using their child's MySchoolBucks accounts to expedite purchases. We also ask that families are considerate of all students' meals and consider not bringing fast food to our feast. Thank you!

Don't forget to swing back Silver Diner in Tysons on Tuesday evening to support our 6th graders! They will fundraising and helping to seat guests in the restaurant.

Have a great week!

Nicholas Zapadka, Principal

Tim Scesney, Assistant Principal

Holly Sims, Assistant Principal

Upcoming Dates for Your Calendar

2025-26 FCPS School Calendar

Freedom Hill Family Resources

Breakfast/Lunch Menus

November 18 - PTA Family Dinner Out - Silver Diner Tysons
November 20 - Thanksgiving Luncheon
November 20 - Makeup Picture Day
November 26 - 28 - School Closed, Thanksgiving Break
December 4 - PTA Meeting, Library & Virtual, 6PM
December 6 - Chorus Holiday Performance @ Wolftrap, 3:30PM
December 8 - PTA Winter 2026 teacher-led enrichment classes will be available for registration at 8AM.
December 9 - Band & Strings Winter Concert, 6PM
December 10 - Family Dinner Out, Shake Shack, (rescheduled), 11AM-9:30PM, Pike 7
December 10 - Early Release Wednesday, 1:05
December 22 - January 4 - Winter Break

Fall Photos & Makeup Photos

Victor O'Neill Studios school photos for Freedom Hill students are now online! Families should have received an E-proof via email. Please remember to check your spam. For any questions about your student's school pictures please contact: underclass@vosphoto.com

Make-up Picture Day is Thursday, November 20. This photo day is for students who were absent on Picture Day (10/23), new to Freedom Hill since Picture Day, or who were not happy with their original photo package (students are required to return their original picture package to the photographer). No purchase is necessary. Any parents who have not ordered can still pre-order retake photos using the following link:https://shop.imagequix.com/g1001271111

For the next two weeks, we are focusing on Gratitude. You are aware of and thankful for good things that happen.

“The real gift of gratitude is that the more grateful you are, the more present you become.”

~Robert Holden

Questions you might enjoy talking about:

What are the easiest things to be grateful for? What are the most difficult?
What are some benefits of gratitude?
How does it make you feel to think that others are grateful for you?

Complete 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. We will provide paper forms to families who have not completed the survey in ParentVUE starting Wednesday, November 12^th.

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.

Social Emotional Learning

At Freedom Hill we work hard to teach students universal behavior strategies that equip students for a lifetime of success. An area of focus is teaching kids how to regulate their emotions. Our guidance counselors have begun teaching The Zones of Regulation to all student grades K-6. The Zones of Regulation is a curriculum to support your learner’s social and emotional development and regulation skills. The Zones of Regulation provides a simple way for learners (and the adults who support them) to understand, communicate around, and care for their feelings. To help with learning, please discuss these questions together:

What are some things we can regulate, adjust, or manage?
What is a way you can regulate your body? How does that affect how you feel?