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2026-27 FCPS School Calendar

• October 8: 3rd Grade Field Trip to Adventure Theatre
• October 9: Kindergarten Field Trip to Cox Farms
• October 10: iPFIT Saturday, 9:00a.m–1:00p.m
• October 12: No School | Indigenous Peoples' Day
• October 13: Family Science Night, 6:00p.m–7:30p.m
• October 16: Fall Picture Day
• October 23: Principal Coffee & Chat with Mayor Leblanc
• October 24: Fall Festival 
• October 26: Community Meeting Regarding Renovation Project
• October 27: 1st Grade Field Trip to Great Country Farms
• October 27: 4th Grade Field Trip to GMU (NSO Performance)
• October 28: Family Summit Engagement Night
• October 29: Advanced Academic Screening Information Night
• October 30:  2 Hour Early Release | End of Quarter 1

Dear Herndon ES Families,

It has been a purposeful week at Herndon, with our team focused on student learning, timely support, and strong partnerships with families.

Classroom visits in first, fifth, and sixth grades gave school leaders the opportunity to see students engaged in learning and collaborate with teachers around instruction. Our staff also continued strengthening support for students developing foundational reading skills and coordinating ways to help every child make progress.

Attendance remains an important part of that work. Our current chronic absenteeism rate is 5.4%, which is 4.7 percentage points lower than it was at this point last year. We have also made steady progress in recent years, moving from 15.6% in 2023–2024 to 12.3% in 2024–2025 and 4.5% at the end of 2025–2026. Our Quarter 1 Early Release Wednesday was successful in helping students recover missed days through attendance make-up opportunities. Our team will debrief the experience as we plan for Quarter 2. If you have feedback to help us strengthen the next Early Release Wednesday, please email me at mgvereb1@fcps.edu.

On Monday, I supported Area 4 transportation interviews. I shared our school’s perspective as the team works to identify the supervisor best suited to support Herndon and the 13 buses that transport our students to and from school each day.

As we continue to expand STEAM and Advanced Academic opportunities for all learners, we are intentionally creating experiences that allow students to develop expertise, explore their interests, and discover their talents. Today, our fifth graders will participate in a special Space Day experience with volunteers from Lockheed Martin. Students will rotate through hands-on learning stations in their classrooms and may even have the opportunity to participate in small rocket launches. Experiences like Space Day bring learning to life, encourage curiosity and deeper thinking, and give students opportunities to learn alongside professionals with real-world expertise. We are grateful to Lockheed Martin for partnering with Herndon and helping us create meaningful learning opportunities for our students.

Today is also National Custodian Appreciation Day. We are celebrating our custodial team with a meal and certificates of appreciation in recognition of the care and hard work they bring to our school each day to support students and staff. Please join me in thanking them for all they do.

Looking ahead, next Monday we will welcome our monthly visit from the Office of School Support and engage in learning walks in kindergarten, fourth, and fifth grade classrooms. These visits help us reflect on teaching and learning and strengthen the support we provide students.

We continue preparing for the next phase of our building renovation and look forward to sharing more with families as the transition to our new wing approaches. Thank you for trusting us with your children and for being our partners in their learning.

That is what growth looks like at the Hive: learning, building, and growing together.