Wild Cat ROAR! October 5, 2025

Our fourth grade teachers are: Front row: Yvonne Hasenei, Erin Levy, Kristie Pepin. Back row is Genevieve Young, Matthew Clarke, and Kristi Farouki. Ms Young is new to Steuart Weller this year. She is from Richmond,VA where she was a competitive swim coach and teaching assistant. We are delighted to welcome Ms Young to SWES!

Field Day is coming up on October 9th, and we need your help to make it a blast! Whether you're great at cheering, organizing games, or refilling water bottles to keep our athletes hydrated, there's a spot for you. We have several activities that need parent volunteers.

Sign up today and be part of the fun — let’s make this a day to remember for our students!

All parents are welcome to attend and help cheer on our students. Field Day will be in the afternoon this year from 11-1:30.

👉 Click here to sign up!

Effective October 1, 2025, DDI will implement a new Lightspeed content filter feature to enhance student safety and focus.

What's Changing? For students in grades 3-5, all non-educational videos hosted on YouTube will be blocked.

YouTube access will continue to be completely blocked for students in Pre-K through 2nd grade.

This update is part of DDI’s goal of continuous improvement and is designed to protect our youngest students from inappropriate content and help them stay on task when using YouTube.

You can find more information about our filtering policies and a detailed breakdown of allowed and blocked content categories by grade level at: https://www.lcps.org/o/ddi/page/student-online-monitoring

While we are seeing a lot of growth in the Weller boundary zone which stretches from Lansdowne to Ashburn to Sterling, other schools are experiencing a decline in enrollment. I have included the message sent by the district. It is important to note that any changes that are made in December will take place next school year.

District message:

On August 12, 2025, the Loudoun County School Board adopted a calendar to review elementary school attendance zones in the Ashburn and Dulles North areas. This process will include: Ashburn, Belmont Station, Cedar Lane, Creighton’s Corner, Discovery, Dominion Trail, Elaine E. Thompson, Hillside, Legacy, Madison’s Trust, Mill Run, Moorefield Station, Newton-Lee, Rosa Lee Carter, Sanders Corner, Seldens Landing, Steuart W. Weller and Waxpool Elementary Schools.

Any adopted changes to the attendance zone will take effect with the start of the 2026-2027 school year.

To support this process, the School Board has scheduled a series of meetings to share information, hear feedback and facilitate potential attendance zone changes for some or all of the schools listed above. The meeting dates are:

• Tuesday, October 28, 2025* - Elementary School Attendance Zone Overview

• Wednesday, November 5, 2025 - Elementary School Attendance Zone Public Hearing & Work Session

• Monday, November 24, 2025 - Elementary School Attendance Zone Public Hearing & Work Session

• Tuesday, December 2, 2025* - Review of Elementary School Attendance Zone Recommendations

• Monday, December 8, 2025 - Elementary School Attendance Zone Briefing & Public Hearing

• Tuesday, December 16, 2025* - Adoption of Elementary School Attendance Zone Changes

All meetings will begin at 6:30 p.m. and be held at the LCPS Administration Building (21000 Education Court, Ashburn). These meetings will also be broadcast live on Comcast channel 18 or 1070 (HD) and Verizon Fios channel 43 and streamed via simultaneous webcast on the LCPS website. Meeting dates noted with an asterisk (*) are in conjunction with a regular School Board meeting.

We encourage and recommend public comment throughout this process. All written comments will be shared with the School Board and can be submitted to the LCPS Division of Planning & GIS Services at lcpsplan@lcps.org.

All attendance zone information and data, as it becomes available (including potential attendance zone changes being considered or reviewed by the School Board), will be posted on a dedicated Fall 2025 – Ashburn & Dulles North School Attendance Zone Change Process web page. You can also access the dedicated webpage by clicking the ‘Fall 2025 ES Boundary Process’ link on your elementary school’s homepage ribbon.

If you have any questions, please contact the Division of Planning & GIS Services at lcpsplan@lcps.org or 571-252-1050.

We appreciate your partnership and look forward to working together to support our students and school communities.

The Department of Support Services

• K -Remind your child that everyone makes mistakes or tell them a story about a time you learned something from a mistake.
• 1 - Talk with your child about different tasks and skills they have learned to do by themselves at home, for example, making their bed, etc. Remind them that it took time and practice to get better at these things.
• 2 - Ask your child whether the thoughts they have when they’re learning something new are helpful or unhelpful. Ask your child to share examples of helpful thoughts they know.
• 3 - Ask your child to tell you something new they’ve been practicing at school. Ask if they can think of other ways to practice or someone they could learn from.
• 4 - Ask your child about what’s been going well in their group. Has the group had any challenges? What has helped them stay motivated when things get tough? Talk about a challenge you faced recently and how you stayed positive or got support.
• 5 - Talk to your child about one habit they’ve decided to adopt to support their goal. Encourage them by discussing how small daily actions can lead to big achievements. Share a habit you use to stay on track with your goals.

• Oct 24: Boo Bash! Students are welcome to dress up in a Halloween costume and join in the fun - dancing, games, and concessions available for purchase. A flyer with more details will be sent home soon.
• Nov 12: PTO meeting at 6:30 pm featuring Dr. Lindsey Hoskins, a clinical therapist specializing in family counseling. She'll address the topic of bullying. What is bullying vs. meanness? As parents, how do we prevent bullying and how do we support victims? We hope you'll join to learn more about this important topic.
• If you have any PTO-related questions or are interested in volunteer opportunities, please contact Krysti Lloyd at lloyd.krysti@gmail.com.