Dear Families,

We are proud to receive Title I funds that help us provide extra support for students who need it most. These funds allow us to offer additional staffing, instructional materials, and family engagement events that enrich your child's education.

Now, we need your help! The Title I program is seeking your feedback to understand your experiences and gather suggestions on how we can better meet the needs of your student(s).

Take Survey Here

Your voice matters!

Dear Parents and Students,

We are excited to invite you to the annual PWCS Sports Fair! This fantastic event will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, 2025, at the Kelly Leadership Center (14715 Bristow Road, Manassas, VA 20112).

If your students are interested in joining a sports team but don't know where to start, this is the perfect opportunity for you! The PWCS Sports Fair is free and open to all fifth grade, middle and high school students. Coaches and athletes will be available to provide information about the sports offered in PWCS and to answer any questions you may have.

In addition to valuable information, there will be a DJ, food trucks, giveaways, and lots of fun activities for everyone to enjoy. Translators will also be on site to assist.

We hope to see you there!

Updated SOL Practice Items- Updated SOL practice items for Grades 3-8 and End-of-Course Math and Reading tests were recently released by VDOE. These practice items will provide students an opportunity to become familiar with the types of questions that will be administered to assess new standards in reading and math. These practice item sets include new item types that will be field-tested in Spring 2025. Field test items are used to collect data and do not count towards a student's overall test scores.

To apply for your child to attend Summer School, your child must be recommended by his/her teacher. After they are recommended, you, the parent, will need to register on ParentVue between the dates of April 7 through May 23.

This is a frim ending of May 23, so please make sure you do not wait until the last minute

Prince William County Public Schools is introducing new features to the parent controls for library materials within PWCS’ library management system.

Starting the week of April 27, parents will receive notifications about the student selected library materials checked out by their student that day.

These emails will be sent automatically to the primary parent/guardian email address, ensuring you stay informed about your student’s reading activities. This feature will be activated for all PWCS students. Please note that there is no option to opt out of these email communications.

Please visit the “Parent Library Controls” webpage for more information.

Student immunizations due by August 15, 2025, to begin new school year

The deadline to meet the immunization requirements for the upcoming school year is August 15, 2025. If proof of required immunizations is not provided by the deadline, the student will not be permitted to start school on Monday, August 18, 2025, until documentation is provided. Parents/guardians can view information about student immunization compliance in ParentVUE. For specific questions about immunization non-compliance or for assistance in setting up a ParentVUE account, please contact your school. A list of immunization requirements can be found below.

Once completed, provide documentation to your student’s school indicating that your student has received the immunization(s). All documentation must include the student’s full name and ID number. Immunization information must be delivered in person to the school's office.

If your student cannot receive an immunization for some reason, the health provider must give you a medical exemption statement to provide to your student’s school.

https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/student_services/registration/immunization_requirements/index

Families apply online by completing an Online Application. ( Spanish version). Applications may also be completed in-person or via phone. Families should call the preschool office with any questions.

Email: PreKPrograms@pwcs.edu

Phone: 703-791-8708

Please note:

• Check list of schools served here.
• The preschool program has income limits. To review, please visit: www.pwcs.edu/headstart
• During the online application, families are asked to upload proof of family income, a copy of child's birth certificate, and at least one proof of address. Other information will be requested if a child is accepted. For more information on the application process, acceptance, and school enrollment, visit: www.pwcs.edu/academics___programs/head_start/how_to_apply
• Selections begin in April and continue until classes are lled.

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) released the annual Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) test results and updated the School Quality Profile. We are well on our way to fully recovering from the pandemic. Occoquan has scored some of the highest scores in Reading and Math. Our African-American scores are what I am most proud of, as we have now surpassed the achievement gap in this category. PWCS will work diligently to support continued academic progress, acceleration, and recovery.

Students are no longer allowed to be dismissed from the office between the times of 3:30 and 4:00 due to disruptions to the dismissal process. If you need to pick your child up early, you will need to do so before 3:30. Otherwise, you will need to wait until 4:10 to come into the office to pick them up.

Transportation’s Late Bus Notification web page is now available for parents and schools. The page will list buses that will be late 15 minutes or more to start their run. Please save the link below to review it:

https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/transportation/bus_delays

Please be sure to download "Here Comes the Bus" app so that you can track your child's bus to know a more accurate time on when your child will be picked up and dropped up from their bus stops. After you download the app, it will prompt you with a few questions, and then you will need to enter a school system code. This code is: 76348

Should you have any issues with this app, please feel free to email hctb@pwcs.edu, and they will answer your questions.

PWCS recognizes that this time of year can be particularly challenging for many students. To ensure that every student has access to the support they need, we would like to remind parents that free mental health telehealth services are available to all PWCS students through Hazel Health – at no cost. Together, we can make a significant difference in the mental well-being of our students now and beyond.

Visit the PWCS Hazel Health webpage for more information.

Our ambitious Continuous Improvement Plan ensures we are on the right track to navigate the journey back to pre-pandemic levels by investing in our instructional core, maintaining high expectations to ensure academic excellence, and strengthening infrastructures along the way toward greater equitable and accessible academic achievement for all students.

Please click the link below to take a look at the plan in what will be some of its final stages.

Construction on Occoquan's new building began recently when they started digging two of the one-hundred-ten holes they will need to dig for our geothermal energy. It has been an exciting time. The students are predicted to move into the building in December 2025. The new building will be located on the grass behind the playground. Construction will officially begin in June 2024, but they will continue to work on some of the other aspects that take a little longer well before that time frame.

• Please be sure to check out the Occoquan school compact for information about Title I (it is the document directly above), staff agreements, student agreements, and parent agreements, as well as our goals for the year in reading and math.
• Reading support is provided through small-group instruction and before and after-school tutoring.
• Math support is provided through small-group instruction, co-teaching lessons with the classroom teacher, before and after-school tutoring, and one-on-one individual support for math intervention.
• Thank you for supporting our awesome Occoquan students!

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, most recently reauthorized as the Every Student Succeeds Act, states that parents in Title I schools have the right to request certain information about their child’s teachers. The information that you have a right to request about your child’s teacher is:

• Whether the teacher has met state qualifications and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subjects the teacher is teaching.
• Whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which state qualification or licensing has been waived.
• The baccalaureate degree major of certification or degree held by the teacher, and the field of discipline of the certification or degree.
• Whether the child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications.

At Occoquan ES, we are extremely proud of our teachers and paraprofessionals, and are happy to provide you with any of the information above pertaining to your child’s teacher(s). If you have such a request, please call the school at 703.494.2195 and ask for the information you are interested in.

Parental Notification of Assessment Opt Out Policies under The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 According to the Virginia Department of Education, "All students in tested grade levels and courses are expected to participate in Virginia's assessment program, unless specifically exempted by state or federal law or by Board of Education regulations." On December 10, 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) was signed into law. Section 1112(e)(2) of ESSA states that parents of students in Title I schools have a right to know about state or division policies regarding student participation in any assessments mandated by ESSA, including any policy, procedure, or parental right to opt students out of such assessments. The Commonwealth of Virginia does not currently have an Opt Out policy for SOL assessments. However, Section 22.1-253.13:3.Cof the Code of Virginia states that, “The Board of Education shall not include in its calculation of the passage rate of a Standards of Learning assessment for the purposes of state accountability any student whose parent has decided to not have his child take such Standards of Learning assessment, unless such exclusions would result in the school's not meeting any required state or federal participation rate.” Prince William County Public Schools regulations state that, if a parent or guardian decides to not have a student take a state or local assessment, then the person making the request should be informed about the academic consequences that decision could have on the student.

If you would like to receive more information about this topic, please contact the principal.

Please click on the grade level below that your child(ren) is in order to read their specific information from their teachers.

Grade Levels update their information once a month.

Where Everybody Is Somebody

A PWCS "School of Excellence"

Email: lintmp@pwcs.edu
Website: occoquanes.pwcs.edu
Location: 12915 Occoquan Road, Woodbridge, VA, USA
Phone: 703.494.2195
Facebook: www.facebook.com/OccoquanElementary
Twitter: @occoquanes