Greetings Hayfield Families and Community, 

It has been great welcoming teachers and staff back to Hayfield. Everyone is excited and folks are working hard to get ready to welcome students next week. All staff members really appreciated the visit from Mr. Omelet on Monday morning. Thank you PTSA for starting our week on such a positive note. We further want to thank everyone for taking the time from your busy schedule to come to school in order to pick up form packets and student schedules. As a reminder we ask that students bring all required signed forms to their first period block on Tuesday, September 7. If for any reason you weren’t able to attend one of the packet pick-up sessions, please know that students will receive a packet and class schedule when they arrive at their first period class on Tuesday. First period classes will be posted in the lobby and all subschool staff can help direct students having trouble identifying their first period. 

A few updates for you regarding staffing. Many of you have already met Mr. Jesse Hudson who will be serving as our new seventh grade sub-school principal. Mr. Hudson brings a wealth of middle school experience to us and most recently served as an assistant principal at Liberty Middle School in Fairfax County. Our security specialist has also started his contract with us. Mr. Chuck Arnone joins the Hayfield team in this role. Some of you may recall that Chuck served as the security specialist for Hayfield Secondary several years ago. He is an outstanding team player and both students and staff respond to him beautifully. 

Hawk Time is a new initiative that will take place during the student’s fourth block class. This ninety-two minute period has been divided into two forty two minute “Hawk blocks” (with a six minute transition time in between) and students will visit two of their seven scheduled classes during a given Hawk Time. Thus, in a given month students will have been to their seven classes 3-4 times during Hawk Time. Hawk Time will provide students with the opportunity to receive support in classes needed as well as work on enrichment activities. From working on projects to making up quizzes, we feel that providing time for students during the school day will help all students maximize their success in school. Teachers are now working in professional learning communities (PLCs) and will be indentifying students in need of support/intervention as they meet together during planning periods and after school. Hawk Time fits in perfectly with the PLC initiative as you can see from the description above. 

I hope to see as many parents as possible at our next scheduled PTSA meeting on Tuesday, September 14. The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the HSS Media Center. Also, I look forward to meeting you at our Back to School Night events as well as scheduled sporting and club/activity nights. We’re off to a great start and we appreciate all of your support. Have a great first week of school everybody and remember… 

Birds Fly, Hawks Soar!