In observance of Spring Break, the Compass is “on vacation.” Regular posts will resume the week of April 8. The Communications team wishes you a relaxing and rejuvenating Spring Break!
Compass Posts Will Return After Spring Break
Category Archives: Communications
Compass Posts Will Return on Jan. 4
Happy Winter Break, ACPS! The Compass will return with regular posts on Thursday, January 4, 2024.
The Communications team wishes each of you the happiest of holiday seasons and a new year that welcomes health and wellness, abundant joy, and inspiration!
Annual Notification: School Schedule Changes Due to Inclement Weather
With the temperatures dropping and the weather becoming more winter-like, we want to make sure you know how to find out about school schedule changes, should bad weather disrupt our school schedule. As always, when weather causes us to make decisions that affect our school schedule, our top priority is the safety of our students, staff, and other members of our community. Every weather event is unique, and we consider information from several sources to help us decide if we should open schools on time, open on a delay, close schools, or dismiss early. Continue reading
FEMA & FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for Oct. 4
The Office of Strategic Communications is sharing the following information for awareness, as this event has the potential to temporarily disrupt the learning environment.
Beginning at approximately 2:20 p.m. this Wednesday, October 4, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts. The purpose of the test is to ensure that these systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level. Continue reading
Compass Posts Will Return the Week of July 10
In observance of the Independence Day holiday, the Compass will be “on vacation” the week of July 3. Posting will resume the week of July 10. The Communications team wishes everyone a celebratory July 4th holiday!
Compass Posts Will Return After Spring Break
In observance of Spring Break, the Compass is “on vacation.” Regular posts will resume the week of April 10. The Communications team wishes everyone a relaxing and rejuvenating Spring Break!
National School Counseling Week & Our Most Recent Portrait of an ACPS Staff Member
It’s National School Counseling Week, which is celebrated each year during the first full week of February to highlight the “tremendous impact school counselors can have in helping students achieve school success and plan for a career” (American School Counselor Association). So it’s particularly fitting that, this week, the division features Amy Wright, Western Albemarle High School’s Director of School Counseling, for its Portrait of an ACPS Staff Member: Continue reading
Last Week’s Inclement Weather Announcement
Following our early-morning announcement on Wednesday, January 25, that schools would operate on a two-hour delay, we learned of some communication issues with our notifications to staff. While email messages were delivered successfully within minutes, text messages were delayed by up to 40 minutes, and voice calls to employees failed.
BrightArrow, the company that provides our mass communication platform, believes this failure was due to a software “enhancement” that was recently added to our account. That enhancement has since been removed from our account, and BrightArrow does not anticipate future issues. Continue reading
School Schedule Changes Due to Inclement Weather
Before extreme winter weather arrives, we want to make sure you know about the various scheduling options we will consider, how to find out about school schedule changes, and our plan for remote learning in the case of an extended closure.
When bad weather becomes a factor in the school schedule, our top priority is the safety of our students, staff, and other members of our community. For each unique weather event, we consider information from several sources to help us decide if we should open on time, open on a delay, close schools, or dismiss early. The most complete resource for information is our Closings, Delays & Early Dismissals web page, which explains our inclement weather decision-making process and details our scheduling options, our decision and communication timelines, all of the ways you can find out about schedule changes, and more. Continue reading
New VDOE Website
You may have noticed that the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has redesigned their website. The new VDOE website, including a new ChildCareVA site, launched on December 13 and includes an intuitive, modern navigation that aims to provide easy access to information and resources on dozens of topics. The redesign also incorporates a variety of features to enhance communication between the VDOE, schools, childcare providers, parents, and the general public.
With the launch of the new VDOE site, most links to VDOE content changed. Continue reading