HONORS & AWARDS .......................
2 Receive Heart Saver Hero Award
Quick action turned what could have been a tragedy into an awards presentation. On Tuesday, November 14th, Steuart Weller Elementary kindergarten teacher Joanna Beane presented Jeremy Beck and Megan Poole with the American Heart Association’s
Heart Saver Hero Award. During Back to School Night at Steuart Weller on August 31st, Beane, a first-year kindergarten teacher, was meeting with parents and discussing the year ahead when she experienced cardiac arrest and collapsed. Parents raced from the room seeking help from nearby classrooms and called 911. Beck, a Steuart Weller physical education teacher, was attending the Back to School Night for his first-grade son and Poole, a Steuart Weller parent and nurse, responded to the emergency. Beck and Poole ran to the kindergarten classroom and quickly assessed the situation. They began CPR while an-
other staff member retrieved an AED. The AED was used to re-start Beane’s heart. First responders arrived, took over and stabilized Beane and transported her by ambulance to the hospital. Because of the quick thinking and action of parents and teachers, Beane has made a full recovery and has returned to teach her kindergarten class. Beane told the School Board that Beck and Poole definitely saved her life. The American Heart Association estimates that only four percent of cardiac arrest patients survive. Beane said that number triples if CPR is started during the first few minutes after a heart attack.
Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee (MSAAC) The Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee (MSAAC) is a School Board-appointed advisory group. MSAAC advises the School Board on matters that will further the academic, social and cultural development of every student and ensure that the needs of all minority students are met. MSAAC augments School Board and Loudoun County Public School (LCPS) staff initiatives and parent efforts to ensure that our school community becomes culturally competent; providing the cornerstone for fair and equitable instruction to all students. MSAAC speaks out on behalf of LCPS students and their families to encourage the development of school cultures that afford every minority student the opportunity to achieve his or her full potential, feel welcome and be recognized as an integral member of the Loudoun County academic community. MSAAC Objectives and Initiatives: • Ensure advocacy on behalf of minority issues within the LCPS community; • Promote parental involvement through focused parent opinion surveys and meaningful meeting topics; • Develop and bridge networks across various stakeholder groups to address parental concerns and questions; • Emphasize the need for increased minority staff and volunteer presence in schools to: (1) achieve cultural and social awareness and sensitivity; and (2) provide role models to assist minority students in developing self-esteem; • Disseminate information regarding issues of interest, educational opportunities, strategies and support data; • Participate in, and host, forums to encourage awareness and sensitivity and provide needed information to parents and staff; • Increase school involvement/accountability by ensuring each LCPS school has a delegate to represent their student body needs;
• Facilitate collaboration with local and national organizations and community resources; • Advise the Loudoun County School Board regarding systemic issues affecting minority achievement to include: (1) discipline disproportionality; (2) equitable representation of diverse students in the Gifted and Talented programs; (3) unconscious bias training for all faculty and staff; (4) equitable technology access and usage; and (5) diversity in hiring; • Facilitate communication between the community and Loudoun County Public Schools; • Support School Board minority-achievement goals and activities within the school system and at participating schools as needed; • Review test result data on an annual basis and make recommendations; • And submit an annual report to the School Board. All general MSAAC meetings are held at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at the Loudoun County Public School Administrative Offices, 21000 Education Court, Ashburn, in the School Board Meeting Room. For more information about MSAAC and how to become positive change agent in our academic community, please follow MSAAC on social media and/or contact the MSAAC Executive Board: Twitter: @lcpsmsaac Facebook: www.facebook.com/lcpsmsaac/ Instagram: @lcpsmsaac The MSAAC Executive Board: Chair Wendy Caudle Hodge, chairmsaac@gmail.com Vice Chair Natalia Beardslee, msaacvicechairnb@gmail.com Secretary Atoosa Reaser, secretarymsaac@gmail.com Communications Committee Chair Susan Hayden, msaaccommunicationsh@gmail.com Membership Committee Chair Howard Sapp, msaacmembership@gmail.com
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