Digital Awareness Day 5
Power up passwords.
Work together with kids to help them come up with complex passwords. Never repeat passwords. Think outside the dictionary. Use phrases and special characters that make passwords hard to guess but easy to remember. Remind kids to keep passwords private and change them regularly.
Page County Public Schools Digital Awareness Week CommonSense Media
Be sure to thank a School Resource Officer today! Our SROs are such an important part of our schools. We want them to know how much we truly appreciate the work they do.
This is a reminder that tonight, Thursday, February 13, 2025, is the regularly scheduled school board meeting and pre budget hearing. The meeting will be held at Luray High School at 6:30 p.m. and may be viewed LIVE on our YouTube Channel. Comments are due by 4 p.m.
Agenda: https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/pcss/Board.nsf/Public
Comments: https://forms.gle/wjniZ7xqqaqai4zcA
VIEW LIVE: https://www.youtube.com/c/PageCountySchools/live
Use privacy settings.
Together, go through the settings on all apps to make sure you both know what
information your kids are sharing. Especially in the beginning, it's better to share
very little.Avoid location tracking. Location-aware apps can be super helpful. But apps that use a device's location to help other people find your kid or offer them ads for nearby businesses should be used with caution. Turn them off if you can.
Page County Public Schools Digital Awareness Week CommonSense Media
Good afternoon,
All PCPS schools will open on a two-hour delay tomorrow, Thursday, February 13, 2025. 12-month staff report on-time. Please arrive at your bus stop two hours later than usual. Breakfast and lunch will be served.
This delay will allow Division staff to evaluate conditions in the morning to determine if there are any impacts from the forecasted ice tonight. If conditions are unsafe for school buses or other factors, such as power outages, arise, we may need to cancel school altogether. Should we need to change the operational status of schools, that decision will be made as early as possible tomorrow morning.
Thank you!
Digital Awareness Day 3--
Develop your child’s instincts.
Help kids learn to trust their guts so they can suss out creepy, risky, or otherwise unsafe online situations. Playact a few scenarios: What if someone asks to take a conversation private? What if someone asks for your phone number? What if someone invites you to a private chat room? Be aware that some kids (even "good" kids) will explore iffy stuff online out of curiosity. But the minute they feel uncomfortable, they need to shut things down.
Skip quizzes. Help kids identify and avoid clickbait, quizzes, special offers, and anything that asks for personal or private information. This helps keep information secure and devices safe.
Page County Public Schools Digital Awareness Week CommonSense Media
Good afternoon,
Due to a forecast of continued snow and low temperatures tonight, all PCPS schools and offices will be closed on Wednesday, February 12, 2025. All afternoon and evening events and activities are also cancelled. 12-month staff do not report unless contacted by your supervisor.
Thank you and we hope that everyone stays safe and warm.
PCPS Digital Awareness --Day 2
Talk about the pressure to overshare.
Tweens and teens might feel pushed into sharing a photo for different reasons: a dare, fear of damaging a relationship, or just because "everyone else is doing it." But this one is non-negotiable. Tell them that you understand how bad it can feel to disappoint a friend. Then help them imagine how much worse it would feel if a private picture were shared with their whole school. For younger children: talk about the difference between what's OK to share online (favorite color) and what's not (home address).
Page County Public Schools Digital Awareness Week CommonSense Media
This week Page County Public Schools recognizes Digital Awareness Week:
Give them the right words.
Kids learn about appropriate verbal and physical communication from watching you. But online conversations can be invisible. Occasionally, narrate as you're writing texts or social media comments when your kids are in earshot. Learn about their worlds. Tweens and teens have unique communication styles -- especially online. As much as possible, keep an eye on what they're saying and doing online to understand the norm in their worlds. Don't police everything they say, but keep an ear out for aggressive trash-talking, hate speech, rude images, or anything hurtful. If you see stuff that crosses the line, speak up. Kids need to understand that their words have consequences.
Page County Public Schools Digital Awareness Week CommonSense Media
Page County Public Schools would like to honor our Technology Department this week! We appreciate all that they do in maintaining our equipment, facilitating our teachers with rewarding and engaging lessons, and assisting in all of the technological needs of our staff, students, and division. This is one dedicated, hard working department, and they deserve a big "Thank You" for all they do!
As we end National School Counseling Week, PCPS would like to share our gratitude for the hard work, dedication, and care this team shows to our students, staff, and community - each and every day! Thank you for helping PCPS students thrive!
As early as elementary school, students in our schools are looking at what their future could be like outside of the walls of our district. Which way will they go? Students may select to enroll in further education, seek employment with a company or business, or enlist with a military branch or government agency.
School Counselors and Career Coaches are focused on assisting students as they make decisions that will affect their education and strive to implement programs to enable students to reach their full potential. Our secondary programs provide academic and personal advising to help prepare all students for a career, college, or the military.
Due to impending inclement weather moving through the area this evening, all PCPS events and activities will end by 6:00pm today, February 5, 2025. The Luray Middle School girls and boys basketball games scheduled against Rappahannock are both postponed. Thank you!
Important Bus Route Information:
Luray Area--
Please expect delays for BUS 27 and BUS 50 this afternoon.
Thank you.
School counselors can also help parents focus on ways to further the educational, personal and social growth of their children!
IMPORTANT REMINDER:
This is a reminder that tomorrow, Wednesday, February 5, 2025, is an early release (12:30 p.m.) day for students. This is scheduled professional development time for staff.
Thank you.
PCPS is grateful for the work of our school counselors, counseling secretaries, and career coaches!
Last night, LMS staff made school administration aware of a social media post circulating, claiming that a student planned to come to LMS on Tuesday to “shoot up the school.” Law enforcement was immediately notified and the threat was determined to be unfounded. To provide reassurance to everyone, there will be an additional presence of law enforcement at LMS tomorrow.
Additionally, there are rumors that an LMS student who made threats has a list of targeted individuals. School administration and law enforcement have not been able to verify the existence of such a list, nor have any specific student names been identified in connection with any threats.
If you have any information about a potential threat, please report it immediately. You can do so in person to any staff member, by calling law enforcement, or through the StopIt app. Please talk with your child(ren) about the importance of immediately sharing concerns or threats with a trusted adult or law enforcement rather than posting unverified information on social media.
We are committed to continuing to provide a safe learning environment for all students and staff. Thank you to the PCSO and all of our law enforcement partners for their assistance.
Thank you for your continued support of LMS and Page County Public Schools.
Dr. Fox
IMPORTANT BUS ROUTE INFORMATION:
SPRINGFIELD AREA--
Please expect delays on BUS 1 and BUS 64 this afternoon.
Thank you.
PCPS celebrates National School Counseling Week! This year’s theme is: School Counseling: Helping Students Thrive. National School Counseling Week highlights the tremendous impact school counselors can have in helping students achieve school success and plan for a career.
