This September brings some unique and exciting opportunities to celebrate our community. More information about three events happening at Burgundy is below. Each is free to attend, but we ask you to register, so we can plan accordingly. We hope to see you at all the festivities!

Sunday, September 9: Back to Burgundy BBQ

Enjoy good food and good company as we celebrate the new school year at the ever-popular annual Back to Burgundy BBQ on Sunday, September 9, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on the Blacktop (rain location: Gym). This is a great opportunity to enjoy barbeque from Famous Dave's (vegetarian options available) and to get to know other Burgundy families. Please click here to let us know you're coming, so we can guarantee that there will be plenty of great food to go around! Students, siblings, and parents or guardians are invited.

Thursday, September 13: Hands Around the Library Book Launch

DC Authors Karen Leggett Abouraya and Susan L. Roth will return to Burgundy to celebrate their latest book, Hands Around the Library. Burgundy has been involved in this book since 2011, when Susan facilitated a Skype session between some of our 2/3 students and older students at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt. Susan and Karen had intended to include excerpts from this Skype exchange in the book to demonstrate how this modern library continued to connect different cultures and inspire young scholars, just as the ancient library had done. Since 2011, the events of the Egyptian revolution changed the shape of the story, which now demonstrates how a diverse group of protestors joined hands to save the library during a time of turmoil. On the morning of September 13, Karen and Susan will lead Burgundy students through various activities*, and from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m., the greater community is invited to the Loft to celebrate the book launch. Guests will view the original illustrations from the book and listen to celebratory music performed by Burgundy students before hearing the authors speak about the book's creation and taking home signed copies of the book (we will share information in the coming weeks about pre-ordering a book). Click here for more information about the book and event, and click here to register to attend the book launch party.

*We are looking for parent volunteers to help manage the daytime activities, primarily supervising arts and crafts as our students create their own versions of the book's artwork. Please email Jen Pusatere at jenp@burgundyfarm.org, if you are able to help.

Saturday, September 29: BCWS 50th Anniversary Celebration

Join us in the Loft for food and fun as we honor 50 years of summer camp with the Burgundy Center for Wildlife Studies. This is a rare opportunity for non-campers to experience and celebrate the magic of BCWS camp without leaving home. Camp founders, Cooper's Cove landowners and community members, and staff and campers -- past and present -- are invited to reunite and share memories, curating a "pop-up museum" to showcase BCWS artifacts and the stories that accompany them. Please click here to register by Friday, September 21.

It's hard to believe, but our annual Fall Fair will be here before we know it! This annual family-friendly event attracts current families, prospective families, alumni families and neighbors, and it is a fun, festive way to celebrate our community while also raising money for financial aid. There is food, live music, games and prizes, and so much more. The Fall Fair is one of the oldest community activities at the school, and new parents find that volunteering and attending this event is a great way to meet other parents and provides a wonderful opportunity to become more actively involved in the school community. You'll hear more information about the Fall Fair in the coming weeks from your room parents and Constant Comment, including specific attractions and volunteer opportunities; but what do you need to know now?

• First, save the date: Saturday, October 13, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Second, start saving supplies: as you clean out closets, set aside any books or clothing (child and adult sizes) that you can donate to the Book Sale, Kid's Closet or Scarecrow making.
• Last, book your bands! Our community is talented, and we encourage students, alumni, parents, faculty, staff and administrators to showcase their bands at the Fall Fair. If you're interested, please email Cathy Manley (cathym@burgundyfarm.org) to inquire about scheduling. Please know that student musicians will have priority in the booking process.

If you have any other immediate questions about the Fall Fair, please email Fall Fair Coordinator Allison Niedbala (allisonn@burgundyfarm.org).

Summers at Burgundy are busy and productive. Our staff and administrators use "quieter" summer months to reflect on work of the past year, fine-tune our approaches and resources, and of course, prepare for another exciting school year. Some of the highlights of this summer's work include:

This summer the Burgundy faculty and staff migrated to Google Apps for email, and Middle School students will also start using Google Apps for email this school year.  The main reasons for making the switch were: a) that Google is committed to making constant improvements and upgrades to its email system and all of its "apps," and b) that Google Apps is integrated with other systems that we use, including Haiku, EasyBib (a research, bibliography and writing tool), and the very useful apps such as Google Calendar and Google Docs (now Google Drive), which creates better opportunities to share and exchange student work in the classroom.  Google Apps for Education is provided free to schools and is being adopted by a growing number of schools and universities. This change should be largely transparent to parents.

As well, we began the process of transitioning our website to a new platform that will allow us greater flexibility in managing our website. For about seven years, we have operated with Silverpoint SchoolSuite, and we are excited to continue our relationship with Silverpoint as we upgrade to their Parchment system. Our "new" site will launch in the middle of September, though there will be no visible changes on the site immediately upon the launch. The changes are all "behind-the-scenes" and will allow Burgundy to manage almost all aspects of the website without support - or restraints - from an outside company. We look forward to a long-term process of improving the website's information and functionality with this new system.

Community Resources Page

On the bottom of the Burgundy website, there is a link to "Parent Resources."  If you hover your mouse over that link, you will see other links, including "Community Resources." This is a password-protected page that contains a variety of forms, schedules and other information that is useful to parents. This year the login to access that page is:
username: bfcds
password: 66years

Guest Access to Burgundy's Wireless Network
If you come on the Burgundy campus with a computer and need access to the Internet, you can use our guest account. When you open a browser, you will see a login screen:
username: guest
password: barnyard   

To all new families, welcome to the Burgundy community!  Periodically, in Constant Comment, there will be updates from the Board of Trustees and the work that we help to facilitate on behalf of the School.  Here are a few updates:

Returning families are familiar that we are planning a phased Campus Renewal Initiative, or "CRI."  As our Head of School Jeff often says, "It is our campus itself that is our most important classroom." The Phase I is broken down into three areas needing major improvements:  the entryway (our gateway to Burgundy), outdoor learning and play (our center campus playground and water management there and above our Early Childhood building), and the pond (an outdoor learning laboratory).  Much of the major work for Phase I will be reconfiguring and reimagining the hillside upon which much of the center of campus is built (the hillside below 1st Grade and around the Early Childhood playground). [Note: for more detailed information on Phase I, see the archived 1/27/12, 2/3/12, 2/10/12, and 2/24/12 issues of Constant Comment].  

We had hoped at one time to break ground and have the majority of the work completed this summer. However, major improvements require applying for "special permission" and an amendment to our "Special Exception," which allows us to operate as a school in a residential neighborhood. (The fact that the school was here before most of the neighborhood does not mitigate the fact that the permitting process is complex and lengthy.)

Working closely with Fairfax County Supervisor Jeff McKay, Burgundy was granted an expedited permit approval process.  Unfortunately, we are still in the permit approval process.  We are optimistic that we will soon get the "green light" to move forward.  As soon as we are approved, we plan to move ahead swiftly.  We of course will continue to update you on the progress and the impact construction will have.  I can assure you that a team has been meeting this summer to be as well prepared as we can be.  

As I said a few paragraphs ago, this is a phased Campus Renewal effort.  Phase II addresses the Loft and the Blacktop.  This summer members of the Buildings and Grounds committee (which includes parents, faculty and administrators) interviewed architectural firms for Phase II.  The committee selected Turner Brooks.  We all felt very comfortable and excited by this choice. Turner and his team really understand Burgundy and our culture, and they will bring a high level of creativity, care and site sensitivity to our project.  In addition, by happy coincidence, Turner has a connection to Burgundy: his two nieces, Anna and Clara Brooks are current students!  As there are developments in Phase I and Phase II, we will keep the Burgundy community updated.

In other Board news, the Board has elected Nancy Piper as Chair of the Committee on Trustees and Jarrett Arp as Chair of the Officer Nominating Committee.  Also, alumni parent and Board Secretary Pat Rogers has transitioned off of the Executive Committee, and the Board has elected Kathy Graber as Secretary.  Pat has been a consistent and thoughtful leader of the Burgundy community since her two oldest children arrived in 1984.  She has served as our Secretary and a member of the Executive Committee since June of 2010.  We are fortunate that Pat will remain on the Board as a member-at-large for the remainder of her term.  Kathy has served on the Board since June 2011 and prior to this served as a member of the Campaign Planning Task Force. Most recently she has demonstrated her leadership by serving as Chair of the Campus Renewal Financing Workgroup.  In addition, Wayne Jonas has resigned his seat on the Board to avoid a conflict of interest. As was announced in this issue of Constant Comment, Emily Jonas (Wayne's daughter) is working at Burgundy.  We are all excited to have Emily working at Burgundy, and we are sad to see Wayne leave the Board; but we are pleased to know that Wayne will continue to serve Burgundy in various ways. 

Should you have questions about any of the Board's work or be interested in serving on the Board or a Board committee, please contact Director of Advancement, Jen Pusatere, at jenp@burgundyfarm.org or me at smithsloan@aol.com. 

Holly Sloan

President, Board of Trustees

Under construction since February 2008, the Telegraph Road Interchange Project is the final major roadway component of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project. Construction is on schedule for substantial completion by fall of 2012 and contract completion in June 2013. In the coming months, local motorists can anticipate the following large-scale events:

• Inner Loop and Outer Loop THRU and LOCAL lanes will be completed and in their final configuration between U.S. Route 1 and west of Telegraph Road
• Final marking of newly paved areas
• Tree planting along all of the roadways
• Completion of all lanes of Telegraph Road south of the Beltway

We will forward all traffic alert emails we receive to parents.