APS budget is unacceptable

[Anonymous]

Why TF does the county not prioritize our schools? Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unpopular opinion how to save money: Do residency checks, and the whole enrollment address verification annually. Unenroll, rinse repeat. Cut all the live translators at every single event and meeting unless they are unpaid volunteers. Preschoolers don’t need iPads, neither do young elementary students. Introduce in 4th or 5th grade. Cut the option programs with the lowest interest and enrollment. Like the 24 high school kids in dual immersion. Cut the bloated administrative apparatus. We do not need 50 DEI divisions at every school *and* at Syphax. Instead invest in teachers salaries, including SPED teachers, counselors, social workers. Hold firms who build for APS accountable, their proposals are far too expensive and they don’t get enough competition or scrutiny. It’s like the million dollar bus stop every time.

Written like someone who knows just enough without really knowing what they're talking about.

Residency checks for everyone every year would be too costly. They have already stepped up residency verification and that's made a significant difference at the individual school level where it's been most problematic.

Cut all the translators?! Seriously? Obviously you don't give a crap about other people being able to be engaged if they don't speak or understand fluent English. Doesn't affect you, so not important - got it.

You really believe there are only 24 students in the immersion program at Wakefield?

They are cutting administration - reorganizing central office and eliminating 20 positions. And I think you're exaggerating about 50 DEI positions at every school. Though they really should eliminate DEI at Syphax since they aren't doing anything.

Major construction projects come from bonds, not the regular operating budget. And our aging facilities need significant maintenance and upgrades.

Teachers are getting a raise, whether it's "enough" or not. It's what they can do with the limited budget.

But absolutely YES to eliminating much of the technology. Better for budget, better for actual teaching and learning. But first time school has to go "online," everyone will be outraged that each student doesn't have a device.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why TF does the county not prioritize our schools? Ridiculous.

cynical take - County prioritizes young renters, because they provide more tax revenue on a per sq ft basis (density gives more $$$) and they also use less services (schools), so the County saves $$ there. and they pay less attention to local politics since they're more itinerant, and vote D when they do, maintaining the county board's power. whenever you hear a CB member complain about giving *too much* money to APS, remember this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why TF does the county not prioritize our schools? Ridiculous.

cynical take - County prioritizes young renters, because they provide more tax revenue on a per sq ft basis (density gives more $$$) and they also use less services (schools), so the County saves $$ there. and they pay less attention to local politics since they're more itinerant, and vote D when they do, maintaining the county board's power. whenever you hear a CB member complain about giving *too much* money to APS, remember this

Also keep in mind only 20% of Arlington households have school-aged children, and way too few of you take the time to get involved, vote in the Dem caucus or show up at the polls. People don’t pay attention before they have kids, and after they have kids their priorities shift. Start engaging your neighbors with infants and toddlers and get them to care now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on *which* Syphax positions are cut. For instance, occupational therapists are technically “Syphax positions,” even though the OTs work in schools. So it depends…

Duran’s presentation specifies the positions that are proposed to be eliminated. They don’t appear to be student facing positions.

Most Syphax positions are not student facing. Most are just there to give schools more to do. 19 positions cut will have zero effect on schools.

More positions need cut. Too much bloat at Syphax!
They should also go back to their old leave schedule- no more FREE leave for Syphax folks!

They absolutely need to fix the leave for Syphax. It's just bonkers.

[Anonymous]

Any APS employee who works with students directly could easily identify 20 million of additional savings from Syphax cuts. There is so much redundancy in its upper levels of management.

FCPS giving a 6% COLA while APS does 1% is why we have hemorrhaged talent in the last 15 years.

[Anonymous]

I bet that if these weren't the first two goals in APS's strategic plan, teachers would be slightly less likely to mind the COL increase:

~ Disproportionally in suspension rates by race/ethnicity, students identified with a disability, and English Learners will be annually reduced and overall suspensions will not increase. (PO-SWB-1)

~ By 2024, at least 80% of students with disabilities will spend 80% or more of their school day in a general education setting. (PO-SWB-2)

Teachers are not only underpaid, but general ed teachers also are responsible for meeting the needs of many special education kids. They have limited recourse for poor behavior since APS wants low suspension numbers. APS's retention strategy seems to be hoping teachers will keep going out of the goodness of their hearts.

[Anonymous]

Most teachers live in Fairfax County, so the 1% raise just gives them another reason to FCPS. Shorten your commute and get a 6% raise? No brainer. Going to lose a lot of teachers going into the ‘24-‘25 school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bet that if these weren't the first two goals in APS's strategic plan, teachers would be slightly less likely to mind the COL increase:

~ Disproportionally in suspension rates by race/ethnicity, students identified with a disability, and English Learners will be annually reduced and overall suspensions will not increase. (PO-SWB-1)

~ By 2024, at least 80% of students with disabilities will spend 80% or more of their school day in a general education setting. (PO-SWB-2)

Teachers are not only underpaid, but general ed teachers also are responsible for meeting the needs of many special education kids. They have limited recourse for poor behavior since APS wants low suspension numbers. APS's retention strategy seems to be hoping teachers will keep going out of the goodness of their hearts.

A student can be 100% in a general Ed setting and still receive support and services from special Ed teachers. And I sincerely hope the people educating our children aren’t aiming for MORE suspensions of children with disabilities and minorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bet that if these weren't the first two goals in APS's strategic plan, teachers would be slightly less likely to mind the COL increase:

~ Disproportionally in suspension rates by race/ethnicity, students identified with a disability, and English Learners will be annually reduced and overall suspensions will not increase. (PO-SWB-1)

~ By 2024, at least 80% of students with disabilities will spend 80% or more of their school day in a general education setting. (PO-SWB-2)

Teachers are not only underpaid, but general ed teachers also are responsible for meeting the needs of many special education kids. They have limited recourse for poor behavior since APS wants low suspension numbers. APS's retention strategy seems to be hoping teachers will keep going out of the goodness of their hearts.

Mainstreaming sped students is largely misguided. Many parents I know, self included, understand that our kids will learn better in a small group. We have to encourage pull outs in IEP meetings and admins are quick to cut it. I think that was because, back in the day, schools were hiding kids with physical disabilities and warehousing others. There's no 1 size fits all but agree. My kid is in a 1/2 sped 1/2 typical kid class and it's great for mine; not sure about yours. Fortunately, there are no behavioral issues in this class. Just learning issues and mild ASD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any APS employee who works with students directly could easily identify 20 million of additional savings from Syphax cuts. There is so much redundancy in its upper levels of management.

FCPS giving a 6% COLA while APS does 1% is why we have hemorrhaged talent in the last 15 years.

FCPS asked for 6% but no chance they will get it. They asked for the biggest increase ever (or at least in many years) and did no cutting of expenses. At least Arlington made cuts. FCPS just asked for more when they were told there wasn’t money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bet that if these weren't the first two goals in APS's strategic plan, teachers would be slightly less likely to mind the COL increase:

~ Disproportionally in suspension rates by race/ethnicity, students identified with a disability, and English Learners will be annually reduced and overall suspensions will not increase. (PO-SWB-1)

~ By 2024, at least 80% of students with disabilities will spend 80% or more of their school day in a general education setting. (PO-SWB-2)

Teachers are not only underpaid, but general ed teachers also are responsible for meeting the needs of many special education kids. They have limited recourse for poor behavior since APS wants low suspension numbers. APS's retention strategy seems to be hoping teachers will keep going out of the goodness of their hearts.

A student can be 100% in a general Ed setting and still receive support and services from special Ed teachers. And I sincerely hope the people educating our children aren’t aiming for MORE suspensions of children with disabilities and minorities.

I've been in classrooms where they are receiving "support" from special ed teachers and it's useless. They can really only walk around and make sure the kids are on task, maybe sometimes work with them in smaller groups but it's general education content which often isn't accessible to them anyway. A lot of teachers, both special ed and general ed, hate this. They want *appropriate* support tailored to the individual, not a presumption of general ed ordered from on high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bet that if these weren't the first two goals in APS's strategic plan, teachers would be slightly less likely to mind the COL increase:

~ Disproportionally in suspension rates by race/ethnicity, students identified with a disability, and English Learners will be annually reduced and overall suspensions will not increase. (PO-SWB-1)

~ By 2024, at least 80% of students with disabilities will spend 80% or more of their school day in a general education setting. (PO-SWB-2)

Teachers are not only underpaid, but general ed teachers also are responsible for meeting the needs of many special education kids. They have limited recourse for poor behavior since APS wants low suspension numbers. APS's retention strategy seems to be hoping teachers will keep going out of the goodness of their hearts.

A student can be 100% in a general Ed setting and still receive support and services from special Ed teachers. And I sincerely hope the people educating our children aren’t aiming for MORE suspensions of children with disabilities and minorities.

I've been in classrooms where they are receiving "support" from special ed teachers and it's useless. They can really only walk around and make sure the kids are on task, maybe sometimes work with them in smaller groups but it's general education content which often isn't accessible to them anyway. A lot of teachers, both special ed and general ed, hate this. They want *appropriate* support tailored to the individual, not a presumption of general ed ordered from on high.

Oh, and as for the suspensions, I want more suspensions all around. I don't care what category they are in, I want teachers to feel safe and supported instead of making them stay in a class where they have to manage students who are swearing at them and throwing stuff at them. And remember that all students, including a lot of children who are POC and/or have disabilities, suffer when a teacher is spending most of their time and energy managing one or two students who shouldn't be in the class in the first place. In fact it's probably those populations who suffer the most because of the intense push for all students to remain in the classroom as much as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bet that if these weren't the first two goals in APS's strategic plan, teachers would be slightly less likely to mind the COL increase:

~ Disproportionally in suspension rates by race/ethnicity, students identified with a disability, and English Learners will be annually reduced and overall suspensions will not increase. (PO-SWB-1)

~ By 2024, at least 80% of students with disabilities will spend 80% or more of their school day in a general education setting. (PO-SWB-2)

Teachers are not only underpaid, but general ed teachers also are responsible for meeting the needs of many special education kids. They have limited recourse for poor behavior since APS wants low suspension numbers. APS's retention strategy seems to be hoping teachers will keep going out of the goodness of their hearts.

Mainstreaming sped students is largely misguided. Many parents I know, self included, understand that our kids will learn better in a small group. We have to encourage pull outs in IEP meetings and admins are quick to cut it. I think that was because, back in the day, schools were hiding kids with physical disabilities and warehousing others. There's no 1 size fits all but agree. My kid is in a 1/2 sped 1/2 typical kid class and it's great for mine; not sure about yours. Fortunately, there are no behavioral issues in this class. Just learning issues and mild ASD.

Yes, that is absolutely true, and I think heightened scrutiny of the policies and procedures used to separate SPED kids from the general population was absolutely warranted. My kid is in one SPED class and it's working great. And I have been a long-term substitute in SPED classes full of kids with behavioral intervention plans and it's so easy because there are only eight kids. Behavior never gets out of control and it's actually possible to help all students understand the content. They are all in general ed classes too and that is great for most of them, but for the kids with more severe learning disabilities it's just silly to expect that to work out. Totally agree it's not a one-size-fits all thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any APS employee who works with students directly could easily identify 20 million of additional savings from Syphax cuts. There is so much redundancy in its upper levels of management.

FCPS giving a 6% COLA while APS does 1% is why we have hemorrhaged talent in the last 15 years.

FCPS asked for 6% but no chance they will get it. They asked for the biggest increase ever (or at least in many years) and did no cutting of expenses. At least Arlington made cuts. FCPS just asked for more when they were told there wasn’t money.

The reason they didn’t cut from central office is because they operate with the bare minimum. Their central office is not bloated with added jobs. How many positions has Duran added during his tenure? A lot. Have they made a difference in student outcomes? Hardly. It’s the teachers who make a difference and many of us are about to jump ship.