BOE reconsidering the Virtual Academy, Leader in Me, and Innovative School Year Calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think we should keep VA open but also use it for the kids who are too disruptive/violent to be around other kids. Instead of shuffling them to other physical schools put them in VA where they cannot physically touch anyone. If they are disruptive on screen, the teacher can mute them or turn their camera off.
Short of reopening the school for violent students, this seems to me to be a very good option for offering education to students who cannot be trusted to be around others safely.

100%. They don't have to suspend kids but kids should have to be able to be a productive member of the community in order to attend a brick and mortar school. I would LOVE this. I don't care if it impacts their parents either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public hearing Tuesday evening

https://calendar.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/20240220%20Oper%20Bdgt%20Hearing.pdf

My kids loved leader in me! It was so good!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public hearing Tuesday evening

https://calendar.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/20240220%20Oper%20Bdgt%20Hearing.pdf

My kids loved leader in me! It was so good!!!

Hahahahahahahahahaha

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its amazing what they can waste money on and then choose to get rid of the VA that benefits some students.

There are very few students left in virtual. It would be far more efficient to have a state-wide virtual option.

+1. But the VA proponents always come up with 100 reasons why that isn't a good idea.

We do not have an educational services at the state level so, if they get rid of it, there will be no virtual program. Plenty of other things to cut, starting with the kid museum. Why is mcps funding nonprofits.

Maybe if more parents were advocating for it, they would.

The state is not in the education business. the county is. No one is going to advocate it for the state level but you. So, please go ahead.

Plenty of states offer virtual programs at the state level. If you want to keep putting all your eggs in the MCPS basket, go ahead, maybe your kids are close to graduating and it doesn't matter for you. But for the sake of younger kids, if you were truly invested in a long-term virtual program I would not depend on MCPS to provide it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:From what I recall the virtual academy services about 1,800 students. That is pretty large, given there are schools with just three hundred or less in the district. The problem is that federal funds have essentially run out. I would prefer that it continue, as there are students who clearly thrive there.

Beyond that I don't think that the system would actually benefit from the virtual academy staff coming back, in-person. Some, because of health reasons, can't. They would probably quit or retire. Others may be problematic, as there are one or two who were transferred there after being troublesome in their own schools. (Harassment of staff comes to mind.)

And then there is the issue of redistributing students, which might push class capacity in some schools. So there are a lot of factors to consider.

No, virtual academy is less than 900 students, with enrollment dropping rapidly. Spread across all grades and schools, that's miniscule. VA students would simply get absorbed back into their home schools. The marginal cost of bringing these students back into schools is almost nothing. Getting rid of VA would save a ton of money.

Or, get rid of other programs and use the real student funding to pay for the va vs giving it to the home schools that are not providing anything to the students.

So, what programs do you want to get rid of that collectively cost the same amount as VA?

We can cut central office staff, stop finding nonprofits that don’t benefit students, like the kid museum. The kid museum gets mil,ions and dies very little for mcps kids. They charge for field trips. https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OMB/Resources/Files/omb/pdfs/fy23/ciprec/P721903.pdf

I'd like to see the kid museum funding reduced and give the teachers money for supplies. Why are we being asked to donate paper? Why can't MCPS provide this?!

[Anonymous]

I’m like to see Kid museum go away and funding be provided to schools for field trips/assemblies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we should keep VA open but also use it for the kids who are too disruptive/violent to be around other kids. Instead of shuffling them to other physical schools put them in VA where they cannot physically touch anyone. If they are disruptive on screen, the teacher can mute them or turn their camera off.
Short of reopening the school for violent students, this seems to me to be a very good option for offering education to students who cannot be trusted to be around others safely.

100%. They don't have to suspend kids but kids should have to be able to be a productive member of the community in order to attend a brick and mortar school. I would LOVE this. I don't care if it impacts their parents either.

Makes a lot of sense, I agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I recall the virtual academy services about 1,800 students. That is pretty large, given there are schools with just three hundred or less in the district. The problem is that federal funds have essentially run out. I would prefer that it continue, as there are students who clearly thrive there.

Beyond that I don't think that the system would actually benefit from the virtual academy staff coming back, in-person. Some, because of health reasons, can't. They would probably quit or retire. Others may be problematic, as there are one or two who were transferred there after being troublesome in their own schools. (Harassment of staff comes to mind.)

And then there is the issue of redistributing students, which might push class capacity in some schools. So there are a lot of factors to consider.

No, virtual academy is less than 900 students, with enrollment dropping rapidly. Spread across all grades and schools, that's miniscule. VA students would simply get absorbed back into their home schools. The marginal cost of bringing these students back into schools is almost nothing. Getting rid of VA would save a ton of money.

Or, get rid of other programs and use the real student funding to pay for the va vs giving it to the home schools that are not providing anything to the students.

So, what programs do you want to get rid of that collectively cost the same amount as VA?

We can cut central office staff, stop finding nonprofits that don’t benefit students, like the kid museum. The kid museum gets mil,ions and dies very little for mcps kids. They charge for field trips. https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OMB/Resources/Files/omb/pdfs/fy23/ciprec/P721903.pdf

I'd like to see the kid museum funding reduced and give the teachers money for supplies. Why are we being asked to donate paper? Why can't MCPS provide this?!

Dumb question and I don’t have time to search- how much exactly is MCPS giving to the kids museum annually?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m like to see Kid museum go away and funding be provided to schools for field trips/assemblies.

They could do a lot of field trips and assemblies for that much. I'm not a fan of field trips or assemblies depending on what they are but I'd settle for schools having paper, copiers, ink, basic school supplies, and things like toilet paper and paper towels. There is no excuse for not having basics and teachers or parents having to supply them. Or go back to free lunches for everyone. Lots of better ways to spend the money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we should keep VA open but also use it for the kids who are too disruptive/violent to be around other kids. Instead of shuffling them to other physical schools put them in VA where they cannot physically touch anyone. If they are disruptive on screen, the teacher can mute them or turn their camera off.
Short of reopening the school for violent students, this seems to me to be a very good option for offering education to students who cannot be trusted to be around others safely.

100%. They don't have to suspend kids but kids should have to be able to be a productive member of the community in order to attend a brick and mortar school. I would LOVE this. I don't care if it impacts their parents either.

It wouldn't work because you need involved parents and many of those kids act up either due to mental health or they are allowed at home as there are no consequences at home or at school. Those kids need to go to a special school for behavior problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its amazing what they can waste money on and then choose to get rid of the VA that benefits some students.

There are very few students left in virtual. It would be far more efficient to have a state-wide virtual option.

+1. But the VA proponents always come up with 100 reasons why that isn't a good idea.

We do not have an educational services at the state level so, if they get rid of it, there will be no virtual program. Plenty of other things to cut, starting with the kid museum. Why is mcps funding nonprofits.

Maybe if more parents were advocating for it, they would.

The state is not in the education business. the county is. No one is going to advocate it for the state level but you. So, please go ahead.

Plenty of states offer virtual programs at the state level. If you want to keep putting all your eggs in the MCPS basket, go ahead, maybe your kids are close to graduating and it doesn't matter for you. But for the sake of younger kids, if you were truly invested in a long-term virtual program I would not depend on MCPS to provide it.

That's fine what other states do but their school setup is much different than ours so it's a moot point. I don't expect anything from MCPS. The problem is there isn't a private equivalent except for a few programs that are super competitive like Stanford, and those aren't MCPS-approved for graduation. The programs they have for virtual are homeschooling programs, which is fine for younger kids but not for kids in HS with higher-level courses. I could easily homeschool for elementary but not for MS or HS. And, Stanford is really expensive, so not an option for us.

If you don't like virtual, fine, don't send your kids but why block other families from using it if it works for their families?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait they are thinking of bringing Leader in Me back?!

No, they're thinking of getting rid of it altogether. (Some schools still have it.)

Thank God.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m like to see Kid museum go away and funding be provided to schools for field trips/assemblies.

The students at my school who get to go to Kid Museum would never get a comparable experience otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its amazing what they can waste money on and then choose to get rid of the VA that benefits some students.

There are very few students left in virtual. It would be far more efficient to have a state-wide virtual option.

+1. But the VA proponents always come up with 100 reasons why that isn't a good idea.

We do not have an educational services at the state level so, if they get rid of it, there will be no virtual program. Plenty of other things to cut, starting with the kid museum. Why is mcps funding nonprofits.

Maybe if more parents were advocating for it, they would.

The state is not in the education business. the county is. No one is going to advocate it for the state level but you. So, please go ahead.

Plenty of states offer virtual programs at the state level. If you want to keep putting all your eggs in the MCPS basket, go ahead, maybe your kids are close to graduating and it doesn't matter for you. But for the sake of younger kids, if you were truly invested in a long-term virtual program I would not depend on MCPS to provide it.

That's fine what other states do but their school setup is much different than ours so it's a moot point. I don't expect anything from MCPS. The problem is there isn't a private equivalent except for a few programs that are super competitive like Stanford, and those aren't MCPS-approved for graduation. The programs they have for virtual are homeschooling programs, which is fine for younger kids but not for kids in HS with higher-level courses. I could easily homeschool for elementary but not for MS or HS. And, Stanford is really expensive, so not an option for us.

If you don't like virtual, fine, don't send your kids but why block other families from using it if it works for their families?

Not PP but I wonder if MCPS would expand what it would approve for graduation if they did away with the county VA? My cousin’s DC in Florida was literally taking AP classes online when undergoing cancel treatments, there must be more options out there than what MCPS accepts right now.

+1 to getting rid of kid museum funding! What a waste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m like to see Kid museum go away and funding be provided to schools for field trips/assemblies.

The students at my school who get to go to Kid Museum would never get a comparable experience otherwise.

Have you been there? It’s fine, but frankly I don’t think MCPS is justified spending on a luxury item when it can’t afford cannot afford to provide the basics (e.g., supplies).