PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oof, if I were a local business owner I’d be campaigning to keep the program. On Fridays when it doesn’t happen the local shopping centers are mobbed with middle schoolers behaving poorly, to the point cops have been called many times.

12-14 year olds cannot get out at 2:15 and be on their own for 3-5 hours. They will find trouble.

If they’re pushing middle schoolers to be the late start/end schools, I’m okay with it.

Why are today’s 12-15yo kids less capable of being allowed to get out at 2:30 than GenX at the same age? And don’t even start with the nonsense that moms were home. We were the latchkey kids.

Gen X latchkey here. It was a terrible experience which I wouldn’t recommend for any MS child.

+1 I want a better life for my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this a million times. Our taxes keep going up year after year. What the hell are we paying for? Go through this budget line by line.

Oh now I see there is a COVID memorial planned? Does anyone know what part of the budget this is planned for? For f$%ks sake.

[Anonymous]

We avoid having our kids stay after school for any clubs because the late bus system is so insanely unreliable. The buses are “supposed to” pick up at 4:30, but my child never left her MS on a late before 5:15pm. They tend to pack them all on one bus, therefore the bus driver has an insanely huge area to drop kids off. One time my child was on the bus for OVER two hours! My husband had to track down the bus in a neighborhood and get her off because she was about to pee herself.
IMO, all middle school after school activities should require the child having their own transportation home. Adding late buses to this area at rush hour makes no sense. I get that it’s convenient for working parents to have your kid use bus, but honestly any working parent should be able to pick up their kid at 4:30/5. If they can’t, the child should not be permitted stay for an after school activity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We avoid having our kids stay after school for any clubs because the late bus system is so insanely unreliable. The buses are “supposed to” pick up at 4:30, but my child never left her MS on a late before 5:15pm. They tend to pack them all on one bus, therefore the bus driver has an insanely huge area to drop kids off. One time my child was on the bus for OVER two hours! My husband had to track down the bus in a neighborhood and get her off because she was about to pee herself.
IMO, all middle school after school activities should require the child having their own transportation home. Adding late buses to this area at rush hour makes no sense. I get that it’s convenient for working parents to have your kid use bus, but honestly any working parent should be able to pick up their kid at 4:30/5. If they can’t, the child should not be permitted stay for an after school activity.

+1 I'm 100% ok picking my kid up at 4:30, and I think a lot of parents could make that work if they needed to. The programs should stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We avoid having our kids stay after school for any clubs because the late bus system is so insanely unreliable. The buses are “supposed to” pick up at 4:30, but my child never left her MS on a late before 5:15pm. They tend to pack them all on one bus, therefore the bus driver has an insanely huge area to drop kids off. One time my child was on the bus for OVER two hours! My husband had to track down the bus in a neighborhood and get her off because she was about to pee herself.
IMO, all middle school after school activities should require the child having their own transportation home. Adding late buses to this area at rush hour makes no sense. I get that it’s convenient for working parents to have your kid use bus, but honestly any working parent should be able to pick up their kid at 4:30/5. If they can’t, the child should not be permitted stay for an after school activity.

+1 I'm 100% ok picking my kid up at 4:30, and I think a lot of parents could make that work if they needed to. The programs should stay.

Mine never took the late bus. But, I suspect we must provide it legally because of One Fairfax/Equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We avoid having our kids stay after school for any clubs because the late bus system is so insanely unreliable. The buses are “supposed to” pick up at 4:30, but my child never left her MS on a late before 5:15pm. They tend to pack them all on one bus, therefore the bus driver has an insanely huge area to drop kids off. One time my child was on the bus for OVER two hours! My husband had to track down the bus in a neighborhood and get her off because she was about to pee herself.
IMO, all middle school after school activities should require the child having their own transportation home. Adding late buses to this area at rush hour makes no sense. I get that it’s convenient for working parents to have your kid use bus, but honestly any working parent should be able to pick up their kid at 4:30/5. If they can’t, the child should not be permitted stay for an after school activity.

+1 I'm 100% ok picking my kid up at 4:30, and I think a lot of parents could make that work if they needed to. The programs should stay.

Mine never took the late bus. But, I suspect we must provide it legally because of One Fairfax/Equity.

You are gross.

[Anonymous]

I've been going through the budget and honestly, I don't see a COVID memorial. I see a lot of cuts in a lot of places, though, even though our taxes are going to rise almost 5%. The middle school programs is one of the biggest cuts. It just sucks to live here right now.

[Anonymous]

What?!?! Who is home from work and able to pick up their kid by 4:30?!?! Whoever wrote this has never commuted and clearly isn’t living in the real world. Fine for you to say there shouldn’t be late busses, but you’re in dreamland if you think it’s still equitable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We avoid having our kids stay after school for any clubs because the late bus system is so insanely unreliable. The buses are “supposed to” pick up at 4:30, but my child never left her MS on a late before 5:15pm. They tend to pack them all on one bus, therefore the bus driver has an insanely huge area to drop kids off. One time my child was on the bus for OVER two hours! My husband had to track down the bus in a neighborhood and get her off because she was about to pee herself.
IMO, all middle school after school activities should require the child having their own transportation home. Adding late buses to this area at rush hour makes no sense. I get that it’s convenient for working parents to have your kid use bus, but honestly any working parent should be able to pick up their kid at 4:30/5. If they can’t, the child should not be permitted stay for an after school activity.

+1 I'm 100% ok picking my kid up at 4:30, and I think a lot of parents could make that work if they needed to. The programs should stay.

Mine never took the late bus. But, I suspect we must provide it legally because of One Fairfax/Equity.

[Anonymous]

They should at least keep one sport each season. Like track, (with wheelchair racing built in). Just something that functions as childcare for needy families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What?!?! Who is home from work and able to pick up their kid by 4:30?!?! Whoever wrote this has never commuted and clearly isn’t living in the real world. Fine for you to say there shouldn’t be late busses, but you’re in dreamland if you think it’s still equitable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We avoid having our kids stay after school for any clubs because the late bus system is so insanely unreliable. The buses are “supposed to” pick up at 4:30, but my child never left her MS on a late before 5:15pm. They tend to pack them all on one bus, therefore the bus driver has an insanely huge area to drop kids off. One time my child was on the bus for OVER two hours! My husband had to track down the bus in a neighborhood and get her off because she was about to pee herself.
IMO, all middle school after school activities should require the child having their own transportation home. Adding late buses to this area at rush hour makes no sense. I get that it’s convenient for working parents to have your kid use bus, but honestly any working parent should be able to pick up their kid at 4:30/5. If they can’t, the child should not be permitted stay for an after school activity.

+1 I'm 100% ok picking my kid up at 4:30, and I think a lot of parents could make that work if they needed to. The programs should stay.

Mine never took the late bus. But, I suspect we must provide it legally because of One Fairfax/Equity.

At what point do we concede that we can't afford equity? This FY26 budget is bleak, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe we should take another look at the equity office. It's $6M in salaries alone. That's enough to pay for middle school programs and some leftover for other needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree about the busses. For one thing, if you choose to send your child to Thomas Jefferson, you should be responsible for getting your child to and from. There is no reason to dedicate busses all over the county to transport kids to that school. It's incredibly inefficient.

You really don’t want the additional cars on the road to get kids to/from TJ, especially with return to work. The county uses bus depots for TJ. A local site where parents are responsible for getting the kids to for pickup/drop off. Sites like parks, elem schools, etc. The buses are well used and sometimes there haven’t even been enough seats for all the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oof, if I were a local business owner I’d be campaigning to keep the program. On Fridays when it doesn’t happen the local shopping centers are mobbed with middle schoolers behaving poorly, to the point cops have been called many times.

12-14 year olds cannot get out at 2:15 and be on their own for 3-5 hours. They will find trouble.

If they’re pushing middle schoolers to be the late start/end schools, I’m okay with it.

Why are today’s 12-15yo kids less capable of being allowed to get out at 2:30 than GenX at the same age? And don’t even start with the nonsense that moms were home. We were the latchkey kids.

Gen X latchkey here. It was a terrible experience which I wouldn’t recommend for any MS child.

+1 I want a better life for my kid.

What does that even mean?

[Anonymous]

OP, Fairfax County is NOT proposing to cut all after school programs at middle schools. They're proposing to cut after school programs designed specifically for at-risk youth.

https://www.fcps.edu/activities/middle-school-student-activities

Check your facts. The budget proposal states that this program would be eliminated precisely because schools are offering more alternatives. Jesus, this entire thread is disinformation.

This reduction eliminates the Middle School AfterSchool (MSAS) program at middle schools throughout the County. MSAS program is designed to meet student needs for a safe, supervised learning environment after the regular school day. The program is funded by NCS and administered by the Fairfax County Public Schools. Programming is provided five days week and runs from the end of day school bell until 4:30pm. Late bus transportation is provided by FCPS four days per week. FCPS has been expanding its offering of after-school programs, including clubs, activities and school sports, outside of MSAS program that could offer viable alternatives for teens to participate in structured and safe activities. This reduction also includes eliminating the funding provided for expanded parent liaison hours as well as funding supporting the MentorWorks initiative. FCPS will need to identify resources if they wish to continue the MSAS program or these other initiatives in the current form.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, Fairfax County is NOT proposing to cut all after school programs at middle schools. They're proposing to cut after school programs designed specifically for at-risk youth.

https://www.fcps.edu/activities/middle-school-student-activities

Check your facts. The budget proposal states that this program would be eliminated precisely because schools are offering more alternatives. Jesus, this entire thread is disinformation.

This reduction eliminates the Middle School AfterSchool (MSAS) program at middle schools throughout the County. MSAS program is designed to meet student needs for a safe, supervised learning environment after the regular school day. The program is funded by NCS and administered by the Fairfax County Public Schools. Programming is provided five days week and runs from the end of day school bell until 4:30pm. Late bus transportation is provided by FCPS four days per week. FCPS has been expanding its offering of after-school programs, including clubs, activities and school sports, outside of MSAS program that could offer viable alternatives for teens to participate in structured and safe activities. This reduction also includes eliminating the funding provided for expanded parent liaison hours as well as funding supporting the MentorWorks initiative. FCPS will need to identify resources if they wish to continue the MSAS program or these other initiatives in the current form.

And? That's what this entire thread is about? Elimination of the MSAS. Did you read the thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, Fairfax County is NOT proposing to cut all after school programs at middle schools. They're proposing to cut after school programs designed specifically for at-risk youth.

https://www.fcps.edu/activities/middle-school-student-activities

Check your facts. The budget proposal states that this program would be eliminated precisely because schools are offering more alternatives. Jesus, this entire thread is disinformation.

This reduction eliminates the Middle School AfterSchool (MSAS) program at middle schools throughout the County. MSAS program is designed to meet student needs for a safe, supervised learning environment after the regular school day. The program is funded by NCS and administered by the Fairfax County Public Schools. Programming is provided five days week and runs from the end of day school bell until 4:30pm. Late bus transportation is provided by FCPS four days per week. FCPS has been expanding its offering of after-school programs, including clubs, activities and school sports, outside of MSAS program that could offer viable alternatives for teens to participate in structured and safe activities. This reduction also includes eliminating the funding provided for expanded parent liaison hours as well as funding supporting the MentorWorks initiative. FCPS will need to identify resources if they wish to continue the MSAS program or these other initiatives in the current form.

And? That's what this entire thread is about? Elimination of the MSAS. Did you read the thread?

Yes, but the entire thread thinks their UMC kid's cross country is going away, because late buses aren't funded.