Is FCPS overhyped? even top rated schools seem meh?

[Anonymous]

Woke school board and culture destroyed it 10 years ago. It's only limping by because the parents are basically tutoring the children on their own dime

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here.

If teachers had all of the TWD/ER days with no meetings/PD a lot more could be done. We have a ridiculous amount of TWD and honestly the days that we have PD are mostly a waste of time. Teachers on Monday will be doing another equity training when they could be grading/planning.

Class sizes should be maxed at certain levels. IMO all classes should be capped at 25 kids. If teachers go above that cap they should be paid more and have additional planning time.

Another teacher here and I totally agree. Most of the PD is useless and could be done online including the diversity training. Capping class sizes at 25 would be a game changer. They should also be capping the number of kids with IEPs in teamed classes. Ours have 30-31 students and at minimum 16-17 students with IEPs and usually another 3-4 who probably should have one but haven't been identified. They're mostly lovely kids but many need a lot of individual help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Woke school board and culture destroyed it 10 years ago. It's only limping by because the parents are basically tutoring the children on their own dime

It’s been mediocre forever.

At least compared to states that value education.

[Anonymous]

I think the teachers and principals at our schools are uniformly strong.

The problems are with the Gatehouse/superintendent/school board levels, as well as the size of the district.

If FCPS split into 5-10 smaller districts, we would have some amazing schools, and the lower performing schools could make improvements and pick programs that made sense to their communities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problems are with the Gatehouse / superintendent / school board levels, as well as the size of the district.

Agree - and I have no hope any of it will get fixed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS (and MCPS) used to be academically strong. They have been sliding downhill for many years now - started long before COVID.

Agree!!!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My oldest attends a NOVA Catholic high school (certainly a sports-focused environment) where the class sizes are reasonable and we don't get phone calls or emails about poor performance. The thing to remember is that the kids are in high school now so they're expected to manage their work load and be proactive in reaching out to the teacher for help if they need it.

Say wut??? Funding from the Vatican? LOLOLOLOL

Ew. Any public school comment always brings out the supposed non MAGA Catholics.

DP. I’m not a MAGA Catholic, but I am a person who has taught in both public and Catholic high schools. They simply don’t compare. In public, I was tasked with performing miracles with no resources. I burned out. In private, I am given the resources and respect to do my job well.

It’s about teacher support and teacher morale, and the publics aren’t doing well on either front right now.

And this has nothing to do with politics or religion. It’s about resources.

Interesting. Can you please elaborate more on resources with specific examples? What resources did parochial schools provide specifically that public schools do not? Or was this mostly smaller class sizes? Was it 2 teachers per class (teacher and assistant)? Was it involvement and help of parent volunteers in each classroom? We had "class parents" in early elementary out of state (public) and volunteering was very much expected, although led to a lot of grumbling between FT working moms vs. SAHMs. Our class sizes were large and in early elementary there was at first an assistant per each class to help out the teacher. Later it went downhill and assistants disappeared.

Of COURSE. It has to do with religion. That is why the schools exist. They offer discounted tuition to clergy members. The entire premise of the school is based on religion and people paying to have their kids go to the school because of the religion.

Of COURSE your workload is better. You aren’t in a union. You get little retirement. You don’t have to pay for children with profound disabilities because the weird intrepretation of the Bible religious schools use says that you should pay to be educated and not take care of everyone.

You aren’t using resources better. You are relying on private money and church money to pay for your salary and “resources.”

You clearly have NO IDEA what you’re talking about. Your post isn’t even comprehensible to me.

From what I can gather from your far-reaching post:

1. High schools don’t offer discounted tuition to parish members. K-8 schools often do.

2. My school is less than 50% Catholic, so your argument that people pick it for faith purposes is invalid.

3. I don’t remotely get your union argument. You are correct; I do not have a union. Public schools do. Wouldn’t that mean their workload would be better than mine cause they have an organization fighting for it? Yet it’s the opposite. My workload is better without the union.

4. Retirement: my work contributes to my retirement. I no longer contribute to a pension, but my retirement is growing quite well because of these contributions.

5. Your argument about “profound disabilities” is incoherent, but we (Catholic schools) do take students with severe disabilities. And we serve them well. We even have an entire wing of our school devoted to special education services.

So my point stands: teachers in private Catholic schools have access to stronger resources. I’ll add that is, at least in part, because we don’t have to waste resources on a central office full of people avoiding classrooms.

I’m not sure you have sufficient access
to reliable experiences or information to make your arguments.

My argument boils down to your funding stream. It comes from private money and church money. Parents pay your salary and the church pays some as well.

Your point: “Teachers have access to stronger resources” and that is THE most OBVIOUS thing in the world because parents are PAYING and the church is PAYING for your school. You aren’t relying on tax payer money and you are having to deal with tax payers who don’t want to pay taxes as a funding stream.


The school claims to be Christian and want to help all, but in actuality you are sitting in a school where you aren’t using a collective strategy in our society to educate kids. You are using a capitalistic, private pay structure to pay for the school. You aren’t helping all of society, you are just helping those who can pay or the church deems they want to pay for (if they are scholarship students). Using a capitalistic structure to pay for academic (and religious) training instead of acting on the principles in the Bible and trying to help ALL kids is ridiculous and hypocritical.

Unions don’t help with pay as much as they provide a lawyer if a teacher is ever accused by a student of inappropriate behavior. We all know how the Catholic Church handles that, so you are right, you don’t need one.

You claim it is central office that is the difference. You have a central office and it in part falls under the church as they help with the grounds keeping, and can provide . You don’t necessarily see how the priest is paid, or the custodians because that sometimes comes from the church part, not just the school.

Please link me to Catholic run ABA centers or centers for profoundly disabled children (life skills curriculum)

You can’t brag about “better resources” when you are charging tuition. Really simple. It is self explanatory that you would have better resources. Not because of better management, but because you are charging people to use the school and have church donations to help you out.

You’re arguing a different point. If you want to feel disdain toward Catholic schools, I’m not stopping you.

My point remains the same: I have better access to resources (time being the largest one, followed by more manageable classloads and more useful professional development). This affords me the opportunity to create more targeted lessons, provide more valuable / timely feedback, and communicate more regularly with parents.

Screaming into the wind about your perceived nature of a Catholic school isn’t going to change my point.

And you are still wrong… about what unions do, about our ability to serve students with disabilities, etc. (And nice job throwing in a reference to the priest abuse scandal. I could educate you about our very strict child safety procedures vs. those at my former public, but I doubt you’ll listen.)

It’s quite possible you aren’t familiar with Catholic schools and therefore are arguing from a place of ignorance. You’ll be welcomed into a neighboring one. Why don’t you go check it out so you can see some of its work.

My point also remains the same. I’m not trying to change your mind. We are in many ways agreeing that you have more resources, but you are denying WHY you have more resources. You are coming from at this from a ridiculous perspective and you aren’t able to address the actual point.

You are taking a religious school that has massive funding from the Vatican and the Catholic Church and combining it with tuition parents pay to provide a select group of children religious and academic education with a system that serves every child and has to please everyone (Lawmakers, parents, community members etc). You are saying you are better resourced. Of COURSE you are. It is blindingly obvious you would be.

The Catholic Church is still talking about the abuse, don’t sweep that under the rug. And I can tell you have zero idea about security in FCPS these days as well.
Of

[Anonymous]

The education you get at FCPS is largely what you put into it. And that has been the case with public schools forever. The difference now is that the gap between high achieving kids and low performing ones is widening. If your kid is in AAP, honors, IB/AP and does the work, they will be prepared. My biggest concern given the state of affairs is not “a woke” system but a system that might have to give into pressure from the federal government and teach Prager U BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The education you get at FCPS is largely what you put into it. And that has been the case with public schools forever. The difference now is that the gap between high achieving kids and low performing ones is widening. If your kid is in AAP, honors, IB/AP and does the work, they will be prepared. My biggest concern given the state of affairs is not “a woke” system but a system that might have to give into pressure from the federal government and teach Prager U BS.

FCPS doesn't need help from a conservative fake university to not pretend that girls can be boys and vice versa. Dems letting Reps become the party of physical reality is INSANE and one of the main reasons why Orange Man is at 1600.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:My oldest attends a NOVA Catholic high school (certainly a sports-focused environment) where the class sizes are reasonable and we don't get phone calls or emails about poor performance. The thing to remember is that the kids are in high school now so they're expected to manage their work load and be proactive in reaching out to the teacher for help if they need it.

Ew. Any public school comment always brings out the supposed non MAGA Catholics.

DP. I’m not a MAGA Catholic, but I am a person who has taught in both public and Catholic high schools. They simply don’t compare. In public, I was tasked with performing miracles with no resources. I burned out. In private, I am given the resources and respect to do my job well.

It’s about teacher support and teacher morale, and the publics aren’t doing well on either front right now.

And this has nothing to do with politics or religion. It’s about resources.

But, no when you teach or have your kids attend a Catholic school, it absolutely IS about the religion. That is the point of their religion classes and chapel. It is very, very clear. You may be happier with being able to kick behavior issues out, or problem parents out or whatever, but that doesn’t change the fact that religious schools teach religion. They aren’t sponsoring public schools, they aren’t tending to the poor students en mass. These are Catholics who accept money from people to teach their children reading, writing, socialstudies and religion.

The question was about teacher support and morale, which is absolutely about resources and not religion.

At the Catholic school, I’m provided with time to grade papers (additional planning periods), whereas in the public it had to be done at home.

At the Catholic school, I have a max of 90 students, whereas my largest load in the public was 176.

At the Catholic school, I have a small administration tasked with supporting teachers. At the public, I had a large admin and a ton of “specialists” who created work for me in order to justify their positions outside of the classroom.

At the Catholic school, I can be intentional with my curriculum. At the public, I was given a poor curriculum I had to spend time tailoring and altering to fit the needs of my students.

And you’re wrong about kicking kids out. We have many students with learning plans and behavioral issues. The difference is we can help them better because teachers have more time and more supports.

So say what you will about Catholic schools, but my direct experience with both leads me to believe teachers are better supported in Catholic. That can lead, understandably, to better student outcomes.

How much do Catholic schools cost? Do you have to force your kids to take on this specific religion? I really prefer not to.

Back in the 90s I knew several rich muslim kids who's parents put them in Catholic school to keep them out of the publics. Everyone knew they were Muslim. I bet there are still Muslims that do it, particularly since they don't go for the acceptance of lbgtq+ia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here.

If teachers had all of the TWD/ER days with no meetings/PD a lot more could be done. We have a ridiculous amount of TWD and honestly the days that we have PD are mostly a waste of time. Teachers on Monday will be doing another equity training when they could be grading/planning.

Class sizes should be maxed at certain levels. IMO all classes should be capped at 25 kids. If teachers go above that cap they should be paid more and have additional planning time.

I wish that stupid diversity training thing was it for Monday. It would still be most of a day free. Some teachers have meetings for the rest of the day as well, and many of us have to drive 30 minutes to another school for an another completely useless, poorly done PD. They talk about equity, but there is none for us - some teachers have 1 prep and hardly any PD or meetings, and others have 4 preps and meetings and PD for two departments. I'm so over this.

Public schools continue to decrease in relevance among those with choices. Good teachers will do well in the private/homeschooling/co-op sector.

[Anonymous]

Number of good teachers continues to shrink. Bad administration continues the downward slide. At this point parents are doing the heavy lifting to supplement as needed.

Without a new school board and superintendent less than a decade away from rivaling Baltimore school system.

[Anonymous]

FCPS is terrible. Pulled our kids out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest attends a NOVA Catholic high school (certainly a sports-focused environment) where the class sizes are reasonable and we don't get phone calls or emails about poor performance. The thing to remember is that the kids are in high school now so they're expected to manage their work load and be proactive in reaching out to the teacher for help if they need it.

Ew. Any public school comment always brings out the supposed non MAGA Catholics.

DP. I’m not a MAGA Catholic, but I am a person who has taught in both public and Catholic high schools. They simply don’t compare. In public, I was tasked with performing miracles with no resources. I burned out. In private, I am given the resources and respect to do my job well.

It’s about teacher support and teacher morale, and the publics aren’t doing well on either front right now.

And this has nothing to do with politics or religion. It’s about resources.

But, no when you teach or have your kids attend a Catholic school, it absolutely IS about the religion. That is the point of their religion classes and chapel. It is very, very clear. You may be happier with being able to kick behavior issues out, or problem parents out or whatever, but that doesn’t change the fact that religious schools teach religion. They aren’t sponsoring public schools, they aren’t tending to the poor students en mass. These are Catholics who accept money from people to teach their children reading, writing, socialstudies and religion.

The question was about teacher support and morale, which is absolutely about resources and not religion.

At the Catholic school, I’m provided with time to grade papers (additional planning periods), whereas in the public it had to be done at home.

At the Catholic school, I have a max of 90 students, whereas my largest load in the public was 176.

At the Catholic school, I have a small administration tasked with supporting teachers. At the public, I had a large admin and a ton of “specialists” who created work for me in order to justify their positions outside of the classroom.

At the Catholic school, I can be intentional with my curriculum. At the public, I was given a poor curriculum I had to spend time tailoring and altering to fit the needs of my students.

And you’re wrong about kicking kids out. We have many students with learning plans and behavioral issues. The difference is we can help them better because teachers have more time and more supports.

So say what you will about Catholic schools, but my direct experience with both leads me to believe teachers are better supported in Catholic. That can lead, understandably, to better student outcomes.

How much do Catholic schools cost? Do you have to force your kids to take on this specific religion? I really prefer not to.

Back in the 90s I knew several rich muslim kids who's parents put them in Catholic school to keep them out of the publics. Everyone knew they were Muslim. I bet there are still Muslims that do it, particularly since they don't go for the acceptance of lbgtq+ia

Catholic schools don't ban kids from other religious traditions. They do give priority to their own parishioners' kids. And they are allowed to teach about Christmas, Catholicism, etc in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here.

If teachers had all of the TWD/ER days with no meetings/PD a lot more could be done. We have a ridiculous amount of TWD and honestly the days that we have PD are mostly a waste of time. Teachers on Monday will be doing another equity training when they could be grading/planning.

Class sizes should be maxed at certain levels. IMO all classes should be capped at 25 kids. If teachers go above that cap they should be paid more and have additional planning time.

I wish that stupid diversity training thing was it for Monday. It would still be most of a day free. Some teachers have meetings for the rest of the day as well, and many of us have to drive 30 minutes to another school for an another completely useless, poorly done PD. They talk about equity, but there is none for us - some teachers have 1 prep and hardly any PD or meetings, and others have 4 preps and meetings and PD for two departments. I'm so over this.

Public schools continue to decrease in relevance among those with choices. Good teachers will do well in the private/homeschooling/co-op sector.

Most of us do not have money to pay for private schools in addition to high RE taxes. Even for old homes taxes doubled in last 10 years. And quality of education is just going down while stupid admin is still focusing on dated woke agendas like you all say and who knows what. It's sort of annoying to have to hear that in order to get quality education we have to pay for private schools, what's the point of moving to a "good school district"? Merely for peer pressure to have to tutor your kids to keep up with other tutored kids higher standards?