FCPS Delays Report About Conditions at Day Schools

[Anonymous]

Disclaimer: the author of this article is suspect and it should be obvious that these places are going to have higher rates of suspensions and expulsions.

However, the survey results were not released and they should have been. They echo what some of us have been saying for years. These places are understaffed and not equipped to handle the types of disabilities the students have. Most CSS programs are in the same position. FCPS' answer seems to be to cut staffing and dump more of these kids back into gen ed with disastrous results. Michelle Boyd and everyone at Central Office should be deeply ashamed.

https://specialeducationaction.com/fairfax-county-students-fcps-delays-release-of-damning-data/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Disclaimer: the author of this article is suspect and it should be obvious that these places are going to have higher rates of suspensions and expulsions.

However, the survey results were not released and they should have been. They echo what some of us have been saying for years. These places are understaffed and not equipped to handle the types of disabilities the students have. Most CSS programs are in the same position. FCPS' answer seems to be to cut staffing and dump more of these kids back into gen ed with disastrous results. Michelle Boyd and everyone at Central Office should be deeply ashamed.

https://specialeducationaction.com/fairfax-county-students-fcps-delays-release-of-damning-data/

Then WTH is your solution? The best you can do is post some article that you claim is already suspect and point fingers? There are maybe 2 schools that FCPS can contract with because of the restraint & seclusion lawsuit. There simply aren’t schools out there that will comply with the very limiting restraint & seclusion.

Cutting staffing? You’re kidding right? That’s not happening by a long shot. There is NO ONE to hire.

Behaviors are off the chain since COVID. People have trashed teachers and now you’re here wagging your finger Michelle Boyd should be “deeply ashamed. For what purpose? Are you trying to get her to quit? Are YOU going to take her place? It’s a damn mystery what your end game here is, OP.

Oh wait… I know. It must be time for your weekly “Dismantle Public Education” post. You and your Moms of Liberty are here not to solve problems but to simply sow seeds of chaos. You’re not really interested in helping kids who are truly struggling with regulating themselves with real mental and behavioral health issues. You don’t give a crap about teachers and administrators who are working their butts off. You just want to sit back from your lawn chair probably not even in FCPS and lob your grenades.

[Anonymous]

OP, so what’s your solution to the staffing problem? All you want to do is attack and whine.

I have an idea - let’s lobby Congress to repeal the IDEA. It imposes massive obligations on schools and doesn’t provide funding. Let’s get special ed out of public schools. Like that?

[Anonymous]

They need to build and staff higher quality day schools with more seats. That takes MONEY.

These kids are piling up in the FCPS special ed schools because they have no placements, even if the setting is dangerous for them, the teachers, and the other students. The placement issue was BAD before they stopped putting kids into any schools that used seclusion--phillips used to be their go-to for the most difficult kids--now those kids have nowhere to be placed.

[Anonymous]

I’m so sick of people like OP who complain and through daggers yet do not understand the real issues.

[Anonymous]

They shouldn't have tried to hide the report. No one should be surprised by the findings of this report.

FCPS dumps its most difficult kids in these schools and just tries to keep them alive. No education. They are the most decrepit and depressing buildings in the school system, they have few materials, books, equipment and they are not staffed senough to keep the kids safe, let alone actually educate them. Its pitiful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disclaimer: the author of this article is suspect and it should be obvious that these places are going to have higher rates of suspensions and expulsions.

However, the survey results were not released and they should have been. They echo what some of us have been saying for years. These places are understaffed and not equipped to handle the types of disabilities the students have. Most CSS programs are in the same position. FCPS' answer seems to be to cut staffing and dump more of these kids back into gen ed with disastrous results. Michelle Boyd and everyone at Central Office should be deeply ashamed.

https://specialeducationaction.com/fairfax-county-students-fcps-delays-release-of-damning-data/

Then WTH is your solution? The best you can do is post some article that you claim is already suspect and point fingers? There are maybe 2 schools that FCPS can contract with because of the restraint & seclusion lawsuit. There simply aren’t schools out there that will comply with the very limiting restraint & seclusion.

Cutting staffing? You’re kidding right? That’s not happening by a long shot. There is NO ONE to hire.

Behaviors are off the chain since COVID. People have trashed teachers and now you’re here wagging your finger Michelle Boyd should be “deeply ashamed. For what purpose? Are you trying to get her to quit? Are YOU going to take her place? It’s a damn mystery what your end game here is, OP.

Oh wait… I know. It must be time for your weekly “Dismantle Public Education” post. You and your Moms of Liberty are here not to solve problems but to simply sow seeds of chaos. You’re not really interested in helping kids who are truly struggling with regulating themselves with real mental and behavioral health issues. You don’t give a crap about teachers and administrators who are working their butts off. You just want to sit back from your lawn chair probably not even in FCPS and lob your grenades.

I'm OP and I'm a teacher. Moms of Liberty can KMA and the feeling is probably mutual. Hiding the report is terrible optics and being pissed about it has nothing to do with politics.

Anyway, ask anyone who reads the STAC notes about destaffing at schools like Burke. It's happening and we've been given no reasons why. Teachers have been complaining about behaviors since before Covid. FCPS stopped using ED centers and started with the Restorative Justice and PBIS stuff a few years before Covid hit. Things were already getting bad with behaviors because kids figured out quickly that there were no negative consequences anymore. Some people have forgotten this but most teachers have not. PBIS, restorative justice, and all the other stuff doesn't work for certain students. FCPS does not want to stand up ED centers anymore and fewer kids are getting ED labels for various reasons. If you want my solution, FCPS should go back to those centers and be looking at how much they need to pay to attract and retain teachers and IAs to work at them. There should absolutely be a separate pay scale and the qualifications should be higher too. Other districts do this. TJ does this. There are some cases that schools shouldn't be expected to handle. That's what residential centers are for and we need more of those too. At the very least Burke, Key, Kilmer, etc should have reading specialists and all the other supports that are legally required and at least one behavior intervention teacher onsite at all times. Those things shouldn't even be in question. Maybe we need to reevaluate the LCI if we need to keep more of the Fairfax dollars in Fairfax to fund these programs.

Sorry not sorry, but part of Michelle Boyd's job is to be onsite at these places at least periodically. Not visiting in years? Come on.

[Anonymous]

This is what I don’t get about teachers. They know they are the ones who will actually be listened to the most but when a new policy comes along as a proposal mums the word except for my pay raise and then when bad policy is implemented it’s just woe is me. I’m the victim again and again. It's just this vascillating between I want to control my own classroom to I have no control at all. The Wakefield teachers who wrote that letter on the not for grading and skills based testing I admire. They come to a consensus themselves and then make a stand on something. I heard zero teachers complaining against the new special ed policies when they were being discussed. It was very obvious there was a special ed shortage so where were the teachers or anyone in the school to speak up how this was going to destaff them further. Teachers need to be like those Wakefield teachers and actually stick to policies they can give conctrete examples why they might not or aren't working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is what I don’t get about teachers. They know they are the ones who will actually be listened to the most but when a new policy comes along as a proposal mums the word except for my pay raise and then when bad policy is implemented it’s just woe is me. I’m the victim again and again. It's just this vascillating between I want to control my own classroom to I have no control at all. The Wakefield teachers who wrote that letter on the not for grading and skills based testing I admire. They come to a consensus themselves and then make a stand on something. I heard zero teachers complaining against the new special ed policies when they were being discussed. It was very obvious there was a special ed shortage so where were the teachers or anyone in the school to speak up how this was going to destaff them further. Teachers need to be like those Wakefield teachers and actually stick to policies they can give conctrete examples why they might not or aren't working.

Wakefield is an APS school right- why are you posting on the FCPS board?

I stopped reading after the idea that teachers are the ones who will be listened to, but I have NEVER in my 20+ years of teacher EVER across the 3 DMV school districts I have taught been in a situation where I was listened to as a teacher. You are clueless about how school systems are run. Maybe if you begin to understand that, you will begin to LISTEN to the issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, so what’s your solution to the staffing problem? All you want to do is attack and whine.

I have an idea - let’s lobby Congress to repeal the IDEA. It imposes massive obligations on schools and doesn’t provide funding. Let’s get special ed out of public schools. Like that?

I don't understand - FCPS has billions of dollars. If they truly think they can't afford it, how about get rid of the highly paid administrative staff and hire more frontline faculty?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disclaimer: the author of this article is suspect and it should be obvious that these places are going to have higher rates of suspensions and expulsions.

However, the survey results were not released and they should have been. They echo what some of us have been saying for years. These places are understaffed and not equipped to handle the types of disabilities the students have. Most CSS programs are in the same position. FCPS' answer seems to be to cut staffing and dump more of these kids back into gen ed with disastrous results. Michelle Boyd and everyone at Central Office should be deeply ashamed.

https://specialeducationaction.com/fairfax-county-students-fcps-delays-release-of-damning-data/

Then WTH is your solution? The best you can do is post some article that you claim is already suspect and point fingers? There are maybe 2 schools that FCPS can contract with because of the restraint & seclusion lawsuit. There simply aren’t schools out there that will comply with the very limiting restraint & seclusion.

Cutting staffing? You’re kidding right? That’s not happening by a long shot. There is NO ONE to hire.

Behaviors are off the chain since COVID. People have trashed teachers and now you’re here wagging your finger Michelle Boyd should be “deeply ashamed. For what purpose? Are you trying to get her to quit? Are YOU going to take her place? It’s a damn mystery what your end game here is, OP.

Oh wait… I know. It must be time for your weekly “Dismantle Public Education” post. You and your Moms of Liberty are here not to solve problems but to simply sow seeds of chaos. You’re not really interested in helping kids who are truly struggling with regulating themselves with real mental and behavioral health issues. You don’t give a crap about teachers and administrators who are working their butts off. You just want to sit back from your lawn chair probably not even in FCPS and lob your grenades.

I'm OP and I'm a teacher. Moms of Liberty can KMA and the feeling is probably mutual. Hiding the report is terrible optics and being pissed about it has nothing to do with politics.

Anyway, ask anyone who reads the STAC notes about destaffing at schools like Burke. It's happening and we've been given no reasons why. Teachers have been complaining about behaviors since before Covid. FCPS stopped using ED centers and started with the Restorative Justice and PBIS stuff a few years before Covid hit. Things were already getting bad with behaviors because kids figured out quickly that there were no negative consequences anymore. Some people have forgotten this but most teachers have not. PBIS, restorative justice, and all the other stuff doesn't work for certain students. FCPS does not want to stand up ED centers anymore and fewer kids are getting ED labels for various reasons. If you want my solution, FCPS should go back to those centers and be looking at how much they need to pay to attract and retain teachers and IAs to work at them. There should absolutely be a separate pay scale and the qualifications should be higher too. Other districts do this. TJ does this. There are some cases that schools shouldn't be expected to handle. That's what residential centers are for and we need more of those too. At the very least Burke, Key, Kilmer, etc should have reading specialists and all the other supports that are legally required and at least one behavior intervention teacher onsite at all times. Those things shouldn't even be in question. Maybe we need to reevaluate the LCI if we need to keep more of the Fairfax dollars in Fairfax to fund these programs.

Sorry not sorry, but part of Michelle Boyd's job is to be onsite at these places at least periodically. Not visiting in years? Come on.

NP - I'm really tired of people shouting "moms of liberty" any time anyone criticizes how the schools are being run. It wasn't only crazy Republicans that were upset schools were closed, I also don't want pornographic books in the school libraries - not because I'm anti-LGBTQ but because I think some things can be learnt later in life for all kids - and I think FCPS is running itself into the ground. Why are there kids in my kids' elementary school classes that have violent meltdowns every couple of weeks? My kids can't learn when kids are randomly shouting and crying because the classroom is too noisy or they get overstimulated. There should be classrooms that are quieter for kids that get easily overwhelmed - but FCPS just puts everyone together unless you happen to be put into AAP classes.

I've always been a huge proponent of not pushing my kids and letting them excel in high school or college or whenever suits them. So I didn't push for AAP - but now I regret it because the non-AAP classrooms are filled with special needs kids and my kids aren't getting much of an education at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disclaimer: the author of this article is suspect and it should be obvious that these places are going to have higher rates of suspensions and expulsions.

However, the survey results were not released and they should have been. They echo what some of us have been saying for years. These places are understaffed and not equipped to handle the types of disabilities the students have. Most CSS programs are in the same position. FCPS' answer seems to be to cut staffing and dump more of these kids back into gen ed with disastrous results. Michelle Boyd and everyone at Central Office should be deeply ashamed.

https://specialeducationaction.com/fairfax-county-students-fcps-delays-release-of-damning-data/

Then WTH is your solution? The best you can do is post some article that you claim is already suspect and point fingers? There are maybe 2 schools that FCPS can contract with because of the restraint & seclusion lawsuit. There simply aren’t schools out there that will comply with the very limiting restraint & seclusion.

Cutting staffing? You’re kidding right? That’s not happening by a long shot. There is NO ONE to hire.

Behaviors are off the chain since COVID. People have trashed teachers and now you’re here wagging your finger Michelle Boyd should be “deeply ashamed. For what purpose? Are you trying to get her to quit? Are YOU going to take her place? It’s a damn mystery what your end game here is, OP.

Oh wait… I know. It must be time for your weekly “Dismantle Public Education” post. You and your Moms of Liberty are here not to solve problems but to simply sow seeds of chaos. You’re not really interested in helping kids who are truly struggling with regulating themselves with real mental and behavioral health issues. You don’t give a crap about teachers and administrators who are working their butts off. You just want to sit back from your lawn chair probably not even in FCPS and lob your grenades.

Can we just make the bolded a sticky on this forum? I think someone should actually do like an investigative piece (and use DCUM as one of its examples) on how RWNJs have capitalized on legit concerns and ran with them not to help public education but to contribute to its downfall.

[Anonymous]

The problem is the elected School Boards - what a disaster. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/01/first-kill-all-the-school-boards/306579/

Many reformers across the political spectrum agree that local control has become a disaster for our schools. But the case against it is almost never articulated. Public officials are loath to take on powerful school-board associations and teachers’ unions; foundations and advocacy groups, who must work with the boards and unions, also pull their punches. For these reasons, as well as our natural preference for having things done nearby, support for local control still lingers, largely unexamined, among the public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is the elected School Boards - what a disaster. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/01/first-kill-all-the-school-boards/306579/

Many reformers across the political spectrum agree that local control has become a disaster for our schools. But the case against it is almost never articulated. Public officials are loath to take on powerful school-board associations and teachers’ unions; foundations and advocacy groups, who must work with the boards and unions, also pull their punches. For these reasons, as well as our natural preference for having things done nearby, support for local control still lingers, largely unexamined, among the public.

You my friend are in the FCPS forum therefor “the union” has no power. Get a grip at least make your argument fit the area before you go spouting off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is the elected School Boards - what a disaster. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/01/first-kill-all-the-school-boards/306579/

Many reformers across the political spectrum agree that local control has become a disaster for our schools. But the case against it is almost never articulated. Public officials are loath to take on powerful school-board associations and teachers’ unions; foundations and advocacy groups, who must work with the boards and unions, also pull their punches. For these reasons, as well as our natural preference for having things done nearby, support for local control still lingers, largely unexamined, among the public.

In Fairfax County? Virginia?

LOL