FCPS statement on NMF issue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people are repeating this talking point of a third party corporation is expecting the school staff to do their work for them. This happens all the time. Those flyers that are sent out by schools, included a lot more work by staff to include the corporations' material into the flyers. Sometimes thru PTA, others directly by school staff. And this is not some random corporate money making opportunity, but one of the most well known academic awards in the country, albeit not the Commended status.

But how hard would it be for that company to just email the kids the info? This is the thing.

They do it for the real winners; the semi-finalists get notifications from the College Board. Maybe they view commended as being worthless. All it signifies is that a kid did well on the PSAT. Does anyone really care? Do colleges that ignore SATs and ACTs really care about a years old PSAT score?

There are about 3X more commended students than semifinalists, but all are in the top 4% of test takers. I think some of the Democrats are going to regret the dismissive way they referred to kids whose academic records are, with few exceptions, far above and beyond the accomplishments of politicians like Stella Pekarsky, Laura Jane Cohen, Karl Frisch, etc.

One of the reasons that folks are being dismissive is because there was an insistence in the beginning that this was a big deal and constituted actual harm to the students, with an eye toward an eventual lawsuit.

Had the operatives who created this tempest in a teapot acknowledged that it was simply a matter of not being acknowledged, and not insisted that it was something that would impact admissions or scholarships (which, outside of Liberty, it doesn't), then you wouldn't have an issue with being realistic about the accomplishment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people are repeating this talking point of a third party corporation is expecting the school staff to do their work for them. This happens all the time. Those flyers that are sent out by schools, included a lot more work by staff to include the corporations' material into the flyers. Sometimes thru PTA, others directly by school staff. And this is not some random corporate money making opportunity, but one of the most well known academic awards in the country, albeit not the Commended status.

But how hard would it be for that company to just email the kids the info? This is the thing.

They do it for the real winners; the semi-finalists get notifications from the College Board. Maybe they view commended as being worthless. All it signifies is that a kid did well on the PSAT. Does anyone really care? Do colleges that ignore SATs and ACTs really care about a years old PSAT score?

There are about 3X more commended students than semifinalists, but all are in the top 4% of test takers. I think some of the Democrats are going to regret the dismissive way they referred to kids whose academic records are, with few exceptions, far above and beyond the accomplishments of politicians like Stella Pekarsky, Laura Jane Cohen, Karl Frisch, etc.

And, many would be semi-finalists in another state.

Until they live in another state, this is largely irrelevant with respect to the actual harm argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again the tiger moms on racism patrol have been proven wrong. As a FFX taxpayer, I resent this waste of money on a non issue.

+1000 This was such a non-issue. Anyone who is upset by how much FCPS has had to spend on legal fees should go after the money machine known as College Board. It’s beyond ridiculous that they can capture all the contact information on students to sell to colleges (in addition to the testing fee!), but they can’t mail or email a commendation notice??? College Board should be paying FCPS’s legal fees.

We need a special “fight the latest Republican legal nonsense” fund.

Think it’s called checks and balance. And FCPS did change their procedures. The press release said - we found that we didn’t do anything deliberately wrong - not that we did everything right.

It was a total waste of time and money, particularly for a lame attempt to throw political daggers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As expected, a huge waste of taxpayer dollars for no reason, spurred almost entirely by one person with an axe to grind and no skin in the game.

Shame on you. Your actions have had a needless, but completely intended, destructive effect on the normal functioning of one of the finest schools and school systems in the country, all to satisfy your thirst for attention and relevance. And then you have the nerve to post on social media belittling the real damage that your crusade has caused to students and teachers who didn’t ask to be included in your nonsense.

Go away.

This is exactly what needed to be sent. There is no shame in this bunch, but publicly shaming them in the way that they deserve should alert the masses to their real motivations. This is about personal beefs, political ambitions, and pushing privatization and charter schools to the benefit of the 1%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How ironic that the same people bitterly complaining about how the school district is wasting its money are the actual people wasting the school district's money.

It's almost like they are manufacturing their own issues to complain about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As expected, a huge waste of taxpayer dollars for no reason, spurred almost entirely by one person with an axe to grind and no skin in the game.

Shame on you. Your actions have had a needless, but completely intended, destructive effect on the normal functioning of one of the finest schools and school systems in the country, all to satisfy your thirst for attention and relevance. And then you have the nerve to post on social media belittling the real damage that your crusade has caused to students and teachers who didn’t ask to be included in your nonsense.

Go away.

This is exactly what needed to be sent. There is no shame in this bunch, but publicly shaming them in the way that they deserve should alert the masses to their real motivations. This is about personal beefs, political ambitions, and pushing privatization and charter schools to the benefit of the 1%.

100%

[Anonymous]

This thread is actually very poorly named. This was in no way a "NMF issue". It was a NM Commended Students issue. Those are NOT finalists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is actually very poorly named. This was in no way a "NMF issue". It was a NM Commended Students issue. Those are NOT finalists.

True. Should have been that "equity outweighs merit."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people are repeating this talking point of a third party corporation is expecting the school staff to do their work for them. This happens all the time. Those flyers that are sent out by schools, included a lot more work by staff to include the corporations' material into the flyers. Sometimes thru PTA, others directly by school staff. And this is not some random corporate money making opportunity, but one of the most well known academic awards in the country, albeit not the Commended status.

But how hard would it be for that company to just email the kids the info? This is the thing.

They do it for the real winners; the semi-finalists get notifications from the College Board. Maybe they view commended as being worthless. All it signifies is that a kid did well on the PSAT. Does anyone really care? Do colleges that ignore SATs and ACTs really care about a years old PSAT score?

There are about 3X more commended students than semifinalists, but all are in the top 4% of test takers. I think some of the Democrats are going to regret the dismissive way they referred to kids whose academic records are, with few exceptions, far above and beyond the accomplishments of politicians like Stella Pekarsky, Laura Jane Cohen, Karl Frisch, etc.

So what? The test is the PSAT- who cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people are repeating this talking point of a third party corporation is expecting the school staff to do their work for them. This happens all the time. Those flyers that are sent out by schools, included a lot more work by staff to include the corporations' material into the flyers. Sometimes thru PTA, others directly by school staff. And this is not some random corporate money making opportunity, but one of the most well known academic awards in the country, albeit not the Commended status.

But how hard would it be for that company to just email the kids the info? This is the thing.

They do it for the real winners; the semi-finalists get notifications from the College Board. Maybe they view commended as being worthless. All it signifies is that a kid did well on the PSAT. Does anyone really care? Do colleges that ignore SATs and ACTs really care about a years old PSAT score?

The reason the TJ parents were upset is because they wanted their child to be able to apply Test optional and still look 1/2 intelligent with a “commended” next to their name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is actually very poorly named. This was in no way a "NMF issue". It was a NM Commended Students issue. Those are NOT finalists.

True. Should have been that "equity outweighs merit."

More Republican lies.

It's a shame you don't have decent candidates with constructive platforms to run on.

[Anonymous]

The reason the TJ parents were upset is because they wanted their child to be able to apply Test optional and still look 1/2 intelligent with a “commended” next to their name.

Doubtful. Anyone who scores in the top 4% would want their test included. Now, the newer TJ students may feel that way since they are not in the top county wide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While I generally thought the statement was reasonable, it is very frustrating to see that West Potomac claimed not to know about the timing issue. I personally talked with the college counselor about this a few years ago, when they failed to notify families timely. Ultimately, the College Board should be making the notifications.

The kid knows what their score is. Once the ranges are released, they can easily check themselves.

This has not always been the case--which is why the schools have habitually followed the same policy. However, not everyone knows that it can be "checked." The cutoff scores vary from state to state. In other words, a "commended" student in Virginia may be a semi-finalist in Mississippi.

Nevertheless, how difficult is it for the school to hand out the certificates in a timely manner? Not difficult at all.

Sure, but now define timely manner. Some schools have traditionally waited until late Oct/early Nov to give them out at a ceremony. Those schools got slammed. You just can't win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people are repeating this talking point of a third party corporation is expecting the school staff to do their work for them. This happens all the time. Those flyers that are sent out by schools, included a lot more work by staff to include the corporations' material into the flyers. Sometimes thru PTA, others directly by school staff. And this is not some random corporate money making opportunity, but one of the most well known academic awards in the country, albeit not the Commended status.

But how hard would it be for that company to just email the kids the info? This is the thing.

They do it for the real winners; the semi-finalists get notifications from the College Board. Maybe they view commended as being worthless. All it signifies is that a kid did well on the PSAT. Does anyone really care? Do colleges that ignore SATs and ACTs really care about a years old PSAT score?

The reason the TJ parents were upset is because they wanted their child to be able to apply Test optional and still look 1/2 intelligent with a “commended” next to their name.

Maybe they can include their cogats instead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While I generally thought the statement was reasonable, it is very frustrating to see that West Potomac claimed not to know about the timing issue. I personally talked with the college counselor about this a few years ago, when they failed to notify families timely. Ultimately, the College Board should be making the notifications.

The kid knows what their score is. Once the ranges are released, they can easily check themselves.

This has not always been the case--which is why the schools have habitually followed the same policy. However, not everyone knows that it can be "checked." The cutoff scores vary from state to state. In other words, a "commended" student in Virginia may be a semi-finalist in Mississippi.

Nevertheless, how difficult is it for the school to hand out the certificates in a timely manner? Not difficult at all.

Sure, but now define timely manner. Some schools have traditionally waited until late Oct/early Nov to give them out at a ceremony. Those schools got slammed. You just can't win.

They could do it the same week the semi-finalists are announced.