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Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)
School board results?
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Anonymous
I agree with the majority of Fairfax voters that people who align with the contemporary Republican party are not who the SB (or government overall) needs. There is enough diversity within the Democratic party that we can put forward candidates who represent a wider spectrum of perspectives and experiences of people who believe in democracy and governance--and this is what happened. The at-large candidates illustrate this: McDaniel was a Republican who realized his party was nuts and became Democrat--I'm sure the positions he holds/insights he brings will differ from someone who was a lifelong Progressive Democrat. Moon is a very centrist candidate, Democrat support for him was due to the long experience he holds/commitment he has on the School Board--many voted for him despite him also being "right" of their political views. McElveen is the only at-large member now that would be considered a progressive. I think this reflects the Fairfax voter population who mainly thinks we have good schools (which by all objective measures we do) and recognizes that education overall is experiencing challenges and pressures that need to be solved--due to changes in demographics, disruptions from the pandemic (not just the shift to virtual, but the actual pandemic upended lives), growing population of students eligible for special education services, the impact of social media on students social and emotional lives, the fast pace of technological disruptions and their impact on how we should be educating children (how does AI change the way we think about what people need to know/learn, how do we engage students in 'school learning' when many are used to immersive, emotional-charged learning in video games etc.). Then you throw in the usual massive challenge of managing buildings, staffing and enrollment in a big district. What we really need are people willing to work on these things, and the Republican party as it currently stands is a deeply, deeply unserious party. I don't know how anyone with sense and concern about governance can look at national politics and think differently. So until the Republican party is not held hostage by its chaotic, destructive, undemocratic wing--there are not likely to have any good candidates who want to align with them or seek their endorsement. |
Anonymous
Where is E3 math? In a wide range of schools or just schools with many kids who are struggling with math? |
Anonymous
NP. Abrar Omeish brings it up often at board meetings. Others also have complained about it. |
Anonymous
SPED kids are in desperate need of more Teachers, better trained Teachers, and county run programs for the kids with higher ED and learning needs. ESL kids needs ESL classes that start in ES and not to be sent into a Gen Ed class room that they are not prepared for. You cannot expect success for a 9 year old who has barely been to school in their life and doesn’t speak the language when you put them in a Gen Ed 3rd grade classroom. But that is what we do. And then the Teachers need to get that child up to grade level so their focus os on that child and not the rst of the class. ESL classes are needed to meet the kids where they are. Help them learn English and build their skills and when they are ready they can move into Gen Ed classes. We needed classes with fewer levels in them. Asking a Teacher to teach to 25 kids when some kids are 2 grade levels behind, some are a bit behind, some are on grade level, and some are a year ahead is ridiculous. Not one of those groups of kids is getting the attention they need. we need smaller classes for kids who are behind, a class for kids who are close to grade level, on grade level, and a bit ahead. The rest belong in LIV type classes. We don’t like the optics of it so we throw all of the kids in one class and wonder why parents are clamoring to get into LIV. We have defined equity as everyone scoring well on the SOL and iReady and have lost the idea that equity should mean classes that meet the child's needs and help the child learn and get to a place where they can pass the SOL. We are so afraid of people visually seeing what we all know exists that we try and hide it behind Gen Ed classes. We all know that the education gap exists. We all know that it is mainly poor Black and Hispanic kids whoa re lagging behind and Asian and White kids who are on grade level or ahead. But we fear putting kids in classes based on ability and showing that gap. |
Anonymous
It’s in 20 schools now. They don’t tell you which. But it does not provide a pathway to Algebra in 7th, so advanced learners in these schools lose that option. |
Anonymous
These things are done at a slow pace. Mainly the discussion now is about removing centers. It's step one in a dismantling program. |
Anonymous
I don't know why you think this when there hasn't been diversity of thought in the four past years. |
Anonymous
I am concerned about these issues, too. I am also concerned about how much FCPS spends on highly paid central office leadership - a category that keeps growing under Reid. None of the current board seem to care about the bloat at central office (some of them advocate for more central office specialists for their pet cause) so I was hoping someone would question it. I want the money to go to our school-based staff. Looks like that’s not going to happen. |
Anonymous
Oh, and the renovation queue! Someone needs to pressure for that to be re-looked at but this board hasn’t. |
Anonymous
The Republicans I saw campaigning were focused on Parents right to make sure their child was called by their birth name, banning books, anti-LGBTQ+, keeping boys out of girls locker rooms, and other issues. I looked at all the candidates web pages and none of the R candidates discussed substantive issues without tossing in some comment about sex identity in schools and parents rights. They are not worried about a parents right to make sure that their kid is placed in the right class but a parents right to know that their kid wants to use different pronouns. Maybe if there had been a Republican candidate who actually discussed school issues that impacted education and not the social issues talking points proclaimed by MAGA I would have listened. My kid does have homework, but he has not had homework every year in ES. I would say most year there has been some type of homework. The SPED at our school is better then most and that is not saying much. We need pay increases for Teachers, fewer Admin at Gatehouse, and an even higher pay rate for SPED Teachers. We need more self contained classrooms for ED kids that are run by the County and a faster process to get kids the help that they need. |
Anonymous
| The most interesting thing to me will be to see how a School Board with five men and seven women functions differently than the last one with 11 women and the one gay guy. The politics probably won’t change much, since it’s still just one-party rule, but maybe it will get more done and be less like a bad episode of “The View.” |
Anonymous
That should help some. You are right. |
Anonymous
| Although it could just mean change at a faster pace. The emotional validating kept some advances from happening which was actually a plus in some areas. |
Anonymous
It will still take them many years. There’s been zero urgency on the part of the current School Board to address the schools that are overcrowded, undersized and/or falling apart. So if they do start paying more attention they’ll take years to agree on the relevant criteria, and then years to apply those criteria to develop a new queue. |
Anonymous
| I'm just sad that academic progress is ceasing to be an important goal for the schools along with the anything goes mentality of kids getting involved in bad behavior with no consequence. The most discriminatory people I know are the ones that say they are liberal but then only actually associate with a small group of people on a day to day basis. |