Boosterthon at Haycock

[Anonymous]

IF it is true, it is certainly easy to identify her/him! How many Ivy League MBA/JD elementary school teachers could there be?

[Anonymous]

I, for one, am tired of hearing Haycock complain about "outdated" technology, lack of resources and need for more funds. The school where I work -- 30% free and reduced lunch! -- would gladly trade you your problems for ours. All you have to do is ask your well-heeled PTA parents to cough up some cash and voila! You have state of the art classrooms. WE are trying to provide some of our kids with shoes.

PLEASE STOP WHINING!!

[Anonymous]

Amen to that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IF it is true, it is certainly easy to identify her/him! How many Ivy League MBA/JD elementary school teachers could there be?

I can't imagine trying to repay all that student debt on a teacher's salary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I, for one, am tired of hearing Haycock complain about "outdated" technology, lack of resources and need for more funds. The school where I work -- 30% free and reduced lunch! -- would gladly trade you your problems for ours. All you have to do is ask your well-heeled PTA parents to cough up some cash and voila! You have state of the art classrooms. WE are trying to provide some of our kids with shoes.

PLEASE STOP WHINING!!

No one was whining. They were explaining why the school was having a spring fundraiser, in response to suggestions it should be cancelled because a handful of parents don't want to participate this year. People in Haycock gladly give their time and their money to the school, and most accept the reality that the needier parts of the county receive more resources from FCPS and have smaller class sizes. And, realistically, although FCPS won't acknowledge it, it also depends on parents in areas like the Haycock district making such supplemental contributions, both to Haycock and other schools.

[Anonymous]

it was whining...

[Anonymous]

actually schools that are Title 1 do received additional funding from FCPS for computers.

[Anonymous]

Please stop picking on Haycock. There are nearly 1,000 kids enrolled in the school. To think that "all parents at Haycock" are the same is just ludicrous. Out of the 1,000 families, some are high-maintenance, some are friendly, some are involved, some like to complain, some love the school, some don't, etc, etc, etc. I can only speak for myself in saying that I think the teachers and the staff there are fabulous and have done their best to create a warm, nurturing environment. The handful of parents who are difficult and outspoken should be ignored, not encouraged. They do not speak for the majority of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please stop picking on Haycock. There are nearly 1,000 kids enrolled in the school. To think that "all parents at Haycock" are the same is just ludicrous. Out of the 1,000 families, some are high-maintenance, some are friendly, some are involved, some like to complain, some love the school, some don't, etc, etc, etc. I can only speak for myself in saying that I think the teachers and the staff there are fabulous and have done their best to create a warm, nurturing environment. The handful of parents who are difficult and outspoken should be ignored, not encouraged. They do not speak for the majority of the school.

+1

[Anonymous]

We'll stop picking on Haycock if you stop picking on Marshall

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please stop picking on Haycock. There are nearly 1,000 kids enrolled in the school. To think that "all parents at Haycock" are the same is just ludicrous. Out of the 1,000 families, some are high-maintenance, some are friendly, some are involved, some like to complain, some love the school, some don't, etc, etc, etc. I can only speak for myself in saying that I think the teachers and the staff there are fabulous and have done their best to create a warm, nurturing environment. The handful of parents who are difficult and outspoken should be ignored, not encouraged. They do not speak for the majority of the school.

+1

+100

[Anonymous]

Cluster 2 parent here. I should probably let this thread die a natural death, but I just wanted to add my perspective.

I have met some truly lovely Haycock base parents! There are a lot of things to love about Haycock. It's far from perfect (as any school is), which adds to the fire here because thre are some overzealous parents who refuse to have any discussion about Haycock that's not 100% positive. Conversely, there are some who refuse to admit that there is anything positive about the school because they are angry and hurt.

I think this year there was a confluence of factors that really poisoned the atmosphere. First, the school is overcrowded, which put people on edge. Then, the solution was one that, by its nature, fractured the school community. That "solution" pitted one group of parents against each other (perhaps by FCPS design, perhaps not). I had really hoped that the 2 groups of parents could join together and fight as one to get a solution that worked for everyone and to get real relief for Haycock. But alas, that was not to be. There was no meaningful discussion between the 2 groups. It turned out that those 2 groups were represented by different school board members (for the most part), which made it more of a fight as each member fought for her constituents.

I am really sad that it all unfolded as it did. I think both sides were doing what they thought they could for their children, but I really regret that Haycock was unable to band together as a community to find a solution. I'm not going to place blame on anyone becuase there is plenty to go around. I just think the whole thing was sad and that we did not set a good example for our children of how a community should get together and solve problems.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I realize my post has nothing to do with Boosterthon. I just wanted to add it becuase the undercurrent seems to be that there are crazy Haycock boosters and crazy Cluster 2 parents, alternately arguing that the school is perfect or terrible.

[Anonymous]

i posted previously about Boosterthon, just wanted to add that my dd's VP mentioned earlier this week that their school netted around 20k after Boosterthon's cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cluster 2 parent here. I should probably let this thread die a natural death, but I just wanted to add my perspective.

I have met some truly lovely Haycock base parents! There are a lot of things to love about Haycock. It's far from perfect (as any school is), which adds to the fire here because thre are some overzealous parents who refuse to have any discussion about Haycock that's not 100% positive. Conversely, there are some who refuse to admit that there is anything positive about the school because they are angry and hurt.

I think this year there was a confluence of factors that really poisoned the atmosphere. First, the school is overcrowded, which put people on edge. Then, the solution was one that, by its nature, fractured the school community. That "solution" pitted one group of parents against each other (perhaps by FCPS design, perhaps not). I had really hoped that the 2 groups of parents could join together and fight as one to get a solution that worked for everyone and to get real relief for Haycock. But alas, that was not to be. There was no meaningful discussion between the 2 groups. It turned out that those 2 groups were represented by different school board members (for the most part), which made it more of a fight as each member fought for her constituents.

I am really sad that it all unfolded as it did. I think both sides were doing what they thought they could for their children, but I really regret that Haycock was unable to band together as a community to find a solution. I'm not going to place blame on anyone becuase there is plenty to go around. I just think the whole thing was sad and that we did not set a good example for our children of how a community should get together and solve problems.

I think that, had the growth at Haycock been less rapid, then there might have been more time to try and find a solution to the overcrowding that made more people happy than the ultimate resolution has. But the growth (and one can debate the reasons for that growth) turned out to be substantial just as the school was approaching its scheduled renovation. At that point, you could see a lot of free-floating tension moving from point, as it became clear that the school would not be able to accommodate all the students during the renovation, at least if the renovation proceeded as planned. At first, the target of the parents' anxiety was FCPS and Janie Strauss, for not ensuring that the school would be able to accommodate close to 1,000 students during a renovation, or renovated to accommodate more than 1,000 students. Then, when it became clear that no major changes would be made to the renovation plans, the Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 parents separated into camps, with competing views of how to address the overcrowding. Ultimately, the approach favored by many Cluster 1 parents, Struass and the administrations of Haycock and Lemon Road prevailed, which was to move rising 3-5th grade Cluster 2 AAP students to Lemon Road. This did not sit well with many Cluster 2 parents, and some of them have looked for opportunities ever since to express their unhappiness with the result and their anger towards Cluster 1 parents. That's natural, up to a point, but the approach preferred by some Cluster 2 parents of moving the entire AAP program to Pimmit Hills until the renovation was complete would not have been viewed by the Cluster 1 parents (some of whom had both AAP and GenEd kids at Haycock and/or currently walk to Haycock) as any more palatable than some Cluster 2 parents felt about the approach adopted by the School Board.

The elephant in the room, of course, was the fact that most, but not all, of the Cluster 1 families at Haycock were in the McLean pyramid (some go to Langley), and most, but not all, of the Cluster 2 families at Haycock were in the Marshall pyramid (some go to McLean). Looming in the background was this perception among Cluster 2 families that "Janie Strauss always does what McLean wants," and "nobody ever sticks up for Marshall." Patty Reed did speak up for the Cluster 2 families eventually, but she got involved very late in the process and did not have much of an impact.

Redistrictings happen all the time in FCPS. They are almost always contentious, and some people come away very unhappy, but I can't think of another instance where the parents who did not like the outcome remained as vocal and bitter about their disappointment as the Cluster 2 families here. But, on the other hand, there probably have been few instances where another group as parents appeared to be as actively involved in lobbying for a particular result perceived as unfavorable to another group of parents as the Cluster 1 parents here. In the normal course, a redistricting would be in the works for a longer period of time, and there would be more transparency about the options on the table and their pros and cons, and FCPS and the School Board would take the brunt of any criticisms with the final result. But here, because the process was so truncated, it felt more like a free-for-all, with parents more actively involved. It is what it is, but I do hope that, in the future, FCPS Staff looks at the enrollment numbers more carefully and works harder to anticipate, rather than react to, problems on the horizon, so that other communities don't have to go through something similar, and equally painful. The silver lining is that Lemon Road may turn out to be a wonderful place for the new students, and that many families will be very happy there.