Schools closed April 21

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is ridiculous. Is it really unsafe to go forward with the voting while schools in session?
-teacher

This reminds me so much of people trying to come up with alternative solutions during COVID and just being told that nothing was possible, there are no solutions other than schools remaining closed.

At my kids’ school (elementary), voting is done in the cafeteria in the front of the school and voters use the main front entrance. There is no real reason why they couldn’t use the gym toward the rear of the school, which has its own entrance/exit (an emergency exit, so would have to be disabled but I know this is possible as events are sometimes set up in the gym and can be loaded directly from the blacktop outside). Close the doors from the gym to the school hallway. People come in to the gym directly from school grounds and leave out the same door. Cancel PE classes for that one day, or have them meet outside, weather permitting, or have them do health activities in the classroom. Kids can still eat in the cafeteria which I know is important as we have about a 20% FARMS rate. An elections official can monitor the entrance and exit, and elections officials could use dividers and signs to point the way as it will be different than usual.

There are solutions - they just don’t want to do the work to do them because it’s far easier to close the schools. With most people voting early these days, turnout at these special elections is quite low anyway. I checked and for the 2025 general election - obviously a much larger election than the one coming up in April - we had less than 1000 votes cast on Election Day. The ballot measure will probably have half that.

This!! Thank you!! Yes, there are solutions! But for some reason, nobody wants them!! We as Americans cannot adapt; we cannot accept any *risk*; we cannot evolve and find solutions. The problem of our era is the mindset that we cannot deal with a change or interruption except to just shut down. Do we really expect everything in life to be planned perfectly a year in advance? We cannot deal with adversity? We cannot handle any perturbation? Are we that weak? As a society, this is crippling. Our youth (without a voice) are paying the price with their education, our parents (heavily mothers) are paying the price of a chaotic schedule. We are setting an absurd example that any ripple in the water should be met with shutting down. How does this serve our kids??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK - this one is for an election and is 100% not FCPS' fault. Give it a rest!

It is their decision to cancel schools for voting we used to hold voting when schools remained open still. That is possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:'Fairfax County Public Schools will still exceed the required number of instructional hours for students, as set by the Virginia Department of Education."

I love that the bar is the bare minimum. Missing days, especially at the end of the year before finals and AP exams definitely has an impact.

They really need to do away with the religious holidays.

You really wanted to regurgitate your "the bar is the bare minimum" line you've said on DOZENS of FCPS post so badly that you're willing to use it even when it doesn't make sense.

This is FCPS saying that they're still SURPASSING/EXCEEDING/DOING MORE THAN the minimum of hours.

So yes, like everything else with a numerically based legal obligation, they're referencing the number they must meet. If they were doing the bare minimum, they would've said:

"FCPS will now be meeting the exact number of required number of instructional hours for students, as set by the Virginia Department of Education."

But they didn't say that. You just wished they did.

NP-you're really arguing semantics and I agree with the prior poster. FCPS is only meeting a very low bar and they are doing the bare minimum. Nothing you say will convince me otherwise.

Semantics? Words have specific meaning. Perhaps a lack of understanding of the definition of "bare minimum" is a more accurate argument for you to try and use.

Fairfax County Public Schools EXCEEDING the amount of required hours, by definition, is doing MORE than the "bare minimum".

But are they exceeding when they have canceling so much school this year? they are lucky they are meeting the minimum. And the bar is a very low 990 hours or 180 days. The min is only 5.5 hours a day and we all know 3/4 of that time is spent in transition or eating lunch.

Agree! The delayed starts started with 30 minute mtg, then lunch and recess! It is so stupid. So he started learning at 1pm those days which probably included specials. And math is normally in the morning. So no math on delayed starts. It is so ridiculous that they call these school days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is ridiculous. Is it really unsafe to go forward with the voting while schools in session?
-teacher

This reminds me so much of people trying to come up with alternative solutions during COVID and just being told that nothing was possible, there are no solutions other than schools remaining closed.

At my kids’ school (elementary), voting is done in the cafeteria in the front of the school and voters use the main front entrance. There is no real reason why they couldn’t use the gym toward the rear of the school, which has its own entrance/exit (an emergency exit, so would have to be disabled but I know this is possible as events are sometimes set up in the gym and can be loaded directly from the blacktop outside). Close the doors from the gym to the school hallway. People come in to the gym directly from school grounds and leave out the same door. Cancel PE classes for that one day, or have them meet outside, weather permitting, or have them do health activities in the classroom. Kids can still eat in the cafeteria which I know is important as we have about a 20% FARMS rate. An elections official can monitor the entrance and exit, and elections officials could use dividers and signs to point the way as it will be different than usual.

There are solutions - they just don’t want to do the work to do them because it’s far easier to close the schools. With most people voting early these days, turnout at these special elections is quite low anyway. I checked and for the 2025 general election - obviously a much larger election than the one coming up in April - we had less than 1000 votes cast on Election Day. The ballot measure will probably have half that.

You don't even have to get creative. FCPS didn't always close on election days. It's not "it can be done" it is "it has been done." Go look up the old plans and use them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is ridiculous. Is it really unsafe to go forward with the voting while schools in session?
-teacher

This reminds me so much of people trying to come up with alternative solutions during COVID and just being told that nothing was possible, there are no solutions other than schools remaining closed.

At my kids’ school (elementary), voting is done in the cafeteria in the front of the school and voters use the main front entrance. There is no real reason why they couldn’t use the gym toward the rear of the school, which has its own entrance/exit (an emergency exit, so would have to be disabled but I know this is possible as events are sometimes set up in the gym and can be loaded directly from the blacktop outside). Close the doors from the gym to the school hallway. People come in to the gym directly from school grounds and leave out the same door. Cancel PE classes for that one day, or have them meet outside, weather permitting, or have them do health activities in the classroom. Kids can still eat in the cafeteria which I know is important as we have about a 20% FARMS rate. An elections official can monitor the entrance and exit, and elections officials could use dividers and signs to point the way as it will be different than usual.

There are solutions - they just don’t want to do the work to do them because it’s far easier to close the schools. With most people voting early these days, turnout at these special elections is quite low anyway. I checked and for the 2025 general election - obviously a much larger election than the one coming up in April - we had less than 1000 votes cast on Election Day. The ballot measure will probably have half that.

This!! Thank you!! Yes, there are solutions! But for some reason, nobody wants them!! We as Americans cannot adapt; we cannot accept any *risk*; we cannot evolve and find solutions. The problem of our era is the mindset that we cannot deal with a change or interruption except to just shut down. Do we really expect everything in life to be planned perfectly a year in advance? We cannot deal with adversity? We cannot handle any perturbation? Are we that weak? As a society, this is crippling. Our youth (without a voice) are paying the price with their education, our parents (heavily mothers) are paying the price of a chaotic schedule. We are setting an absurd example that any ripple in the water should be met with shutting down. How does this serve our kids??

If you teach your children otherwise, it serves your kids really well. Because they will be competing against people who cannot cope in the real world.

[Anonymous]

You can’t have kids in buildings with hundreds of unknown people coming and going in the school building as they please. If one incident occurred this website would have 1000 topics dedicated to the ignorance FCPS displayed by not keeping their children safe.
Today’s political environment is different than it was 15 years ago. There is a segment of the population that is much more “spirited” than before. FCPS is doing the right thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can’t have kids in buildings with hundreds of unknown people coming and going in the school building as they please. If one incident occurred this website would have 1000 topics dedicated to the ignorance FCPS displayed by not keeping their children safe.
Today’s political environment is different than it was 15 years ago. There is a segment of the population that is much more “spirited” than before. FCPS is doing the right thing.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:'Fairfax County Public Schools will still exceed the required number of instructional hours for students, as set by the Virginia Department of Education."

I love that the bar is the bare minimum. Missing days, especially at the end of the year before finals and AP exams definitely has an impact.

They really need to do away with the religious holidays.

You really wanted to regurgitate your "the bar is the bare minimum" line you've said on DOZENS of FCPS post so badly that you're willing to use it even when it doesn't make sense.

This is FCPS saying that they're still SURPASSING/EXCEEDING/DOING MORE THAN the minimum of hours.

So yes, like everything else with a numerically based legal obligation, they're referencing the number they must meet. If they were doing the bare minimum, they would've said:

"FCPS will now be meeting the exact number of required number of instructional hours for students, as set by the Virginia Department of Education."

But they didn't say that. You just wished they did.

NP-you're really arguing semantics and I agree with the prior poster. FCPS is only meeting a very low bar and they are doing the bare minimum. Nothing you say will convince me otherwise.

Semantics? Words have specific meaning. Perhaps a lack of understanding of the definition of "bare minimum" is a more accurate argument for you to try and use.

Fairfax County Public Schools EXCEEDING the amount of required hours, by definition, is doing MORE than the "bare minimum".

But are they exceeding when they have canceling so much school this year? they are lucky they are meeting the minimum. And the bar is a very low 990 hours or 180 days. The min is only 5.5 hours a day and we all know 3/4 of that time is spent in transition or eating lunch.

Agree! The delayed starts started with 30 minute mtg, then lunch and recess! It is so stupid. So he started learning at 1pm those days which probably included specials. And math is normally in the morning. So no math on delayed starts. It is so ridiculous that they call these school days.

Our school cuts recess and we rearrange our schedule to make sure the math and language arts blocks are included. Specials are also shortened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t have kids in buildings with hundreds of unknown people coming and going in the school building as they please. If one incident occurred this website would have 1000 topics dedicated to the ignorance FCPS displayed by not keeping their children safe.
Today’s political environment is different than it was 15 years ago. There is a segment of the population that is much more “spirited” than before. FCPS is doing the right thing.

+1

This is a good point. The other thing missing in this discussion is, at least at my school, the parking lot on a good day is 95% full with staff. Where are voting officials supposed to park? Where are all the voters supposed to park? And what if they park in the bus lane (because you KNOW they will) when buses need to drop off or start picking kids up? How is the school going to maintain a semblance of security for the students when there are myriads of strangers just wandering through the halls looking for the gym to vote? Having a school open during a voting day is a major PITA for staff and students alike. I applaud Reid for recognizing this, especially in light of the fact that it may well be a heavily attending election day for Virginians who care about the future of our state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can’t have kids in buildings with hundreds of unknown people coming and going in the school building as they please. If one incident occurred this website would have 1000 topics dedicated to the ignorance FCPS displayed by not keeping their children safe.
Today’s political environment is different than it was 15 years ago. There is a segment of the population that is much more “spirited” than before. FCPS is doing the right thing.

That's such an odd take. Have you ever heard of an incident at a Fairfax County polling place? A quick search shows that the one protest that did occur was at an early voting location. This is not a thing that happens.

What's your reasoning that children being in the building would make an incident more likely?

[Anonymous]

Because when there is free access to an open school, all it takes is one crazy person to take advantage of it and we have a major problem

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because when there is free access to an open school, all it takes is one crazy person to take advantage of it and we have a major problem

I hate to tell you but there are crazy people taking advantage in schools now. There have been half a dozen arrests in the last few years of FCPS staff for having inappropriate photos of minors, soliciting minors, secretly filming in schools, etc. There are drugs in the schools. There are weapons in the schools. There is bullying in the schools. There is assault in the schools.

One crazy person can walk in to any school RIGHT NOW and there is almost nothing that can be done to stop it.

I'm indifferent to this particular calendar debate. The calendar is awful - this won't make a meaningful difference. The arguments pretending that this is a needed step for total and complete danger elimination is crazy and damaging. There is no such thing as risk-free. All the effort you put into bending over backwards to pretend things are safer than they were without your efforts would be better spent learning risk assessment skills and teaching your kids what to do when risky situations occur. Not to tell them that the people with power will make sure they are always safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because when there is free access to an open school, all it takes is one crazy person to take advantage of it and we have a major problem

I hate to tell you but there are crazy people taking advantage in schools now. There have been half a dozen arrests in the last few years of FCPS staff for having inappropriate photos of minors, soliciting minors, secretly filming in schools, etc. There are drugs in the schools. There are weapons in the schools. There is bullying in the schools. There is assault in the schools.

One crazy person can walk in to any school RIGHT NOW and there is almost nothing that can be done to stop it.

I'm indifferent to this particular calendar debate. The calendar is awful - this won't make a meaningful difference. The arguments pretending that this is a needed step for total and complete danger elimination is crazy and damaging. There is no such thing as risk-free. All the effort you put into bending over backwards to pretend things are safer than they were without your efforts would be better spent learning risk assessment skills and teaching your kids what to do when risky situations occur. Not to tell them that the people with power will make sure they are always safe.

Well Reid and the school board disagree with you. Womp womp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because when there is free access to an open school, all it takes is one crazy person to take advantage of it and we have a major problem

I hate to tell you but there are crazy people taking advantage in schools now. There have been half a dozen arrests in the last few years of FCPS staff for having inappropriate photos of minors, soliciting minors, secretly filming in schools, etc. There are drugs in the schools. There are weapons in the schools. There is bullying in the schools. There is assault in the schools.

One crazy person can walk in to any school RIGHT NOW and there is almost nothing that can be done to stop it.

I'm indifferent to this particular calendar debate. The calendar is awful - this won't make a meaningful difference. The arguments pretending that this is a needed step for total and complete danger elimination is crazy and damaging. There is no such thing as risk-free. All the effort you put into bending over backwards to pretend things are safer than they were without your efforts would be better spent learning risk assessment skills and teaching your kids what to do when risky situations occur. Not to tell them that the people with power will make sure they are always safe.

Well Reid and the school board disagree with you. Womp womp.

That makes me feel pretty smart, actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:'Fairfax County Public Schools will still exceed the required number of instructional hours for students, as set by the Virginia Department of Education."

I love that the bar is the bare minimum. Missing days, especially at the end of the year before finals and AP exams definitely has an impact.

They really need to do away with the religious holidays.

You really wanted to regurgitate your "the bar is the bare minimum" line you've said on DOZENS of FCPS post so badly that you're willing to use it even when it doesn't make sense.

This is FCPS saying that they're still SURPASSING/EXCEEDING/DOING MORE THAN the minimum of hours.

So yes, like everything else with a numerically based legal obligation, they're referencing the number they must meet. If they were doing the bare minimum, they would've said:

"FCPS will now be meeting the exact number of required number of instructional hours for students, as set by the Virginia Department of Education."

But they didn't say that. You just wished they did.

NP-you're really arguing semantics and I agree with the prior poster. FCPS is only meeting a very low bar and they are doing the bare minimum. Nothing you say will convince me otherwise.

Semantics? Words have specific meaning. Perhaps a lack of understanding of the definition of "bare minimum" is a more accurate argument for you to try and use.

Fairfax County Public Schools EXCEEDING the amount of required hours, by definition, is doing MORE than the "bare minimum".

But are they exceeding when they have canceling so much school this year? they are lucky they are meeting the minimum. And the bar is a very low 990 hours or 180 days. The min is only 5.5 hours a day and we all know 3/4 of that time is spent in transition or eating lunch.

Agree! The delayed starts started with 30 minute mtg, then lunch and recess! It is so stupid. So he started learning at 1pm those days which probably included specials. And math is normally in the morning. So no math on delayed starts. It is so ridiculous that they call these school days.

Our school cuts recess and we rearrange our schedule to make sure the math and language arts blocks are included. Specials are also shortened.

That's awesome. Our school continues on as normal minus the two hours in the mornings. so whatever kids normally did the first two hours just doesn't happen. Would completely make more sense to make adjustments to the schedule.