Was FCCPS well attended today by both kids and teachers?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I find this thread, and other similar complaints, kind of odd. FCC is a small place, and its easy to get information. Do you not pay any attention to calendar discussions? Going to school on Jan 2nd was established over a year ago as a tradeoff for taking the additional religious holidays this year, but not having to go an additional week in June. I believe the original calendar proposal for this year had us in school until June 23rd. The school board then took a careful look at the calendars, did a TON of public engagement and wrote a new calendar policy. This is the only year we will go to school on federal holidays. The SB decided to have school on religious holidays and not have it on federal holidays.
I agree school Monday was kind of strange- but I was fully prepared for it and see no point in fussing about it bc I know it is not going to happen again.

Who’s fussing about Monday? I’m not aware of anyone posting in this thread that THEY had calendar issues.

If you’re going to carry water for Noonan, though, maybe ask why they can’t seem to communicate that the parking lot is hosed? THAT would’ve been nice to know but then it would require actual work from that office instead of navel-gazing.

ha- I think Noonan is an arrogant misogynistic a*** who appears to need a fair amount of public adulation- not about to carry his water I don't know about the parking lot issue- did they take some of it away over break for the construction? that definitely should have been communicated- I find the communications and transparency surrounding secondary campus parking/ access etc to be lacking for sure.

I’m a different PP. Parking has been a hassle all year. Students complained in the fall about not having enough spaces so they took additional spots away from the teachers. That made it tight and created resentment for obvious reasons. Now that additional spots are gone for construction, there have not been enough spaces. We received an email today saying that they would convert some student spots back to teacher spots since they were not issued and we could park in them immediately. We were assured there was plenty of space, which is not true to anyone who actually parks in that lot. It was poor planning to issue any student spots this year.

So now folks are getting nails in tires and other fun debris issues because the parking lot is effectively a live construction site. Admin’s response? “That’s too bad, now go away.”

At least this principal is on his way out.

Which principal is going?

The grapevine says Mr Serentis is on his way out, not necessarily of his own choosing.

I heard differently, that more than one of the administrators are looking at options in other districts. Not that they are being forced out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCCPS parent here, not a staff person....don't understand all the agonizing over parking at the secondary schools and complaints about construction. Maybe some of you never saw the HS building before? it was horrendous. We needed a new school; development of the adjacent land was absolutely necessary to pay for the new school. We have to live with the inconvenience for a few years (for example, I personally hate having to turn right every time I leave campus, but just suck it up and do it...)

All this complaining - what is your proposed solution?

My solution would have been for those in positions of power to have constructed a building that’s a school first rather than a vanity piece for the superintendent and to have anticipated actual needs so that a) there wasn’t a parking shortage in the first place b) there wasn’t ongoing major construction encroaching on and eating up the limited space that is there. I’d have constructed a building where certain teachers don’t have to essentially abandon their classrooms Friday afternoons because we don’t want the community groups using them on the weekends to feel like they can’t make themselves at home.

But then the whole complex is form over function, which is why everything breaks constantly, which shouldn’t be an issue in a brand new, EXPENSIVE space. If we wanted a broken-down unusable heap of a building we could have saved 7-8 figures and just stayed in the old space.

[Anonymous]

^DP and I’ll add that I would have designed a new building without all of the open collaborative areas and added classrooms. I would make sure each teacher has a room or at least an office that isn’t in the middle of a staff lunchroom. I would also add sufficient bathrooms for teachers to use so they didn’t need to share with students.

The old building was falling apart but was more functional as a school.

[Anonymous]

The problem is that everyone in a position of power at Meridian either is there for 2-3 years to build a resume before going to FCPS or Loudoun OR has never worked anywhere else and doesn’t know there are other ways to do things.

Potemkin school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCCPS parent here, not a staff person....don't understand all the agonizing over parking at the secondary schools and complaints about construction. Maybe some of you never saw the HS building before? it was horrendous. We needed a new school; development of the adjacent land was absolutely necessary to pay for the new school. We have to live with the inconvenience for a few years (for example, I personally hate having to turn right every time I leave campus, but just suck it up and do it...)

All this complaining - what is your proposed solution?

Ah, because it REALLY sucked before, you shouldn’t complain now that it sucks less. Are you a school board member?

(by the way, I notice you did not propose a solution, just more complaining....)

No, not a school board member.

"Really sucked before" - do you mean the old high school? Yeah, it did suck. And we needed a new high school, which requires construction.

I don't understand people who live in jurisdictions and then complain endlessly about them. Falls Church City is not the cheapest place to live in the area, so if you're living here, it's probably because you want the sense of community and/or the schools. So do your research before you live somewhere. It's been clear that the high school was dilapidated and would need to be torn down and rebuilt for at least a decade if not more. Don't live in FCC if you don't want the hassle of an old run down high school building being replaced by a new school. There are cheaper places to live within just a few miles. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCCPS parent here, not a staff person....don't understand all the agonizing over parking at the secondary schools and complaints about construction. Maybe some of you never saw the HS building before? it was horrendous. We needed a new school; development of the adjacent land was absolutely necessary to pay for the new school. We have to live with the inconvenience for a few years (for example, I personally hate having to turn right every time I leave campus, but just suck it up and do it...)

All this complaining - what is your proposed solution?

My solution would have been for those in positions of power to have constructed a building that’s a school first rather than a vanity piece for the superintendent and to have anticipated actual needs so that a) there wasn’t a parking shortage in the first place b) there wasn’t ongoing major construction encroaching on and eating up the limited space that is there. I’d have constructed a building where certain teachers don’t have to essentially abandon their classrooms Friday afternoons because we don’t want the community groups using them on the weekends to feel like they can’t make themselves at home.

But then the whole complex is form over function, which is why everything breaks constantly, which shouldn’t be an issue in a brand new, EXPENSIVE space. If we wanted a broken-down unusable heap of a building we could have saved 7-8 figures and just stayed in the old space.

The reason why there is construction is because that development is paying for the school, which is big enough to withstand a nearly doubling in the student population (so it will last a while without needed to be rebuilt or expanded). If there was no development, taxes would have skyrocketed. I have not heard anything about "everything breaking constantly."

And I believe there was a public vote on the school construction, and the school board, which hires the Superintendent, is also up for election every few years, so it seems to me that the community has been given multiple opportunities to weigh in and make their voices heard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that everyone in a position of power at Meridian either is there for 2-3 years to build a resume before going to FCPS or Loudoun OR has never worked anywhere else and doesn’t know there are other ways to do things.

Potemkin school.

Luckily no one is forced to live in Falls Church City; you should definitely move to Fairfax or Loudoun or Arlington and send your kids to school there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that everyone in a position of power at Meridian either is there for 2-3 years to build a resume before going to FCPS or Loudoun OR has never worked anywhere else and doesn’t know there are other ways to do things.

Potemkin school.

Luckily no one is forced to live in Falls Church City; you should definitely move to Fairfax or Loudoun or Arlington and send your kids to school there.

Done and done

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCCPS parent here, not a staff person....don't understand all the agonizing over parking at the secondary schools and complaints about construction. Maybe some of you never saw the HS building before? it was horrendous. We needed a new school; development of the adjacent land was absolutely necessary to pay for the new school. We have to live with the inconvenience for a few years (for example, I personally hate having to turn right every time I leave campus, but just suck it up and do it...)

All this complaining - what is your proposed solution?

Ah, because it REALLY sucked before, you shouldn’t complain now that it sucks less. Are you a school board member?

(by the way, I notice you did not propose a solution, just more complaining....)

No, not a school board member.

"Really sucked before" - do you mean the old high school? Yeah, it did suck. And we needed a new high school, which requires construction.

I don't understand people who live in jurisdictions and then complain endlessly about them. Falls Church City is not the cheapest place to live in the area, so if you're living here, it's probably because you want the sense of community and/or the schools. So do your research before you live somewhere. It's been clear that the high school was dilapidated and would need to be torn down and rebuilt for at least a decade if not more. Don't live in FCC if you don't want the hassle of an old run down high school building being replaced by a new school. There are cheaper places to live within just a few miles. Problem solved.

The best reason not to live in FCC is gatekeepers like this person. I heard great things about the schools, but many of those things turned out to be less than accurate, but rather than try to have them addressed, the Mayor of Falls Church here just tells folks to get out.

No wonder y’all have a reputation as holier than thou.