Summer School Letter

[Anonymous]

When we got the letter last year, we had already paid for camp. When we explained to the camp that the school suggested our child attend summer school, camp understood and gave us a refund except for maybe a $50 application fee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we got the letter last year, we had already paid for camp. When we explained to the camp that the school suggested our child attend summer school, camp understood and gave us a refund except for maybe a $50 application fee.

+1 where there’s a will, there’s a way, good job!

[Anonymous]

The tutor will be a better deal. Individual instruction will help much more.

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind if the school can’t “fill” the summer school classes, they will systematically go down lists of kids in certain grades. At our school they were inviting kids in AAP and also promoting the “summer school” as a fun summer learning environment (program). Op, you have a tutor, you recognize there “could”be an issue in one subject. Please don’t let this ruin anything fun for your child or family this summer. Have fun and go about your summer plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do these come so late? When most working parents have already had to pay for camps for their kids? Do they think kids will just be sitting around all summer? Camps fill up so fast that I book mine latest March. Last year my daughter got the invitation but I'd already shelled out over a thousand dollars for summer camps - nonrefundable.

Not every kid goes to camp. They can’t make the recommendation until the MTSS process has concluded and it’s been documented that multiple interventions have not been successful and gaps in knowledge still persist. I understand your frustration but there has to be enough data to show that the child is consistently not meeting benchmarks and remains at a place of mastery that will make the next year too challenging.

My son get invited often and we skip sometimes. It is not very good. Sorry to all the teachers. Long bus rides, only three week so teachers barley get to know the kids. I am not sure how much my son learns. We are skipping this year.

It is very frustrating to get these notes so late, beyond frustrating. I work and can’t sit around for FCPS to determine my kid needs it when he needs it often but not every year. I came take the risk of no care. And I think summer camps also are good,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do these come so late? When most working parents have already had to pay for camps for their kids? Do they think kids will just be sitting around all summer? Camps fill up so fast that I book mine latest March. Last year my daughter got the invitation but I'd already shelled out over a thousand dollars for summer camps - nonrefundable.

Not every kid goes to camp. They can’t make the recommendation until the MTSS process has concluded and it’s been documented that multiple interventions have not been successful and gaps in knowledge still persist. I understand your frustration but there has to be enough data to show that the child is consistently not meeting benchmarks and remains at a place of mastery that will make the next year too challenging.

TBH, this sounds terrifying. If I were a parent who got one of these letters and had enrolled my kid in camp earlier, I would either send my kid to the free summer school or pay for a supplemental tutor, depending on my means. Failing in school trumps camps, at least for those who have a choice, and camps aren't cheap either.

I’m the teacher PP and this is the typical response we get from parents . They want US to do any and everything on our end during the school year but when we say “okay now you need to do this to help your child too” it’s too much. They have camp, summer plans, etc. They don’t want summer school for whatever reason so they don’t go and then act like it’s on us when their kid continues to struggle the next year. It’s not all, but this is definitely the more common response than the parent actually shifting plans or committing to anything inconvenient for their child’s academic well being. And these letters come late but not out of nowhere - the kids who ultimately qualify for summer school struggle throughout the year and their parents are aware.

If you want children to attend summer school, then tell us in January when we start planning out our summers. It's not my fault the camps fill up in February. Parents can't plan for something they are unaware of.

[Anonymous]

They wouldn’t know in January. The first quarter is team building and assessments. The second quarter is finally when new learning really kicks in, but we are still in Q2 in January. No grade could discern who is most in need for summer at that point.

[Anonymous]

they won free summer school!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They wouldn’t know in January. The first quarter is team building and assessments. The second quarter is finally when new learning really kicks in, but we are still in Q2 in January. No grade could discern who is most in need for summer at that point.

Wasting an entire quarter on team building and assessments is absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do these come so late? When most working parents have already had to pay for camps for their kids? Do they think kids will just be sitting around all summer? Camps fill up so fast that I book mine latest March. Last year my daughter got the invitation but I'd already shelled out over a thousand dollars for summer camps - nonrefundable.

Not every kid goes to camp. They can’t make the recommendation until the MTSS process has concluded and it’s been documented that multiple interventions have not been successful and gaps in knowledge still persist. I understand your frustration but there has to be enough data to show that the child is consistently not meeting benchmarks and remains at a place of mastery that will make the next year too challenging.

TBH, this sounds terrifying. If I were a parent who got one of these letters and had enrolled my kid in camp earlier, I would either send my kid to the free summer school or pay for a supplemental tutor, depending on my means. Failing in school trumps camps, at least for those who have a choice, and camps aren't cheap either.

I’m the teacher PP and this is the typical response we get from parents . They want US to do any and everything on our end during the school year but when we say “okay now you need to do this to help your child too” it’s too much. They have camp, summer plans, etc. They don’t want summer school for whatever reason so they don’t go and then act like it’s on us when their kid continues to struggle the next year. It’s not all, but this is definitely the more common response than the parent actually shifting plans or committing to anything inconvenient for their child’s academic well being. And these letters come late but not out of nowhere - the kids who ultimately qualify for summer school struggle throughout the year and their parents are aware.

Summer school is 3 weeks long at 4 hours/day. Not all parents have jobs that are flexible to accommodate that, so off to camp they go so that the bills can gets paid.

We were offered an early spot, but already work with a tutor 1:1. My sister-in-law is an assistant principal and when I asked her if we should send our kid she said no—she’ll get more out of going to camp. 😳

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do these come so late? When most working parents have already had to pay for camps for their kids? Do they think kids will just be sitting around all summer? Camps fill up so fast that I book mine latest March. Last year my daughter got the invitation but I'd already shelled out over a thousand dollars for summer camps - nonrefundable.

Not every kid goes to camp. They can’t make the recommendation until the MTSS process has concluded and it’s been documented that multiple interventions have not been successful and gaps in knowledge still persist. I understand your frustration but there has to be enough data to show that the child is consistently not meeting benchmarks and remains at a place of mastery that will make the next year too challenging.

TBH, this sounds terrifying. If I were a parent who got one of these letters and had enrolled my kid in camp earlier, I would either send my kid to the free summer school or pay for a supplemental tutor, depending on my means. Failing in school trumps camps, at least for those who have a choice, and camps aren't cheap either.

I’m the teacher PP and this is the typical response we get from parents . They want US to do any and everything on our end during the school year but when we say “okay now you need to do this to help your child too” it’s too much. They have camp, summer plans, etc. They don’t want summer school for whatever reason so they don’t go and then act like it’s on us when their kid continues to struggle the next year. It’s not all, but this is definitely the more common response than the parent actually shifting plans or committing to anything inconvenient for their child’s academic well being. And these letters come late but not out of nowhere - the kids who ultimately qualify for summer school struggle throughout the year and their parents are aware.

Summer school is 3 weeks long at 4 hours/day. Not all parents have jobs that are flexible to accommodate that, so off to camp they go so that the bills can gets paid.

We were offered an early spot, but already work with a tutor 1:1. My sister-in-law is an assistant principal and when I asked her if we should send our kid she said no—she’ll get more out of going to camp. 😳

Bull. No kid improves academically from just a summer camp filled with other kids whose parents need childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do these come so late? When most working parents have already had to pay for camps for their kids? Do they think kids will just be sitting around all summer? Camps fill up so fast that I book mine latest March. Last year my daughter got the invitation but I'd already shelled out over a thousand dollars for summer camps - nonrefundable.

Not every kid goes to camp. They can’t make the recommendation until the MTSS process has concluded and it’s been documented that multiple interventions have not been successful and gaps in knowledge still persist. I understand your frustration but there has to be enough data to show that the child is consistently not meeting benchmarks and remains at a place of mastery that will make the next year too challenging.

My son get invited often and we skip sometimes. It is not very good. Sorry to all the teachers. Long bus rides, only three week so teachers barley get to know the kids. I am not sure how much my son learns. We are skipping this year.

It is very frustrating to get these notes so late, beyond frustrating. I work and can’t sit around for FCPS to determine my kid needs it when he needs it often but not every year. I came take the risk of no care. And I think summer camps also are good,

Why are you apologizing. You made your choice, and teachers understand, we just need you to know you can’t expect miracles in our end when the gaps persist because you don’t value summer school. Parents love to hold OUR feet to the fire and conveniently give themselves all the grace to let academics slide when it works for them. If you choose camps over remediation and then are understanding when we can’t get your son to jump multiple percentile ranges to read on grade level next school year, we have no problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They wouldn’t know in January. The first quarter is team building and assessments. The second quarter is finally when new learning really kicks in, but we are still in Q2 in January. No grade could discern who is most in need for summer at that point.

Wasting an entire quarter on team building and assessments is absurd.

We need baseline assessments to judge progress against for the rest of the year. I truly don’t understand how you think we can measure a child’s growth if we don’t know where they begin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind if the school can’t “fill” the summer school classes, they will systematically go down lists of kids in certain grades. At our school they were inviting kids in AAP and also promoting the “summer school” as a fun summer learning environment (program). Op, you have a tutor, you recognize there “could”be an issue in one subject. Please don’t let this ruin anything fun for your child or family this summer. Have fun and go about your summer plans.

This is my child as well. Not "severely" struggling but could use a boost, IMO, in math so I actually reached out to my kid's teacher to ask about summer school learning programs and got him signed up as soon as the invite went out even though it's going to be a pain to get him to the location due to the pooling schools at one location. I see it as a chance for him to do some learning in a more relaxed environment, it's a short day and he will get exposed to other kids and other teachers. A win win all around.

OP. If you can swing it, I don't think it's a bad thing for your child to be invited to participate in summer learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They wouldn’t know in January. The first quarter is team building and assessments. The second quarter is finally when new learning really kicks in, but we are still in Q2 in January. No grade could discern who is most in need for summer at that point.

Wasting an entire quarter on team building and assessments is absurd.

And also not true.