New VA school rating system in 2025-2026 SY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me how far FCPS has fallen since the mid-90s. It would have been unheard of before then to have any schools in those lower two categories.

Massive illegal immigration and far-left Democrats on the SB are all responsible for this decline and it’s shameful.

Yup we all watched it in real time. We heard teachers sounding the alarms years ago but nothing was done.

I love this because it shows just how ignorant Republicans are about themselves.

George bush was the master of No Child Left Behinc- the bill that was supposed to eliminate the “soft bigotry of low expectations” from ELL learners. This bill is the root of all current education issue. Schools are the great equalizer, but that equality needs to be looked at over 1-2 generations, not all to happen within the life time of one child brought to the USA at age 10 and expected to master a new language culture and academic achievements at the same rate of native born middle class children.

That expectation is driving so many educational issue right now.

We are dealing the consequences of NCLB a REPUBLICAN bill that has left school systems unable to meet the needs of their students because those expectations are so unreal for most students.

I say this as a child on an immigrant BTW.

I think you have your chicken and egg reversed. If the Democrats had any interest in enforcing our immigration laws, we would not be in the situation where some schools are overwhelmed by poor ESL immigrants. A smaller number of poor ESL students would be manageable, but not the huge influx FCPS and other jurisdictions have seen.

Only now that some limousine liberals may be rezoned to those overwhelmed schools do they see the folly of their ways. But then again, Fairfax will go in the tank again for a Democratic presidential candidate, and the current official designated as responsible for the border, who will do absolutely nothing about the border.

No sweetie I do not. Again, you are a republican and have a constant stream of incorrect history.

NCLB was run by Bush who changed the landscape of the American education system. He instituted standardize testing for everyone regardless of how much English that child knew and tied federal dollars to schools that brought test ‘scores ‘up.’

If his intent was to stop immigration, he should have passed more immigration bills. He didn’t. He talked about soft bigotry of low expectations and teachers were told that kids who didnt’ speak English didn’t pass the test because we were racist. I’m not making this up- this was all BUSH and the republicans.

Stop tying money to test scores and expecting children to pass tests on when they can’t speak the language the test is written int.

Immigration isn’t an education problem it is a societal and economic one. Why are you yelling at ‘schools about immigration and not all the companies that hire illegal immig]rants?

I’ll tell you why- because schools are run by mostly by women and you find it easier to blame at women than to take down a business run by a man for providing the very jobs that bring these kids parents here.

So I know where the chicken is hatched, plucked and turned into boneless skinless children breast for my store. It is in a factory that is run by a man with illegal immigrants doing the work.

Get your own chicken and eggs sorted out.

I think you missed the point. If we didn't have an overwhelming amount of illegal immigration, then certain school would not have such a burden (whether NCLB existed or not). These schools might very well look much better. I am not blaming the schools or teachers. I am blaming the voters for not understanding the consequences of their votes, the resulting policies, and the direct impact on schools. Perhaps NCLB just highlights the impacts of a high rate of illegal immigration. And if not NCLB, would other standardized testing not show the same thing? Unless of course you just want zero testing so that these facts are kept hidden. Immigration is indeed an education problem when uncontrolled.

I would like to see immigration laws relative to work enforced as well. I have absolutely no problem with that - bring it on! Your odd transition to a man-woman issue is bizarre and seems to speak to a chip on your shoulder.

I am looking at things from a different angle, but I do not have a chip on my shoulder. I’m pointing out the obvious, that rather than picking on businesses for hiring immigrants, you are choosing to pick on voters and schools. You ARE doing that and are attempting to pin voters for not voting on immigration rather than asking businesses to take a stand against higher in illegal immigrants. Why say it is the voters issue- it is an economic and business one. Again, you are picking the low hanging fruit (votes and schools with fairly compliant workforce) rather than attacking the true issue becuase you find businessmen formidable opponents and or can understand their point of view. You give credence to the idea that they should be hiring at the lowest wage to keep their profits up, but you aren’t understand that these workers come to what USA with families . Start at the heart of the issue- the workforce.

NBCLB could very easily have been written from the stand point of ensuring children make progress- and we could easily have different standards for ESL children based upon this English skill level- all ESL kids are given a very long test each year to place them in an ESL level. That could be away to assess progress along with the current battery of tests that test on a sliding scale anyway - they adjust with the test taker and can track progress not just benchmark standards.

Instead of this, money is tied to school test scores based on ALL kids reach the exact same level. THAT is the educational issue here, not immigration. The issue of all kids not meeting benchmark comes because the benchmark is normed for English speaking kids. That can be fixed by untethering test scores (which rely on English proficiency) and the funding of schools. ALL of which was brought on by BUSH and the republicans.


The economic and social problem of immigration exists because businesses give jobs to illegal immigrants. Fix that.

This is a SCHOOL forum. And I said I am all for enforcing workforce laws related to immigration status.

Clearly it is a school forum but you (singular or plural) are bringing voting and immigration into it. Repeatedly. Voting for a republican president is how we arrived at our current education policy. Voting republican isn’t the fix you (all)are claiming it to be.

The problem is not the testing.

Correct but part of the problem is the oversimplification of the issue. Like you just did to my post by saying testing was the sole issue I stated.

One more time for you:
CONNECTING FUNDING and ACCREDITATION to testing that is based solely upon all students ( regardless of sped or esl status) against benchmarks (not using any kind of student progress) is the biggest educational
Issue schools are facing

I'm not oversimplifying anything. You're wrong. Funding and accreditation should be connected to testing. Why throw good money after bad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me how far FCPS has fallen since the mid-90s. It would have been unheard of before then to have any schools in those lower two categories.

Massive illegal immigration and far-left Democrats on the SB are all responsible for this decline and it’s shameful.

Yup we all watched it in real time. We heard teachers sounding the alarms years ago but nothing was done.

I love this because it shows just how ignorant Republicans are about themselves.

George bush was the master of No Child Left Behinc- the bill that was supposed to eliminate the “soft bigotry of low expectations” from ELL learners. This bill is the root of all current education issue. Schools are the great equalizer, but that equality needs to be looked at over 1-2 generations, not all to happen within the life time of one child brought to the USA at age 10 and expected to master a new language culture and academic achievements at the same rate of native born middle class children.

That expectation is driving so many educational issue right now.

We are dealing the consequences of NCLB a REPUBLICAN bill that has left school systems unable to meet the needs of their students because those expectations are so unreal for most students.

I say this as a child on an immigrant BTW.

I think you have your chicken and egg reversed. If the Democrats had any interest in enforcing our immigration laws, we would not be in the situation where some schools are overwhelmed by poor ESL immigrants. A smaller number of poor ESL students would be manageable, but not the huge influx FCPS and other jurisdictions have seen.

Only now that some limousine liberals may be rezoned to those overwhelmed schools do they see the folly of their ways. But then again, Fairfax will go in the tank again for a Democratic presidential candidate, and the current official designated as responsible for the border, who will do absolutely nothing about the border.

No sweetie I do not. Again, you are a republican and have a constant stream of incorrect history.

NCLB was run by Bush who changed the landscape of the American education system. He instituted standardize testing for everyone regardless of how much English that child knew and tied federal dollars to schools that brought test ‘scores ‘up.’

If his intent was to stop immigration, he should have passed more immigration bills. He didn’t. He talked about soft bigotry of low expectations and teachers were told that kids who didnt’ speak English didn’t pass the test because we were racist. I’m not making this up- this was all BUSH and the republicans.

Stop tying money to test scores and expecting children to pass tests on when they can’t speak the language the test is written int.

Immigration isn’t an education problem it is a societal and economic one. Why are you yelling at ‘schools about immigration and not all the companies that hire illegal immig]rants?

I’ll tell you why- because schools are run by mostly by women and you find it easier to blame at women than to take down a business run by a man for providing the very jobs that bring these kids parents here.

So I know where the chicken is hatched, plucked and turned into boneless skinless children breast for my store. It is in a factory that is run by a man with illegal immigrants doing the work.

Get your own chicken and eggs sorted out.

I think you missed the point. If we didn't have an overwhelming amount of illegal immigration, then certain school would not have such a burden (whether NCLB existed or not). These schools might very well look much better. I am not blaming the schools or teachers. I am blaming the voters for not understanding the consequences of their votes, the resulting policies, and the direct impact on schools. Perhaps NCLB just highlights the impacts of a high rate of illegal immigration. And if not NCLB, would other standardized testing not show the same thing? Unless of course you just want zero testing so that these facts are kept hidden. Immigration is indeed an education problem when uncontrolled.

I would like to see immigration laws relative to work enforced as well. I have absolutely no problem with that - bring it on! Your odd transition to a man-woman issue is bizarre and seems to speak to a chip on your shoulder.

I am looking at things from a different angle, but I do not have a chip on my shoulder. I’m pointing out the obvious, that rather than picking on businesses for hiring immigrants, you are choosing to pick on voters and schools. You ARE doing that and are attempting to pin voters for not voting on immigration rather than asking businesses to take a stand against higher in illegal immigrants. Why say it is the voters issue- it is an economic and business one. Again, you are picking the low hanging fruit (votes and schools with fairly compliant workforce) rather than attacking the true issue becuase you find businessmen formidable opponents and or can understand their point of view. You give credence to the idea that they should be hiring at the lowest wage to keep their profits up, but you aren’t understand that these workers come to what USA with families . Start at the heart of the issue- the workforce.

NBCLB could very easily have been written from the stand point of ensuring children make progress- and we could easily have different standards for ESL children based upon this English skill level- all ESL kids are given a very long test each year to place them in an ESL level. That could be away to assess progress along with the current battery of tests that test on a sliding scale anyway - they adjust with the test taker and can track progress not just benchmark standards.

Instead of this, money is tied to school test scores based on ALL kids reach the exact same level. THAT is the educational issue here, not immigration. The issue of all kids not meeting benchmark comes because the benchmark is normed for English speaking kids. That can be fixed by untethering test scores (which rely on English proficiency) and the funding of schools. ALL of which was brought on by BUSH and the republicans.


The economic and social problem of immigration exists because businesses give jobs to illegal immigrants. Fix that.

This is a SCHOOL forum. And I said I am all for enforcing workforce laws related to immigration status.

Clearly it is a school forum but you (singular or plural) are bringing voting and immigration into it. Repeatedly. Voting for a republican president is how we arrived at our current education policy. Voting republican isn’t the fix you (all)are claiming it to be.

The problem is not the testing.

Correct but part of the problem is the oversimplification of the issue. Like you just did to my post by saying testing was the sole issue I stated.

One more time for you:
CONNECTING FUNDING and ACCREDITATION to testing that is based solely upon all students ( regardless of sped or esl status) against benchmarks (not using any kind of student progress) is the biggest educational
Issue schools are facing

I'm not oversimplifying anything. You're wrong. Funding and accreditation should be connected to testing. Why throw good money after bad?

Todavía estás simplificando demasiado el cambio.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me how far FCPS has fallen since the mid-90s. It would have been unheard of before then to have any schools in those lower two categories.

Massive illegal immigration and far-left Democrats on the SB are all responsible for this decline and it’s shameful.

Yup we all watched it in real time. We heard teachers sounding the alarms years ago but nothing was done.

I love this because it shows just how ignorant Republicans are about themselves.

George bush was the master of No Child Left Behinc- the bill that was supposed to eliminate the “soft bigotry of low expectations” from ELL learners. This bill is the root of all current education issue. Schools are the great equalizer, but that equality needs to be looked at over 1-2 generations, not all to happen within the life time of one child brought to the USA at age 10 and expected to master a new language culture and academic achievements at the same rate of native born middle class children.

That expectation is driving so many educational issue right now.

We are dealing the consequences of NCLB a REPUBLICAN bill that has left school systems unable to meet the needs of their students because those expectations are so unreal for most students.

I say this as a child on an immigrant BTW.

I think you have your chicken and egg reversed. If the Democrats had any interest in enforcing our immigration laws, we would not be in the situation where some schools are overwhelmed by poor ESL immigrants. A smaller number of poor ESL students would be manageable, but not the huge influx FCPS and other jurisdictions have seen.

Only now that some limousine liberals may be rezoned to those overwhelmed schools do they see the folly of their ways. But then again, Fairfax will go in the tank again for a Democratic presidential candidate, and the current official designated as responsible for the border, who will do absolutely nothing about the border.

No sweetie I do not. Again, you are a republican and have a constant stream of incorrect history.

NCLB was run by Bush who changed the landscape of the American education system. He instituted standardize testing for everyone regardless of how much English that child knew and tied federal dollars to schools that brought test ‘scores ‘up.’

If his intent was to stop immigration, he should have passed more immigration bills. He didn’t. He talked about soft bigotry of low expectations and teachers were told that kids who didnt’ speak English didn’t pass the test because we were racist. I’m not making this up- this was all BUSH and the republicans.

Stop tying money to test scores and expecting children to pass tests on when they can’t speak the language the test is written int.

Immigration isn’t an education problem it is a societal and economic one. Why are you yelling at ‘schools about immigration and not all the companies that hire illegal immig]rants?

I’ll tell you why- because schools are run by mostly by women and you find it easier to blame at women than to take down a business run by a man for providing the very jobs that bring these kids parents here.

So I know where the chicken is hatched, plucked and turned into boneless skinless children breast for my store. It is in a factory that is run by a man with illegal immigrants doing the work.

Get your own chicken and eggs sorted out.

I think you missed the point. If we didn't have an overwhelming amount of illegal immigration, then certain school would not have such a burden (whether NCLB existed or not). These schools might very well look much better. I am not blaming the schools or teachers. I am blaming the voters for not understanding the consequences of their votes, the resulting policies, and the direct impact on schools. Perhaps NCLB just highlights the impacts of a high rate of illegal immigration. And if not NCLB, would other standardized testing not show the same thing? Unless of course you just want zero testing so that these facts are kept hidden. Immigration is indeed an education problem when uncontrolled.

I would like to see immigration laws relative to work enforced as well. I have absolutely no problem with that - bring it on! Your odd transition to a man-woman issue is bizarre and seems to speak to a chip on your shoulder.

I am looking at things from a different angle, but I do not have a chip on my shoulder. I’m pointing out the obvious, that rather than picking on businesses for hiring immigrants, you are choosing to pick on voters and schools. You ARE doing that and are attempting to pin voters for not voting on immigration rather than asking businesses to take a stand against higher in illegal immigrants. Why say it is the voters issue- it is an economic and business one. Again, you are picking the low hanging fruit (votes and schools with fairly compliant workforce) rather than attacking the true issue becuase you find businessmen formidable opponents and or can understand their point of view. You give credence to the idea that they should be hiring at the lowest wage to keep their profits up, but you aren’t understand that these workers come to what USA with families . Start at the heart of the issue- the workforce.

NBCLB could very easily have been written from the stand point of ensuring children make progress- and we could easily have different standards for ESL children based upon this English skill level- all ESL kids are given a very long test each year to place them in an ESL level. That could be away to assess progress along with the current battery of tests that test on a sliding scale anyway - they adjust with the test taker and can track progress not just benchmark standards.

Instead of this, money is tied to school test scores based on ALL kids reach the exact same level. THAT is the educational issue here, not immigration. The issue of all kids not meeting benchmark comes because the benchmark is normed for English speaking kids. That can be fixed by untethering test scores (which rely on English proficiency) and the funding of schools. ALL of which was brought on by BUSH and the republicans.


The economic and social problem of immigration exists because businesses give jobs to illegal immigrants. Fix that.

This is a SCHOOL forum. And I said I am all for enforcing workforce laws related to immigration status.

Clearly it is a school forum but you (singular or plural) are bringing voting and immigration into it. Repeatedly. Voting for a republican president is how we arrived at our current education policy. Voting republican isn’t the fix you (all)are claiming it to be.

I’m not the pp you’re arguing with and I’m a Harris voter but find it beyond bizarre that you refuse to acknowledge that the HUGE surge of low income ESOL kids is PART of the problem we’re struggling with.

Totally agree with you that “ Schools are the great equalizer, but that equality needs to be looked at over 1-2 generations, not all to happen within the life time of one child brought to the USA at age 10 and expected to master a new language culture and academic achievements at the same rate of native born middle class children.”. And it is nuts to say a kid who showed up yesterday in the US is failing because they can’t speak English yet.

But it is also nuts not to admit that a compounding factor plaguing our schools is that they saw a massive increase in low income ESOL kids that struggle with the issue above plus the issues of being lower income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me how far FCPS has fallen since the mid-90s. It would have been unheard of before then to have any schools in those lower two categories.

Massive illegal immigration and far-left Democrats on the SB are all responsible for this decline and it’s shameful.

Yup we all watched it in real time. We heard teachers sounding the alarms years ago but nothing was done.

I love this because it shows just how ignorant Republicans are about themselves.

George bush was the master of No Child Left Behinc- the bill that was supposed to eliminate the “soft bigotry of low expectations” from ELL learners. This bill is the root of all current education issue. Schools are the great equalizer, but that equality needs to be looked at over 1-2 generations, not all to happen within the life time of one child brought to the USA at age 10 and expected to master a new language culture and academic achievements at the same rate of native born middle class children.

That expectation is driving so many educational issue right now.

We are dealing the consequences of NCLB a REPUBLICAN bill that has left school systems unable to meet the needs of their students because those expectations are so unreal for most students.

I say this as a child on an immigrant BTW.

I think you have your chicken and egg reversed. If the Democrats had any interest in enforcing our immigration laws, we would not be in the situation where some schools are overwhelmed by poor ESL immigrants. A smaller number of poor ESL students would be manageable, but not the huge influx FCPS and other jurisdictions have seen.

Only now that some limousine liberals may be rezoned to those overwhelmed schools do they see the folly of their ways. But then again, Fairfax will go in the tank again for a Democratic presidential candidate, and the current official designated as responsible for the border, who will do absolutely nothing about the border.

No sweetie I do not. Again, you are a republican and have a constant stream of incorrect history.

NCLB was run by Bush who changed the landscape of the American education system. He instituted standardize testing for everyone regardless of how much English that child knew and tied federal dollars to schools that brought test ‘scores ‘up.’

If his intent was to stop immigration, he should have passed more immigration bills. He didn’t. He talked about soft bigotry of low expectations and teachers were told that kids who didnt’ speak English didn’t pass the test because we were racist. I’m not making this up- this was all BUSH and the republicans.

Stop tying money to test scores and expecting children to pass tests on when they can’t speak the language the test is written int.

Immigration isn’t an education problem it is a societal and economic one. Why are you yelling at ‘schools about immigration and not all the companies that hire illegal immig]rants?

I’ll tell you why- because schools are run by mostly by women and you find it easier to blame at women than to take down a business run by a man for providing the very jobs that bring these kids parents here.

So I know where the chicken is hatched, plucked and turned into boneless skinless children breast for my store. It is in a factory that is run by a man with illegal immigrants doing the work.

Get your own chicken and eggs sorted out.

I think you missed the point. If we didn't have an overwhelming amount of illegal immigration, then certain school would not have such a burden (whether NCLB existed or not). These schools might very well look much better. I am not blaming the schools or teachers. I am blaming the voters for not understanding the consequences of their votes, the resulting policies, and the direct impact on schools. Perhaps NCLB just highlights the impacts of a high rate of illegal immigration. And if not NCLB, would other standardized testing not show the same thing? Unless of course you just want zero testing so that these facts are kept hidden. Immigration is indeed an education problem when uncontrolled.

I would like to see immigration laws relative to work enforced as well. I have absolutely no problem with that - bring it on! Your odd transition to a man-woman issue is bizarre and seems to speak to a chip on your shoulder.

I am looking at things from a different angle, but I do not have a chip on my shoulder. I’m pointing out the obvious, that rather than picking on businesses for hiring immigrants, you are choosing to pick on voters and schools. You ARE doing that and are attempting to pin voters for not voting on immigration rather than asking businesses to take a stand against higher in illegal immigrants. Why say it is the voters issue- it is an economic and business one. Again, you are picking the low hanging fruit (votes and schools with fairly compliant workforce) rather than attacking the true issue becuase you find businessmen formidable opponents and or can understand their point of view. You give credence to the idea that they should be hiring at the lowest wage to keep their profits up, but you aren’t understand that these workers come to what USA with families . Start at the heart of the issue- the workforce.

NBCLB could very easily have been written from the stand point of ensuring children make progress- and we could easily have different standards for ESL children based upon this English skill level- all ESL kids are given a very long test each year to place them in an ESL level. That could be away to assess progress along with the current battery of tests that test on a sliding scale anyway - they adjust with the test taker and can track progress not just benchmark standards.

Instead of this, money is tied to school test scores based on ALL kids reach the exact same level. THAT is the educational issue here, not immigration. The issue of all kids not meeting benchmark comes because the benchmark is normed for English speaking kids. That can be fixed by untethering test scores (which rely on English proficiency) and the funding of schools. ALL of which was brought on by BUSH and the republicans.


The economic and social problem of immigration exists because businesses give jobs to illegal immigrants. Fix that.

This is a SCHOOL forum. And I said I am all for enforcing workforce laws related to immigration status.

Clearly it is a school forum but you (singular or plural) are bringing voting and immigration into it. Repeatedly. Voting for a republican president is how we arrived at our current education policy. Voting republican isn’t the fix you (all)are claiming it to be.

I’m not the pp you’re arguing with and I’m a Harris voter but find it beyond bizarre that you refuse to acknowledge that the HUGE surge of low income ESOL kids is PART of the problem we’re struggling with.

Totally agree with you that “ Schools are the great equalizer, but that equality needs to be looked at over 1-2 generations, not all to happen within the life time of one child brought to the USA at age 10 and expected to master a new language culture and academic achievements at the same rate of native born middle class children.”. And it is nuts to say a kid who showed up yesterday in the US is failing because they can’t speak English yet.

But it is also nuts not to admit that a compounding factor plaguing our schools is that they saw a massive increase in low income ESOL kids that struggle with the issue above plus the issues of being lower income.

Work with me here. If we looked at how much progress all of ‘those kids’ are making in learning English and becoming functional in our culture, an how much algebra they know rather than just how much algebra 2 they know, you would see that FCPS is doing a bang up job.

Different kids need different measures. You are looking at this as a ‘problem” rather than seeing that kids and families need and want different things from the school system.

The one size fits all everyone needs algebra 2 and calculus before leaving high school at 18/19 isn’t a viable time table for everyone nor does it meet everyone’s needs.

There should be flexible tracking starting in middle school. Kids who come in at age 13 speaking an only different language may take a little longer to get to that algebra 2. If algebra 2 is the bar we that kid really wants to get there, subsidize community college for a class or two once they graduate. Create a ladder for these kids that allows them to take classes in the evening and later in life, but the ridging of sticking to everyone must pass these tests at the same rate or a school is failing and shouldn’t get funded is ludicrous.

[Anonymous]

I will add that if you are anti-immigration deal with that as the economic problem it really is.

Schools are being tasked with equalizing society in a way that is impossible especially as they have to run counter to economic and business policies that are driving the immigration issue.

Schools are expected to take all these kids in and get them all to the same level or be told they are failing.

In reality the business are failing to stop hiring these kids and their parents, but the schools are the only ones given the moniker of “failing.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me how far FCPS has fallen since the mid-90s. It would have been unheard of before then to have any schools in those lower two categories.

Massive illegal immigration and far-left Democrats on the SB are all responsible for this decline and it’s shameful.

Yup we all watched it in real time. We heard teachers sounding the alarms years ago but nothing was done.

I love this because it shows just how ignorant Republicans are about themselves.

George bush was the master of No Child Left Behinc- the bill that was supposed to eliminate the “soft bigotry of low expectations” from ELL learners. This bill is the root of all current education issue. Schools are the great equalizer, but that equality needs to be looked at over 1-2 generations, not all to happen within the life time of one child brought to the USA at age 10 and expected to master a new language culture and academic achievements at the same rate of native born middle class children.

That expectation is driving so many educational issue right now.

We are dealing the consequences of NCLB a REPUBLICAN bill that has left school systems unable to meet the needs of their students because those expectations are so unreal for most students.

I say this as a child on an immigrant BTW.

I think you have your chicken and egg reversed. If the Democrats had any interest in enforcing our immigration laws, we would not be in the situation where some schools are overwhelmed by poor ESL immigrants. A smaller number of poor ESL students would be manageable, but not the huge influx FCPS and other jurisdictions have seen.

Only now that some limousine liberals may be rezoned to those overwhelmed schools do they see the folly of their ways. But then again, Fairfax will go in the tank again for a Democratic presidential candidate, and the current official designated as responsible for the border, who will do absolutely nothing about the border.

No sweetie I do not. Again, you are a republican and have a constant stream of incorrect history.

NCLB was run by Bush who changed the landscape of the American education system. He instituted standardize testing for everyone regardless of how much English that child knew and tied federal dollars to schools that brought test ‘scores ‘up.’

If his intent was to stop immigration, he should have passed more immigration bills. He didn’t. He talked about soft bigotry of low expectations and teachers were told that kids who didnt’ speak English didn’t pass the test because we were racist. I’m not making this up- this was all BUSH and the republicans.

Stop tying money to test scores and expecting children to pass tests on when they can’t speak the language the test is written int.

Immigration isn’t an education problem it is a societal and economic one. Why are you yelling at ‘schools about immigration and not all the companies that hire illegal immig]rants?

I’ll tell you why- because schools are run by mostly by women and you find it easier to blame at women than to take down a business run by a man for providing the very jobs that bring these kids parents here.

So I know where the chicken is hatched, plucked and turned into boneless skinless children breast for my store. It is in a factory that is run by a man with illegal immigrants doing the work.

Get your own chicken and eggs sorted out.

I think you missed the point. If we didn't have an overwhelming amount of illegal immigration, then certain school would not have such a burden (whether NCLB existed or not). These schools might very well look much better. I am not blaming the schools or teachers. I am blaming the voters for not understanding the consequences of their votes, the resulting policies, and the direct impact on schools. Perhaps NCLB just highlights the impacts of a high rate of illegal immigration. And if not NCLB, would other standardized testing not show the same thing? Unless of course you just want zero testing so that these facts are kept hidden. Immigration is indeed an education problem when uncontrolled.

I would like to see immigration laws relative to work enforced as well. I have absolutely no problem with that - bring it on! Your odd transition to a man-woman issue is bizarre and seems to speak to a chip on your shoulder.

I am looking at things from a different angle, but I do not have a chip on my shoulder. I’m pointing out the obvious, that rather than picking on businesses for hiring immigrants, you are choosing to pick on voters and schools. You ARE doing that and are attempting to pin voters for not voting on immigration rather than asking businesses to take a stand against higher in illegal immigrants. Why say it is the voters issue- it is an economic and business one. Again, you are picking the low hanging fruit (votes and schools with fairly compliant workforce) rather than attacking the true issue becuase you find businessmen formidable opponents and or can understand their point of view. You give credence to the idea that they should be hiring at the lowest wage to keep their profits up, but you aren’t understand that these workers come to what USA with families . Start at the heart of the issue- the workforce.

NBCLB could very easily have been written from the stand point of ensuring children make progress- and we could easily have different standards for ESL children based upon this English skill level- all ESL kids are given a very long test each year to place them in an ESL level. That could be away to assess progress along with the current battery of tests that test on a sliding scale anyway - they adjust with the test taker and can track progress not just benchmark standards.

Instead of this, money is tied to school test scores based on ALL kids reach the exact same level. THAT is the educational issue here, not immigration. The issue of all kids not meeting benchmark comes because the benchmark is normed for English speaking kids. That can be fixed by untethering test scores (which rely on English proficiency) and the funding of schools. ALL of which was brought on by BUSH and the republicans.


The economic and social problem of immigration exists because businesses give jobs to illegal immigrants. Fix that.

This is a SCHOOL forum. And I said I am all for enforcing workforce laws related to immigration status.

Clearly it is a school forum but you (singular or plural) are bringing voting and immigration into it. Repeatedly. Voting for a republican president is how we arrived at our current education policy. Voting republican isn’t the fix you (all)are claiming it to be.

I’m not the pp you’re arguing with and I’m a Harris voter but find it beyond bizarre that you refuse to acknowledge that the HUGE surge of low income ESOL kids is PART of the problem we’re struggling with.

Totally agree with you that “ Schools are the great equalizer, but that equality needs to be looked at over 1-2 generations, not all to happen within the life time of one child brought to the USA at age 10 and expected to master a new language culture and academic achievements at the same rate of native born middle class children.”. And it is nuts to say a kid who showed up yesterday in the US is failing because they can’t speak English yet.

But it is also nuts not to admit that a compounding factor plaguing our schools is that they saw a massive increase in low income ESOL kids that struggle with the issue above plus the issues of being lower income.

Work with me here. If we looked at how much progress all of ‘those kids’ are making in learning English and becoming functional in our culture, an how much algebra they know rather than just how much algebra 2 they know, you would see that FCPS is doing a bang up job.

Different kids need different measures. You are looking at this as a ‘problem” rather than seeing that kids and families need and want different things from the school system.

The one size fits all everyone needs algebra 2 and calculus before leaving high school at 18/19 isn’t a viable time table for everyone nor does it meet everyone’s needs.

There should be flexible tracking starting in middle school. Kids who come in at age 13 speaking an only different language may take a little longer to get to that algebra 2. If algebra 2 is the bar we that kid really wants to get there, subsidize community college for a class or two once they graduate. Create a ladder for these kids that allows them to take classes in the evening and later in life, but the ridging of sticking to everyone must pass these tests at the same rate or a school is failing and shouldn’t get funded is ludicrous.

DP. Perhaps in theory, but this school board’s only “solution” is to jam kids from higher performing schools into the lower performing schools.

It’s gross and ineffective and has made me align much closer to the republican’s immigration position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me how far FCPS has fallen since the mid-90s. It would have been unheard of before then to have any schools in those lower two categories.

Massive illegal immigration and far-left Democrats on the SB are all responsible for this decline and it’s shameful.

Yup we all watched it in real time. We heard teachers sounding the alarms years ago but nothing was done.

I love this because it shows just how ignorant Republicans are about themselves.

George bush was the master of No Child Left Behinc- the bill that was supposed to eliminate the “soft bigotry of low expectations” from ELL learners. This bill is the root of all current education issue. Schools are the great equalizer, but that equality needs to be looked at over 1-2 generations, not all to happen within the life time of one child brought to the USA at age 10 and expected to master a new language culture and academic achievements at the same rate of native born middle class children.

That expectation is driving so many educational issue right now.

We are dealing the consequences of NCLB a REPUBLICAN bill that has left school systems unable to meet the needs of their students because those expectations are so unreal for most students.

I say this as a child on an immigrant BTW.

I think you have your chicken and egg reversed. If the Democrats had any interest in enforcing our immigration laws, we would not be in the situation where some schools are overwhelmed by poor ESL immigrants. A smaller number of poor ESL students would be manageable, but not the huge influx FCPS and other jurisdictions have seen.

Only now that some limousine liberals may be rezoned to those overwhelmed schools do they see the folly of their ways. But then again, Fairfax will go in the tank again for a Democratic presidential candidate, and the current official designated as responsible for the border, who will do absolutely nothing about the border.

No sweetie I do not. Again, you are a republican and have a constant stream of incorrect history.

NCLB was run by Bush who changed the landscape of the American education system. He instituted standardize testing for everyone regardless of how much English that child knew and tied federal dollars to schools that brought test ‘scores ‘up.’

If his intent was to stop immigration, he should have passed more immigration bills. He didn’t. He talked about soft bigotry of low expectations and teachers were told that kids who didnt’ speak English didn’t pass the test because we were racist. I’m not making this up- this was all BUSH and the republicans.

Stop tying money to test scores and expecting children to pass tests on when they can’t speak the language the test is written int.

Immigration isn’t an education problem it is a societal and economic one. Why are you yelling at ‘schools about immigration and not all the companies that hire illegal immig]rants?

I’ll tell you why- because schools are run by mostly by women and you find it easier to blame at women than to take down a business run by a man for providing the very jobs that bring these kids parents here.

So I know where the chicken is hatched, plucked and turned into boneless skinless children breast for my store. It is in a factory that is run by a man with illegal immigrants doing the work.

Get your own chicken and eggs sorted out.

I think you missed the point. If we didn't have an overwhelming amount of illegal immigration, then certain school would not have such a burden (whether NCLB existed or not). These schools might very well look much better. I am not blaming the schools or teachers. I am blaming the voters for not understanding the consequences of their votes, the resulting policies, and the direct impact on schools. Perhaps NCLB just highlights the impacts of a high rate of illegal immigration. And if not NCLB, would other standardized testing not show the same thing? Unless of course you just want zero testing so that these facts are kept hidden. Immigration is indeed an education problem when uncontrolled.

I would like to see immigration laws relative to work enforced as well. I have absolutely no problem with that - bring it on! Your odd transition to a man-woman issue is bizarre and seems to speak to a chip on your shoulder.

I am looking at things from a different angle, but I do not have a chip on my shoulder. I’m pointing out the obvious, that rather than picking on businesses for hiring immigrants, you are choosing to pick on voters and schools. You ARE doing that and are attempting to pin voters for not voting on immigration rather than asking businesses to take a stand against higher in illegal immigrants. Why say it is the voters issue- it is an economic and business one. Again, you are picking the low hanging fruit (votes and schools with fairly compliant workforce) rather than attacking the true issue becuase you find businessmen formidable opponents and or can understand their point of view. You give credence to the idea that they should be hiring at the lowest wage to keep their profits up, but you aren’t understand that these workers come to what USA with families . Start at the heart of the issue- the workforce.

NBCLB could very easily have been written from the stand point of ensuring children make progress- and we could easily have different standards for ESL children based upon this English skill level- all ESL kids are given a very long test each year to place them in an ESL level. That could be away to assess progress along with the current battery of tests that test on a sliding scale anyway - they adjust with the test taker and can track progress not just benchmark standards.

Instead of this, money is tied to school test scores based on ALL kids reach the exact same level. THAT is the educational issue here, not immigration. The issue of all kids not meeting benchmark comes because the benchmark is normed for English speaking kids. That can be fixed by untethering test scores (which rely on English proficiency) and the funding of schools. ALL of which was brought on by BUSH and the republicans.


The economic and social problem of immigration exists because businesses give jobs to illegal immigrants. Fix that.

This is a SCHOOL forum. And I said I am all for enforcing workforce laws related to immigration status.

Clearly it is a school forum but you (singular or plural) are bringing voting and immigration into it. Repeatedly. Voting for a republican president is how we arrived at our current education policy. Voting republican isn’t the fix you (all)are claiming it to be.

I’m not the pp you’re arguing with and I’m a Harris voter but find it beyond bizarre that you refuse to acknowledge that the HUGE surge of low income ESOL kids is PART of the problem we’re struggling with.

Totally agree with you that “ Schools are the great equalizer, but that equality needs to be looked at over 1-2 generations, not all to happen within the life time of one child brought to the USA at age 10 and expected to master a new language culture and academic achievements at the same rate of native born middle class children.”. And it is nuts to say a kid who showed up yesterday in the US is failing because they can’t speak English yet.

But it is also nuts not to admit that a compounding factor plaguing our schools is that they saw a massive increase in low income ESOL kids that struggle with the issue above plus the issues of being lower income.

Work with me here. If we looked at how much progress all of ‘those kids’ are making in learning English and becoming functional in our culture, an how much algebra they know rather than just how much algebra 2 they know, you would see that FCPS is doing a bang up job.

Different kids need different measures. You are looking at this as a ‘problem” rather than seeing that kids and families need and want different things from the school system.

The one size fits all everyone needs algebra 2 and calculus before leaving high school at 18/19 isn’t a viable time table for everyone nor does it meet everyone’s needs.

There should be flexible tracking starting in middle school. Kids who come in at age 13 speaking an only different language may take a little longer to get to that algebra 2. If algebra 2 is the bar we that kid really wants to get there, subsidize community college for a class or two once they graduate. Create a ladder for these kids that allows them to take classes in the evening and later in life, but the ridging of sticking to everyone must pass these tests at the same rate or a school is failing and shouldn’t get funded is ludicrous.

DP. Perhaps in theory, but this school board’s only “solution” is to jam kids from higher performing schools into the lower performing schools.

It’s gross and ineffective and has made me align much closer to the republican’s immigration position.

I 100% agree this SB sucks and is chasing the wrong solution and will use my kid to prop up others. I’m pissed about here in west Springfield.
I also 100% disagree that thinking and doing better is impossible. There is a better way and Fairfax and its school board and Superintendent Reid should start looking at real solutions rather than stop gaps that hurt more kids rather than fixing the issues. We should do better and lead the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me how far FCPS has fallen since the mid-90s. It would have been unheard of before then to have any schools in those lower two categories.

Massive illegal immigration and far-left Democrats on the SB are all responsible for this decline and it’s shameful.

Yup we all watched it in real time. We heard teachers sounding the alarms years ago but nothing was done.

I love this because it shows just how ignorant Republicans are about themselves.

George bush was the master of No Child Left Behinc- the bill that was supposed to eliminate the “soft bigotry of low expectations” from ELL learners. This bill is the root of all current education issue. Schools are the great equalizer, but that equality needs to be looked at over 1-2 generations, not all to happen within the life time of one child brought to the USA at age 10 and expected to master a new language culture and academic achievements at the same rate of native born middle class children.

That expectation is driving so many educational issue right now.

We are dealing the consequences of NCLB a REPUBLICAN bill that has left school systems unable to meet the needs of their students because those expectations are so unreal for most students.

I say this as a child on an immigrant BTW.

I think you have your chicken and egg reversed. If the Democrats had any interest in enforcing our immigration laws, we would not be in the situation where some schools are overwhelmed by poor ESL immigrants. A smaller number of poor ESL students would be manageable, but not the huge influx FCPS and other jurisdictions have seen.

Only now that some limousine liberals may be rezoned to those overwhelmed schools do they see the folly of their ways. But then again, Fairfax will go in the tank again for a Democratic presidential candidate, and the current official designated as responsible for the border, who will do absolutely nothing about the border.

No sweetie I do not. Again, you are a republican and have a constant stream of incorrect history.

NCLB was run by Bush who changed the landscape of the American education system. He instituted standardize testing for everyone regardless of how much English that child knew and tied federal dollars to schools that brought test ‘scores ‘up.’

If his intent was to stop immigration, he should have passed more immigration bills. He didn’t. He talked about soft bigotry of low expectations and teachers were told that kids who didnt’ speak English didn’t pass the test because we were racist. I’m not making this up- this was all BUSH and the republicans.

Stop tying money to test scores and expecting children to pass tests on when they can’t speak the language the test is written int.

Immigration isn’t an education problem it is a societal and economic one. Why are you yelling at ‘schools about immigration and not all the companies that hire illegal immig]rants?

I’ll tell you why- because schools are run by mostly by women and you find it easier to blame at women than to take down a business run by a man for providing the very jobs that bring these kids parents here.

So I know where the chicken is hatched, plucked and turned into boneless skinless children breast for my store. It is in a factory that is run by a man with illegal immigrants doing the work.

Get your own chicken and eggs sorted out.

I think you missed the point. If we didn't have an overwhelming amount of illegal immigration, then certain school would not have such a burden (whether NCLB existed or not). These schools might very well look much better. I am not blaming the schools or teachers. I am blaming the voters for not understanding the consequences of their votes, the resulting policies, and the direct impact on schools. Perhaps NCLB just highlights the impacts of a high rate of illegal immigration. And if not NCLB, would other standardized testing not show the same thing? Unless of course you just want zero testing so that these facts are kept hidden. Immigration is indeed an education problem when uncontrolled.

I would like to see immigration laws relative to work enforced as well. I have absolutely no problem with that - bring it on! Your odd transition to a man-woman issue is bizarre and seems to speak to a chip on your shoulder.

I am looking at things from a different angle, but I do not have a chip on my shoulder. I’m pointing out the obvious, that rather than picking on businesses for hiring immigrants, you are choosing to pick on voters and schools. You ARE doing that and are attempting to pin voters for not voting on immigration rather than asking businesses to take a stand against higher in illegal immigrants. Why say it is the voters issue- it is an economic and business one. Again, you are picking the low hanging fruit (votes and schools with fairly compliant workforce) rather than attacking the true issue becuase you find businessmen formidable opponents and or can understand their point of view. You give credence to the idea that they should be hiring at the lowest wage to keep their profits up, but you aren’t understand that these workers come to what USA with families . Start at the heart of the issue- the workforce.

NBCLB could very easily have been written from the stand point of ensuring children make progress- and we could easily have different standards for ESL children based upon this English skill level- all ESL kids are given a very long test each year to place them in an ESL level. That could be away to assess progress along with the current battery of tests that test on a sliding scale anyway - they adjust with the test taker and can track progress not just benchmark standards.

Instead of this, money is tied to school test scores based on ALL kids reach the exact same level. THAT is the educational issue here, not immigration. The issue of all kids not meeting benchmark comes because the benchmark is normed for English speaking kids. That can be fixed by untethering test scores (which rely on English proficiency) and the funding of schools. ALL of which was brought on by BUSH and the republicans.


The economic and social problem of immigration exists because businesses give jobs to illegal immigrants. Fix that.

This is a SCHOOL forum. And I said I am all for enforcing workforce laws related to immigration status.

Clearly it is a school forum but you (singular or plural) are bringing voting and immigration into it. Repeatedly. Voting for a republican president is how we arrived at our current education policy. Voting republican isn’t the fix you (all)are claiming it to be.

I’m not the pp you’re arguing with and I’m a Harris voter but find it beyond bizarre that you refuse to acknowledge that the HUGE surge of low income ESOL kids is PART of the problem we’re struggling with.

Totally agree with you that “ Schools are the great equalizer, but that equality needs to be looked at over 1-2 generations, not all to happen within the life time of one child brought to the USA at age 10 and expected to master a new language culture and academic achievements at the same rate of native born middle class children.”. And it is nuts to say a kid who showed up yesterday in the US is failing because they can’t speak English yet.

But it is also nuts not to admit that a compounding factor plaguing our schools is that they saw a massive increase in low income ESOL kids that struggle with the issue above plus the issues of being lower income.

Work with me here. If we looked at how much progress all of ‘those kids’ are making in learning English and becoming functional in our culture, an how much algebra they know rather than just how much algebra 2 they know, you would see that FCPS is doing a bang up job.

Different kids need different measures. You are looking at this as a ‘problem” rather than seeing that kids and families need and want different things from the school system.

The one size fits all everyone needs algebra 2 and calculus before leaving high school at 18/19 isn’t a viable time table for everyone nor does it meet everyone’s needs.

There should be flexible tracking starting in middle school. Kids who come in at age 13 speaking an only different language may take a little longer to get to that algebra 2. If algebra 2 is the bar we that kid really wants to get there, subsidize community college for a class or two once they graduate. Create a ladder for these kids that allows them to take classes in the evening and later in life, but the ridging of sticking to everyone must pass these tests at the same rate or a school is failing and shouldn’t get funded is ludicrous.

DP. Perhaps in theory, but this school board’s only “solution” is to jam kids from higher performing schools into the lower performing schools.

It’s gross and ineffective and has made me align much closer to the republican’s immigration position.

I 100% agree this SB sucks and is chasing the wrong solution and will use my kid to prop up others. I’m pissed about here in west Springfield.
I also 100% disagree that thinking and doing better is impossible. There is a better way and Fairfax and its school board and Superintendent Reid should start looking at real solutions rather than stop gaps that hurt more kids rather than fixing the issues. We should do better and lead the way.

I keep reading about how San Francisco and Portland Oregon are now reversing their super liberal social policies. That’s what’ll happen here too, except significant damage will already be done, and they won’t be able to easily reverse the changes already made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck trying to get families whose kids miss a lot of school to send theirkids to school. I have no idea what enforcement mechanism that State thinks exists to try and get parents to make their kids attend school or stay at school if they go. It sounds like a ridiculous measure since it is not one that any School or County is in a position to enforce.

Emails and phone calls have not done the trick. I doubt that we are going to see kids brought to school by Police or parents arrested for not sending kids to school. So does the VDOE have some suggestions on how to enforce attendance?

Emails and phone calls haven't worked. So I guess that's it, kids just won't go to school. /s

What a strange viewpoint you have.

What else can the schools do? they can email, call, and send letters. They cannot go to the house and make the parents send the kid to school. They cannot track down kids who are not at home or at school. What exactly do you think that the School can do to make the kid attend?

Call CPS? CPS is overwhelmed and cannot deal with the cases of that they have, to include cases of neglect and abuse, never mind adding in following families of truant kids.

Arrest the parents and charge them with a crime? Families face fines or jail time for not sending their ids to school or kids choosing to skip school? That is going to work really well for lower SES families where the kids are not going to school so they can work or are skipping school because the parent/parents are working multiple jobs and are not able to enforce attendance.

What do you do with the families that are pulling kids out of school to go on vacations during the year? I know people who get letters every year because they choose to take a cruise after Spring Break due to lower prices and pull their kids out of school for 5 days. I know people who pull their kids out to go to Disney for a week in the off season. The letters home and the emails have not stopped them from their annual trip. How are you going to enforce it with those families.

The families that are posting asking what happens when they take their kids out of school for a month to visit families overseas? People are fine with their kids being dropped from the school rolls because they know that they can re-enroll their kids when they come home. Maybe you can effect that by telling parents that if their kids are removed from the school rolls then the kid can not return to AP/IB classes and has to take Gen Ed classes. I suspect that will lead to law suits though.

The State is tying accreditation to something that they cannot enforce and School Districts cannot enforce. It is as ridiculous as expecting students with serious LDs and EDs or who are ELL to be able to score on grade level with State Wide exams. All it is going to do is point to schools that have issues that are directly tied to income, which we already know. It accomplishes nothing and offers no way to address the known issues.

The obvious answer would be to restart the policy where 5 unexcused absences per quarter means you fail the class. Three unexcused tardies used to equal one unexcused absence. Schools used to do this and it worked. The tradeoff is that a lot more kids will fail and it will predominately be kids who are already deemed "at risk". At some point schools decided it was better to have a bunch of kids chronically absent and graduating with basically a courtesy diploma and no actual knowledge than not graduating at all.

And when they’re 21 in 10th grade? What’s the plan then? Kick’em onto the street?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck trying to get families whose kids miss a lot of school to send theirkids to school. I have no idea what enforcement mechanism that State thinks exists to try and get parents to make their kids attend school or stay at school if they go. It sounds like a ridiculous measure since it is not one that any School or County is in a position to enforce.

Emails and phone calls have not done the trick. I doubt that we are going to see kids brought to school by Police or parents arrested for not sending kids to school. So does the VDOE have some suggestions on how to enforce attendance?

We have 15 kids in our neighborhood who went through middle school pandemic "school"

The kids got As for doing nothing and simply logging in most of the time.

Those kids were feral when they started back to real school in 9th grade.

A couple, the ones who transfered to private school for 2020-21, and the ones with hyper parent enrichment, or kids with a personality well suited to distance learning seemed to fare ok.

Around half of them started to dial into school, kinda sorta, towards the end of sophomore year. Many had huge gaps in math, science and writing compared to where high school students should be. Many are addicted to social media.

Probably a quarter of them learned the lesson that school is an after thought and attendance really doesn't matter. The unlimited retake policy and lax standards kept in place through the end of last year didn't help them recover from lost schooling. For them, it just reinforced the idea that school is not important. Social media addiction made things 1000x worse for them.

Several of them are still struggling with attendance and school. Their parents are trying everything, and are besides themselves with frustration, anger, sadness and hopelessness

I am fortunate that my kid falls into that second group, thanks in large part to the year in private school and some amazing and dedicated high school teachers that enforced normal grading standards in spite of FCPS lax requirements.

I do not fault those parents from the last group. Their kids are still a mess from pandemic, in spite of their parents trying to move heaven and earth to keep them on track.

Some of those kids know there is a problem, but trying to fix it as a junior or senior brings a whole new type of hopelessness for the teen that just perpetuates the bad behavior

I know you said you don’t blame the parents, but they are partly to blame. A big part of being a parent is keeping your kid on track you use the phrase “move heaven and earth” But what did that actually entail?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me how far FCPS has fallen since the mid-90s. It would have been unheard of before then to have any schools in those lower two categories.

Massive illegal immigration and far-left Democrats on the SB are all responsible for this decline and it’s shameful.

Fairfax County was smaller than, teachers were better, admins were better, there were less standards, etc....

Or FCPS stopped the spin machine and it has always been bad.

No, it actually was an excellent school district. The spin is what we see today, when FCPS pretends to still be excellent and “world class,” as they like to say.

It had fewer poor and ELL kids. Those kids drag down school ratings and that's reflected in FCPS today. The schools that don't have those kids are still ranked as some of the best schools in the state

+1. Pretty much this people. A school district reflects its population. I agree this is probably just an in for the introduction of school vouchers which will further drag down public education. I do disagree with some of FCPS’s policies like not holding kids accountable for their behaviors and grading policies. This will only put more pressure on school districts to teach to standardized tests.

My friends in more voucher friendly states really appreciated the economic diversity it brought to their private schools. As someone who was educated with a hodge-podge of everything but charter schools, I don't understand why vouchers are such a bad thing. Letting poorer people have the same privilege to pick their schools as the wealthy - the HORRORS. Unless you're FEA, why be threatened?

Because a lot of charter schools are crappy AF and do not operate under the same regulations as public schools. Many are also religious based which some of us are not religious. They also can be more discerning about who they pick so the excuse that it gives poor kids more opportunities is BS.

You don’t think poor smart kids exist?

DP
Truly poor kids are not going to have access to schools via voucher. The rate of FARMS kids in some public schools will skyrocket once middle class kids leave with vouchers. If money from vouchers is pulled directly from the school system, FCPS is going to go downhill faster.

If your going-in assumption is that the schools are so bad anyone with the financial option to do so will leave, then fix the schools. Don’t trap the students.

There's no feasible way to do this that doesn't involve a ton of federal overhauls.

Schools only reflect the families that reside within a school district. The county is getting poorer.

This is it. I grew up in northern Virginia in the 90s. The poor families back then were essentially what we called middle class today. They were struggling, but they had shelter, food, and clothes. There was no surplus. There was nothing left over at the end of the month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me how far FCPS has fallen since the mid-90s. It would have been unheard of before then to have any schools in those lower two categories.

Massive illegal immigration and far-left Democrats on the SB are all responsible for this decline and it’s shameful.

Fairfax County was smaller than, teachers were better, admins were better, there were less standards, etc....

Or FCPS stopped the spin machine and it has always been bad.

No, it actually was an excellent school district. The spin is what we see today, when FCPS pretends to still be excellent and “world class,” as they like to say.

It had fewer poor and ELL kids. Those kids drag down school ratings and that's reflected in FCPS today. The schools that don't have those kids are still ranked as some of the best schools in the state

+1. Pretty much this people. A school district reflects its population. I agree this is probably just an in for the introduction of school vouchers which will further drag down public education. I do disagree with some of FCPS’s policies like not holding kids accountable for their behaviors and grading policies. This will only put more pressure on school districts to teach to standardized tests.

My friends in more voucher friendly states really appreciated the economic diversity it brought to their private schools. As someone who was educated with a hodge-podge of everything but charter schools, I don't understand why vouchers are such a bad thing. Letting poorer people have the same privilege to pick their schools as the wealthy - the HORRORS. Unless you're FEA, why be threatened?

Because a lot of charter schools are crappy AF and do not operate under the same regulations as public schools. Many are also religious based which some of us are not religious. They also can be more discerning about who they pick so the excuse that it gives poor kids more opportunities is BS.

You don’t think poor smart kids exist?

DP
Truly poor kids are not going to have access to schools via voucher. The rate of FARMS kids in some public schools will skyrocket once middle class kids leave with vouchers. If money from vouchers is pulled directly from the school system, FCPS is going to go downhill faster.

If your going-in assumption is that the schools are so bad anyone with the financial option to do so will leave, then fix the schools. Don’t trap the students.

There's no feasible way to do this that doesn't involve a ton of federal overhauls.

Then let kids leave. You can’t have it both ways that there’s no fixing the schools but also say kids and families should stay in schools that aren’t meeting their needs.

You can leave now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck trying to get families whose kids miss a lot of school to send theirkids to school. I have no idea what enforcement mechanism that State thinks exists to try and get parents to make their kids attend school or stay at school if they go. It sounds like a ridiculous measure since it is not one that any School or County is in a position to enforce.

Emails and phone calls have not done the trick. I doubt that we are going to see kids brought to school by Police or parents arrested for not sending kids to school. So does the VDOE have some suggestions on how to enforce attendance?

Emails and phone calls haven't worked. So I guess that's it, kids just won't go to school. /s

What a strange viewpoint you have.

What else can the schools do? they can email, call, and send letters. They cannot go to the house and make the parents send the kid to school. They cannot track down kids who are not at home or at school. What exactly do you think that the School can do to make the kid attend?

Call CPS? CPS is overwhelmed and cannot deal with the cases of that they have, to include cases of neglect and abuse, never mind adding in following families of truant kids.

Arrest the parents and charge them with a crime? Families face fines or jail time for not sending their ids to school or kids choosing to skip school? That is going to work really well for lower SES families where the kids are not going to school so they can work or are skipping school because the parent/parents are working multiple jobs and are not able to enforce attendance.

What do you do with the families that are pulling kids out of school to go on vacations during the year? I know people who get letters every year because they choose to take a cruise after Spring Break due to lower prices and pull their kids out of school for 5 days. I know people who pull their kids out to go to Disney for a week in the off season. The letters home and the emails have not stopped them from their annual trip. How are you going to enforce it with those families.

The families that are posting asking what happens when they take their kids out of school for a month to visit families overseas? People are fine with their kids being dropped from the school rolls because they know that they can re-enroll their kids when they come home. Maybe you can effect that by telling parents that if their kids are removed from the school rolls then the kid can not return to AP/IB classes and has to take Gen Ed classes. I suspect that will lead to law suits though.

The State is tying accreditation to something that they cannot enforce and School Districts cannot enforce. It is as ridiculous as expecting students with serious LDs and EDs or who are ELL to be able to score on grade level with State Wide exams. All it is going to do is point to schools that have issues that are directly tied to income, which we already know. It accomplishes nothing and offers no way to address the known issues.

The obvious answer would be to restart the policy where 5 unexcused absences per quarter means you fail the class. Three unexcused tardies used to equal one unexcused absence. Schools used to do this and it worked. The tradeoff is that a lot more kids will fail and it will predominately be kids who are already deemed "at risk". At some point schools decided it was better to have a bunch of kids chronically absent and graduating with basically a courtesy diploma and no actual knowledge than not graduating at all.

And when they’re 21 in 10th grade? What’s the plan then? Kick’em onto the street?

Schools didn’t ‘decide’ this. When the accreditation at the state and fed level started counting absences and not tardies, this changed the way schools can count theses things. If your school is going to lose accreditation over unexcused tarries and the kids shows up, the school will obviously play the game and make the unexcused tardies be counted. The kid WAS there for most of the say.

It is the rules dictated by NCLB (again) that made schools change this.

What you don’t seem to understand is that MORE flexible options are what kids and families need, not more stringent policies that go against what kids need for education.

If you like the 3 tardiness equal one absence, then absence totals shouldn’t be included in accreditation. My kid misse lots of school last year becuase he had covid while the 5 day rule was in effect, he broke his foot in PE, he had braces and had multiple appointments etc. we got lots of letters about absences, but he earn all As in his AAP classes. So I didn’t care, but the state did. Rules can be dumb unless there is some flexibility built in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck trying to get families whose kids miss a lot of school to send theirkids to school. I have no idea what enforcement mechanism that State thinks exists to try and get parents to make their kids attend school or stay at school if they go. It sounds like a ridiculous measure since it is not one that any School or County is in a position to enforce.

Emails and phone calls have not done the trick. I doubt that we are going to see kids brought to school by Police or parents arrested for not sending kids to school. So does the VDOE have some suggestions on how to enforce attendance?

Emails and phone calls haven't worked. So I guess that's it, kids just won't go to school. /s

What a strange viewpoint you have.

What else can the schools do? they can email, call, and send letters. They cannot go to the house and make the parents send the kid to school. They cannot track down kids who are not at home or at school. What exactly do you think that the School can do to make the kid attend?

Call CPS? CPS is overwhelmed and cannot deal with the cases of that they have, to include cases of neglect and abuse, never mind adding in following families of truant kids.

Arrest the parents and charge them with a crime? Families face fines or jail time for not sending their ids to school or kids choosing to skip school? That is going to work really well for lower SES families where the kids are not going to school so they can work or are skipping school because the parent/parents are working multiple jobs and are not able to enforce attendance.

What do you do with the families that are pulling kids out of school to go on vacations during the year? I know people who get letters every year because they choose to take a cruise after Spring Break due to lower prices and pull their kids out of school for 5 days. I know people who pull their kids out to go to Disney for a week in the off season. The letters home and the emails have not stopped them from their annual trip. How are you going to enforce it with those families.

The families that are posting asking what happens when they take their kids out of school for a month to visit families overseas? People are fine with their kids being dropped from the school rolls because they know that they can re-enroll their kids when they come home. Maybe you can effect that by telling parents that if their kids are removed from the school rolls then the kid can not return to AP/IB classes and has to take Gen Ed classes. I suspect that will lead to law suits though.

The State is tying accreditation to something that they cannot enforce and School Districts cannot enforce. It is as ridiculous as expecting students with serious LDs and EDs or who are ELL to be able to score on grade level with State Wide exams. All it is going to do is point to schools that have issues that are directly tied to income, which we already know. It accomplishes nothing and offers no way to address the known issues.

The obvious answer would be to restart the policy where 5 unexcused absences per quarter means you fail the class. Three unexcused tardies used to equal one unexcused absence. Schools used to do this and it worked. The tradeoff is that a lot more kids will fail and it will predominately be kids who are already deemed "at risk". At some point schools decided it was better to have a bunch of kids chronically absent and graduating with basically a courtesy diploma and no actual knowledge than not graduating at all.

And when they’re 21 in 10th grade? What’s the plan then? Kick’em onto the street?

Before the recession FCPS used to have a program for people like this. Perhaps it’s time to start it back up again. Increase the night school offerings so older students who don’t have a diploma can at least get a HS education and work on their English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck trying to get families whose kids miss a lot of school to send theirkids to school. I have no idea what enforcement mechanism that State thinks exists to try and get parents to make their kids attend school or stay at school if they go. It sounds like a ridiculous measure since it is not one that any School or County is in a position to enforce.

Emails and phone calls have not done the trick. I doubt that we are going to see kids brought to school by Police or parents arrested for not sending kids to school. So does the VDOE have some suggestions on how to enforce attendance?

Emails and phone calls haven't worked. So I guess that's it, kids just won't go to school. /s

What a strange viewpoint you have.

What else can the schools do? they can email, call, and send letters. They cannot go to the house and make the parents send the kid to school. They cannot track down kids who are not at home or at school. What exactly do you think that the School can do to make the kid attend?

Call CPS? CPS is overwhelmed and cannot deal with the cases of that they have, to include cases of neglect and abuse, never mind adding in following families of truant kids.

Arrest the parents and charge them with a crime? Families face fines or jail time for not sending their ids to school or kids choosing to skip school? That is going to work really well for lower SES families where the kids are not going to school so they can work or are skipping school because the parent/parents are working multiple jobs and are not able to enforce attendance.

What do you do with the families that are pulling kids out of school to go on vacations during the year? I know people who get letters every year because they choose to take a cruise after Spring Break due to lower prices and pull their kids out of school for 5 days. I know people who pull their kids out to go to Disney for a week in the off season. The letters home and the emails have not stopped them from their annual trip. How are you going to enforce it with those families.

The families that are posting asking what happens when they take their kids out of school for a month to visit families overseas? People are fine with their kids being dropped from the school rolls because they know that they can re-enroll their kids when they come home. Maybe you can effect that by telling parents that if their kids are removed from the school rolls then the kid can not return to AP/IB classes and has to take Gen Ed classes. I suspect that will lead to law suits though.

The State is tying accreditation to something that they cannot enforce and School Districts cannot enforce. It is as ridiculous as expecting students with serious LDs and EDs or who are ELL to be able to score on grade level with State Wide exams. All it is going to do is point to schools that have issues that are directly tied to income, which we already know. It accomplishes nothing and offers no way to address the known issues.

The obvious answer would be to restart the policy where 5 unexcused absences per quarter means you fail the class. Three unexcused tardies used to equal one unexcused absence. Schools used to do this and it worked. The tradeoff is that a lot more kids will fail and it will predominately be kids who are already deemed "at risk". At some point schools decided it was better to have a bunch of kids chronically absent and graduating with basically a courtesy diploma and no actual knowledge than not graduating at all.

And when they’re 21 in 10th grade? What’s the plan then? Kick’em onto the street?

Schools didn’t ‘decide’ this. When the accreditation at the state and fed level started counting absences and not tardies, this changed the way schools can count theses things. If your school is going to lose accreditation over unexcused tarries and the kids shows up, the school will obviously play the game and make the unexcused tardies be counted. The kid WAS there for most of the say.

It is the rules dictated by NCLB (again) that made schools change this.

What you don’t seem to understand is that MORE flexible options are what kids and families need, not more stringent policies that go against what kids need for education.

If you like the 3 tardiness equal one absence, then absence totals shouldn’t be included in accreditation. My kid misse lots of school last year becuase he had covid while the 5 day rule was in effect, he broke his foot in PE, he had braces and had multiple appointments etc. we got lots of letters about absences, but he earn all As in his AAP classes. So I didn’t care, but the state did. Rules can be dumb unless there is some flexibility built in.

OK, but you should expect with that type of flexibility that families will just lie. “My kid had the stomach flu for five days, and he sprained his ankle at soccer practice, causing him to miss two days and then he showed up with the boot that I bought on Amazon for $20. He also has chronic headaches that causes him to miss school a couple times a month.” These are excuses that parents have been giving us for years.