FCPS decline

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what's the solution besides venting on this forum? I'm not being snarky. What can be done?

A new school board. Unfortunately that is practically impossible at this point. The school board is political and they are all democrats. The school board would do better if it were a mix or independent. We live in an area where almost everyone votes democrat. (I’ve been guilty of doing that as well - not again.) So even people who don’t have kids or don’t care about the school board at all will go and vote and just vote for the democrats on the ballot. A lot of the school board members don’t really care about the school system - they are using it to further their political career. And that means they care less about education and more about social issues.

And so all we can really do is vent on forums like this.

see I asked the question. I am a Democrat and I believe in education. The idea that Republicans prioritize education is pretty ridiculous. To me social justice does not equal having mediocre expectations of students.

But that is what happens.

Look at DC public schools. Look at what happened to Montgomery County PS. Look at what is currently happening to Howard County public schools - they aren't too far behind us on tearing down their public schools in the name of social justice.

Democrats undoubtedly do better with handling education but there seems to be a tipping point when a school system or area goes too far to the liberal side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what's the solution besides venting on this forum? I'm not being snarky. What can be done?

A new school board. Unfortunately that is practically impossible at this point. The school board is political and they are all democrats. The school board would do better if it were a mix or independent. We live in an area where almost everyone votes democrat. (I’ve been guilty of doing that as well - not again.) So even people who don’t have kids or don’t care about the school board at all will go and vote and just vote for the democrats on the ballot. A lot of the school board members don’t really care about the school system - they are using it to further their political career. And that means they care less about education and more about social issues.

And so all we can really do is vent on forums like this.

see I asked the question. I am a Democrat and I believe in education. The idea that Republicans prioritize education is pretty ridiculous. To me social justice does not equal having mediocre expectations of students.

It translates into an assumption that teachers are racists if grades are not evenly distributed among every racial group and incentivized schools to avoid such accusations by dumbing down the curriculum and giving everyone a trophy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what's the solution besides venting on this forum? I'm not being snarky. What can be done?

A new school board. Unfortunately that is practically impossible at this point. The school board is political and they are all democrats. The school board would do better if it were a mix or independent. We live in an area where almost everyone votes democrat. (I’ve been guilty of doing that as well - not again.) So even people who don’t have kids or don’t care about the school board at all will go and vote and just vote for the democrats on the ballot. A lot of the school board members don’t really care about the school system - they are using it to further their political career. And that means they care less about education and more about social issues.

And so all we can really do is vent on forums like this.

see I asked the question. I am a Democrat and I believe in education. The idea that Republicans prioritize education is pretty ridiculous. To me social justice does not equal having mediocre expectations of students.

But that is what happens.

Look at DC public schools. Look at what happened to Montgomery County PS. Look at what is currently happening to Howard County public schools - they aren't too far behind us on tearing down their public schools in the name of social justice.

Democrats undoubtedly do better with handling education but there seems to be a tipping point when a school system or area goes too far to the liberal side.

Aren't mostly Democratic states like Massachusetts and NJ also better in terms of education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what's the solution besides venting on this forum? I'm not being snarky. What can be done?

A new school board. Unfortunately that is practically impossible at this point. The school board is political and they are all democrats. The school board would do better if it were a mix or independent. We live in an area where almost everyone votes democrat. (I’ve been guilty of doing that as well - not again.) So even people who don’t have kids or don’t care about the school board at all will go and vote and just vote for the democrats on the ballot. A lot of the school board members don’t really care about the school system - they are using it to further their political career. And that means they care less about education and more about social issues.

And so all we can really do is vent on forums like this.

see I asked the question. I am a Democrat and I believe in education. The idea that Republicans prioritize education is pretty ridiculous. To me social justice does not equal having mediocre expectations of students.

But that is what happens.

Look at DC public schools. Look at what happened to Montgomery County PS. Look at what is currently happening to Howard County public schools - they aren't too far behind us on tearing down their public schools in the name of social justice.

Democrats undoubtedly do better with handling education but there seems to be a tipping point when a school system or area goes too far to the liberal side.

Aren't mostly Democratic states like Massachusetts and NJ also better in terms of education?

Yes, but they are incorporated towns, so they have to actually prove their district is doing well to attract revenue and not too large to manage. Here school districts like FCPS can mask poor performance by poor demographics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what's the solution besides venting on this forum? I'm not being snarky. What can be done?

A new school board. Unfortunately that is practically impossible at this point. The school board is political and they are all democrats. The school board would do better if it were a mix or independent. We live in an area where almost everyone votes democrat. (I’ve been guilty of doing that as well - not again.) So even people who don’t have kids or don’t care about the school board at all will go and vote and just vote for the democrats on the ballot. A lot of the school board members don’t really care about the school system - they are using it to further their political career. And that means they care less about education and more about social issues.

And so all we can really do is vent on forums like this.

see I asked the question. I am a Democrat and I believe in education. The idea that Republicans prioritize education is pretty ridiculous. To me social justice does not equal having mediocre expectations of students.

But that is what happens.

Look at DC public schools. Look at what happened to Montgomery County PS. Look at what is currently happening to Howard County public schools - they aren't too far behind us on tearing down their public schools in the name of social justice.

Democrats undoubtedly do better with handling education but there seems to be a tipping point when a school system or area goes too far to the liberal side.

would FCPS ever break up?

Aren't mostly Democratic states like Massachusetts and NJ also better in terms of education?

Yes, but they are incorporated towns, so they have to actually prove their district is doing well to attract revenue and not too large to manage. Here school districts like FCPS can mask poor performance by poor demographics.

[Anonymous]

And there are many town in New England and Mid-Atlantic where the school districts are not well ranked and people complain loudly about them. But since they are smaller, the teachers and school board know they will be held accountable.

[Anonymous]

New England also has different demographics than the DMV. I grew up in an affluent, mostly white town in CT. Our high school is rated 10/10. The next town over is more working class and has more immigrants and more minorities. Their high school is rated 4/10. A lot of New England is homogenous and doesn't have many ESOL students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New England also has different demographics than the DMV. I grew up in an affluent, mostly white town in CT. Our high school is rated 10/10. The next town over is more working class and has more immigrants and more minorities. Their high school is rated 4/10. A lot of New England is homogenous and doesn't have many ESOL students.

I'd also add that at least when I lived there, New England Democrats were more practical and focused on supporting unions, the working class, etc rather than social justice warrior types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AAP is the least of FCPS’s problems. The district needs to invest in a science-based reading curriculum so that kids actually learn to read. Then it needs to buy textbooks and use them. My DS is in middle school and all his assignments are to watch videos and answer questions. So he isn’t “reading to learn” at all. They also need to reduce class sizes. There shouldn’t be 3rd grade classes with 30 kids in them. Maybe if Gen Ed were actually providing an education, families wouldn’t be so desperate to get their kids in AAP.

Your FCPS middle school student's assignments are to watch videos and answer questions? In what class?

Language Arts got brand-new textbooks this year and also an online grammar/writing program. Is your kid's school not using those?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AAP is the least of FCPS’s problems. The district needs to invest in a science-based reading curriculum so that kids actually learn to read. Then it needs to buy textbooks and use them. My DS is in middle school and all his assignments are to watch videos and answer questions. So he isn’t “reading to learn” at all. They also need to reduce class sizes. There shouldn’t be 3rd grade classes with 30 kids in them. Maybe if Gen Ed were actually providing an education, families wouldn’t be so desperate to get their kids in AAP.

Your FCPS middle school student's assignments are to watch videos and answer questions? In what class?

Language Arts got brand-new textbooks this year and also an online grammar/writing program. Is your kid's school not using those?

DP but I've heard of kids being shown Flocabulary videos in social studies in lieu of an actual lesson.

[Anonymous]

There are fcps middle schoolers who got language arts textbooks!?? Wtf we don’t have any textbooks at our house ??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are fcps middle schoolers who got language arts textbooks!?? Wtf we don’t have any textbooks at our house ??

Perhaps thats a sign of equity not equality?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are fcps middle schoolers who got language arts textbooks!?? Wtf we don’t have any textbooks at our house ??

I’m a teacher who would like a real textbook. The county purchased an overpriced dysfunctional online textbook from Pearson (Pearson is the unscrupulous car salesman of educational resources) and it is unusable. I have had to piece together what pdfs I can find on the web for reading material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AAP is the least of FCPS’s problems. The district needs to invest in a science-based reading curriculum so that kids actually learn to read. Then it needs to buy textbooks and use them. My DS is in middle school and all his assignments are to watch videos and answer questions. So he isn’t “reading to learn” at all. They also need to reduce class sizes. There shouldn’t be 3rd grade classes with 30 kids in them. Maybe if Gen Ed were actually providing an education, families wouldn’t be so desperate to get their kids in AAP.

Your FCPS middle school student's assignments are to watch videos and answer questions? In what class?

Language Arts got brand-new textbooks this year and also an online grammar/writing program. Is your kid's school not using those?

DP but I've heard of kids being shown Flocabulary videos in social studies in lieu of an actual lesson.

I hate videos bu I have had to start using them more often to accommodate the kids with incredibly slow reading rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what's the solution besides venting on this forum? I'm not being snarky. What can be done?

A new school board. Unfortunately that is practically impossible at this point. The school board is political and they are all democrats. The school board would do better if it were a mix or independent. We live in an area where almost everyone votes democrat. (I’ve been guilty of doing that as well - not again.) So even people who don’t have kids or don’t care about the school board at all will go and vote and just vote for the democrats on the ballot. A lot of the school board members don’t really care about the school system - they are using it to further their political career. And that means they care less about education and more about social issues.

And so all we can really do is vent on forums like this.

see I asked the question. I am a Democrat and I believe in education. The idea that Republicans prioritize education is pretty ridiculous. To me social justice does not equal having mediocre expectations of students.

But that is what happens.

Look at DC public schools. Look at what happened to Montgomery County PS. Look at what is currently happening to Howard County public schools - they aren't too far behind us on tearing down their public schools in the name of social justice.

Democrats undoubtedly do better with handling education but there seems to be a tipping point when a school system or area goes too far to the liberal side.

Yeah, I am a liberal Democrat but I also may be a bit of an elitist and a snob. I DON’T think eradicating tracks for more and less advanced students ensures equity. It just makes teaching more difficult and frustrating, and the kids who end up getting shortchanged are the ones I would prefer to spend MORE time with!