Will FCPS ever Reopem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two hour delay was just announced.

Please please please delay and don't change to closure

Could that be a real possibility?

Of course! Exhibits 1-3, last Thursday, Friday and Today. There is as much or more reason to close tomorrow than there was any of the previous 3 closure days. (To be clear, I think this is all hogwash.)

Given all the report of ice I think a closure tomorrow could be a good call. Unfortunately given the last 3 days were cancelled (unnecessary imo) they will still get criticized

And they will have earned it. Maybe not for tomorrow. But they closed schoo for three days— for 1/2 inch of snow.

[Anonymous]

It feels like last year they only used like 1 snow day, and got criticized
, because we didn’t get those days back. So this year, they are determined to use every single one.

Problem: no one knows if a snowmageddon is going to coliseum school for 7 days in late February.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It feels like last year they only used like 1 snow day, and got criticized
, because we didn’t get those days back. So this year, they are determined to use every single one.

Problem: no one knows if a snowmageddon is going to coliseum school for 7 days in late February.

13 days is a LOT of snow days to have built in. Even if there's a snowmageddon, students will have very little--if any--time to make up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It feels like last year they only used like 1 snow day, and got criticized
, because we didn’t get those days back. So this year, they are determined to use every single one.

Problem: no one knows if a snowmageddon is going to coliseum school for 7 days in late February.

13 days is a LOT of snow days to have built in. Even if there's a snowmageddon, students will have very little--if any--time to make up.

Fcps and LCPS cheated to do this. Instead of adding days, they added minutes to each day. It’s exploiting a loophole, not showing concern for actual instruction time. Adding ten minutes to each day does not make up for all these days off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It feels like last year they only used like 1 snow day, and got criticized
, because we didn’t get those days back. So this year, they are determined to use every single one.

Problem: no one knows if a snowmageddon is going to coliseum school for 7 days in late February.

13 days is a LOT of snow days to have built in. Even if there's a snowmageddon, students will have very little--if any--time to make up.

Fcps and LCPS cheated to do this. Instead of adding days, they added minutes to each day. It’s exploiting a loophole, not showing concern for actual instruction time. Adding ten minutes to each day does not make up for all these days off.

You complained so much about half day Mondays, you wanted them gone. The consequence of getting rid of half day Mondays is getting rid of snow makeup days, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the problem with having a huge, County-wide school system. East of 95 and along 95 we’re getting nothing but a light rain. It’s 35 degrees out. I believe that people way out west and north experienced sleet/freezing rain, but in Springfield we got nothing. The students in this section of the county also tend to be lower SES and I’m sure they could have really benefited from having school today in so many ways.

I also think this is a huge part of the problem. This is the first state we have been in that it has been like this (military). In each of the other states, schools were set up by smaller districts (Pennsylvania and Georgia)

I grew up in Ohio and generally each city had its own school district as well. There were County-wide districts, but they were smaller and more rural. If we could split FCPS for purposes of closings so West Potomac and Hayfield could stay open while Langley and McLean close, that would be ideal.

I keep saying fcps needs to be divided by cluster (or whatever buzz word they use to describe each groups of high schools).

We already have a separate superintendent for each cluster. What are we paying them for if everything is.so uniform? The county is very diverse: student needs, interests, weather, etc.

We need to actually make cluster superintendents start working and figure out how to fix this recurring issue.

There was no justification for shutting down the entire county today.

Big programs like special ed could be managed county wide, along with any magnet programs. Everything else should be done by geographic clusters of 2-3 high schools and their respective feeders. AAP centers should be by clusters. Boundary patterns of elementary and middle schools should be done by cluster. The only programs that should result in crossover between clusters are high school academy classes, magnet schools like TJ or language immersion, and centers for the extreme special needs kids like Key Center.

Please stop. Every damn snow day this tired argument comes out. So many brilliant organizational superstars here. What $2.8BILLION organization are you running? Tell us where you got your degree in public administration. Can you even begin to comprehend how wasteful that would be with our tax dollars because so many services would have to be duplicated. There's an entire infrastructure of maintenance and food services and accounting and human resources that you don't acknowledge.

We get it--you're pissed off that you've missed several days of work. If you think that breaking apart the 10th largest school system and reorganizing it into 5 individual school systems is worthy idea, I would invite you to speak with your official on the Board of Supervisors. Tell them your plan. Tell them how all the headaches and wasted money will be worth it for those random snow days when one superintendent calls school closed and the other calls school open.

Nobody is saying break FCPS into separate districts each with its own school board and administrators. But they need some flexibility to keep region 3 (southeast county) open, because weather here is often less severe. A redrawing of boundaries to move all the rural areas west/north of 123 out of region 4 would make that area have a higher chance of staying open as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the problem with having a huge, County-wide school system. East of 95 and along 95 we’re getting nothing but a light rain. It’s 35 degrees out. I believe that people way out west and north experienced sleet/freezing rain, but in Springfield we got nothing. The students in this section of the county also tend to be lower SES and I’m sure they could have really benefited from having school today in so many ways.

I also think this is a huge part of the problem. This is the first state we have been in that it has been like this (military). In each of the other states, schools were set up by smaller districts (Pennsylvania and Georgia)

I grew up in Ohio and generally each city had its own school district as well. There were County-wide districts, but they were smaller and more rural. If we could split FCPS for purposes of closings so West Potomac and Hayfield could stay open while Langley and McLean close, that would be ideal.

I keep saying fcps needs to be divided by cluster (or whatever buzz word they use to describe each groups of high schools).

We already have a separate superintendent for each cluster. What are we paying them for if everything is.so uniform? The county is very diverse: student needs, interests, weather, etc.

We need to actually make cluster superintendents start working and figure out how to fix this recurring issue.

There was no justification for shutting down the entire county today.

Big programs like special ed could be managed county wide, along with any magnet programs. Everything else should be done by geographic clusters of 2-3 high schools and their respective feeders. AAP centers should be by clusters. Boundary patterns of elementary and middle schools should be done by cluster. The only programs that should result in crossover between clusters are high school academy classes, magnet schools like TJ or language immersion, and centers for the extreme special needs kids like Key Center.

Please stop. Every damn snow day this tired argument comes out. So many brilliant organizational superstars here. What $2.8BILLION organization are you running? Tell us where you got your degree in public administration. Can you even begin to comprehend how wasteful that would be with our tax dollars because so many services would have to be duplicated. There's an entire infrastructure of maintenance and food services and accounting and human resources that you don't acknowledge.

We get it--you're pissed off that you've missed several days of work. If you think that breaking apart the 10th largest school system and reorganizing it into 5 individual school systems is worthy idea, I would invite you to speak with your official on the Board of Supervisors. Tell them your plan. Tell them how all the headaches and wasted money will be worth it for those random snow days when one superintendent calls school closed and the other calls school open.

There are multiple posters who all have lived in different areas of the country making the suggestion that fcps needs to call weather days by cluster or zone.

Why are you getting so emotional and upset about such a rational, logical suggestion.

Many people on this thread keep saying it works so much better.

Why are you getting so upset about a mere discussion about a practical solution?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My wife just went outside to check. I didn't expect anything but wet, but she said the driveway is a solid sheet of ice. She couldn't get down to check the street.

West Springfield

West Springfield last night was just wet in our neighborhood.

The only icy parts were brick sidewalks.

Roads were fine and sidewalks patchy.

[Anonymous]

Because it's a stupid idea and after years of hearing various Little Miss I Just Moved Heres recommending it like its brilliant, it gets old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It feels like last year they only used like 1 snow day, and got criticized
, because we didn’t get those days back. So this year, they are determined to use every single one.

Problem: no one knows if a snowmageddon is going to coliseum school for 7 days in late February.

13 days is a LOT of snow days to have built in. Even if there's a snowmageddon, students will have very little--if any--time to make up.

Fcps and LCPS cheated to do this. Instead of adding days, they added minutes to each day. It’s exploiting a loophole, not showing concern for actual instruction time. Adding ten minutes to each day does not make up for all these days off.

You complained so much about half day Mondays, you wanted them gone. The consequence of getting rid of half day Mondays is getting rid of snow makeup days, too.

This isn't right. The half day Mondays aren't the reason. They wanted to set a firm end of the year date. In order to do that, they had to "build in" snow days. Except, they didn't actually build in snow days. They simply pretended to count time 10 min before the actual school day and 10 min after the actual school day (20 min total per day) as "instructional time." This is simply an imaginary accounting method. You know as well as I do that there is no "instructional time" in walking to or from the bus. State regs prohibit lunch and recess being counted as "instructional time." But those regs do not mention "walking to and from your bus". So since this was time that wasn't specifically prohibited as being "instructional time " --- FCPS said "hey, let's use that to 'build in' snow days #4-13". Technically, the first three snow days are accounted for in the amount of time that your child is actually IN class. But snow days #4-13 are simply made up out of thin air. Meaning -- if there are 4 or more snow days, your child is getting no make up at all. In fact, they are getting gipped out of instruction that in the past FCPS provided to kids. But, people were so distracted by the change of Monday full days and the firm end date at the end of the year, that no one said to the School Board "hey, you are screwing my kids out of their required education that I am paying for and they are entitled (and required) to receive."

It's all fake accounting, my friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It feels like last year they only used like 1 snow day, and got criticized
, because we didn’t get those days back. So this year, they are determined to use every single one.

Problem: no one knows if a snowmageddon is going to coliseum school for 7 days in late February.

What does that even mean? You get education. You can't take that back, it's a good thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It feels like last year they only used like 1 snow day, and got criticized
, because we didn’t get those days back. So this year, they are determined to use every single one.

Problem: no one knows if a snowmageddon is going to coliseum school for 7 days in late February.

13 days is a LOT of snow days to have built in. Even if there's a snowmageddon, students will have very little--if any--time to make up.

Fcps and LCPS cheated to do this. Instead of adding days, they added minutes to each day. It’s exploiting a loophole, not showing concern for actual instruction time. Adding ten minutes to each day does not make up for all these days off.

You complained so much about half day Mondays, you wanted them gone. The consequence of getting rid of half day Mondays is getting rid of snow makeup days, too.

This isn't right. The half day Mondays aren't the reason. They wanted to set a firm end of the year date. In order to do that, they had to "build in" snow days. Except, they didn't actually build in snow days. They simply pretended to count time 10 min before the actual school day and 10 min after the actual school day (20 min total per day) as "instructional time." This is simply an imaginary accounting method. You know as well as I do that there is no "instructional time" in walking to or from the bus. State regs prohibit lunch and recess being counted as "instructional time." But those regs do not mention "walking to and from your bus". So since this was time that wasn't specifically prohibited as being "instructional time " --- FCPS said "hey, let's use that to 'build in' snow days #4-13". Technically, the first three snow days are accounted for in the amount of time that your child is actually IN class. But snow days #4-13 are simply made up out of thin air. Meaning -- if there are 4 or more snow days, your child is getting no make up at all. In fact, they are getting gipped out of instruction that in the past FCPS provided to kids. But, people were so distracted by the change of Monday full days and the firm end date at the end of the year, that no one said to the School Board "hey, you are screwing my kids out of their required education that I am paying for and they are entitled (and required) to receive."

It's all fake accounting, my friends.

Yes, the half day Mondays were a huge part of the counting of minutes that allowed them to change from days to hours/minutes of time. The time was there in the MSes and HSes but not in the ESes with the half day Mondays. They had to add in more time in the ES schedule in order to make the time counting work.

The new calendar hasn't been popular with families and the loss of half day Mondays hasn't been popular with ES teachers. I wonder if we'll end up going back to the old calendar and to half day Mondays and to days instead of hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it's a stupid idea and after years of hearing various Little Miss I Just Moved Heres recommending it like its brilliant, it gets old.

I have lived here for 11 years and have lived in a half dozen other states.

It is a good idea.

Many posters keep saying it.

You appear to be the one person arguing against this logical suggestion, and appear to be the one poster getting emotional about the mere discussion of an idea you disagree with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It feels like last year they only used like 1 snow day, and got criticized
, because we didn’t get those days back. So this year, they are determined to use every single one.

Problem: no one knows if a snowmageddon is going to coliseum school for 7 days in late February.

13 days is a LOT of snow days to have built in. Even if there's a snowmageddon, students will have very little--if any--time to make up.

Fcps and LCPS cheated to do this. Instead of adding days, they added minutes to each day. It’s exploiting a loophole, not showing concern for actual instruction time. Adding ten minutes to each day does not make up for all these days off.

You complained so much about half day Mondays, you wanted them gone. The consequence of getting rid of half day Mondays is getting rid of snow makeup days, too.

This isn't right. The half day Mondays aren't the reason. They wanted to set a firm end of the year date. In order to do that, they had to "build in" snow days. Except, they didn't actually build in snow days. They simply pretended to count time 10 min before the actual school day and 10 min after the actual school day (20 min total per day) as "instructional time." This is simply an imaginary accounting method. You know as well as I do that there is no "instructional time" in walking to or from the bus. State regs prohibit lunch and recess being counted as "instructional time." But those regs do not mention "walking to and from your bus". So since this was time that wasn't specifically prohibited as being "instructional time " --- FCPS said "hey, let's use that to 'build in' snow days #4-13". Technically, the first three snow days are accounted for in the amount of time that your child is actually IN class. But snow days #4-13 are simply made up out of thin air. Meaning -- if there are 4 or more snow days, your child is getting no make up at all. In fact, they are getting gipped out of instruction that in the past FCPS provided to kids. But, people were so distracted by the change of Monday full days and the firm end date at the end of the year, that no one said to the School Board "hey, you are screwing my kids out of their required education that I am paying for and they are entitled (and required) to receive."

It's all fake accounting, my friends.

+1. And LCPS is the same.

The problem is compounded by their desire to keep the Labor Day waiver and the fact that excessive closures for bogus reasons no longer need to be made up. When I was a kid they guarded the closures carefully because anything after 3 had to be made up and nobody wanted that.

[Anonymous]

Virginia needs to kill the Kings Dominion law so school districts can start in August without jumping through unnecessary hoops.