School board reckoning?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Do you realize that parents think different things and have different opinions? Or do you only value the ones who hear about nonsense from Tucker Carlson and scream at school boards about the assigned issues?

You sound like Obama when he deigned to campaign for McAuliffe. Out of touch, willfully blind to what’s been happening in public schools, and ignored by the majority of voters.

Nope, I am a parent of 3 FCPS students who has paid close attention to the issues. I disagree with some actions (tj admissions,calendar) and will vote differently in 2023 but I do not agree with the book banning, anti crt bs, loss of civility, or voting for Governor based on my experience with a school board during a pandemic. It’s highly disturbing that you folks are so radicalized that you cannot understand that opinions differ among FCPS parents.

Try to watch the public comment section of the last school board meeting to see parents who support the school board and try to get out of your openfcps bubble.

Meh. You still want a seat at their table and think you're going to have more influence if you use your indoor voice and ask politely for their help, all as they continue to go about lowering standards, playing favorites, and neglecting their basic statutory duties and responsibilities.

That gets you nowhere with these people, who need to be held accountable or relieved of their positions.

+1

The leftists, especially those that subscribe to CRT, are radicals. We have to communicate with them in a manner that they understand. They will walk all over those who talk to them clamly.

When you call people leftists because they disagree with you—you lose any credibility on communicating calmly and being anti-extremist.

No dumbass. Not everyone who disagrees with me is a leftist. But people who push CRT, or policies rooted in CRT, and make the radical argument that parents should not be involved in the education of their kids, there is no doubt these are leftists.

The quote was parents shouldn't decide what schools teach, do you disagree? If you disagree, what parents get to decide what schools teach? Surely it's not just the majority of parents because they elected the school board which already decides, so which parents get to decide what schools teach?

Legally the most recent PP is right. Voters decide the elections that pick people who set statewide and local school standards and that's the most control we have.

However voters can decide to put into place a governor who will sign off on a bill allowing parents to pick an alternate book for one containing sexually explicit material. McAuliffe was clearly not that governor. Maybe Youngkin is. And maybe Virginia voters think parents should at least be able to do that. I can think of plenty of wonderful, valuable books that I personally think are great to read...but in college or later.

Hopefully. I can't wait for parents to realize that they can make English classes unworkable by rejecting every book and choosing their own. I personally plan on rejecting every book when I get the power because why not? Of course, everyone realizes how insane it would be to give parents that power so it will never happen.

What an asinine example. Parents want to be heard and be able to influence how their kids are taught by schools. They are not asking for mob rule or individual power to veto book choices. The example you gave would be the other extreme of parental control, which no one is asking for. We are simply rejecting the extreme that McAuliffe and the leftists are pushing for: no parental control. We want something in the rational middle, a school board that responds to parents' demands instead of thinking that they know what's best and should therefore disregard what the parents want 100% of the time.

They already are heard through the school board who they elect. The parents whose candidates lost school board election want to impose their views on the rest of the parents. Either parents get to decide and you end up with an asinine system, or the parents vote for representatives who then decide- which is the system that we have now.

DP, but you really know how to double down on the stupid. Small wonder you are now losing hearts and minds, and now elections.

Ok, so how do parents pick? It can't be collectively because we already have that. What is the mechanism for a parent, whose party can't win local elections, to decide what can be taught in schools?

You teach your own kid critical thinking and that they will encounter people in the world who believe different things that them. Use it as a teaching moment. That's why I am against censorship on both side (right and left).

So there is no mechanism? Youngkin ran on parental control of education, now that he won asking how that control will work in practice is reasonable, but it seems like none of his supports actually has an answer

I'm not a supporter of his. But I'm telling you what I would do about what is being taught in schools.

OK, if as a parent I don't like something, how do I change it? This isn't a trick question, it's literally what he ran on.

I would run for school board myself if I didn't hate people.

+1,000,000

I can't stand people myself. I live with my two dogs and suffer enough having to interact with work colleagues - I can't even imagine suffering fools in a community leadership position.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:For all the people saying get rid of equity as an issue…it’s not going to happen. This is a concern across the country and I’m pretty sure school systems have to show how they will address achievement gaps. So what do you suggest FCPS do? I agree we shouldn’t lower standards. But the topic/problem isn’t going away.

If 2022 and 2024 go the same way the 2021 elections did, the topic is going away.

Just because you want it to go away, doesn’t mean it will. Equity in education has been an issue forever, even under Republican presidents. The GOP is just going to do away with federal law? You can’t be this dense.

We used to call it equality - equal opportunity. Not equity - equal outcomes. Making sure all kids learn how to read is not the same thing as insisting the reading test be set so that every racial and ethnic background get the same scores. I'd argue that the former is far superior to the latter, but places like Oregon have demonstrated that some people are giving up on the first in favor of the second.

But if you believe racism is baked into everything such as, testing, teachers not encouraging students of color to take more difficult classes, counselors counseling students of color out of honors or AP classes, etc how do you remedy that other than to do what they're doing?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Do you realize that parents think different things and have different opinions? Or do you only value the ones who hear about nonsense from Tucker Carlson and scream at school boards about the assigned issues?

You sound like Obama when he deigned to campaign for McAuliffe. Out of touch, willfully blind to what’s been happening in public schools, and ignored by the majority of voters.

Nope, I am a parent of 3 FCPS students who has paid close attention to the issues. I disagree with some actions (tj admissions,calendar) and will vote differently in 2023 but I do not agree with the book banning, anti crt bs, loss of civility, or voting for Governor based on my experience with a school board during a pandemic. It’s highly disturbing that you folks are so radicalized that you cannot understand that opinions differ among FCPS parents.

Try to watch the public comment section of the last school board meeting to see parents who support the school board and try to get out of your openfcps bubble.

Meh. You still want a seat at their table and think you're going to have more influence if you use your indoor voice and ask politely for their help, all as they continue to go about lowering standards, playing favorites, and neglecting their basic statutory duties and responsibilities.

That gets you nowhere with these people, who need to be held accountable or relieved of their positions.

+1

The leftists, especially those that subscribe to CRT, are radicals. We have to communicate with them in a manner that they understand. They will walk all over those who talk to them clamly.

When you call people leftists because they disagree with you—you lose any credibility on communicating calmly and being anti-extremist.

No dumbass. Not everyone who disagrees with me is a leftist. But people who push CRT, or policies rooted in CRT, and make the radical argument that parents should not be involved in the education of their kids, there is no doubt these are leftists.

The quote was parents shouldn't decide what schools teach, do you disagree? If you disagree, what parents get to decide what schools teach? Surely it's not just the majority of parents because they elected the school board which already decides, so which parents get to decide what schools teach?

Legally the most recent PP is right. Voters decide the elections that pick people who set statewide and local school standards and that's the most control we have.

However voters can decide to put into place a governor who will sign off on a bill allowing parents to pick an alternate book for one containing sexually explicit material. McAuliffe was clearly not that governor. Maybe Youngkin is. And maybe Virginia voters think parents should at least be able to do that. I can think of plenty of wonderful, valuable books that I personally think are great to read...but in college or later.

Hopefully. I can't wait for parents to realize that they can make English classes unworkable by rejecting every book and choosing their own. I personally plan on rejecting every book when I get the power because why not? Of course, everyone realizes how insane it would be to give parents that power so it will never happen.

What an asinine example. Parents want to be heard and be able to influence how their kids are taught by schools. They are not asking for mob rule or individual power to veto book choices. The example you gave would be the other extreme of parental control, which no one is asking for. We are simply rejecting the extreme that McAuliffe and the leftists are pushing for: no parental control. We want something in the rational middle, a school board that responds to parents' demands instead of thinking that they know what's best and should therefore disregard what the parents want 100% of the time.

They already are heard through the school board who they elect. The parents whose candidates lost school board election want to impose their views on the rest of the parents. Either parents get to decide and you end up with an asinine system, or the parents vote for representatives who then decide- which is the system that we have now.

DP, but you really know how to double down on the stupid. Small wonder you are now losing hearts and minds, and now elections.

Ok, so how do parents pick? It can't be collectively because we already have that. What is the mechanism for a parent, whose party can't win local elections, to decide what can be taught in schools?

You teach your own kid critical thinking and that they will encounter people in the world who believe different things that them. Use it as a teaching moment. That's why I am against censorship on both side (right and left).

So there is no mechanism? Youngkin ran on parental control of education, now that he won asking how that control will work in practice is reasonable, but it seems like none of his supports actually has an answer

I'm not a supporter of his. But I'm telling you what I would do about what is being taught in schools.

OK, if as a parent I don't like something, how do I change it? This isn't a trick question, it's literally what he ran on.

I would run for school board myself if I didn't hate people.

People is probably going too far. You just need to hate kids to be qualified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^^ sorry. AP Lit syllabus. Long day.

This language has been on every English syllabus for both my kids since 7th grade.

Yup, people yelling about and voting for "choice" when they already had a choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eliminate Chief Equity Officer position and use savings to hire additional teachers.

No more speaker stipends over $5000 for CRT-pushing hucksters like Ibram Kendi.

No $2M contracts with outside vendors for SEL surveys with loaded questions exploring student attitudes about race, sexuality, and drugs.

No more taxpayer-subsidized teacher training courses using textbooks or materials that draw heavily from CRT texts.

Stop spending scarce FCPS resources on an "equity dashboard" with "equity profiles."

No more school name changes without clear support of the majority of the affected school communities.

Moratorium on development of "anti-racism, anti-bias" education policy until academic remediation efforts have raised test scores to pre-Covid levels.

Termination of contracts with NYC-based "Leadership Academy" and boundary review consultant.

Restoration of prior FCPS "controversial issues policy" successfully in place for many years.

Removal of "Lewis Social Justice & Advocacy Academy" proposal from School Board calendar until at least 2024.

Reinstatement of math/science aptitude testing requirements for admission to TJHSST.

Excellent summary. I would also suggest raising hourly pay for substitute teachers. 14usd per hour? I want motivated folks with college degrees to substitute teach my kids. Especially given the large amount of school holidays, when teachers like to take additional days off and schools struggle to find subs.

+1m all of the above

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eliminate Chief Equity Officer position and use savings to hire additional teachers.

No more speaker stipends over $5000 for CRT-pushing hucksters like Ibram Kendi.

No $2M contracts with outside vendors for SEL surveys with loaded questions exploring student attitudes about race, sexuality, and drugs.

No more taxpayer-subsidized teacher training courses using textbooks or materials that draw heavily from CRT texts.

Stop spending scarce FCPS resources on an "equity dashboard" with "equity profiles."

No more school name changes without clear support of the majority of the affected school communities.

Moratorium on development of "anti-racism, anti-bias" education policy until academic remediation efforts have raised test scores to pre-Covid levels.

Termination of contracts with NYC-based "Leadership Academy" and boundary review consultant.

Restoration of prior FCPS "controversial issues policy" successfully in place for many years.

Removal of "Lewis Social Justice & Advocacy Academy" proposal from School Board calendar until at least 2024.

Reinstatement of math/science aptitude testing requirements for admission to TJHSST.

Excellent summary. I would also suggest raising hourly pay for substitute teachers. 14usd per hour? I want motivated folks with college degrees to substitute teach my kids. Especially given the large amount of school holidays, when teachers like to take additional days off and schools struggle to find subs.

+1m all of the above

+1

Will require new SB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all the people saying get rid of equity as an issue…it’s not going to happen. This is a concern across the country and I’m pretty sure school systems have to show how they will address achievement gaps. So what do you suggest FCPS do? I agree we shouldn’t lower standards. But the topic/problem isn’t going away.

If 2022 and 2024 go the same way the 2021 elections did, the topic is going away.

Just because you want it to go away, doesn’t mean it will. Equity in education has been an issue forever, even under Republican presidents. The GOP is just going to do away with federal law? You can’t be this dense.

Equity in schools is not achievable. It just isn’t. You can keep taking away from the high achievers, but you are never going to close the gap. Parents drive the success of their kids. If a parent cares about education, a child will be successful - this is whether they are wealthy or poor - any race any religion. Until ALL parents take an active roll in their kids educations, there can be no equity. Schools can never make up the difference- it simply isn’t possible and they should stop penalizing the successful for being successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how republicans run the school board for 50 years and destroy the entire county system and a month after a democratic board gets into office all the problems are their fault.

What are you talking about? This has been a majority Democrat Board for well over 20 years. You're clueless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eliminate Chief Equity Officer position and use savings to hire additional teachers.

No more speaker stipends over $5000 for CRT-pushing hucksters like Ibram Kendi.

No $2M contracts with outside vendors for SEL surveys with loaded questions exploring student attitudes about race, sexuality, and drugs.

No more taxpayer-subsidized teacher training courses using textbooks or materials that draw heavily from CRT texts.

Stop spending scarce FCPS resources on an "equity dashboard" with "equity profiles."

No more school name changes without clear support of the majority of the affected school communities.

Moratorium on development of "anti-racism, anti-bias" education policy until academic remediation efforts have raised test scores to pre-Covid levels.

Termination of contracts with NYC-based "Leadership Academy" and boundary review consultant.

Restoration of prior FCPS "controversial issues policy" successfully in place for many years.

Removal of "Lewis Social Justice & Advocacy Academy" proposal from School Board calendar until at least 2024.

Reinstatement of math/science aptitude testing requirements for admission to TJHSST.

Excellent summary. I would also suggest raising hourly pay for substitute teachers. 14usd per hour? I want motivated folks with college degrees to substitute teach my kids. Especially given the large amount of school holidays, when teachers like to take additional days off and schools struggle to find subs.

+1m all of the above

+1

Will require new SB.

There is only one current member (McLaughlin) who has any business serving another term after the current term ends in 2023.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all the people saying get rid of equity as an issue…it’s not going to happen. This is a concern across the country and I’m pretty sure school systems have to show how they will address achievement gaps. So what do you suggest FCPS do? I agree we shouldn’t lower standards. But the topic/problem isn’t going away.

If 2022 and 2024 go the same way the 2021 elections did, the topic is going away.

Just because you want it to go away, doesn’t mean it will. Equity in education has been an issue forever, even under Republican presidents. The GOP is just going to do away with federal law? You can’t be this dense.

Equity in schools is not achievable. It just isn’t. You can keep taking away from the high achievers, but you are never going to close the gap. Parents drive the success of their kids. If a parent cares about education, a child will be successful - this is whether they are wealthy or poor - any race any religion. Until ALL parents take an active roll in their kids educations, there can be no equity. Schools can never make up the difference- it simply isn’t possible and they should stop penalizing the successful for being successful.

It's much easier to penalize the successful for their achievements than to raise the performance of the under-achievers. Since they've made closing gaps their top priority so everyone appears to be equal (at least on paper), we all know how they intend to get there.

[Anonymous]

^^ Remove AAP, make all classes honors and have everyone in the same classes. Everyone should get the same thing. There should be no more separation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ Remove AAP, make all classes honors and have everyone in the same classes. Everyone should get the same thing. There should be no more separation.

+1

Conservative former teacher who voted for Youngkin.

This should be the policy until middle school--or no earlier than fifth grade. Kids blossom at different times.

They myth of AAP is that they are gifted. Not true. Another myth-they are all on the same level.

It created two schools within a school. Funds spent on busing that could be better used elsewhere. Tracks kids way too early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all the people saying get rid of equity as an issue…it’s not going to happen. This is a concern across the country and I’m pretty sure school systems have to show how they will address achievement gaps. So what do you suggest FCPS do? I agree we shouldn’t lower standards. But the topic/problem isn’t going away.

If 2022 and 2024 go the same way the 2021 elections did, the topic is going away.

Just because you want it to go away, doesn’t mean it will. Equity in education has been an issue forever, even under Republican presidents. The GOP is just going to do away with federal law? You can’t be this dense.

Equity in schools is not achievable. It just isn’t. You can keep taking away from the high achievers, but you are never going to close the gap. Parents drive the success of their kids. If a parent cares about education, a child will be successful - this is whether they are wealthy or poor - any race any religion. Until ALL parents take an active roll in their kids educations, there can be no equity. Schools can never make up the difference- it simply isn’t possible and they should stop penalizing the successful for being successful.

This is the hard truth and anyone who has worked in a “bad” school knows this. Thanks t doesn’t mean you don’t work like hell to help kids try to get caught up or achieve their potential. But teachers are not miracle workers and cannot overcome a bad home environment with parents who don’t care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all the people saying get rid of equity as an issue…it’s not going to happen. This is a concern across the country and I’m pretty sure school systems have to show how they will address achievement gaps. So what do you suggest FCPS do? I agree we shouldn’t lower standards. But the topic/problem isn’t going away.

If 2022 and 2024 go the same way the 2021 elections did, the topic is going away.

Just because you want it to go away, doesn’t mean it will. Equity in education has been an issue forever, even under Republican presidents. The GOP is just going to do away with federal law? You can’t be this dense.

Equity in schools is not achievable. It just isn’t. You can keep taking away from the high achievers, but you are never going to close the gap. Parents drive the success of their kids. If a parent cares about education, a child will be successful - this is whether they are wealthy or poor - any race any religion. Until ALL parents take an active roll in their kids educations, there can be no equity. Schools can never make up the difference- it simply isn’t possible and they should stop penalizing the successful for being successful.

This is the hard truth and anyone who has worked in a “bad” school knows this. Thanks t doesn’t mean you don’t work like hell to help kids try to get caught up or achieve their potential. But teachers are not miracle workers and cannot overcome a bad home environment with parents who don’t care.

PP adding to this: parents who don’t care are very different from parents who do care but lack resources or don’t speak English well. I believe those families absolutely deserve more resources. My mom worked with a lot of families where that was the case. But she also saw plenty who just did not care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eliminate Chief Equity Officer position and use savings to hire additional teachers.

No more speaker stipends over $5000 for CRT-pushing hucksters like Ibram Kendi.

No $2M contracts with outside vendors for SEL surveys with loaded questions exploring student attitudes about race, sexuality, and drugs.

No more taxpayer-subsidized teacher training courses using textbooks or materials that draw heavily from CRT texts.

Stop spending scarce FCPS resources on an "equity dashboard" with "equity profiles."

No more school name changes without clear support of the majority of the affected school communities.

Moratorium on development of "anti-racism, anti-bias" education policy until academic remediation efforts have raised test scores to pre-Covid levels.

Termination of contracts with NYC-based "Leadership Academy" and boundary review consultant.

Restoration of prior FCPS "controversial issues policy" successfully in place for many years.

Removal of "Lewis Social Justice & Advocacy Academy" proposal from School Board calendar until at least 2024.

Reinstatement of math/science aptitude testing requirements for admission to TJHSST.

Excellent summary. I would also suggest raising hourly pay for substitute teachers. 14usd per hour? I want motivated folks with college degrees to substitute teach my kids. Especially given the large amount of school holidays, when teachers like to take additional days off and schools struggle to find subs.

+1m all of the above

One more - remove study hall from MS and make it a teacher led remediation class. Kids should not be wasting time in "kumbaya" class when only 30% of our MSers passed the 7th grade math SOL (pre- Covid). Use this time wisely while providing enrichment opportunities for others or even allow them to take another elective instead.