Fairfax County: McLean Citizens Association demands smaller class sizes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:19:33 HERE: I should add that I taught Title I and they very much need the additional resources--but it is not right to have ginormous classes in other schools.

No one will teach at Title I schools if the classes get much larger. It's hard enough with small classes.

This is what I'm thinking. A friend of mine teaches 2nd grade at one of the poorly ranked title 1 schools in the county, and she has 18 students - I'm thinking that adding 3 students for 21 students total in her class wouldn't be a huge extra burden, but 25 might be.

It would be consistent with the spirit of the resolution to increase the size of the title I class to 21, at the low end of the 21-25 student range, so that a class elsewhere might have 25 students, at the high end of the range, rather than 29 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The title of your thread is kind of misleading. The MCA didn't "demand" smaller class sizes. It adopted a resolution urging FCPS to narrow - but not eliminate - the current differences in class sizes.

The issue has been percolating for years, but the School Board has continued to let classes in McLean, Vienna and Great Falls get larger. Test scores remain very high, of course, but the parents see how much smaller the classes are elsewhere in FCPS, as well as in APS and FCCPS, and they feel short-changed and taken for granted.

Since the entire School Board is up for re-election this fall, it shouldn't surprise anyone that residents are trying to find out where School Board members and their challengers stand on the issue. I have no idea if Janie Strauss plans to run as the Dranesville representative for School Board again, but there's a good chance that a Republican-endorsed candidate will win her seat campaigning heavily on this issue.

Isn't Janie a McLean resident?

Yes. Janie always says she's "concerned" about the increasing class sizes in her district, but Louise Epstein would have actually tried to do something about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How to fix:
Eliminate the magnet schools.
Eliminate AAP centers.

This would make it easier to divvy up the teachers in the schools that currently have centers.

Absolutely eliminate the AAP Centers in all districts except for Mount Vernon, Lee and Mason.

The five current school regions don't really correspond to the nine magisterial districts, so good luck with that.

But the school board districts do. This is all political posturing. It's Fairfax House of Cards.

[Anonymous]

Wow. I will try and bring up this "McLean Resolution" with Dr. Garza tomorrow on her listening tour stop. This whole letter is just in poor taste. I'm sure there are some average or underachieving children of wealthy people in general education elementary classes in McLean that could benefit from smaller class sizes, but on the overall, McLean just doesn't have ESL, FARMS, or students in tenuous, at-risk situations, who just do not do well on state tests, SATs, and all other measures of student achievement.

You know what isn't "fair"? That affordable housing is concentrated in Mason, Lee, and Mount Vernon. How about McLean takes on a larger share of the affordable housing pie? It's around 40% in 7 Corners. And, my idiot Mason District Supervisor wants to add another 15% to that. This greatly affects the local schools.

The infinite wisdom of the County BOS causes never ending heartburn for my district, and yet, it isn't enough for the "haves" of Fairfax County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I will try and bring up this "McLean Resolution" with Dr. Garza tomorrow on her listening tour stop. This whole letter is just in poor taste. I'm sure there are some average or underachieving children of wealthy people in general education elementary classes in McLean that could benefit from smaller class sizes, but on the overall, McLean just doesn't have ESL, FARMS, or students in tenuous, at-risk situations, who just do not do well on state tests, SATs, and all other measures of student achievement.

You know what isn't "fair"? That affordable housing is concentrated in Mason, Lee, and Mount Vernon. How about McLean takes on a larger share of the affordable housing pie? It's around 40% in 7 Corners. And, my idiot Mason District Supervisor wants to add another 15% to that. This greatly affects the local schools.

The infinite wisdom of the County BOS causes never ending heartburn for my district, and yet, it isn't enough for the "haves" of Fairfax County.

APPLAUSE!

Now -- how can we dump Penny Gross? (The Supervisor -- not the school principal.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I will try and bring up this "McLean Resolution" with Dr. Garza tomorrow on her listening tour stop. This whole letter is just in poor taste. I'm sure there are some average or underachieving children of wealthy people in general education elementary classes in McLean that could benefit from smaller class sizes, but on the overall, McLean just doesn't have ESL, FARMS, or students in tenuous, at-risk situations, who just do not do well on state tests, SATs, and all other measures of student achievement.

You know what isn't "fair"? That affordable housing is concentrated in Mason, Lee, and Mount Vernon. How about McLean takes on a larger share of the affordable housing pie? It's around 40% in 7 Corners. And, my idiot Mason District Supervisor wants to add another 15% to that. This greatly affects the local schools.

The infinite wisdom of the County BOS causes never ending heartburn for my district, and yet, it isn't enough for the "haves" of Fairfax County.

Preach! +1000000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: You know what isn't "fair"? That affordable housing is concentrated in Mason, Lee, and Mount Vernon. How about McLean takes on a larger share of the affordable housing pie? It's around 40% in 7 Corners. And, my idiot Mason District Supervisor wants to add another 15% to that. This greatly affects the local schools.

The infinite wisdom of the County BOS causes never ending heartburn for my district, and yet, it isn't enough for the "haves" of Fairfax County.

+1. McLean can't have it all, but not for a lack of trying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I will try and bring up this "McLean Resolution" with Dr. Garza tomorrow on her listening tour stop. This whole letter is just in poor taste. I'm sure there are some average or underachieving children of wealthy people in general education elementary classes in McLean that could benefit from smaller class sizes, but on the overall, McLean just doesn't have ESL, FARMS, or students in tenuous, at-risk situations, who just do not do well on state tests, SATs, and all other measures of student achievement.

You know what isn't "fair"? That affordable housing is concentrated in Mason, Lee, and Mount Vernon. How about McLean takes on a larger share of the affordable housing pie? It's around 40% in 7 Corners. And, my idiot Mason District Supervisor wants to add another 15% to that. This greatly affects the local schools.

The infinite wisdom of the County BOS causes never ending heartburn for my district, and yet, it isn't enough for the "haves" of Fairfax County.

Here's the list of public housing and low to moderate cost housing for all of Fairfax County. McLean is seriously unrepresented.
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/rha/01-2013-lowmoderateguide.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope the McLean Citizens Association also wrote to the Board of Supervisors and demanded that the county add a penny to the tax rate.

I agree.

[Anonymous]

McLean isn't the only part of the county with huge class sizes, though. However, I do get your point about McLean NIMBY-ism.

But this class size issue is going to grow louder - have you seen the latest projections for West County? And we're not talking the wealthiest part of the county. These are people in apartments and THs.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry, 30+ students in elementary schools doesn't serve anyone's kids well, not even the privileged kids. They just organized to call it out. Not everything that happens in McLean is about "fearing the poors" . But if you are paying a large amount of money in taxes, why should your kids get shafted? Fairfax owes all kids a good education.

(And no, I don't live in McLean)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry, 30+ students in elementary schools doesn't serve anyone's kids well, not even the privileged kids. They just organized to call it out. Not everything that happens in McLean is about "fearing the poors" . But if you are paying a large amount of money in taxes, why should your kids get shafted? Fairfax owes all kids a good education.

(And no, I don't live in McLean)

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I will try and bring up this "McLean Resolution" with Dr. Garza tomorrow on her listening tour stop. This whole letter is just in poor taste. I'm sure there are some average or underachieving children of wealthy people in general education elementary classes in McLean that could benefit from smaller class sizes, but on the overall, McLean just doesn't have ESL, FARMS, or students in tenuous, at-risk situations, who just do not do well on state tests, SATs, and all other measures of student achievement.

You know what isn't "fair"? That affordable housing is concentrated in Mason, Lee, and Mount Vernon. How about McLean takes on a larger share of the affordable housing pie? It's around 40% in 7 Corners. And, my idiot Mason District Supervisor wants to add another 15% to that. This greatly affects the local schools.

The infinite wisdom of the County BOS causes never ending heartburn for my district, and yet, it isn't enough for the "haves" of Fairfax County.

APPLAUSE!

Now -- how can we dump Penny Gross? (The Supervisor -- not the school principal.)

She's old enough to retire, and I'm not sure why she doesn't just bow out gracefully. She's had a 20 year run where absolutely nothing improved in Mason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry, 30+ students in elementary schools doesn't serve anyone's kids well, not even the privileged kids. They just organized to call it out. Not everything that happens in McLean is about "fearing the poors" . But if you are paying a large amount of money in taxes, why should your kids get shafted? Fairfax owes all kids a good education.

(And no, I don't live in McLean)

+1

We all pay the same tax rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McLean isn't the only part of the county with huge class sizes, though. However, I do get your point about McLean NIMBY-ism.

But this class size issue is going to grow louder - have you seen the latest projections for West County? And we're not talking the wealthiest part of the county. These are people in apartments and THs.

Which area is West County?