FCPS decline

[Anonymous]

We need security at the schools. Metal detectors is one option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Former FCPS teacher and parent here. I taught for 35 years. I graduated from a FCPS High School. My kids graduated from FCPS.
I can tell you that I saw a gradual decline in the quality of teaching during my career. And, a decline in the quality of administration. It is sad, really.
There are still some really great teachers. But, they are being asked to perform miracles. It is not humanly possibly with the time they have and the incredibly diverse students they teach (and i am not talking about "race" diverse). And, it isn't about pay or the amount we spend on students. I believe FCPS has become "top heavy" with way too many central office and administration positions. I also think FCPS has "mainstreamed" to the point where a good teacher is unable to effectively teach the majority of students because of the serious needs of a few.

And, to compare FCPS to other schools across the nation is an attempt at striving for mediocrity. The US is not setting the world on fire with its education system. According to a Business Insider report in 2018, the U.S. ranked 38th in math scores and 24th in science.

My two cents.

+1

Go take a look at Gatehouse salaries. Look at all the special programs, etc.

As FCPS staff I will say the people in Gatehouse are extremely unhelpful. They are the ones putting things on teachers shoulders and yet if you reach out to ask a question or get some guidance you often receive a rude reply or they pass the buck to someone else. Not sure what they are all doing but it's not supporting staff at the school level.

To a layperson it comes across very much as if school-based administrators who have put in their time doing real work are rewarded with positions at Gatehouse where they no longer have to do much work but get more money. And sometimes those jobs go to principals who are spectacularly bad at their jobs, and “fail upward” because FCPS doesn’t want to end up in litigation defending a discrimination claim if they terminate these folks.

But I’ll admit part of my antipathy towards these folks is that I’ve never seen the regional superintendents in our pyramid; all they seem to do is like random Twitter posts by schools. And they work in very comfortable conditions at Gatehouse while sticking kids in shoddy trailers and modulars.

Yup and the "executive principals"

I wouldn’t be able to point them out or recognize their names. I’d be willing to bet if I asked 10 other teachers in my building none of them could cite who these people are.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Former FCPS teacher and parent here. I taught for 35 years. I graduated from a FCPS High School. My kids graduated from FCPS.
I can tell you that I saw a gradual decline in the quality of teaching during my career. And, a decline in the quality of administration. It is sad, really.
There are still some really great teachers. But, they are being asked to perform miracles. It is not humanly possibly with the time they have and the incredibly diverse students they teach (and i am not talking about "race" diverse). And, it isn't about pay or the amount we spend on students. I believe FCPS has become "top heavy" with way too many central office and administration positions. I also think FCPS has "mainstreamed" to the point where a good teacher is unable to effectively teach the majority of students because of the serious needs of a few.

And, to compare FCPS to other schools across the nation is an attempt at striving for mediocrity. The US is not setting the world on fire with its education system. According to a Business Insider report in 2018, the U.S. ranked 38th in math scores and 24th in science.

My two cents.

+1

+2.

Go take a look at Gatehouse salaries. Look at all the special programs, etc.

As FCPS staff I will say the people in Gatehouse are extremely unhelpful. They are the ones putting things on teachers shoulders and yet if you reach out to ask a question or get some guidance you often receive a rude reply or they pass the buck to someone else. Not sure what they are all doing but it's not supporting staff at the school level.

To a layperson it comes across very much as if school-based administrators who have put in their time doing real work are rewarded with positions at Gatehouse where they no longer have to do much work but get more money. And sometimes those jobs go to principals who are spectacularly bad at their jobs, and “fail upward” because FCPS doesn’t want to end up in litigation defending a discrimination claim if they terminate these folks.

But I’ll admit part of my antipathy towards these folks is that I’ve never seen the regional superintendents in our pyramid; all they seem to do is like random Twitter posts by schools. And they work in very comfortable conditions at Gatehouse while sticking kids in shoddy trailers and modulars.

Yup and the "executive principals"

I wouldn’t be able to point them out or recognize their names. I’d be willing to bet if I asked 10 other teachers in my building none of them could cite who these people are.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Can anyone please post the top Greenhouse salaries?

Here is a list of FCPS salaries. It is not exclusive to Gatehouse but seems to be listed from highest down. Central office personnel are included on this.

https://govsalaries.com/salaries/VA/fairfax-county-public-schools

Thank you.

Michelle Reid takes $380,000. annually. What are her accomplishments for that?

The enormously long list of very highly paid individuals is mind boggling. No wonder there’s nothing for minimal school security.

Schools all have SROs and "minimal school security". If you're complaining about no metal detectors, I disagree that those are wanted or a good idea.

SROs are letting guns get inside the schools?

Can you imagine being an SRO right now? In these huge high school and one SRO....what are we doing?

DP. I don't really understand all the hand-wringing about "huge high schools". Larger high schools have more class offerings. It's harder to make the varsity teams, which is a negative, but overall, larger high schools give students more room to find different places, different niches. Large high schools are not bad or a problem.

Increasing school violence IS a problem.

Yes. But Large HS don’t equate with school violence. I had 600 kids in my graduating class attending school on an open campus where all of the movement was outdoors and we didn’t have an issue with school violence. There was the occasional fight but that was it.

The violence is not coming from the number of kids but changes in culture and what is tolerated at schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Can anyone please post the top Greenhouse salaries?

Here is a list of FCPS salaries. It is not exclusive to Gatehouse but seems to be listed from highest down. Central office personnel are included on this.

https://govsalaries.com/salaries/VA/fairfax-county-public-schools

Thank you.

Michelle Reid takes $380,000. annually. What are her accomplishments for that?

The enormously long list of very highly paid individuals is mind boggling. No wonder there’s nothing for minimal school security.

Schools all have SROs and "minimal school security". If you're complaining about no metal detectors, I disagree that those are wanted or a good idea.

SROs are letting guns get inside the schools?

Can you imagine being an SRO right now? In these huge high school and one SRO....what are we doing?

DP. I don't really understand all the hand-wringing about "huge high schools". Larger high schools have more class offerings. It's harder to make the varsity teams, which is a negative, but overall, larger high schools give students more room to find different places, different niches. Large high schools are not bad or a problem.

Increasing school violence IS a problem.

Yes. But Large HS don’t equate with school violence. I had 600 kids in my graduating class attending school on an open campus where all of the movement was outdoors and we didn’t have an issue with school violence. There was the occasional fight but that was it.

The violence is not coming from the number of kids but changes in culture and what is tolerated at schools.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Can anyone please post the top Greenhouse salaries?

Here is a list of FCPS salaries. It is not exclusive to Gatehouse but seems to be listed from highest down. Central office personnel are included on this.

https://govsalaries.com/salaries/VA/fairfax-county-public-schools

Thank you.

Michelle Reid takes $380,000. annually. What are her accomplishments for that?

The enormously long list of very highly paid individuals is mind boggling. No wonder there’s nothing for minimal school security.

Schools all have SROs and "minimal school security". If you're complaining about no metal detectors, I disagree that those are wanted or a good idea.

SROs are letting guns get inside the schools?

Can you imagine being an SRO right now? In these huge high school and one SRO....what are we doing?

DP. I don't really understand all the hand-wringing about "huge high schools". Larger high schools have more class offerings. It's harder to make the varsity teams, which is a negative, but overall, larger high schools give students more room to find different places, different niches. Large high schools are not bad or a problem.

Increasing school violence IS a problem.

Yes. But Large HS don’t equate with school violence. I had 600 kids in my graduating class attending school on an open campus where all of the movement was outdoors and we didn’t have an issue with school violence. There was the occasional fight but that was it.

The violence is not coming from the number of kids but changes in culture and what is tolerated at schools.

+1

+2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Can anyone please post the top Greenhouse salaries?

Here is a list of FCPS salaries. It is not exclusive to Gatehouse but seems to be listed from highest down. Central office personnel are included on this.

https://govsalaries.com/salaries/VA/fairfax-county-public-schools

Thank you.

Michelle Reid takes $380,000. annually. What are her accomplishments for that?

The enormously long list of very highly paid individuals is mind boggling. No wonder there’s nothing for minimal school security.

Schools all have SROs and "minimal school security". If you're complaining about no metal detectors, I disagree that those are wanted or a good idea.

SROs are letting guns get inside the schools?

Can you imagine being an SRO right now? In these huge high school and one SRO....what are we doing?

DP. I don't really understand all the hand-wringing about "huge high schools". Larger high schools have more class offerings. It's harder to make the varsity teams, which is a negative, but overall, larger high schools give students more room to find different places, different niches. Large high schools are not bad or a problem.

Increasing school violence IS a problem.

Yes. But Large HS don’t equate with school violence. I had 600 kids in my graduating class attending school on an open campus where all of the movement was outdoors and we didn’t have an issue with school violence. There was the occasional fight but that was it.

The violence is not coming from the number of kids but changes in culture and what is tolerated at schools.

“Culture change” = Zero consequences for criminal behavior

That seems like an overstatement, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you had ever experienced schools in other states, you would be begging to return to FCPS. Yes, there are problems, especially at the elementary school levels. Class sizes are too big in many schools, but principals could stop hiring instructional coaches and put the money into classroom staff. There is a shortage of special ed teachers, who quit because they are so overworked. There are a lot of students with serious behavior problems who are not moved to appropriate programs. There is a lack of discipline at many schools, because principals don’t want to have to submit discipline data to the district or state, so kids are not managed effectively. And, we need freaking textbooks! Kids need to read for information and have a resource for reviewing their learning or working ahead.

Not really. I’ve have had children 4 in different schools and the worse experience my kids had was McNair in Herndon. Never saw a school with such a messed up Principal who hasn’t been fired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS was never that great, academically or administratively, people are just noticing it now. FCSP's reputation will never recover.

It actually was at one time...but now we are just hanging on to the coat tails of that once had reputation.

And yet, FCPS consistently still are among the highest ranked schools in the nation on a variety of metrics.

Former FCPS teacher and parent here. I taught for 35 years. I graduated from a FCPS High School. My kids graduated from FCPS.
I can tell you that I saw a gradual decline in the quality of teaching during my career. And, a decline in the quality of administration. It is sad, really.
There are still some really great teachers. But, they are being asked to perform miracles. It is not humanly possibly with the time they have and the incredibly diverse students they teach (and i am not talking about "race" diverse). And, it isn't about pay or the amount we spend on students. I believe FCPS has become "top heavy" with way too many central office and administration positions. I also think FCPS has "mainstreamed" to the point where a good teacher is unable to effectively teach the majority of students because of the serious needs of a few.

And, to compare FCPS to other schools across the nation is an attempt at striving for mediocrity. The US is not setting the world on fire with its education system. According to a Business Insider report in 2018, the U.S. ranked 38th in math scores and 24th in science.

My two cents.

This resonates with most people familiar with FCPS but the schools are run by a Democratic establishment that can’t hire enough people in administrative, non-teaching roles and elevates “mainstreaming” and “equity” over everything else. The results in terms of both decking performance and declining morale are totally predictable.

And the public keeps voting for more of the same, so there is unfortunately no reason to expect any improvement any time soon.

Your desperate attempts to convince people who weren’t already going to vote R to vote R still aren’t working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Can anyone please post the top Greenhouse salaries?

Here is a list of FCPS salaries. It is not exclusive to Gatehouse but seems to be listed from highest down. Central office personnel are included on this.

https://govsalaries.com/salaries/VA/fairfax-county-public-schools

Thank you.

Michelle Reid takes $380,000. annually. What are her accomplishments for that?

The enormously long list of very highly paid individuals is mind boggling. No wonder there’s nothing for minimal school security.

You are really bad at math

You’re really good at gauging taxpayers.

You’re really bad at spelling “gouging.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS was never that great, academically or administratively, people are just noticing it now. FCSP's reputation will never recover.

It actually was at one time...but now we are just hanging on to the coat tails of that once had reputation.

And yet, FCPS consistently still are among the highest ranked schools in the nation on a variety of metrics.

Former FCPS teacher and parent here. I taught for 35 years. I graduated from a FCPS High School. My kids graduated from FCPS.
I can tell you that I saw a gradual decline in the quality of teaching during my career. And, a decline in the quality of administration. It is sad, really.
There are still some really great teachers. But, they are being asked to perform miracles. It is not humanly possibly with the time they have and the incredibly diverse students they teach (and i am not talking about "race" diverse). And, it isn't about pay or the amount we spend on students. I believe FCPS has become "top heavy" with way too many central office and administration positions. I also think FCPS has "mainstreamed" to the point where a good teacher is unable to effectively teach the majority of students because of the serious needs of a few.

And, to compare FCPS to other schools across the nation is an attempt at striving for mediocrity. The US is not setting the world on fire with its education system. According to a Business Insider report in 2018, the U.S. ranked 38th in math scores and 24th in science.

My two cents.

This resonates with most people familiar with FCPS but the schools are run by a Democratic establishment that can’t hire enough people in administrative, non-teaching roles and elevates “mainstreaming” and “equity” over everything else. The results in terms of both decking performance and declining morale are totally predictable.

And the public keeps voting for more of the same, so there is unfortunately no reason to expect any improvement any time soon.

Your desperate attempts to convince people who weren’t already going to vote R to vote R still aren’t working.

You fail to realize how many Democrats are disgusted with the decline of FCPS in recent years. Even if they don’t vote for Republicans they are looking for ways to get out of FCPS. Just look at the declining enrollment numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS was never that great, academically or administratively, people are just noticing it now. FCSP's reputation will never recover.

It actually was at one time...but now we are just hanging on to the coat tails of that once had reputation.

And yet, FCPS consistently still are among the highest ranked schools in the nation on a variety of metrics.

Former FCPS teacher and parent here. I taught for 35 years. I graduated from a FCPS High School. My kids graduated from FCPS.
I can tell you that I saw a gradual decline in the quality of teaching during my career. And, a decline in the quality of administration. It is sad, really.
There are still some really great teachers. But, they are being asked to perform miracles. It is not humanly possibly with the time they have and the incredibly diverse students they teach (and i am not talking about "race" diverse). And, it isn't about pay or the amount we spend on students. I believe FCPS has become "top heavy" with way too many central office and administration positions. I also think FCPS has "mainstreamed" to the point where a good teacher is unable to effectively teach the majority of students because of the serious needs of a few.

And, to compare FCPS to other schools across the nation is an attempt at striving for mediocrity. The US is not setting the world on fire with its education system. According to a Business Insider report in 2018, the U.S. ranked 38th in math scores and 24th in science.

My two cents.

This resonates with most people familiar with FCPS but the schools are run by a Democratic establishment that can’t hire enough people in administrative, non-teaching roles and elevates “mainstreaming” and “equity” over everything else. The results in terms of both decking performance and declining morale are totally predictable.

And the public keeps voting for more of the same, so there is unfortunately no reason to expect any improvement any time soon.

Your desperate attempts to convince people who weren’t already going to vote R to vote R still aren’t working.

You fail to realize how many Democrats are disgusted with the decline of FCPS in recent years. Even if they don’t vote for Republicans they are looking for ways to get out of FCPS. Just look at the declining enrollment numbers.

If you say it enough, maybe it will be true. Meanwhile, the best schools in the state by almost any metric are in districts controlled by democrats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Can anyone please post the top Greenhouse salaries?

Here is a list of FCPS salaries. It is not exclusive to Gatehouse but seems to be listed from highest down. Central office personnel are included on this.

https://govsalaries.com/salaries/VA/fairfax-county-public-schools

Thank you.

Michelle Reid takes $380,000. annually. What are her accomplishments for that?

The enormously long list of very highly paid individuals is mind boggling. No wonder there’s nothing for minimal school security.

Schools all have SROs and "minimal school security". If you're complaining about no metal detectors, I disagree that those are wanted or a good idea.

SROs are letting guns get inside the schools?

Can you imagine being an SRO right now? In these huge high school and one SRO....what are we doing?

DP. I don't really understand all the hand-wringing about "huge high schools". Larger high schools have more class offerings. It's harder to make the varsity teams, which is a negative, but overall, larger high schools give students more room to find different places, different niches. Large high schools are not bad or a problem.

Increasing school violence IS a problem.

Yes. But Large HS don’t equate with school violence. I had 600 kids in my graduating class attending school on an open campus where all of the movement was outdoors and we didn’t have an issue with school violence. There was the occasional fight but that was it.

The violence is not coming from the number of kids but changes in culture and what is tolerated at schools.

“Culture change” = Zero consequences for criminal behavior

That seems like an overstatement, no?

Republicans don't let facts get in the way of a good story. Or campaign sound bite.

[Anonymous]

It's the changing student body causing the decline, violence and drugs. The only way to save it is to tighten the boundaries and avoid diversity but the current fcps board is doing the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS was never that great, academically or administratively, people are just noticing it now. FCSP's reputation will never recover.

It actually was at one time...but now we are just hanging on to the coat tails of that once had reputation.

And yet, FCPS consistently still are among the highest ranked schools in the nation on a variety of metrics.

Former FCPS teacher and parent here. I taught for 35 years. I graduated from a FCPS High School. My kids graduated from FCPS.
I can tell you that I saw a gradual decline in the quality of teaching during my career. And, a decline in the quality of administration. It is sad, really.
There are still some really great teachers. But, they are being asked to perform miracles. It is not humanly possibly with the time they have and the incredibly diverse students they teach (and i am not talking about "race" diverse). And, it isn't about pay or the amount we spend on students. I believe FCPS has become "top heavy" with way too many central office and administration positions. I also think FCPS has "mainstreamed" to the point where a good teacher is unable to effectively teach the majority of students because of the serious needs of a few.

And, to compare FCPS to other schools across the nation is an attempt at striving for mediocrity. The US is not setting the world on fire with its education system. According to a Business Insider report in 2018, the U.S. ranked 38th in math scores and 24th in science.

My two cents.

This resonates with most people familiar with FCPS but the schools are run by a Democratic establishment that can’t hire enough people in administrative, non-teaching roles and elevates “mainstreaming” and “equity” over everything else. The results in terms of both decking performance and declining morale are totally predictable.

And the public keeps voting for more of the same, so there is unfortunately no reason to expect any improvement any time soon.

Your desperate attempts to convince people who weren’t already going to vote R to vote R still aren’t working.

You fail to realize how many Democrats are disgusted with the decline of FCPS in recent years. Even if they don’t vote for Republicans they are looking for ways to get out of FCPS. Just look at the declining enrollment numbers.

The numbers are trending back up post-pandemic. If you control for shifts in child population compared to pre-pandemic (we're experiencing more of the demographic cliff with the decline of birth rates since now all of ES and MS are covered by the declining birth rate years) the "decline in enrollment" is fairly illusory.