Do Local Republicans Want to Gut or Reform FCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the average R voter wants to see reform, but the political party has directly said their goal is vouchers to private schools so I would say “gut”.

Voting R is saying you’re ok with vouchers.

Can you show me where a candidate endorsed by the Fairfax GOP has to agree to support school vouchers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the average R voter wants to see reform, but the political party has directly said their goal is vouchers to private schools so I would say “gut”.

Voting R is saying you’re ok with vouchers.

Can you show me where a candidate endorsed by the Fairfax GOP has to agree to support school vouchers?

The GOP supports vouchers. If a candidate seeks and gains the endorsement of the GOP then it’s on them to differentiate any differing positions. Which R candidates have said they don’t support vouchers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the average R voter wants to see reform, but the political party has directly said their goal is vouchers to private schools so I would say “gut”.

Voting R is saying you’re ok with vouchers.

Can you show me where a candidate endorsed by the Fairfax GOP has to agree to support school vouchers?

The GOP supports vouchers. If a candidate seeks and gains the endorsement of the GOP then it’s on them to differentiate any differing positions. Which R candidates have said they don’t support vouchers?

Yeah, I don't find that persuasive. Again, can you point to anything that says, as a condition of receiving an endorsement from the Fairfax GOP, the candidate agrees to support vouchers?

If not, you're just trying to create noise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we're at a point where the one-party rule of the Democratic party has poised a negative effect on our county. It seems like Fairfax County was the most propitious under a bipartisan rule where the best non-partisan rule would help us succeed.

In total agreement. The county and FCPS in particular functioned much better when there wasn’t total dominance by preening, hypocritical, incompetent buffoons like the current all-D School Board. And they need to stop using Covid as an excuse for all their malfeasance - people see through that nonsense.

So you’d prefer more Rs focusing on making it illegal to be trans, arresting women who have abortions and re-rewriting history to make it look like white people are the victims. Yeah, that’ll fix everything.

The school board can do these things?

It's bizarre how some Ds absolve the Democrats on the FCPS School Board of responsibility for failing to do necessary things that are clearly within their authority, while ascribing powers to R candidates for School Board that they would never possess.

This word salad is a bunch of BS. And lbh, authority and norms are not things the current GOP party and supporters adheres to in any way. The last few years are replete with examples of that. So just b/c it isn't in their "authority" doesn't mean the GOP candidates wouldn't try. And you know it.

Right now - I haven't seen the Rs do anything worse than literally bar my kids from in person school for one full year.

It is okay- you are safe now. Your kids have been in school for 2 years in person. Take deep breaths. Let go of the anger, it will only hurt you if you decide to dwell on it.Let go of your past trauma you continue to be triggered from. You can’t even read a post without getting upset.

No - I will not forget - and I’ll try to make sure most people remember this for the next school board election.

We do remember we just have moved on and are focued on the future

In what I believe is germane to a school topical post - I don’t believe people who didn’t know enough about education to know one full year of virtual is not developmentally appropriate - especially when allowed by the state to offer some in person - know enough about education to fix the problems they caused.

It was reasonable to wait for teacher vaccines.

That's the line. I personally don't want people who think virtual schooling for longer than the rest of the state was reasonable to serve on the school board. Our local state representatives were having to push bills in the general assembly to force the school board's hand in order to get kids back into the classroom.

The School Board was composed of a bunch of people who hadn't had real jobs for years; had no sense of urgency; either didn't have kids in FCPS or were financially secure enough to place their kids in learning pods; and were deathly afraid of upsetting one of the core constituencies of the local Democrats - the teachers' organizations like FCFT and FEA. It was a bad confluence of factors that led many to lose any confidence in FCPS and we are still dealing with the fallout in 2023.

So rather than focus on getting kids back in buildings and ensuring that, in the interim, remote learning was the best it could possibly be, these folks took up a host of pet projects that they wanted to ram through when they could do it on Zoom. Just some truly slimy behavior by a group of party hacks who should never hold public office again.

Our state senator was one of the people leading the charge in Richmond to get kids back into school. He's still popular and has gotten no blowback from teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we're at a point where the one-party rule of the Democratic party has poised a negative effect on our county. It seems like Fairfax County was the most propitious under a bipartisan rule where the best non-partisan rule would help us succeed.

In total agreement. The county and FCPS in particular functioned much better when there wasn’t total dominance by preening, hypocritical, incompetent buffoons like the current all-D School Board. And they need to stop using Covid as an excuse for all their malfeasance - people see through that nonsense.

So you’d prefer more Rs focusing on making it illegal to be trans, arresting women who have abortions and re-rewriting history to make it look like white people are the victims. Yeah, that’ll fix everything.

The school board can do these things?

It's bizarre how some Ds absolve the Democrats on the FCPS School Board of responsibility for failing to do necessary things that are clearly within their authority, while ascribing powers to R candidates for School Board that they would never possess.

This word salad is a bunch of BS. And lbh, authority and norms are not things the current GOP party and supporters adheres to in any way. The last few years are replete with examples of that. So just b/c it isn't in their "authority" doesn't mean the GOP candidates wouldn't try. And you know it.

Right now - I haven't seen the Rs do anything worse than literally bar my kids from in person school for one full year.

It is okay- you are safe now. Your kids have been in school for 2 years in person. Take deep breaths. Let go of the anger, it will only hurt you if you decide to dwell on it.Let go of your past trauma you continue to be triggered from. You can’t even read a post without getting upset.

No - I will not forget - and I’ll try to make sure most people remember this for the next school board election.

We do remember we just have moved on and are focued on the future

In what I believe is germane to a school topical post - I don’t believe people who didn’t know enough about education to know one full year of virtual is not developmentally appropriate - especially when allowed by the state to offer some in person - know enough about education to fix the problems they caused.

It was reasonable to wait for teacher vaccines.

That's the line. I personally don't want people who think virtual schooling for longer than the rest of the state was reasonable to serve on the school board. Our local state representatives were having to push bills in the general assembly to force the school board's hand in order to get kids back into the classroom.

The School Board was composed of a bunch of people who hadn't had real jobs for years; had no sense of urgency; either didn't have kids in FCPS or were financially secure enough to place their kids in learning pods; and were deathly afraid of upsetting one of the core constituencies of the local Democrats - the teachers' organizations like FCFT and FEA. It was a bad confluence of factors that led many to lose any confidence in FCPS and we are still dealing with the fallout in 2023.

So rather than focus on getting kids back in buildings and ensuring that, in the interim, remote learning was the best it could possibly be, these folks took up a host of pet projects that they wanted to ram through when they could do it on Zoom. Just some truly slimy behavior by a group of party hacks who should never hold public office again.

Our state senator was one of the people leading the charge in Richmond to get kids back into school. He's still popular and has gotten no blowback from teachers

Are you talking about Chap Petersen? The local Democrats have been attacking him and trying to take him down for years, which is why he's being primaried this year (although the fact that several more "progressive" Democrats are trying to unseat him will help him survive a challenge). The activists who do the bidding of the teachers' organizations hate him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the average R voter wants to see reform, but the political party has directly said their goal is vouchers to private schools so I would say “gut”.

Voting R is saying you’re ok with vouchers.

Can you show me where a candidate endorsed by the Fairfax GOP has to agree to support school vouchers?

The GOP supports vouchers. If a candidate seeks and gains the endorsement of the GOP then it’s on them to differentiate any differing positions. Which R candidates have said they don’t support vouchers?

Yeah, I don't find that persuasive. Again, can you point to anything that says, as a condition of receiving an endorsement from the Fairfax GOP, the candidate agrees to support vouchers?

If not, you're just trying to create noise.

So none of the R candidates have come out with their position on vouchers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the average R voter wants to see reform, but the political party has directly said their goal is vouchers to private schools so I would say “gut”.

Voting R is saying you’re ok with vouchers.

Can you show me where a candidate endorsed by the Fairfax GOP has to agree to support school vouchers?

The GOP supports vouchers. If a candidate seeks and gains the endorsement of the GOP then it’s on them to differentiate any differing positions. Which R candidates have said they don’t support vouchers?

Yeah, I don't find that persuasive. Again, can you point to anything that says, as a condition of receiving an endorsement from the Fairfax GOP, the candidate agrees to support vouchers?

If not, you're just trying to create noise.

So none of the R candidates have come out with their position on vouchers?

^ also important to understand: their position on “CRT”, US history, and systemic racism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we're at a point where the one-party rule of the Democratic party has poised a negative effect on our county. It seems like Fairfax County was the most propitious under a bipartisan rule where the best non-partisan rule would help us succeed.

In total agreement. The county and FCPS in particular functioned much better when there wasn’t total dominance by preening, hypocritical, incompetent buffoons like the current all-D School Board. And they need to stop using Covid as an excuse for all their malfeasance - people see through that nonsense.

So you’d prefer more Rs focusing on making it illegal to be trans, arresting women who have abortions and re-rewriting history to make it look like white people are the victims. Yeah, that’ll fix everything.

The school board can do these things?

It's bizarre how some Ds absolve the Democrats on the FCPS School Board of responsibility for failing to do necessary things that are clearly within their authority, while ascribing powers to R candidates for School Board that they would never possess.

This word salad is a bunch of BS. And lbh, authority and norms are not things the current GOP party and supporters adheres to in any way. The last few years are replete with examples of that. So just b/c it isn't in their "authority" doesn't mean the GOP candidates wouldn't try. And you know it.

Right now - I haven't seen the Rs do anything worse than literally bar my kids from in person school for one full year.

It is okay- you are safe now. Your kids have been in school for 2 years in person. Take deep breaths. Let go of the anger, it will only hurt you if you decide to dwell on it.Let go of your past trauma you continue to be triggered from. You can’t even read a post without getting upset.

No - I will not forget - and I’ll try to make sure most people remember this for the next school board election.

We do remember we just have moved on and are focued on the future

In what I believe is germane to a school topical post - I don’t believe people who didn’t know enough about education to know one full year of virtual is not developmentally appropriate - especially when allowed by the state to offer some in person - know enough about education to fix the problems they caused.

It was reasonable to wait for teacher vaccines.

That's the line. I personally don't want people who think virtual schooling for longer than the rest of the state was reasonable to serve on the school board. Our local state representatives were having to push bills in the general assembly to force the school board's hand in order to get kids back into the classroom.

The School Board was composed of a bunch of people who hadn't had real jobs for years; had no sense of urgency; either didn't have kids in FCPS or were financially secure enough to place their kids in learning pods; and were deathly afraid of upsetting one of the core constituencies of the local Democrats - the teachers' organizations like FCFT and FEA. It was a bad confluence of factors that led many to lose any confidence in FCPS and we are still dealing with the fallout in 2023.

So rather than focus on getting kids back in buildings and ensuring that, in the interim, remote learning was the best it could possibly be, these folks took up a host of pet projects that they wanted to ram through when they could do it on Zoom. Just some truly slimy behavior by a group of party hacks who should never hold public office again.

BS. After vaccines became available for teachers, they started planning to get kids back asap. It’s a massive school system so it took a little longer than the tiny school systems (FCCPS).

It actually took a republican writing an OP-ed to say - you moved teachers to the front of the vaccine line and now you're not even opening schools?! To get them to it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/25/fairfax-county-should-open-schools-or-stop-vaccinating-teachers/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the average R voter wants to see reform, but the political party has directly said their goal is vouchers to private schools so I would say “gut”.

Voting R is saying you’re ok with vouchers.

For me, voting R is saying schools closures is the worst education thing I've ever seen. The Ds set such a low bar.

I'm really an Independent - not an R. So I will see who I want to vote for, case by case. I no longer trust the party on either side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the average R voter wants to see reform, but the political party has directly said their goal is vouchers to private schools so I would say “gut”.

Voting R is saying you’re ok with vouchers.

Can you show me where a candidate endorsed by the Fairfax GOP has to agree to support school vouchers?

The GOP supports vouchers. If a candidate seeks and gains the endorsement of the GOP then it’s on them to differentiate any differing positions. Which R candidates have said they don’t support vouchers?

Yeah, I don't find that persuasive. Again, can you point to anything that says, as a condition of receiving an endorsement from the Fairfax GOP, the candidate agrees to support vouchers?

If not, you're just trying to create noise.

So none of the R candidates have come out with their position on vouchers?

^ also important to understand: their position on “CRT”, US history, and systemic racism.

Oh good, more litmus tests. Let's make sure we elect more Democrats who are ineffective and will never keep their eyes on the ball, but hold all the correct views on "systemic racism."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the average R voter wants to see reform, but the political party has directly said their goal is vouchers to private schools so I would say “gut”.

Voting R is saying you’re ok with vouchers.

Can you show me where a candidate endorsed by the Fairfax GOP has to agree to support school vouchers?

The GOP supports vouchers. If a candidate seeks and gains the endorsement of the GOP then it’s on them to differentiate any differing positions. Which R candidates have said they don’t support vouchers?

Yeah, I don't find that persuasive. Again, can you point to anything that says, as a condition of receiving an endorsement from the Fairfax GOP, the candidate agrees to support vouchers?

If not, you're just trying to create noise.

So none of the R candidates have come out with their position on vouchers?

^ also important to understand: their position on “CRT”, US history, and systemic racism.

Oh good, more litmus tests. Let's make sure we elect more Democrats who are ineffective and will never keep their eyes on the ball, but hold all the correct views on "systemic racism."

Not only that - going full virtual set back the most - the same people they claim to want to help. If I wanted to decrease inequality in education, based on my experience teaching in an inner city, the #1 thing I would have done would be not close schools for a year.

[Anonymous]

A right-leaning moderate/independent on the FCPS school board would really be nice. But not even sure someone who isn't a member of a party would have a chance at getting elected. So tired of the extremism and distraction. Could an independent actually win? How?

For me - ideal candidate :

*Current/former FCPS parent who actually raised good kids who succeeded in the system (sometimes we get school board members who are a FAIL at parenting/raising kids).
*Former SUCCESSFUL teacher or principal (with some homeschool experience, private school experience, and public school experience. Yes - tough to find) -- This would make the candidate appealing across the edu-political spectrum
*Sincerely loves kids (maybe demo this by volunteering in the school system - a PTA President or officer)
*Maybe a career switcher - someone who has been in the corporate world before teaching. Knows how to deal with budgets and management.
*Strong educational background. Top 25 school with an advanced degree. Supports TJ and AAP programs. Supports giving F's/0's for no work.
*Believes in meritocracy/academic excellence but has a heart for students with special needs (and all students) as well.
*Protects the innocence of kids - stops the oversexualization and overracialization (if that's a word) of instruction while fully acknowledging the country's past. Supports respect for all students (without making any race or group feel marginalized, belittled, or guilty)
*Respects the role of parents - nurtures the parent/teacher partnership.
*Philosophically respects teaching as a vocation, but recognizes too many teachers are under-performers. Finds ways to support and recruit excellent teachers and GUT system of the lousy ones. Raises the bar for hiring teachers and empowers them to do their jobs by giving them time and trust.
*Recognizes overuse of tech in classrooms and will take action (phones)
*Remember we are trying to raise American citizens as well as people who can respect others around the globe. Believes in civic virtue and HEALTHY and balanced patriotism. Celebrates the good aspects of what we have here.
*Supports basic virtue/ethics teaching in classroom (no lying, cheating, stealing, drugs, disrespect of parents, teachers, peers, etc.)
*Budgets money in ways that reflect the top priority: student learning and flourishing (content, skills, character)

Hope we can see balanced, decent, smart people on the board who actually put the kids first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A right-leaning moderate/independent on the FCPS school board would really be nice. But not even sure someone who isn't a member of a party would have a chance at getting elected. So tired of the extremism and distraction. Could an independent actually win? How?

For me - ideal candidate :

*Current/former FCPS parent who actually raised good kids who succeeded in the system (sometimes we get school board members who are a FAIL at parenting/raising kids).
*Former SUCCESSFUL teacher or principal (with some homeschool experience, private school experience, and public school experience. Yes - tough to find) -- This would make the candidate appealing across the edu-political spectrum
*Sincerely loves kids (maybe demo this by volunteering in the school system - a PTA President or officer)
*Maybe a career switcher - someone who has been in the corporate world before teaching. Knows how to deal with budgets and management.
*Strong educational background. Top 25 school with an advanced degree. Supports TJ and AAP programs. Supports giving F's/0's for no work.
*Believes in meritocracy/academic excellence but has a heart for students with special needs (and all students) as well.
*Protects the innocence of kids - stops the oversexualization and overracialization (if that's a word) of instruction while fully acknowledging the country's past. Supports respect for all students (without making any race or group feel marginalized, belittled, or guilty)
*Respects the role of parents - nurtures the parent/teacher partnership.
*Philosophically respects teaching as a vocation, but recognizes too many teachers are under-performers. Finds ways to support and recruit excellent teachers and GUT system of the lousy ones. Raises the bar for hiring teachers and empowers them to do their jobs by giving them time and trust.
*Recognizes overuse of tech in classrooms and will take action (phones)
*Remember we are trying to raise American citizens as well as people who can respect others around the globe. Believes in civic virtue and HEALTHY and balanced patriotism. Celebrates the good aspects of what we have here.
*Supports basic virtue/ethics teaching in classroom (no lying, cheating, stealing, drugs, disrespect of parents, teachers, peers, etc.)
*Budgets money in ways that reflect the top priority: student learning and flourishing (content, skills, character)

Hope we can see balanced, decent, smart people on the board who actually put the kids first.

Unless their is some magic teacher factory that no district has yet discovered, how do you go about firing many teacher while simultaneously making it harder to recruit new teachers because every district in the area is having enough trouble hiring teacher to replace teacher leaving of their own volition let alone backfilling after a purge

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the average R voter wants to see reform, but the political party has directly said their goal is vouchers to private schools so I would say “gut”.

Voting R is saying you’re ok with vouchers.

For me, voting R is saying schools closures is the worst education thing I've ever seen. The Ds set such a low bar.

I'm really an Independent - not an R. So I will see who I want to vote for, case by case. I no longer trust the party on either side.

So you’re gonna vote GOP to open schools that have been open for 2+ years? Solid plan.

Of course “open schools” where library books are banned because they make a few rich white people sad aren’t much good, but at least you can do your Wine Yoga in peace!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the average R voter wants to see reform, but the political party has directly said their goal is vouchers to private schools so I would say “gut”.

Voting R is saying you’re ok with vouchers.

For me, voting R is saying schools closures is the worst education thing I've ever seen. The Ds set such a low bar.

I'm really an Independent - not an R. So I will see who I want to vote for, case by case. I no longer trust the party on either side.

So you’re gonna vote GOP to open schools that have been open for 2+ years? Solid plan.

Of course “open schools” where library books are banned because they make a few rich white people sad aren’t much good, but at least you can do your Wine Yoga in peace!

Your “book ban” is a myth. Pornographic images, however, of anal sex absolutely should be removed from schools.