PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The after-school cross country was transformational for my son in terms of self-confidence. I hope it doesn’t go away.

That’s considered a sport so won’t be cut.

I don't think they can justify the cost of afterschool buses just for track/cross country if all the other clubs are canceled.. Its really not that many kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The after-school cross country was transformational for my son in terms of self-confidence. I hope it doesn’t go away.

That’s considered a sport so won’t be cut.

I don't think they can justify the cost of afterschool buses just for track/cross country if all the other clubs are canceled.. Its really not that many kids.

They won’t have buses. It will be parent pickup. The reality is if it gets canceled some kids will be unable to participate because they live 4 miles from the middle school and can’t walk home/don’t have a parent available to get them. Same thing for play rehearsals. Only a portion of each school will be eligible to participate if parent pickup at 4:30 is required.

[Anonymous]

There will not be any afterschool plays. Those
are part of the county program.

They won't run track without transportation so it may just get canceled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seeing some school board emails where they mention the school board and Fairfax county board need to work together- that is true, but didn’t like how rest of email that suggests middle school after school programs, hs crossing guards, etc are at risk bc of federal govt. These programs were on chopping block long before the federal changes so FCPS shouldn’t spin it now that it’s the federal chaos that is reason it pull plug. To have a hope to get programs like this back, both boards will need to take ownership and not just try to spin and hide decisions behind federal saying nothing they can do. And if they don’t want to get programs like this back, they can just own that too.

This is my take as well. My supervisor basically blamed the state. The school board is blaming everyone else. And no one is taking responsibility for our middle school kids but parents. The state, Fairfax County, and the federal government routinely screw parents over and over AND YET we make sacrifices for our kids so they can have what they need. I'm ready to clean that whole damn house...school board, board of supervisors, the whole thing.

[Anonymous]

Are you sure? My FCPS middle-schooler just did a play, and my understanding is that ticket sales are a big part of the program’s funding.

Anonymous wrote:There will not be any afterschool plays. Those
are part of the county program.

They won't run track without transportation so it may just get canceled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure? My FCPS middle-schooler just did a play, and my understanding is that ticket sales are a big part of the program’s funding.

Anonymous wrote:There will not be any afterschool plays. Those
are part of the county program.

They won't run track without transportation so it may just get canceled.

The county pays for the after school
Specialist who does the organizing and hourly pay for the teachers to stay after school and run the prwctices. The ticket fees pay for licensing, props etc.

[Anonymous]

I feel like we pay a ton in county and state taxes and get nothing for it. No middle school activities, libraries are run down homeless shelters, no rec centers for kids to hang out at, our school facilities are awful compared to nearby counties, no books for instruction etc etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like we pay a ton in county and state taxes and get nothing for it. No middle school activities, libraries are run down homeless shelters, no rec centers for kids to hang out at, our school facilities are awful compared to nearby counties, no books for instruction etc etc.

I agree. And I will add the playgrounds in Fairfax are absolutely pitiful. When we visit relatives in other parts of the country they have amazing public amenities. Beuatiful public pools, libraries, amazing playgrounds.

Even Manassas Park, which is about 2000 poor people total, has a beautiful rec center and a lovely public pool.

I don't understand where the money goes in Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

If you have kids at a school that hasn't been renovated recently, the disparity in facilities even locally is absolutely shocking. We couldn't believe how nice Gainesville HS and Meridian HS were compared to our kids run down HS.

[Anonymous]

What's the deal with the county rec centers? We have a new one that just opened up near us and middle schoolers who would love a place to hang out with friends but its unusable. Open gym for teens for an hour once every two weeks kind of thing. Building a brand new rec center with no playground, why??? Growing up, rec centers were open for kids to hang out, there were soccer goals outside, ping pong, atari, etc and the gyms were always free for pickup (it seems Sully rents their courts out to private groups).

[Anonymous]

The county rec center staff do not want teens and kids just hanging out socializing. Even though that is literally the purpose of a *recreational center*.

They much prefer to over-schedule every open space to be utilized by adults and organized groups. If there is a court, it will have a schedule like this all day long:

open gym 7 am-8 am Mon-Fri during the school year
pickleball for seniors: 8am-10am
pickleball for Mandarin speakers: 10am-12 pm
volleyball for over 50s: 12-2
tai chi: 2-4
rent out the court to private basketball or VB teams so kids can't use it: 4-9
close at 9.

The more things are scheduled and blocked off for use by kids, the fewer kids will show up.

The deliberate uselessness of the rec centers is one of the reasons the county MS after school program is so important!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the deal with the county rec centers? We have a new one that just opened up near us and middle schoolers who would love a place to hang out with friends but its unusable. Open gym for teens for an hour once every two weeks kind of thing. Building a brand new rec center with no playground, why??? Growing up, rec centers were open for kids to hang out, there were soccer goals outside, ping pong, atari, etc and the gyms were always free for pickup (it seems Sully rents their courts out to private groups).

Right? This is a huge reason the after school middle school programs are needed. It's the only structure a lot of kids have after school. Otherwise what are they going to do? Go home to an empty house and rot in front of the TV most likely. This is the time in their lives they are most likely to be introduced to drugs, alcohol, risky behaviors. So disappointed that cutting these programs is even being discussed. FCPS and the county should be making this a priority instead of pointing fingers and passing the buck. Disgraceful behavior from our elected officials.

[Anonymous]

County programming seems to be shifting to older adults as there are fewer kids who live here.

Private businesses like Lifetime are shifting their business model and removing any kid friendly amenities. The Centreville gym renovated the pool and the only difference was they took out the pool slide. Kids used to hang out and play on their basketball courts, they took out all the courts and put in pickleball. etc etc.

Really, Fairfax County overall is not kid-friendly.

[Anonymous]

I cannot imagine a county program that is so inexpensive that gets so many benefits for so many kids as the afterschool clubs.

Honestly, really shocking that Fairfax would even consider shutting this down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need a DoGe equivalent for Gatehouse to clear that place out.

Nobody needs incompetent, unaccountable, uninformed people making decisions anywhere. Have you seen how many mistakes doge has made?

Maybe so. But if they cut middle school programs, I'm going to be asking for some accountability. You're telling me they can afford a $6M equity office, but they can't afford to offer programs to our middle school kids? They can afford a boundary review that nobody wants or cares about? They can afford to turn their noses up at federal funding?