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

[Anonymous]

FCPS needs to cut some admin bloat, most of their "diversity" staff, and freeze raises for anyone who doesn't work in a school or directly with students.

[Anonymous]

I have also never heard of an option to have my kids transported for free to a local rec center, to then be enriched all afternoon for free. What the heck? This exists? Who uses it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

A big reason NCS put the middle school after school program up for cuts, is because NCS already offers free programming for teens at their community centers and teen centers (not to be confused with Park Authority’s Rec Centers). NCS also offers limited transportation. Can it totally replace the MSAS program, probably not. But it offers an alternative.

Never heard of it. And neither has my kid. How about we cut whatever it takes to runs these rec center programs no one is using and put it towards the MSAS that we all want?

[Anonymous]

How is there free afterschool rec center programming with buses that no one knows about? This is so bizarre.

Cut that, fund MSAS.

[Anonymous]

I just asked my kids (10th grade and 8th grade) if they have heard of buses after middle school to a rec center and they were both completely mystified. (Rocky Run Middle).

[Anonymous]

I googled.

Unsurprisingly, these NCS County afterschool programs seem to be offered almost exclusively in low income areas. That's why none of us have ever heard of them. Do people use them? Who knows, the County doesn't want our middle class kids clogging up their free programming intended for low income kids. (They feed them dinner.)

The in-school after school programs are available to ALL FCPS students.

If we can only afford one, its a no-brainer to have the programming AT the middle schools where the kids can actually access it.

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/neighborhood-community-services/afterschool-programs

[Anonymous]

who has the county budget link? What is the cost of the afterschool programming AT the rec centers, which is not being cut? Is it more than the cost of MSAS? doesn't it make more sense to have the programming accessible to all the students rather than seemingly only serving a handful of kids off-site?

[Anonymous]

Whelp.
For those of you wondering where all the county money goes, its services for low income people.

[Anonymous]

I didn't even know there were teen centers until i read that link. What happens at the "drop in" teen centers? I'm so puzzled that there is all this stuff the county is offering for kids that no one knows about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't even know there were teen centers until i read that link. What happens at the "drop in" teen centers? I'm so puzzled that there is all this stuff the county is offering for kids that no one knows about.

Its not for your kids.

[Anonymous]

For NCS, being the agency behind SACC (and soon to be Rec Pac) and community/teen centers makes sense, from a budget perspective. Providing funds to FCPS for a program that is similar to theirs is duplicative which doesnt go well in a tough budget year.

Having said that, the middle school after school program is an important program which needs to find funding, whether it be from the county or fcps. A lot of those specialist work their tails off to provide students a connection to the school and adults, beyond the classroom.

The more opportunities we can give our young people the better off they’ll be.

[Anonymous]

The in school afterschool programming is accessible and used by almost every middle school student in the county.

These teen center programs seem extremely limited and only reaching a very small percentage of kids.

What's the cost in the budget in NCS for all this teen center, afterschool programming?

If one has to be cut, it should be the one that only helps a handful of kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The in school afterschool programming is accessible and used by almost every middle school student in the county.

These teen center programs seem extremely limited and only reaching a very small percentage of kids.

What's the cost in the budget in NCS for all this teen center, afterschool programming?

If one has to be cut, it should be the one that only helps a handful of kids.

What does NCS stand for?

[Anonymous]

Neighborhood and Community Services

They seem to run a bunch of programs that nobody knows about or uses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The in school afterschool programming is accessible and used by almost every middle school student in the county.

These teen center programs seem extremely limited and only reaching a very small percentage of kids.

What's the cost in the budget in NCS for all this teen center, afterschool programming?

If one has to be cut, it should be the one that only helps a handful of kids.

I'd say the age range for their other youth programs are larger than that of only middle school age students. My sticking point from reading the budget write ups, is why NCS would pay for a program that they don't have oversight for, when they have their own. I haven't followed all the town halls, but has FCPS addressed why they won't step in to fund this (if it gets to that point), I think the majority of us are in agreement that the program is important.