Fairfax County: McLean Citizens Association demands smaller class sizes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I do think the schools in Mclean are very well run, so if she has something to do with that, I'm all for supporting her. It is an important region having some of the most important schools for fueling Tyson's growth, keeping up the reputation of several large STEM oriented schools in western Fairfax, and dealing with some of the most impoverished schools in the county.

+1

I find this whole "we need new blood" argument to be ridiculous. What happened to having experience? That's a great value and it helps us all. I live in Dranesville, and this woman Epstein is just an angry partisan with no actual governing experience. She doesn't seem to play nice with others. I may not agree with Strauss on all issues, but change for change's sake is dangerous when you're voting for somebody like this woman Louise. Read how this thread started... This is somebody with no viable solutions to the class size problem. She just wants to steal resources from the less fortunate. That won't fly. Maybe there's no good solution to the class size problem other than, you know, spending lots of money to help ALL kids in Fairfax get lower class size. That's at least honest, but it's not what you guys seem to want to hear. And people wonder why our politics are filled with panderers...

[Anonymous]

I find this whole "we need new blood" argument to be ridiculous. What happened to having experience? That's a great value and it helps us all. I live in Dranesville, and this woman Epstein is just an angry partisan with no actual governing experience. She doesn't seem to play nice with others. I may not agree with Strauss on all issues, but change for change's sake is dangerous when you're voting for somebody like this woman Louise. Read how this thread started... This is somebody with no viable solutions to the class size problem. She just wants to steal resources from the less fortunate. That won't fly. Maybe there's no good solution to the class size problem other than, you know, spending lots of money to help ALL kids in Fairfax get lower class size. That's at least honest, but it's not what you guys seem to want to hear. And people wonder why our politics are filled with panderers...

Title I schools get additional funding from the feds. I don't object to FCPS giving add funding, as well. However, it appears the balance is out of whack.

[Anonymous]

Straus has shown hypocrisy for years. She takes care of her constituents and protects them from boundary issues--and, I guess, in exchange she cuts back the funds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I do think the schools in Mclean are very well run, so if she has something to do with that, I'm all for supporting her. It is an important region having some of the most important schools for fueling Tyson's growth, keeping up the reputation of several large STEM oriented schools in western Fairfax, and dealing with some of the most impoverished schools in the county.

+1

I find this whole "we need new blood" argument to be ridiculous. What happened to having experience? That's a great value and it helps us all. I live in Dranesville, and this woman Epstein is just an angry partisan with no actual governing experience. She doesn't seem to play nice with others. I may not agree with Strauss on all issues, but change for change's sake is dangerous when you're voting for somebody like this woman Louise. Read how this thread started... This is somebody with no viable solutions to the class size problem. She just wants to steal resources from the less fortunate. That won't fly. Maybe there's no good solution to the class size problem other than, you know, spending lots of money to help ALL kids in Fairfax get lower class size. That's at least honest, but it's not what you guys seem to want to hear. And people wonder why our politics are filled with panderers...

I have lived here for nearly twenty years. Janie Strauss looks after her own, not her constituency. One example is her vote to have Kent Gardens AAP go to Churchill Road and Franklin Sherman AAP go to Haycock. It was a ridiculous vote based on the neighborhood in which she lives. Kent Gardens goes 100% to McLean HS. Haycock feeds McLean. Churchill Road is in Langley's district. Franklin Sherman is split between McLean and Langley. Logic would dictate that Franklin Sherman would be the school to move to Churchill Road, not Kent Gardens. So, now busses taking KG AAP student to Churchill Road cross through Franklin Sherman's district to get there and AAP FS students go the opposite direction passing through Kent Gardens district to get to Haycock. Ridiculous. I don't live in the Chesterbrook district, so it didn't affect me, but it but one example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I do think the schools in Mclean are very well run, so if she has something to do with that, I'm all for supporting her. It is an important region having some of the most important schools for fueling Tyson's growth, keeping up the reputation of several large STEM oriented schools in western Fairfax, and dealing with some of the most impoverished schools in the county.

+1

I find this whole "we need new blood" argument to be ridiculous. What happened to having experience? That's a great value and it helps us all. I live in Dranesville, and this woman Epstein is just an angry partisan with no actual governing experience. She doesn't seem to play nice with others. I may not agree with Strauss on all issues, but change for change's sake is dangerous when you're voting for somebody like this woman Louise. Read how this thread started... This is somebody with no viable solutions to the class size problem. She just wants to steal resources from the less fortunate. That won't fly. Maybe there's no good solution to the class size problem other than, you know, spending lots of money to help ALL kids in Fairfax get lower class size. That's at least honest, but it's not what you guys seem to want to hear. And people wonder why our politics are filled with panderers...

We deserve better than both Epstein and Strauss. They are equally poor choices. However, it seems that the only way to make our choices different the next time is to vote Strauss out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We deserve better than both Epstein and Strauss. They are equally poor choices. However, it seems that the only way to make our choices different the next time is to vote Strauss out.

Silly. You don't vote this year in order to deal with the election 4 years away. DCUM should be doing a public service to this district. Epstein: If you're reading this, don't run. You will not be elected on the strength of, "I will make empty promises to fix the stuff Strauss hasn't fixed."

Nobody likes large class sizes. Nobody. But what's the real solution?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We deserve better than both Epstein and Strauss. They are equally poor choices. However, it seems that the only way to make our choices different the next time is to vote Strauss out.

Silly. You don't vote this year in order to deal with the election 4 years away. DCUM should be doing a public service to this district. Epstein: If you're reading this, don't run. You will not be elected on the strength of, "I will make empty promises to fix the stuff Strauss hasn't fixed."

Nobody likes large class sizes. Nobody. But what's the real solution?

I tried to vote her out the last time and nothing she has done since has changed my mind. I will keep trying until she is gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We deserve better than both Epstein and Strauss. They are equally poor choices. However, it seems that the only way to make our choices different the next time is to vote Strauss out.

Silly. You don't vote this year in order to deal with the election 4 years away. DCUM should be doing a public service to this district. Epstein: If you're reading this, don't run. You will not be elected on the strength of, "I will make empty promises to fix the stuff Strauss hasn't fixed."

Nobody likes large class sizes. Nobody. But what's the real solution?

I tried to vote her out the last time and nothing she has done since has changed my mind. I will keep trying until she is gone.

Oh, and class sizes are an issue for me but they are not the primary issue- for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I do think the schools in Mclean are very well run, so if she has something to do with that, I'm all for supporting her. It is an important region having some of the most important schools for fueling Tyson's growth, keeping up the reputation of several large STEM oriented schools in western Fairfax, and dealing with some of the most impoverished schools in the county.

+1

I find this whole "we need new blood" argument to be ridiculous. What happened to having experience? That's a great value and it helps us all. I live in Dranesville, and this woman Epstein is just an angry partisan with no actual governing experience. She doesn't seem to play nice with others. I may not agree with Strauss on all issues, but change for change's sake is dangerous when you're voting for somebody like this woman Louise. Read how this thread started... This is somebody with no viable solutions to the class size problem. She just wants to steal resources from the less fortunate. That won't fly. Maybe there's no good solution to the class size problem other than, you know, spending lots of money to help ALL kids in Fairfax get lower class size. That's at least honest, but it's not what you guys seem to want to hear. And people wonder why our politics are filled with panderers...

I have lived here for nearly twenty years. Janie Strauss looks after her own, not her constituency. One example is her vote to have Kent Gardens AAP go to Churchill Road and Franklin Sherman AAP go to Haycock. It was a ridiculous vote based on the neighborhood in which she lives. Kent Gardens goes 100% to McLean HS. Haycock feeds McLean. Churchill Road is in Langley's district. Franklin Sherman is split between McLean and Langley. Logic would dictate that Franklin Sherman would be the school to move to Churchill Road, not Kent Gardens. So, now busses taking KG AAP student to Churchill Road cross through Franklin Sherman's district to get there and AAP FS students go the opposite direction passing through Kent Gardens district to get to Haycock. Ridiculous. I don't live in the Chesterbrook district, so it didn't affect me, but it but one example.

KG is much bigger than Franklin Sherman. My understanding is that's just how the numbers worked given the available space at Haycock and Churchill Road. Haycock was seriously overcrowded and the situation would have been worse had the larger number of AAP kids from KG rather than FS been at Haycock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Silly. You don't vote this year in order to deal with the election 4 years away. DCUM should be doing a public service to this district. Epstein: If you're reading this, don't run. You will not be elected on the strength of, "I will make empty promises to fix the stuff Strauss hasn't fixed."

Nobody likes large class sizes. Nobody. But what's the real solution?

+ 1000

I live in Dranesville, and I will vote against Epstein and donate heavily to anybody who runs against her. Anybody. (Thank goodness she hasn't announced... yet.) If your primary message is: Taxes are too high, so let's make the most of a dwindling resource by focusing it on the wealthy parts of our district... then you are not fit to serve on a School Board. You do not understand the purpose of public education. And you are harmful to our schools' real chances of success.

Somebody ought to run who can speak the truth: Good schools cost money. Richmond ought to pay more; the Board of Supervisors ought to be diversifying their tax base more so we're not so dependent on property taxes, etc. But bottom line is that anybody who says they can fix the schools by starving them to death is a liar.

[Anonymous]

You know, I hope people don't feel this is off-topic, but I live in McLean and maybe I've just gotten used to larg(er) class sizes, but I feel like it's just not the most important issue. The more important issue is having high-quality teachers. If you have a great teacher, a 30-person class isn't ideal, but it's better than a 24-person class with a terrible teacher. Unfortunately, we're losing great teachers because we're not paying them enough.

So isn't this issue kind of a red herring?

Just one thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know, I hope people don't feel this is off-topic, but I live in McLean and maybe I've just gotten used to larg(er) class sizes, but I feel like it's just not the most important issue. The more important issue is having high-quality teachers. If you have a great teacher, a 30-person class isn't ideal, but it's better than a 24-person class with a terrible teacher. Unfortunately, we're losing great teachers because we're not paying them enough.

So isn't this issue kind of a red herring?

Just one thought.

I don't think it's a red herring, as what rational teacher would not prefer being paid more money to teach fewer students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silly. You don't vote this year in order to deal with the election 4 years away. DCUM should be doing a public service to this district. Epstein: If you're reading this, don't run. You will not be elected on the strength of, "I will make empty promises to fix the stuff Strauss hasn't fixed."

Nobody likes large class sizes. Nobody. But what's the real solution?

+ 1000

I live in Dranesville, and I will vote against Epstein and donate heavily to anybody who runs against her. Anybody. (Thank goodness she hasn't announced... yet.) If your primary message is: Taxes are too high, so let's make the most of a dwindling resource by focusing it on the wealthy parts of our district... then you are not fit to serve on a School Board. You do not understand the purpose of public education. And you are harmful to our schools' real chances of success.

Somebody ought to run who can speak the truth: Good schools cost money. Richmond ought to pay more; the Board of Supervisors ought to be diversifying their tax base more so we're not so dependent on property taxes, etc. But bottom line is that anybody who says they can fix the schools by starving them to death is a liar.

Some people seem to be going out of their way to portray Louise Epstein (and the entire MCA) as a Tea Party group whose primary goal is to reduce taxes.

I actually don't recall Epstein commenting one way or the other whether taxes were too high. Clearly she reflects the views of many people in Dranesville who are frustrated being saddled with some of the largest class sizes in the county. [On the other hand, anyone running in Dranesville has to keep in mind that it includes Herndon, which has seen the largest increase in ESOL/FARMS students of any part of the county over the past year or two, including both Bailey's Crossroads and the Route 1 corridor.]

As for the MCA, the Dranesville Supervisor, who is a Democrat, used to be its head. Historically, it was more NIMBY than anything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yeah, good luck. Their line is that class size has no effect on student achievement. There are studies that say this.

However, I think that using those studies is a huge cop out so they don't have to make the hard choices and can continue to shove our kids into classrooms like sardines in perpetuity.

And when they "fix" our ridiculously overcrowded school, they are leaving us over capacity by ~150 with the current amendment.

Yes but they all need to sleep!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I find this whole "we need new blood" argument to be ridiculous. What happened to having experience? That's a great value and it helps us all. I live in Dranesville, and this woman Epstein is just an angry partisan with no actual governing experience. She doesn't seem to play nice with others. I may not agree with Strauss on all issues, but change for change's sake is dangerous when you're voting for somebody like this woman Louise. Read how this thread started... This is somebody with no viable solutions to the class size problem. She just wants to steal resources from the less fortunate. That won't fly. Maybe there's no good solution to the class size problem other than, you know, spending lots of money to help ALL kids in Fairfax get lower class size. That's at least honest, but it's not what you guys seem to want to hear. And people wonder why our politics are filled with panderers...

Title I schools get additional funding from the feds. I don't object to FCPS giving add funding, as well. However, it appears the balance is out of whack.

Class sizes are now 10-16 in title one schools with a teacher and assistant and a host of other specialists as well and 30-33 in other schools with one teacher and no specialists. There are schools outside of McLean such as Eagle View mentioned with very large class sizes. This isn't just a McLean issue and I don't think the McLean citizens are treating the issue as such. Their proposal was to help ALL children. Hopefully the extra $4 million will help this next year, but it's not guaranteed that this money will continue in subsequent years so there is still a need to make some fundamental change so that parents don't have to ask for single teacher class sizes 30 and below every year.