Please SOUND OFF if you think FCPS is in decline!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Some people complain, either because they don't like the language in question or they are just cranky. I was exposed to French in a FLES program in FCPS, continued with French in high school and was prepared to take upper-level French classes at an Ivy as a freshman.

I, too, took upper level French courses in college--starting as a freshman. I ended up with two years of advanced French in college. It's been a long time, but, as I recall the last two courses were exclusively French lit. This included a term paper written in French. In fact, I'm pretty sure I recall writing a lengthy paper in French while I was in high school.

And, here's the difference: I did not start French until high school.

Same with DD--but, a different language. Four years in high school and advanced in college. Did not take in middle school because the language in question was not offered.

My point: FLES does not prepare you for a language.

Even kids in overseas DOD schools who have a foreign language equivalent of FLES in elementary, do not pick up the language unless they are living on the local economy and playing with the local kids. Those that live in military housing generally do not learn the language--unless the parents are native speakers or encourage it in some other way.

FLES does not help the kids that much. It's a "nice to have" class, but I'd rather see another class of music or art.

Just because you can acquire fluency with a language you start taking in high school does not mean that earlier exposure is not beneficial.

I was much happier with a FLES class than I would have been with an additional art class. YMMV.

DP. I agree that starting a language earlier is better, but FLES in my kids' ES was totally useless.

I wrote a dissertation on this once many years ago when FCPS was just starting bilingual classes. There is no significant proven benefit to the FCPS models of early foreign language instruction, nor was there ever, not the way they are implemented anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a product of FCPS AND I taught there for over 30 years.
Things have definitely changed - some for the better, some for worse.

There are some really damn good teachers in FCPS. They know how to reach their students, they are expert at their fields, and they have great ways of engaging students. They are being asked to do a boat load of work compared to 20-30 years ago. And, they generally don't complain.

The student body is way more diverse. Many teachers struggle with this, since the span of ability in a single class is huge. You have students who cannot speak English sitting next to students who read 3 levels above grade level. That presents huge challenges. Colleges try to prepare future teachers for these challenges, but in reality, it is almost an impossible task.

The focus on SOLs at many schools has removed some of the creativity from teaching. Teachers who used to find ways to connect learning between subjects don't do that much anymore, mostly because of time.

I could go on and on and on. I was a very good teacher. I was recognized for being one. I could never be a new teacher in Fairfax today.

Teacher here also from before high stakes testing to after - definitely NCLB killed education. However, fcps was not actually any better before this in my opinion. It was just bad in a different way.

[Anonymous]

Could FCPS have messed up the DL vs Hybrid situation any more than they have? Is this school system in decline or what??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could FCPS have messed up the DL vs Hybrid situation any more than they have? Is this school system in decline or what??

Thank you for resurrecting this thread and SOUNDING OFF. It's always helpful to have a thread where people SOUND OFF. I wouldn't know how people felt if they didn't SOUND OFF. Would anyone else like to SOUND OFF?

[Anonymous]

I cannot believe fcps has the nerve to put in their newest text and email the phrase "our recent preference questionnaire." You mean the form that use to be called "2020-21 Enrollment Form"? I can search my email inbox for 2020-21 Enrollment Form and your emails come up. I don't see any emails with a preference questionnaire. I based my entire fall work schedule and day care on my enrollment form. Get rid of this school board. Their minds were made up before the meeting last night. Even after the health dept came on and said it was ok to open schools, actual said it was safe to open and NOVAs numbers have been steady and good for the last month (5%), they still chose to talk in circles for the next 7 hours until everyone was confused and talked each other into believing virtual was the only way to go. At 2:30pm it was clear from the health departments DATA that it was ok to open school. Braband even said it his slides its what FCPS wanted. By 10pm they has closed all schools and didn't even say until the end of quarter 1.

[Anonymous]

That meeting was something else.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, not a good time to resurrect this thread. Teachers are trying to prep for a concurrent/ hybrid return to school and are facing enormous workloads.

[Anonymous]

Not so much in decline as non-existent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could FCPS have messed up the DL vs Hybrid situation any more than they have? Is this school system in decline or what??

Thank you for resurrecting this thread and SOUNDING OFF. It's always helpful to have a thread where people SOUND OFF. I wouldn't know how people felt if they didn't SOUND OFF. Would anyone else like to SOUND OFF?

You seem to be shouting.

[Anonymous]

It's absolutely in decline. The only surprise is how the current leadership and School Board are accelerating the decline.

[Anonymous]

In rapid decline - without a doubt.

And the current school board is entirely responsible for the decline!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I spend a lot of time in different classrooms in different schools watching the system in action.

It's not that FCPS is in decline. It's that your kid has a cell phone, and you just cannot imagine how much that time and attention sink is hurting his/her education.

does

So why not have a no phone in classroom policy? If it is out, goes on teachers desk or sent to office. I never understood why it wasn’t a rule? We enforced from home by restricting as much as we could but as they got older we were told they also used in class. But once assignments over, rule should activate.

Because mommy needs 24/7 access to her kid {you can't believe how many parents text their kid during the school day} and schools don't want to be responsible if something happens to Larlo's new iPhoneX.

I'd support the no phone in the classroom policy, but I remember in FCPS HS when they would confiscate any phones any teacher saw (even if phone was off, even if it was during lunch or before or after school hours) and require the parents come to the office to retrieve it.

While I'd be fine having the phone taken away from the kid during the day, I'd be furious if as a parent I gave a kid a phone for safety reasons to walk home and the school kept it from them.

[Anonymous]

FCPS sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe fcps has the nerve to put in their newest text and email the phrase "our recent preference questionnaire." You mean the form that use to be called "2020-21 Enrollment Form"? I can search my email inbox for 2020-21 Enrollment Form and your emails come up. I don't see any emails with a preference questionnaire. I based my entire fall work schedule and day care on my enrollment form. Get rid of this school board. Their minds were made up before the meeting last night. Even after the health dept came on and said it was ok to open schools, actual said it was safe to open and NOVAs numbers have been steady and good for the last month (5%), they still chose to talk in circles for the next 7 hours until everyone was confused and talked each other into believing virtual was the only way to go. At 2:30pm it was clear from the health departments DATA that it was ok to open school. Braband even said it his slides its what FCPS wanted. By 10pm they has closed all schools and didn't even say until the end of quarter 1.

There were so many good conservative choices running for school board too. This could have been so different if people were more aware. Nothing like a pandemic to get people to understand what was meant by change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe fcps has the nerve to put in their newest text and email the phrase "our recent preference questionnaire." You mean the form that use to be called "2020-21 Enrollment Form"? I can search my email inbox for 2020-21 Enrollment Form and your emails come up. I don't see any emails with a preference questionnaire. I based my entire fall work schedule and day care on my enrollment form. Get rid of this school board. Their minds were made up before the meeting last night. Even after the health dept came on and said it was ok to open schools, actual said it was safe to open and NOVAs numbers have been steady and good for the last month (5%), they still chose to talk in circles for the next 7 hours until everyone was confused and talked each other into believing virtual was the only way to go. At 2:30pm it was clear from the health departments DATA that it was ok to open school. Braband even said it his slides its what FCPS wanted. By 10pm they has closed all schools and didn't even say until the end of quarter 1.

There were so many good conservative choices running for school board too. This could have been so different if people were more aware. Nothing like a pandemic to get people to understand what was meant by change.

You know you live in a strange world where you have to vote conservative to have schools open in one of the wealthiest countries in America.

There needs to be a new term for politicians who do nothing but obsess about skin color while schools are closed because there is nothing remotely "progressive" about that.