Superintendent Taylor says he is responsible for what happens next

[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:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Majority have special needs

That wasn't true in the report MCPS put out. But even if it is now, most special needs don't require special programs with small class sizes.

[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:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Majority have special needs

The data shows that the rate of kids with IEPs/504s is pretty close (if not lower at some levels) than the broader MCPS population. We need to be having an evidence-based conversation here, not just throwing out claims with no backing.

However, even if the numbers are slightly higher now than they were early in the program, it still does not make virtual learning necessarily the correct intervention for every disability/learning differences. If MVA parents want to make the case that virtual learning is the only accommodation that works for their child's disability, they need to make that case after trying their public schools, and after trying the myriad other programs that MCPS has to offer, just like the rest of us whose kids have disabilities.

If after ALL of that, there are still kids who cannot be served in any of the programs MCPS offers, then I'd be happy for MCPS to pay for them to access an online program just as I'm happy for MCPS to cover private placements. But there needs to be a process, not just which families feel like having tiny classes with individualized attention, at the expense of the broader community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

[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:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

Perfect. Sounds like that should be your pitch for bringing back the MVA for the 2025-26 school year. We'll see how it goes.

[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:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

[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:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

As an MVA parent, I think MCPS does a horrible job of communicating healthy messages about those who physically cannot attend in-person school because of a disability (and for whom 6 hours a week of instruction via ISS, designed for hospitalized kids to temporarily keep pace with their classmates until they return) or those who need to learn at home due to the extreme bullying and hatred they receive at in-person school. It's "you're on your own, kid. Too bad, so sad". I really wish MCPS celebrated these kids as much as your athletes and mathletes.

[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:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

[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:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

So MCPS is suppose to defund a 28,000 student function that every other county has in order to fund a 800 student venture that no other county has?

[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:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

If 43% of high schoolers participate in sports in any given year, I actually don't think it's unreasonable to assume 50%+ have participated at some time, which was the claim. That actually sounds like a pretty good guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

Political cover. He can say he’s transparent and seeking community input while knowing all too well that there’s nothing he can do to reverse the BOE’s decision. It was a way for him to make clear that the closure was the fault of others and that he should get a clean slate with this constituency and be judged on how well he listens from here on out. Not to say that he’s a bad person at all - he’s doing what any good leader would do in his position in seeking input on how he can help these families that were dealt a bad hand and got a raw deal from the prior admin.

Rookie mistake. He threw the BOE under the bus on this for a program that is no longer financially tenable. It's unlikely he is going to use his political capital on MVA, which has value for some, but not for the many. He needs to familiarize himself with the state's Blueprint for Maryland's Future. There isn't current funding for it and it is a state mandate with which MCPS must comply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

Political cover. He can say he’s transparent and seeking community input while knowing all too well that there’s nothing he can do to reverse the BOE’s decision. It was a way for him to make clear that the closure was the fault of others and that he should get a clean slate with this constituency and be judged on how well he listens from here on out. Not to say that he’s a bad person at all - he’s doing what any good leader would do in his position in seeking input on how he can help these families that were dealt a bad hand and got a raw deal from the prior admin.

Rookie mistake. He threw the BOE under the bus on this for a program that is no longer financially tenable. It's unlikely he is going to use his political capital on MVA, which has value for some, but not for the many. He needs to familiarize himself with the state's Blueprint for Maryland's Future. There isn't current funding for it and it is a state mandate with which MCPS must comply.

But administrator dinners are still in the budget!!!!! Yippeee

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

Political cover. He can say he’s transparent and seeking community input while knowing all too well that there’s nothing he can do to reverse the BOE’s decision. It was a way for him to make clear that the closure was the fault of others and that he should get a clean slate with this constituency and be judged on how well he listens from here on out. Not to say that he’s a bad person at all - he’s doing what any good leader would do in his position in seeking input on how he can help these families that were dealt a bad hand and got a raw deal from the prior admin.

Rookie mistake. He threw the BOE under the bus on this for a program that is no longer financially tenable. It's unlikely he is going to use his political capital on MVA, which has value for some, but not for the many. He needs to familiarize himself with the state's Blueprint for Maryland's Future. There isn't current funding for it and it is a state mandate with which MCPS must comply.

But administrator dinners are still in the budget!!!!! Yippeee

dp.. if they are working through dinner, then, I don't begrudge them that. And how much is that budget compared to the mva budget? I'm thinking, a fraction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

Political cover. He can say he’s transparent and seeking community input while knowing all too well that there’s nothing he can do to reverse the BOE’s decision. It was a way for him to make clear that the closure was the fault of others and that he should get a clean slate with this constituency and be judged on how well he listens from here on out. Not to say that he’s a bad person at all - he’s doing what any good leader would do in his position in seeking input on how he can help these families that were dealt a bad hand and got a raw deal from the prior admin.

Rookie mistake. He threw the BOE under the bus on this for a program that is no longer financially tenable. It's unlikely he is going to use his political capital on MVA, which has value for some, but not for the many. He needs to familiarize himself with the state's Blueprint for Maryland's Future. There isn't current funding for it and it is a state mandate with which MCPS must comply.

But administrator dinners are still in the budget!!!!! Yippeee

dp.. if they are working through dinner, then, I don't begrudge them that. And how much is that budget compared to the mva budget? I'm thinking, a fraction.

That are not in restaurants working.
How much? Double the MVA budget.

[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:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

If 43% of high schoolers participate in sports in any given year, I actually don't think it's unreasonable to assume 50%+ have participated at some time, which was the claim. That actually sounds like a pretty good guess.

Now do middle school, which was also part of the claim.

[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:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

So MCPS is suppose to defund a 28,000 student function that every other county has in order to fund a 800 student venture that no other county has?

This is false. Please stop making stuff up to support your hatred of the MVA. Of course there are other counties that provide virtual learning academies