Falls Church City School Board Candidates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

You do realize that 1) the name change didn’t cost a million and 2) our schools were the first to go back in the whole region, right? Oh and also all schools in VA moved their start date to before Labor Day once the law changed. People are delusional.

As a parent of a FCCPS young elementary school student I’m tired of hearing people push this talking point. Loudon County elementary school students were back in school before us and most of the other nova districts were just a couple of weeks behind. in the meanwhile these school districts were dealing with coordinating across dozens of disparate schools with far greater complicating factors. The fact that despite its tiny area, substantial resources and only 4 schools to manage, FCCPS still didn't open for the vast majority of its students until spring 2021 is a failure in leadership- not something to brag about.

If you really want to compare, look at how those school districts were opened. Many teachers refused to come back, and the schools had classroom monitors while the teachers taught remotely. I do think our city should be proud that all teachers came back to school and taught in the classrooms. This is largely due to the fact that we had vaccination clinics in our schools, beginning in January, back when it was difficult to get vaccinated (remember those days?!) We had a graduation ceremony. We had prom. I have lots of friends in Fairfax and Arlington, and trust me, our school experiences from February - June were far better than theirs were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

I’m assuming you weren’t trying to get voted on the school board (twice) like Shapiro was last year with no kids in the schools? Agree, good to have differing views. Everyone is entitled to their say. “Liberal activists” is a little harsh though.

A genuine question here: how did the school remaining cost a million?

It's really not - the entire town was against the name change and they did it anyway. The town was also against a pre-Labor Day start. Activists oush an agenda on everyone else. That's why people are upset.

It cost $486K to rename Jeb Stuart. Round up and add inflation for two schools named after patriots. The school board had a joke of a cost estimate under 100K so they didn't have to get it approved.

Renaming the schools did not cost anywhere near the cost to change Jeb Stuart, partly because there was already a new HS being built so the costs of changing signs, etc, was already built in.

The entire town was not against a pre-Labor Day start. Most schools in this country and the region start before Labor Day. Last year, Labor Day was extremely late and starting after Labor Day plus having 2 weeks off for Christmas (which I'm opposed to but most people want) meant the last day of school was going to be close to July 4th. That's ridiculous.

Our kids have to take IB and AP exams on nationally-mandated days. Starting school 2 to 4 weeks later than many, many parts of the country means that they're disadvantaged in terms of learning days before those exams. That's the biggest reason the calendar committee decided to start school prior to Labor Day last year (2 weeks before Labor Day) and this year (1 week before Labor Day). The school board basically votes to approve or reject the calendar that the calendar committee has created.

If you want to find a school that starts after Labor Day, you will almost certainly have to go private, where they don't have the mandated 180 classroom days plus some built in days for teacher workdays to do report cards and grading. The privates have fewer school days.

Exactly. The entitlement of some parents is just beyond. Sadly, the more that modest houses get torn down for McMansions, the worse it will get. I can definitely see the liberal (full) tilt of the city shift to the right. I think Dr Noonan has done a great job but I also wouldn’t mind seeing some dissenting voices on the school board - for a little balance. But not someone self serving like Shapiro, it doesn’t help anyone to have a guy running to Fox News every time he doesn’t get his (non-mainstream) way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

I’m assuming you weren’t trying to get voted on the school board (twice) like Shapiro was last year with no kids in the schools? Agree, good to have differing views. Everyone is entitled to their say. “Liberal activists” is a little harsh though.

A genuine question here: how did the school remaining cost a million?

It's really not - the entire town was against the name change and they did it anyway. The town was also against a pre-Labor Day start. Activists oush an agenda on everyone else. That's why people are upset.

It cost $486K to rename Jeb Stuart. Round up and add inflation for two schools named after patriots. The school board had a joke of a cost estimate under 100K so they didn't have to get it approved.

Renaming the schools did not cost anywhere near the cost to change Jeb Stuart, partly because there was already a new HS being built so the costs of changing signs, etc, was already built in.

The entire town was not against a pre-Labor Day start. Most schools in this country and the region start before Labor Day. Last year, Labor Day was extremely late and starting after Labor Day plus having 2 weeks off for Christmas (which I'm opposed to but most people want) meant the last day of school was going to be close to July 4th. That's ridiculous.

Our kids have to take IB and AP exams on nationally-mandated days. Starting school 2 to 4 weeks later than many, many parts of the country means that they're disadvantaged in terms of learning days before those exams. That's the biggest reason the calendar committee decided to start school prior to Labor Day last year (2 weeks before Labor Day) and this year (1 week before Labor Day). The school board basically votes to approve or reject the calendar that the calendar committee has created.

If you want to find a school that starts after Labor Day, you will almost certainly have to go private, where they don't have the mandated 180 classroom days plus some built in days for teacher workdays to do report cards and grading. The privates have fewer school days.

Exactly. The entitlement of some parents is just beyond. Sadly, the more that modest houses get torn down for McMansions, the worse it will get. I can definitely see the liberal (full) tilt of the city shift to the right. I think Dr Noonan has done a great job but I also wouldn’t mind seeing some dissenting voices on the school board - for a little balance. But not someone self serving like Shapiro, it doesn’t help anyone to have a guy running to Fox News every time he doesn’t get his (non-mainstream) way.

Let's be honest -- he can get on national media platforms (including Fox news) whether he's on the board or simply attending the board meetings as a concerned parent. I don't see his access to the media as a reason to vote for or against him. The school board will either take actions for which there is a story to tell, or they won't. That will determine whether we're in the news cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

I’m assuming you weren’t trying to get voted on the school board (twice) like Shapiro was last year with no kids in the schools? Agree, good to have differing views. Everyone is entitled to their say. “Liberal activists” is a little harsh though.

A genuine question here: how did the school remaining cost a million?

It's really not - the entire town was against the name change and they did it anyway. The town was also against a pre-Labor Day start. Activists oush an agenda on everyone else. That's why people are upset.

It cost $486K to rename Jeb Stuart. Round up and add inflation for two schools named after patriots. The school board had a joke of a cost estimate under 100K so they didn't have to get it approved.

Renaming the schools did not cost anywhere near the cost to change Jeb Stuart, partly because there was already a new HS being built so the costs of changing signs, etc, was already built in.

The entire town was not against a pre-Labor Day start. Most schools in this country and the region start before Labor Day. Last year, Labor Day was extremely late and starting after Labor Day plus having 2 weeks off for Christmas (which I'm opposed to but most people want) meant the last day of school was going to be close to July 4th. That's ridiculous.

Our kids have to take IB and AP exams on nationally-mandated days. Starting school 2 to 4 weeks later than many, many parts of the country means that they're disadvantaged in terms of learning days before those exams. That's the biggest reason the calendar committee decided to start school prior to Labor Day last year (2 weeks before Labor Day) and this year (1 week before Labor Day). The school board basically votes to approve or reject the calendar that the calendar committee has created.

If you want to find a school that starts after Labor Day, you will almost certainly have to go private, where they don't have the mandated 180 classroom days plus some built in days for teacher workdays to do report cards and grading. The privates have fewer school days.

Exactly. The entitlement of some parents is just beyond. Sadly, the more that modest houses get torn down for McMansions, the worse it will get. I can definitely see the liberal (full) tilt of the city shift to the right. I think Dr Noonan has done a great job but I also wouldn’t mind seeing some dissenting voices on the school board - for a little balance. But not someone self serving like Shapiro, it doesn’t help anyone to have a guy running to Fox News every time he doesn’t get his (non-mainstream) way.

its usually the McMansion parents that have the most leftist views...and as you know the more expensive FCC has gotten the more the voting has gone left...

[Anonymous]

A small minority of FCCPS parents wanted to keep the post-Labor Day, and they came to the School Board to argue that for the later start to protect their European and OBX vacations. Seriously. The School Board at the time actually said that wasn't a good enough reason and that kids needed the extra time before Labor Day to prepare for the AP, IB, and SOL exams. It was actually an equity issue and the reaction of some parents showed that while they may like to talk about equity and their "liberal values," when the SB takes real action to promote equity, and it cuts into their vacation plans, they're not interested.

To get back to the candidates, I'm voting for Silverman and Anderson because I think they're our best chances for polite and constructive dissent and a move away from group-think. I have yet to hear anything from Ortiz or Tysse that tells me they have empathy for how last year impacted students, families, teachers, and staff. I'm sure they're very nice people, but I don't need more very nice people on the School Board who say we all did the best we could and there are no learnings to be had from the past 18 months. The current Board is full of lovely, kind people who were afraid to be a voice for the community or for the staff and teachers. I don't know a single thing about Gould or Mooney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

I’m assuming you weren’t trying to get voted on the school board (twice) like Shapiro was last year with no kids in the schools? Agree, good to have differing views. Everyone is entitled to their say. “Liberal activists” is a little harsh though.

A genuine question here: how did the school remaining cost a million?

It's really not - the entire town was against the name change and they did it anyway. The town was also against a pre-Labor Day start. Activists oush an agenda on everyone else. That's why people are upset.

It cost $486K to rename Jeb Stuart. Round up and add inflation for two schools named after patriots. The school board had a joke of a cost estimate under 100K so they didn't have to get it approved.

Renaming the schools did not cost anywhere near the cost to change Jeb Stuart, partly because there was already a new HS being built so the costs of changing signs, etc, was already built in.

The entire town was not against a pre-Labor Day start. Most schools in this country and the region start before Labor Day. Last year, Labor Day was extremely late and starting after Labor Day plus having 2 weeks off for Christmas (which I'm opposed to but most people want) meant the last day of school was going to be close to July 4th. That's ridiculous.

Our kids have to take IB and AP exams on nationally-mandated days. Starting school 2 to 4 weeks later than many, many parts of the country means that they're disadvantaged in terms of learning days before those exams. That's the biggest reason the calendar committee decided to start school prior to Labor Day last year (2 weeks before Labor Day) and this year (1 week before Labor Day). The school board basically votes to approve or reject the calendar that the calendar committee has created.

If you want to find a school that starts after Labor Day, you will almost certainly have to go private, where they don't have the mandated 180 classroom days plus some built in days for teacher workdays to do report cards and grading. The privates have fewer school days.

Exactly. The entitlement of some parents is just beyond. Sadly, the more that modest houses get torn down for McMansions, the worse it will get. I can definitely see the liberal (full) tilt of the city shift to the right. I think Dr Noonan has done a great job but I also wouldn’t mind seeing some dissenting voices on the school board - for a little balance. But not someone self serving like Shapiro, it doesn’t help anyone to have a guy running to Fox News every time he doesn’t get his (non-mainstream) way.

its usually the McMansion parents that have the most leftist views...and as you know the more expensive FCC has gotten the more the voting has gone left...

Yes. Over the past 20 years (I think), the Democrats have attracted the affluent, college-educated vote, and the (white) blue-collar vote has moved to the Republicans. The parties are no longer split along "class" lines; each has a mix of affluent and lower-SES voters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

You do realize that 1) the name change didn’t cost a million and 2) our schools were the first to go back in the whole region, right? Oh and also all schools in VA moved their start date to before Labor Day once the law changed. People are delusional.

As a parent of a FCCPS young elementary school student I’m tired of hearing people push this talking point. Loudon County elementary school students were back in school before us and most of the other nova districts were just a couple of weeks behind. in the meanwhile these school districts were dealing with coordinating across dozens of disparate schools with far greater complicating factors. The fact that despite its tiny area, substantial resources and only 4 schools to manage, FCCPS still didn't open for the vast majority of its students until spring 2021 is a failure in leadership- not something to brag about.

If you really want to compare, look at how those school districts were opened. Many teachers refused to come back, and the schools had classroom monitors while the teachers taught remotely. I do think our city should be proud that all teachers came back to school and taught in the classrooms. This is largely due to the fact that we had vaccination clinics in our schools, beginning in January, back when it was difficult to get vaccinated (remember those days?!) We had a graduation ceremony. We had prom. I have lots of friends in Fairfax and Arlington, and trust me, our school experiences from February - June were far better than theirs were.

Very true. Our friends in Arlington had 50% back in person (2 days per week, I think?). FCC had almost all kids back and all teachers. In FFX, friends had kids in school but teachers at home. It was a vastly different experience. My thoughts are that the folks with the “bring out kids back to school” signs still up are actually using that as a substitute for “we oppose the name change”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

I’m assuming you weren’t trying to get voted on the school board (twice) like Shapiro was last year with no kids in the schools? Agree, good to have differing views. Everyone is entitled to their say. “Liberal activists” is a little harsh though.

A genuine question here: how did the school remaining cost a million?

It's really not - the entire town was against the name change and they did it anyway. The town was also against a pre-Labor Day start. Activists oush an agenda on everyone else. That's why people are upset.

It cost $486K to rename Jeb Stuart. Round up and add inflation for two schools named after patriots. The school board had a joke of a cost estimate under 100K so they didn't have to get it approved.

Renaming the schools did not cost anywhere near the cost to change Jeb Stuart, partly because there was already a new HS being built so the costs of changing signs, etc, was already built in.

The entire town was not against a pre-Labor Day start. Most schools in this country and the region start before Labor Day. Last year, Labor Day was extremely late and starting after Labor Day plus having 2 weeks off for Christmas (which I'm opposed to but most people want) meant the last day of school was going to be close to July 4th. That's ridiculous.

Our kids have to take IB and AP exams on nationally-mandated days. Starting school 2 to 4 weeks later than many, many parts of the country means that they're disadvantaged in terms of learning days before those exams. That's the biggest reason the calendar committee decided to start school prior to Labor Day last year (2 weeks before Labor Day) and this year (1 week before Labor Day). The school board basically votes to approve or reject the calendar that the calendar committee has created.

If you want to find a school that starts after Labor Day, you will almost certainly have to go private, where they don't have the mandated 180 classroom days plus some built in days for teacher workdays to do report cards and grading. The privates have fewer school days.

Exactly. The entitlement of some parents is just beyond. Sadly, the more that modest houses get torn down for McMansions, the worse it will get. I can definitely see the liberal (full) tilt of the city shift to the right. I think Dr Noonan has done a great job but I also wouldn’t mind seeing some dissenting voices on the school board - for a little balance. But not someone self serving like Shapiro, it doesn’t help anyone to have a guy running to Fox News every time he doesn’t get his (non-mainstream) way.

100% agree with both point on this. The entitlement of (some) parents in the city increases each year vailed under a guise of "we pay a lot of taxes here". So, this maybe a slight tilt to the right when it affect some residents directly.

We need diversified thought on the board but agree not Shapiro. For all his out of state money funding and his moaning on national media outlets he seems to give no real suggestion of what he will do. Moaning about the schools names being changed and the pandemic response (when he wasn't even a parent of kids in schools) seems fairly weak.

I just think the WSJ/Fox trashing of the schools will just be start. It would be all about him and how great he is not about the betterment our schools if he gets in. The WSJ article just rubbed me up the wrong way and gave a little pre insight into Shapiro's thought process for those who are thinking about voting for him

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

You do realize that 1) the name change didn’t cost a million and 2) our schools were the first to go back in the whole region, right? Oh and also all schools in VA moved their start date to before Labor Day once the law changed. People are delusional.

As a parent of a FCCPS young elementary school student I’m tired of hearing people push this talking point. Loudon County elementary school students were back in school before us and most of the other nova districts were just a couple of weeks behind. in the meanwhile these school districts were dealing with coordinating across dozens of disparate schools with far greater complicating factors. The fact that despite its tiny area, substantial resources and only 4 schools to manage, FCCPS still didn't open for the vast majority of its students until spring 2021 is a failure in leadership- not something to brag about.

If you really want to compare, look at how those school districts were opened. Many teachers refused to come back, and the schools had classroom monitors while the teachers taught remotely. I do think our city should be proud that all teachers came back to school and taught in the classrooms. This is largely due to the fact that we had vaccination clinics in our schools, beginning in January, back when it was difficult to get vaccinated (remember those days?!) We had a graduation ceremony. We had prom. I have lots of friends in Fairfax and Arlington, and trust me, our school experiences from February - June were far better than theirs were.

I will agree with you/take your word that FCC handled thing better for older kids and yes it is great that they at least were able to have a prom/graduation. For the youngest students, however, I think it was pretty abysmal. There were almost no breakout/small group sessions during the 6 months of virtual learning- or even “lunch bunches” until mid January (and those were only created following the uproar when the return to hybrid in person learning was once again postponed….with 3 days notice… until the end of February ). In the meantime my friends’ children in Fairfax/Arlington had lunch bunches throughout the year and seemed to have many more opportunities for small group breakouts and one on one engagement with their teachers….which is essential for k-2 children.

[Anonymous]

"If you want to find a school that starts after Labor Day, you will almost certainly have to go private, where they don't have the mandated 180 classroom days plus some built in days for teacher workdays to do report cards and grading. The privates have fewer school days."

Our independent school starts after Labor Day yet still has more instructional hours than Fairfax County. Our calendar has fewer teacher work days than FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A small minority of FCCPS parents wanted to keep the post-Labor Day, and they came to the School Board to argue that for the later start to protect their European and OBX vacations. Seriously. The School Board at the time actually said that wasn't a good enough reason and that kids needed the extra time before Labor Day to prepare for the AP, IB, and SOL exams. It was actually an equity issue and the reaction of some parents showed that while they may like to talk about equity and their "liberal values," when the SB takes real action to promote equity, and it cuts into their vacation plans, they're not interested.

To get back to the candidates, I'm voting for Silverman and Anderson because I think they're our best chances for polite and constructive dissent and a move away from group-think. I have yet to hear anything from Ortiz or Tysse that tells me they have empathy for how last year impacted students, families, teachers, and staff. I'm sure they're very nice people, but I don't need more very nice people on the School Board who say we all did the best we could and there are no learnings to be had from the past 18 months. The current Board is full of lovely, kind people who were afraid to be a voice for the community or for the staff and teachers. I don't know a single thing about Gould or Mooney.

Mooney (I believe) was responsible for all the "back to school signs" garden signs with the accompanying website about the effects of virtual learning on kids which was really negative and depressing.

She commented on this forum earlier but didn't really add any particular substance to her candidacy. No website and not heard anything what she is running on or endorsements from anyone. Doesn't feel like a strong candidate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

You do realize that 1) the name change didn’t cost a million and 2) our schools were the first to go back in the whole region, right? Oh and also all schools in VA moved their start date to before Labor Day once the law changed. People are delusional.

As a parent of a FCCPS young elementary school student I’m tired of hearing people push this talking point. Loudon County elementary school students were back in school before us and most of the other nova districts were just a couple of weeks behind. in the meanwhile these school districts were dealing with coordinating across dozens of disparate schools with far greater complicating factors. The fact that despite its tiny area, substantial resources and only 4 schools to manage, FCCPS still didn't open for the vast majority of its students until spring 2021 is a failure in leadership- not something to brag about.

If you really want to compare, look at how those school districts were opened. Many teachers refused to come back, and the schools had classroom monitors while the teachers taught remotely. I do think our city should be proud that all teachers came back to school and taught in the classrooms. This is largely due to the fact that we had vaccination clinics in our schools, beginning in January, back when it was difficult to get vaccinated (remember those days?!) We had a graduation ceremony. We had prom. I have lots of friends in Fairfax and Arlington, and trust me, our school experiences from February - June were far better than theirs were.

Very true. Our friends in Arlington had 50% back in person (2 days per week, I think?). FCC had almost all kids back and all teachers. In FFX, friends had kids in school but teachers at home. It was a vastly different experience. My thoughts are that the folks with the “bring out kids back to school” signs still up are actually using that as a substitute for “we oppose the name change”.

FCC was back “full time” in person for a grand total of~ two months last year and most of the elementary schools in other parts of NOVA similarly went up to offering 4 days in person during this time frame. I feel like a lot of FCC residents are desperate to cling to the myth that the schools are so much better (and thus refuse to demand accountability) because they are trying to justify having paid exorbitant real estate prices .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

I’m assuming you weren’t trying to get voted on the school board (twice) like Shapiro was last year with no kids in the schools? Agree, good to have differing views. Everyone is entitled to their say. “Liberal activists” is a little harsh though.

A genuine question here: how did the school remaining cost a million?

It's really not - the entire town was against the name change and they did it anyway. The town was also against a pre-Labor Day start. Activists oush an agenda on everyone else. That's why people are upset.

It cost $486K to rename Jeb Stuart. Round up and add inflation for two schools named after patriots. The school board had a joke of a cost estimate under 100K so they didn't have to get it approved.

Renaming the schools did not cost anywhere near the cost to change Jeb Stuart, partly because there was already a new HS being built so the costs of changing signs, etc, was already built in.

The entire town was not against a pre-Labor Day start. Most schools in this country and the region start before Labor Day. Last year, Labor Day was extremely late and starting after Labor Day plus having 2 weeks off for Christmas (which I'm opposed to but most people want) meant the last day of school was going to be close to July 4th. That's ridiculous.

Our kids have to take IB and AP exams on nationally-mandated days. Starting school 2 to 4 weeks later than many, many parts of the country means that they're disadvantaged in terms of learning days before those exams. That's the biggest reason the calendar committee decided to start school prior to Labor Day last year (2 weeks before Labor Day) and this year (1 week before Labor Day). The school board basically votes to approve or reject the calendar that the calendar committee has created.

If you want to find a school that starts after Labor Day, you will almost certainly have to go private, where they don't have the mandated 180 classroom days plus some built in days for teacher workdays to do report cards and grading. The privates have fewer school days.

Thank you! Completely agree. Every public school in the DMV now starts before Labor Day. What is the big deal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at his Twitter account. He loves Fox News and thinks kids in school shouldn’t be required to wear masks.

He's a libertarian- not the same as a republican. I honestly don't mind seeing him or any of the candidates rattle some cages. I don't like that the community had 0 voice. Not a single person on the school board took the community's side on any issue.

With the numbers the way they are right now we will get at least 1 or 2 dissenters and I'm happy with that.

Yes, I am aware that he is a libertarian. My previous post still accurately described his twitter account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"If you want to find a school that starts after Labor Day, you will almost certainly have to go private, where they don't have the mandated 180 classroom days plus some built in days for teacher workdays to do report cards and grading. The privates have fewer school days."

Our independent school starts after Labor Day yet still has more instructional hours than Fairfax County. Our calendar has fewer teacher work days than FCPS.

What school is this? It sounds like a private school. Also we're talking about Falls Church City, not Fairfax County.

By the way, the teacher workdays are not excessive. There's basically one at the end of each quarter, for them to do the report cards and grading. Maybe another one or two in the year?