A real solution to underperforming and overcrowded schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m tired of everyone with all of these ideas, who hasn’t been a teacher or ever set foot in a classroom or have been retired for years. My DH and extended family are guilty of it.

Anyone who start posts like this should be required to run for school board. Go for it. Try to put your plan into action and do something instead of posting anonymously and making noise.

Folks like you want to endlessly debate why a novel idea won't work. I and many others just want to solve the problems holding kids back from greater achievement across the county, but particularly in the Eastern part. Why are you so against achievement? Are you afraid your kids will face too much competition if all the immigrant children in high ESOL schools can suddenly understand what's going and start performing at (or above) grade level. The harsh truth is that the status quo isn't working, and your opposition to change under the veil of equity just perpetuates a bad system.

I'm tired of seeing my property taxes wasted on ideas and practices that don't work. The role of FCPS is to educate kids, not coddle them.

You only see half of your property taxes go to schools. And a smaller percentage of that is spent on the practices you don’t like.
But yeah, run for office and maybe you will see it isn’t as easy as spouting off some half cocked, ill planned ideas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m tired of everyone with all of these ideas, who hasn’t been a teacher or ever set foot in a classroom or have been retired for years. My DH and extended family are guilty of it.

Anyone who start posts like this should be required to run for school board. Go for it. Try to put your plan into action and do something instead of posting anonymously and making noise.

You only see half of your property taxes go to schools. And a smaller percentage of that is spent on the practices you don’t like.

But yeah, run for office and maybe you will see it isn’t as easy as spouting off some half cocked, ill planned ideas.

Folks like you want to endlessly debate why a novel idea won't work. I (and many others) just want to solve the problems holding kids back from greater achievement across the county, but particularly in the Eastern part. Why are you so against achievement? Are you afraid your kids will face too much competition if all the immigrant children in high ESOL schools can suddenly understand what's going and start performing at (or above) grade level?The harsh truth is that the status quo isn't working, and your opposition to change under the veil of equity just perpetuates a bad system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The FCPS boundary review is such mess, and no one is happy about it, in large part because it's holding the real estate market hostage across much of the county. Can we all agree that all taxpayers in FFX County deserve to send to their kids to safe schools where academic achievement is not hindered by kids who either misbehave or hold the class back due to poor English comprehension? To that end, the simplest solution to the boundary fiasco would be to put underperforming students and those with behavior problems into separate facilities. There have to be consequences for misbehavior, and incentives to learn and speak English at a level consistent with learning at a normal pace.

Stop conflating education and real estate. Stop the fighting over school boundaries. Support kids who want to learn with opportunities to be challenged by like-minded peers, and stop apologizing for poor performance.

Brilliant. But administrators, SB and most of all Michelle herself have no interest in common sense solutions. Heck, they keep creating endless problems!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Google "Least Restrictive Environment" OP.

Hint, it applies to the non English speaking students and many of the behavior problems.

If you want this to happen, you would need to start at the federal level with your congressman, and work backwards from there

Per Google:

Federal special education law, or IDEA, has two important requirements for a child’s placement:

A child with an IEP should be with kids in general education to the “maximum extent that is appropriate.”

Special classes, separate schools, or removal from the general education class should only happen when a child’s learning or thinking difference — a “disability” under IDEA — is so severe that “supplementary aids and services can’t provide the child with an appropriate education.”

A key word here is appropriate. It means what’s suitable or right for kids. Sometimes, a specific service or program can’t be provided in a general education classroom.

When certain schools in the county have so many ESOL kids in a classroom that it prohibits native English speakers from advancing at the same rate as classrooms with fewer ESOL pupils, there is a problem. I'm not MAGA, I'm tired of putting up with sub-optimal education because the county refuses to put ESOL kids (not just Hispanic by the way, there are many languages across Fairfax County) into full English immersion classes to get them to a point where they can read, write, and speak English at the same level as their native-English speaking peers. Kids CANNOT learn if they can't understand the teacher, and when they don't understand what's going on, they grow bored, and then become disruptive. This is a simple fact, not a dog whistle.

NEWS FLASH—

CLASSROOM VIOLENCE is NOT “appropriate”

Thank you. Now, take out violent kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m tired of everyone with all of these ideas, who hasn’t been a teacher or ever set foot in a classroom or have been retired for years. My DH and extended family are guilty of it.

Anyone who start posts like this should be required to run for school board. Go for it. Try to put your plan into action and do something instead of posting anonymously and making noise.

I'm a teacher and agree that most of these ideas are half-baked. However, FCPS' zero tolerance policy went away after a highly publicized expulsion and subsequent suicide. The kid's father ran for school board on the issue. If someone ran a reasonably organized campaign to reverse some of the policies they could probably win in today's climate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m tired of everyone with all of these ideas, who hasn’t been a teacher or ever set foot in a classroom or have been retired for years. My DH and extended family are guilty of it.

Anyone who start posts like this should be required to run for school board. Go for it. Try to put your plan into action and do something instead of posting anonymously and making noise.

I'm a teacher and agree that most of these ideas are half-baked. However, FCPS' zero tolerance policy went away after a highly publicized expulsion and subsequent suicide. The kid's father ran for school board on the issue. If someone ran a reasonably organized campaign to reverse some of the policies they could probably win in today's climate.

+1
And, if any child should have not been treated with "zero tolerance" it was that one. It was a horrendously sad story and the School Board really screwed up on that one. The mother had ALS and was dying (and did--I think it was shortly after the suicide.)

The SB jumped on "zero tolerance" because more minority kids were getting punished than white kids. And, then, it was the law of the land. Another child also committed suicide, and the family blamed the school, but it was far less clear than the one who ran for School Board. (That child made two mistakes at two different schools.)

So, we went from using discretion due to the circumstances to "zero tolerance" because of cries of racism. So, then we changed to maybe a slap on the hand.

But, the issues in those cases were not due to disruption in classes.

Tha issue of lax consequences is due to kids protected by IEP's if they are disruptive.

[Anonymous]

Do parents have any recourse if other kids IEP's screw with their own kids education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do parents have any recourse if other kids IEP's screw with their own kids education?

Seems like the only recourse parents have is private school. Meantime anyone who owns property in the areas where schools are struggling due to the school board twisting itself into knots is simply screwed--first on the taxes and second on stagnating home values.

What a cluster.

[Anonymous]

If you are mature enough, you will know there is never simple solution for such issue.
Resource competetion is the source of all conflict, from war between countries to boundary changes for schools.