Predicted Enrollment Decline in FCPS Materializes

[Anonymous]

Our school has tiny first grade classes and 2 big kindergarten classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school has tiny first grade classes and 2 big kindergarten classes.

Numbers, please? How many is "big" and how many is "tiny?"

And, how many first grade classes are there?

Could be a factor of late enrollment by K kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is an idea, why don’t we dust off curriculum from the 70s and 80s. We had the best schools back then. Not write new stuff but update that old stuff and get back on track.

Agree for the curriculum but back then, they didn't have significant numbers of ELL and you could put disruptive kids into a separate classroom so that they wouldn't distract others. You can't do that now.

Schools have been around for hundreds of years so we know what works. However, it would literally put a ton of grifters out of business. Their business model is literally convincing people they have figured out a better way to teach XYZ. Moving this grifters outnof education will never happen because they will make sure it never happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is an idea, why don’t we dust off curriculum from the 70s and 80s. We had the best schools back then. Not write new stuff but update that old stuff and get back on track.

Honestly it would be so much better. We have talented teachers here.. we just have relegated them to a role of implementing standardized curriculum which is not the same as teaching. Let the teachers TEACH.

Uhhhh...there was a lot more scripted curriculum back in the day.

And in fact scripted curricula are shown to close acheivement gaps better than just about any other kid. The talented teachers use them as a starting point, but the bad teachers have them to work from, which is better than what they'd otherwise do.

What are you considering back in the day? Because this definitely was not my experience as a formed student and current parent of students.

Dp. I was taught out of a textbook back in the day. Felt scripted to me.

In the 90s, Reading from a textbook (having each student read a paragraph) was a script for the kids. Then the teachers went off and discussed whatever they wanted for 30 minutes. No script.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe it, but we are leaving NOVA because we’re tired of the FCPS school board. We have watched the quality of education go down and the board acts totally oblivious to it.

They squabble over new magnet programs, the most convoluted boundary review, non stop surveys with silly start time options.

All while they haven’t adequately addressed learning loss, they raise the caps on class sizes, get rid of class monitors, push early algebra when our math scores are already abysmal so there’s no indication these kids are ready for it.

I don’t doubt it’s all in best intention, but this school board and superintendent have absolutely lost the plot. I’m done waiting for them to get it together.

There are only a few places in the country you can move to and have a better public school experience, hope your heading to one of those. Search for the West Virginia thread from a few years ago. A person posted about a friend moving to West Virginia for cheaper housing and a not woke school district. How great it was going to be and how jealous they were of that friend. Six months into the school year the person was back posting about how bad the education was and how behind the schools were. My friends who moved in from other states have all commented that their kids were behind when they got to FCPS.

There are a lot of other places besides West-by-God-Virginia.

It’s amazing how many suburbs of mid-tier cities in the South and Midwest have nicer schools than FCPS, and the academics in FCPS are grossly overrated. They just take credit for the extra efforts that parents make.

Good luck, my neighbor moved to the Midwest for work, 5 miles outside of a major city. The school district just dropped all electives in elementary because of budget cuts. No PE, art, music - nothing.

That is too bad. What it means is that the classroom teacher will teach all those specials. Most do already, in some way. It does not mean that the kids won't have them.

The teacher only does PE. it’s required by law, the others are not happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From the "Opening of Schools" report to be presented at this week's School Board meeting:

June 2025 enrollment: 181,153

September 2025 enrollment (uncertified): 177,007

Shouldn't this be leading to a pause in the ongoing boundary review, which is based on 2024-25 enrollment figures? It's unlikely that the decline of over 4,000 students is equally distributed throughout the county, so it could have a bigger effect in some pyramids than others. People told FCPS that there was a lot of uncertainty in the air, and they were apparently right.

Reports are Hispanic students are not showing up. Same thing is happening in DC. Feel really bad for the seniors with college plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I feel like language arts has been improved since covid. It was abysmal with Lucy Calkins. Hasn't this been an improvement?

I am still so very angry about this. My now HS Senior started with Lucy Calkins back in K. "We LOVE Lucy! We will go to workshops in New York to learn FROM Lucy! Lucy Lucy Lucy!"

I read to my kids every night from birth for a LONG time into Elementary School. I couldn't put my finger on why they hated (and continue to hate) reading. They couldn't spell. Don't get me started on writing. The reading nooks, the Red reading group vs. the Green reading group. You can only take books out of the yellow bin. It all turned out to be this failure of a "curriculum" that people ate up with a spoon. What a ruse.

I don't know what the answer is, but what happened to the "common" curriculum (with each state teaching its own state history) we all - and I mean no matter where you grew up - learned through the 80s and 90s.

My kids can't even tell me the names of 10 presidents. State Capitals? Keep dreaming. Can your kid name all 50 states and/or point to them on a map? BASIC BASIC (or wow, what I thought was basic) stuff, schools can't even seem to teach. And art and music - forget about it. Does FCPS even try and pretend they do that anymore?

Why does your kids need to rattle of capitals. That is useless information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe it, but we are leaving NOVA because we’re tired of the FCPS school board. We have watched the quality of education go down and the board acts totally oblivious to it.

They squabble over new magnet programs, the most convoluted boundary review, non stop surveys with silly start time options.

All while they haven’t adequately addressed learning loss, they raise the caps on class sizes, get rid of class monitors, push early algebra when our math scores are already abysmal so there’s no indication these kids are ready for it.

I don’t doubt it’s all in best intention, but this school board and superintendent have absolutely lost the plot. I’m done waiting for them to get it together.

There are only a few places in the country you can move to and have a better public school experience, hope your heading to one of those. Search for the West Virginia thread from a few years ago. A person posted about a friend moving to West Virginia for cheaper housing and a not woke school district. How great it was going to be and how jealous they were of that friend. Six months into the school year the person was back posting about how bad the education was and how behind the schools were. My friends who moved in from other states have all commented that their kids were behind when they got to FCPS.

There are a lot of other places besides West-by-God-Virginia.

It’s amazing how many suburbs of mid-tier cities in the South and Midwest have nicer schools than FCPS, and the academics in FCPS are grossly overrated. They just take credit for the extra efforts that parents make.

Good luck, my neighbor moved to the Midwest for work, 5 miles outside of a major city. The school district just dropped all electives in elementary because of budget cuts. No PE, art, music - nothing.

That is too bad. What it means is that the classroom teacher will teach all those specials. Most do already, in some way. It does not mean that the kids won't have them.

The teacher only does PE. it’s required by law, the others are not happening.

Since you have not named the district we all assume this is bullshit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe it, but we are leaving NOVA because we’re tired of the FCPS school board. We have watched the quality of education go down and the board acts totally oblivious to it.

They squabble over new magnet programs, the most convoluted boundary review, non stop surveys with silly start time options.

All while they haven’t adequately addressed learning loss, they raise the caps on class sizes, get rid of class monitors, push early algebra when our math scores are already abysmal so there’s no indication these kids are ready for it.

I don’t doubt it’s all in best intention, but this school board and superintendent have absolutely lost the plot. I’m done waiting for them to get it together.

There are only a few places in the country you can move to and have a better public school experience, hope your heading to one of those. Search for the West Virginia thread from a few years ago. A person posted about a friend moving to West Virginia for cheaper housing and a not woke school district. How great it was going to be and how jealous they were of that friend. Six months into the school year the person was back posting about how bad the education was and how behind the schools were. My friends who moved in from other states have all commented that their kids were behind when they got to FCPS.

There are a lot of other places besides West-by-God-Virginia.

It’s amazing how many suburbs of mid-tier cities in the South and Midwest have nicer schools than FCPS, and the academics in FCPS are grossly overrated. They just take credit for the extra efforts that parents make.

Good luck, my neighbor moved to the Midwest for work, 5 miles outside of a major city. The school district just dropped all electives in elementary because of budget cuts. No PE, art, music - nothing.

That is too bad. What it means is that the classroom teacher will teach all those specials. Most do already, in some way. It does not mean that the kids won't have them.

The teacher only does PE. it’s required by law, the others are not happening.

Do you really think elementary teachers are not incorporating art activities into the classroom? Music?

I suspect that some of these will be added, but it sure beats making larger classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I feel like language arts has been improved since covid. It was abysmal with Lucy Calkins. Hasn't this been an improvement?

I am still so very angry about this. My now HS Senior started with Lucy Calkins back in K. "We LOVE Lucy! We will go to workshops in New York to learn FROM Lucy! Lucy Lucy Lucy!"

I read to my kids every night from birth for a LONG time into Elementary School. I couldn't put my finger on why they hated (and continue to hate) reading. They couldn't spell. Don't get me started on writing. The reading nooks, the Red reading group vs. the Green reading group. You can only take books out of the yellow bin. It all turned out to be this failure of a "curriculum" that people ate up with a spoon. What a ruse.

I don't know what the answer is, but what happened to the "common" curriculum (with each state teaching its own state history) we all - and I mean no matter where you grew up - learned through the 80s and 90s.

My kids can't even tell me the names of 10 presidents. State Capitals? Keep dreaming. Can your kid name all 50 states and/or point to them on a map? BASIC BASIC (or wow, what I thought was basic) stuff, schools can't even seem to teach. And art and music - forget about it. Does FCPS even try and pretend they do that anymore?

Why does your kids need to rattle of capitals. That is useless information.

DP. It’s not useless information for kids in American schools to learn some basic things about all 50 states.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I feel like language arts has been improved since covid. It was abysmal with Lucy Calkins. Hasn't this been an improvement?

I am still so very angry about this. My now HS Senior started with Lucy Calkins back in K. "We LOVE Lucy! We will go to workshops in New York to learn FROM Lucy! Lucy Lucy Lucy!"

I read to my kids every night from birth for a LONG time into Elementary School. I couldn't put my finger on why they hated (and continue to hate) reading. They couldn't spell. Don't get me started on writing. The reading nooks, the Red reading group vs. the Green reading group. You can only take books out of the yellow bin. It all turned out to be this failure of a "curriculum" that people ate up with a spoon. What a ruse.

I don't know what the answer is, but what happened to the "common" curriculum (with each state teaching its own state history) we all - and I mean no matter where you grew up - learned through the 80s and 90s.

My kids can't even tell me the names of 10 presidents. State Capitals? Keep dreaming. Can your kid name all 50 states and/or point to them on a map? BASIC BASIC (or wow, what I thought was basic) stuff, schools can't even seem to teach. And art and music - forget about it. Does FCPS even try and pretend they do that anymore?

Why does your kids need to rattle of capitals. That is useless information.

DP. It’s not useless information for kids in American schools to learn some basic things about all 50 states.

+1 Wonder what she considers "useful" information? I think knowing states and capital is useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I feel like language arts has been improved since covid. It was abysmal with Lucy Calkins. Hasn't this been an improvement?

I am still so very angry about this. My now HS Senior started with Lucy Calkins back in K. "We LOVE Lucy! We will go to workshops in New York to learn FROM Lucy! Lucy Lucy Lucy!"

I read to my kids every night from birth for a LONG time into Elementary School. I couldn't put my finger on why they hated (and continue to hate) reading. They couldn't spell. Don't get me started on writing. The reading nooks, the Red reading group vs. the Green reading group. You can only take books out of the yellow bin. It all turned out to be this failure of a "curriculum" that people ate up with a spoon. What a ruse.

I don't know what the answer is, but what happened to the "common" curriculum (with each state teaching its own state history) we all - and I mean no matter where you grew up - learned through the 80s and 90s.

My kids can't even tell me the names of 10 presidents. State Capitals? Keep dreaming. Can your kid name all 50 states and/or point to them on a map? BASIC BASIC (or wow, what I thought was basic) stuff, schools can't even seem to teach. And art and music - forget about it. Does FCPS even try and pretend they do that anymore?

Why does your kids need to rattle of capitals. That is useless information.

DP. It’s not useless information for kids in American schools to learn some basic things about all 50 states.

+1 Wonder what she considers "useful" information? I think knowing states and capital is useful.

+1, not useful information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the "Opening of Schools" report to be presented at this week's School Board meeting:

June 2025 enrollment: 181,153

September 2025 enrollment (uncertified): 177,007

Shouldn't this be leading to a pause in the ongoing boundary review, which is based on 2024-25 enrollment figures? It's unlikely that the decline of over 4,000 students is equally distributed throughout the county, so it could have a bigger effect in some pyramids than others. People told FCPS that there was a lot of uncertainty in the air, and they were apparently right.

Reports are Hispanic students are not showing up. Same thing is happening in DC. Feel really bad for the seniors with college plans.

Are these reports specific to FCPS?


Where would young people with college degrees get jobs when they don't have the legal authority to work here? Are employers in white collar jobs hiring people illegally?

[Anonymous]

Where did the 4,000 students go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where did the 4,000 students go?

Until we see school enrollments, it will be hard to tell.

My guess: There are a a lot fewer kindergarteners and some undocumented left.