Is there any VA school distric that is NOT a dumpster fire?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm paying $28k per year for my three elementary school aged kids so they don't have to attend the public schools which close all the time when they feel like it. It's a lot of money but it's worth it when the dopamine hits after I post here (in the public school forum) with the word "anonymous" as my name.

Also my kids are thriving

Only $28K for 3 kids? Must not be that great a school, but go on and enjoy those dopamine hits. That’s what it’s all about.

I meant 28k per kid! They are thriving!

Ahhh, there goes the dopamine again!

That’s great, I’m really happy for them. Maybe it’s time for you to stop boasting about about it in a public school forum? It’s kind of obnoxious.

And weird.

I don't think it's so weird. Last year when my kids were online and not thriving, the teacher would say things on the iPad like "today you are going to learn how to do this."

Now, since I play 28k a year, I bet the teachers don't have to say that! My kids just learn!

And they are thriving

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We left FCPS, which is definitely a flaming dumpster, for private ES/MS, but our private ends soon and we probably can't afford private high school. We're planning to move, and decided to be smarter this time and not live in Fairfax. But based on this forum, it seems like every NoVa school district is horrible. Is there one anywhere that isn't? Falls Church, Oakton, Loudoun? Is there a decent public school district anywhere in NoVa?

Some of things we hated about FCPS included absurd amounts of homework, even in ES, a huge bureaucracy with no accountability for administrators (and a lot of BAD admins), a focus on testing, overcrowded classrooms, no personal attention at any age, and a "we don't care" attitude in general. Does that characterize all public schools?

I’m surprised about the homework comment. We teach in the elementary grades. Two different schools in FCPS (lower and upper ES). Teachers in our schools haven’t assigned homework for years now. Some parents request hw, but I don’t know of anyone assigning hw on a regular basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm paying $28k per year for my three elementary school aged kids so they don't have to attend the public schools which close all the time when they feel like it. It's a lot of money but it's worth it when the dopamine hits after I post here (in the public school forum) with the word "anonymous" as my name.

Also my kids are thriving

Only $28K for 3 kids? Must not be that great a school, but go on and enjoy those dopamine hits. That’s what it’s all about.

I meant 28k per kid! They are thriving!

Ahhh, there goes the dopamine again!

That’s great, I’m really happy for them. Maybe it’s time for you to stop boasting about about it in a public school forum? It’s kind of obnoxious.

And weird.

I don't think it's so weird. Last year when my kids were online and not thriving, the teacher would say things on the iPad like "today you are going to learn how to do this."

Now, since I play 28k a year, I bet the teachers don't have to say that! My kids just learn!

And they are thriving

That cool. You’re paying 28K a year so teachers don’t say today you’re going to learn this. What’s going to happen if a teacher says that in your class. Will you ask for a refund?

[Anonymous]

There are many fine school districts in Virginia. You just need to keep driving west far past the Woodbridge IKEA to find them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just posted above.

Yep - flip this list 180 degrees and I would happily pay tons more in property taxes.

“No syllabi
No five-paragraph essay writing
No book reports
No textbooks
No weekly vocabulary tests on spelling and usage
No cursive handwriting taught
No ability groupings for maths
No barrage of cobbled-together worksheets from TPT

No discipline
No consequences for cheating

This list doesn’t even make sense. Presumably it lists things you’re upset your public didn’t have (syllabi? textbooks? cursive) but also things you’re mad they DID have (barrage of TPT worksheets?). Which is it, these things are good or bad? Maybe your new private can teach syntax and clear writing.
No consequences for unacceptable behavior“

Enough with the predictable insults. I meant to drop the “no” in front of “barrage.” Yes, this is a list of several public school problems that we left behind. Does your public experience align with mine? If so, how?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just posted above.

Yep - flip this list 180 degrees and I would happily pay tons more in property taxes.

“No syllabi
No five-paragraph essay writing
No book reports
No textbooks
No weekly vocabulary tests on spelling and usage
No cursive handwriting taught
No ability groupings for maths
No barrage of cobbled-together worksheets from TPT

No discipline
No consequences for cheating

This list doesn’t even make sense. Presumably it lists things you’re upset your public didn’t have (syllabi? textbooks? cursive) but also things you’re mad they DID have (barrage of TPT worksheets?). Which is it, these things are good or bad? Maybe your new private can teach syntax and clear writing.
No consequences for unacceptable behavior“

Enough with the predictable insults. I meant to drop the “no” in front of “barrage.” Yes, this is a list of several public school problems that we left behind. Does your public experience align with mine? If so, how?

Thank you! 28k pet year! Thriving! Dopamine!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just posted above.

Yep - flip this list 180 degrees and I would happily pay tons more in property taxes.

“No syllabi
No five-paragraph essay writing
No book reports
No textbooks
No weekly vocabulary tests on spelling and usage
No cursive handwriting taught
No ability groupings for maths
No barrage of cobbled-together worksheets from TPT

No discipline
No consequences for cheating

This list doesn’t even make sense. Presumably it lists things you’re upset your public didn’t have (syllabi? textbooks? cursive) but also things you’re mad they DID have (barrage of TPT worksheets?). Which is it, these things are good or bad? Maybe your new private can teach syntax and clear writing.
No consequences for unacceptable behavior“

Enough with the predictable insults. I meant to drop the “no” in front of “barrage.” Yes, this is a list of several public school problems that we left behind. Does your public experience align with mine? If so, how?

Thank you! 28k pet year! Thriving! Dopamine!

Teacher doesn’t tell my kids what they’ll learn today! Dopamine! 28k!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm paying $28k per year for my three elementary school aged kids so they don't have to attend the public schools which close all the time when they feel like it. It's a lot of money but it's worth it when the dopamine hits after I post here (in the public school forum) with the word "anonymous" as my name.

Also my kids are thriving

Only $28K for 3 kids? Must not be that great a school, but go on and enjoy those dopamine hits. That’s what it’s all about.

I meant 28k per kid! They are thriving!

Ahhh, there goes the dopamine again!

That’s great, I’m really happy for them. Maybe it’s time for you to stop boasting about about it in a public school forum? It’s kind of obnoxious.

And weird.

I don't think it's so weird. Last year when my kids were online and not thriving, the teacher would say things on the iPad like "today you are going to learn how to do this."

Now, since I play 28k a year, I bet the teachers don't have to say that! My kids just learn!

And they are thriving

The more you post, the more relieved I am for your kids that they’re not stuck at home all day with you anymore. Worth every penny indeed. Ooo, now I feel the dopamine!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just posted above.

Yep - flip this list 180 degrees and I would happily pay tons more in property taxes.

“No syllabi
No five-paragraph essay writing
No book reports
No textbooks
No weekly vocabulary tests on spelling and usage
No cursive handwriting taught
No ability groupings for maths
No barrage of cobbled-together worksheets from TPT

No discipline
No consequences for cheating

This list doesn’t even make sense. Presumably it lists things you’re upset your public didn’t have (syllabi? textbooks? cursive) but also things you’re mad they DID have (barrage of TPT worksheets?). Which is it, these things are good or bad? Maybe your new private can teach syntax and clear writing.
No consequences for unacceptable behavior“

Enough with the predictable insults. I meant to drop the “no” in front of “barrage.” Yes, this is a list of several public school problems that we left behind. Does your public experience align with mine? If so, how?

The district’s pacing guides are pretty detailed in FCPS. I assume other districts have their pacing too. Aren’t those syllabi? Isn’t advanced math ability grouping? Aren’t reading and math groups within a class a type of ability grouping?

[Anonymous]

The LCPS pacing guides were supposed to be outlines of the curricula, not actual course syllabi.
We had honors for all in math and ELA.

So, no to all of your questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The LCPS pacing guides were supposed to be outlines of the curricula, not actual course syllabi.
We had honors for all in math and ELA.

So, no to all of your questions.

There are syllabi in the secondary grades. Every single school. Additionally, all syllabi are pretty much the same: grading scale, don’t cheat, late work policy, standards for that grade level content area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The LCPS pacing guides were supposed to be outlines of the curricula, not actual course syllabi.
We had honors for all in math and ELA.

So, no to all of your questions.

There was still differentiation and grouping within those courses. You actually just don’t know what any of this stuff means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The PP said that she and her family moved. They are no longer local.

Our family did the exact same thing. We made the decision on March 12, 2020. We knew that there would be no political will to open schools again after the "two weeks to stop the spread" were up, plus Trump, Trump, Trump. Put our house on the market after a frenzy of cleaning, painting, mulching and staging. Got an offer straight away and fled for another part of the Commonwealth with excellent, reasonably priced (unlike the D.C. area) privates who loved our kids' stratospheric test scores and excellent grades. Our kids have never been happier.

I'm the OP. We moved to private this year not because FCPS closed last year, but because FCPS sucks. It sucked before virtual, and then virtual was bad even for virtual, plus it brought the bad right into our house so that we could see everything first hand. We aren't idiots who want our kid to die rather than miss school. We agreed with the decision to close, but would have preferred a decision to keep kids safe by making the necessary changes to the school's physical layout, but FCPS doesn't have the money or the ability to adapt to anything. Part of this is the low taxes foisted on us by local "conservatives," which leaves FCPS a poor school district in a rich community. So we are in private now because it's better in every way, and we trust that if it gets to the point where even all their precautions (and they do everything possible) can't keep our kids safe, then they will close rather than risk the health of their students, and we will be fine for that.

So I was looking for a district that is more adaptable and perhaps better-funded than FCPS, with less red tape and admin and more teaching and caring about kids. I am not interested in hearing about those who moved out to the parts of Virginia where people won't wear masks and won't get vaccinated and don't care who they kill in the process, because I wouldn't send my kid to any school where the majority of parents are that entitled and selfish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just posted above.

Yep - flip this list 180 degrees and I would happily pay tons more in property taxes.

“No syllabi
No five-paragraph essay writing
No book reports
No textbooks
No weekly vocabulary tests on spelling and usage
No cursive handwriting taught
No ability groupings for maths
No barrage of cobbled-together worksheets from TPT

No discipline
No consequences for cheating

This list doesn’t even make sense. Presumably it lists things you’re upset your public didn’t have (syllabi? textbooks? cursive) but also things you’re mad they DID have (barrage of TPT worksheets?). Which is it, these things are good or bad? Maybe your new private can teach syntax and clear writing.
No consequences for unacceptable behavior“

Enough with the predictable insults. I meant to drop the “no” in front of “barrage.” Yes, this is a list of several public school problems that we left behind. Does your public experience align with mine? If so, how?

The district’s pacing guides are pretty detailed in FCPS. I assume other districts have their pacing too. Aren’t those syllabi? Isn’t advanced math ability grouping? Aren’t reading and math groups within a class a type of ability grouping?

I am a teacher. No, that is not a syllabus. It's a totally different thing.

[Anonymous]

Are you a LCPS MS teacher?