Message
I tend to agree with those that suggested recently that this has devolved into more of an argument than simple sharing of information and positions. I answered the policy-related questions about the website - some may disagree with my discomfort with the schools pushing sex and sexuality, but I think there's been plenty of that talk on a forum about schools and education. I think the focus on that is counter-productive and in many cases inappropriate. I get that people disagree, but I don't plan to stay here and argue back and forth with them. People can decide - parents like me know exactly what I'm referring to - they hear it from the kids, and you can see it if you watch any School Board meeting, where the Board spends far more time on that than, for example, reversing learning loss and improving scores/curriculum. I'd rather focus on math/science/English/history/etc.
Re TJ and the court case, I disagree with anyone that says the evidence didn't show discrimination. It does - you can google that and find it. The Fourth Circuit effectively said the discrimination was OK because Asian Americans still constituted a percentage higher than their percentage of the population (but lower than admissions based on merit). Again - we can disagree whether that was right or wrong (it's likely headed to the Supreme Court due to FCPS's insistence on maintaining the policy), but everyone (including the Board, as evidenced by their text messages) knew the goal was to limit Asian American students, a goal with which I disagree.
I'll try to check back from time to time to see if there are policy questions that would help voters decide in this important election.
Re TJ and the court case, I disagree with anyone that says the evidence didn't show discrimination. It does - you can google that and find it. The Fourth Circuit effectively said the discrimination was OK because Asian Americans still constituted a percentage higher than their percentage of the population (but lower than admissions based on merit). Again - we can disagree whether that was right or wrong (it's likely headed to the Supreme Court due to FCPS's insistence on maintaining the policy), but everyone (including the Board, as evidenced by their text messages) knew the goal was to limit Asian American students, a goal with which I disagree.
I'll try to check back from time to time to see if there are policy questions that would help voters decide in this important election.
Here's a link to the video of the debate between Robyn and me, which was put on by the Chinese American Parents Association.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzRpgGseM10
I had a telephonic hearing that went long so I don't make my appearance until about 25 minutes in. I had a supporter and fellow concerned (grand)parent fill in for me until I arrived.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzRpgGseM10
I had a telephonic hearing that went long so I don't make my appearance until about 25 minutes in. I had a supporter and fellow concerned (grand)parent fill in for me until I arrived.
Ah, yes, and the Moms for Liberty questions. Not sure I follow re the relevance, but I don't know enough about the group to denounce or support them. Hasn't been a focus of mine.
I think someone already cleared up that the picture floating around was not me - not sure that matters much either. But it's true - not me.
I think someone already cleared up that the picture floating around was not me - not sure that matters much either. But it's true - not me.
Someone asked what I meant by the discrimination in the admissions at TJ. Recently, the Board and (past) Superintendent moved away from a purely merit-based admissions standard and toward a different standard. Discovery in a court case showed that the goal of the policies was to have fewer Asian-American students at TJ - they previously made up approximately 72% of the students there. There were even Board members joking about it. The discrimination against that group is, of course, improper. But it also had the effect of not accepting students that would have qualified on a merit-based process, which harms TJ.
I think the same person also asked about what madness I'm referring to. We have a number of examples in the chat but, as an example, the policies surrounding allowing biological males/females who say they identify as female/male on that particular day in female bathrooms and locker rooms are a good example (and we all know allowing them to play on sports teams is the next step, which is both unfair and dangerous). Madness.
Same goes for the policy not to tell parents if a child is experiencing what was, until very recently, known as gender dysphoria. I saw some debate about whether it is appropriate to not inform parents if their child declares that he or she identifies as a different gender. I disagree with the policy that prevents schools from telling parents. Common-sense position, but the issue is that the parents need to know that information. The heartbreaking story behind Sage's Law demonstrates the consequences of the school hiding this type of information from parents. Assuming abusive parents is unwarranted, as it would be unwarranted to assume mal-intent on behalf of the schools. There are already laws governing abusive parents in analogous situations.
I think the same person also asked about what madness I'm referring to. We have a number of examples in the chat but, as an example, the policies surrounding allowing biological males/females who say they identify as female/male on that particular day in female bathrooms and locker rooms are a good example (and we all know allowing them to play on sports teams is the next step, which is both unfair and dangerous). Madness.
Same goes for the policy not to tell parents if a child is experiencing what was, until very recently, known as gender dysphoria. I saw some debate about whether it is appropriate to not inform parents if their child declares that he or she identifies as a different gender. I disagree with the policy that prevents schools from telling parents. Common-sense position, but the issue is that the parents need to know that information. The heartbreaking story behind Sage's Law demonstrates the consequences of the school hiding this type of information from parents. Assuming abusive parents is unwarranted, as it would be unwarranted to assume mal-intent on behalf of the schools. There are already laws governing abusive parents in analogous situations.
Catching up on the forum - it seems we may have moved from the "interested voter" phase and into the "let's all argue with each other phase" 
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But there were some questions that I thought I could answer, and I also need to find the link to the debate a week or so ago, which people could watch to get an idea of where Robyn and I stand.
There was a question about the SEL data - if SEL is included in the curriculum (I happen to think the time would be better spent teaching the kids), and if data is collected, it should certainly be anonymized. The more I learn about the innocuous-sounding SEL, the less I like it. Focus on education. But absolutely yes to anonymizing the collection and maintenance of data regarding these kids' private lives.
There was also a question about whether I really saw questions directed to students about how many sex partners they had, etc. The answer is yes, a concerned parent gave me the list of questions that were asked in school at McLean Day last spring. It was from last school year. It is conceivable it was part of the FLE curriculum and not SEL. But I'm pretty sure it was the latter.
I know kids are being kids, etc. I disagree that that means the school should be asking these questions. Questions like the ones I saw normalize behavior that at least some parents want to discourage. Again, let's just focus on education and get this stuff out of the schools.
I'll do a separate post on some other questions I saw.
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But there were some questions that I thought I could answer, and I also need to find the link to the debate a week or so ago, which people could watch to get an idea of where Robyn and I stand.
There was a question about the SEL data - if SEL is included in the curriculum (I happen to think the time would be better spent teaching the kids), and if data is collected, it should certainly be anonymized. The more I learn about the innocuous-sounding SEL, the less I like it. Focus on education. But absolutely yes to anonymizing the collection and maintenance of data regarding these kids' private lives.
There was also a question about whether I really saw questions directed to students about how many sex partners they had, etc. The answer is yes, a concerned parent gave me the list of questions that were asked in school at McLean Day last spring. It was from last school year. It is conceivable it was part of the FLE curriculum and not SEL. But I'm pretty sure it was the latter.
I know kids are being kids, etc. I disagree that that means the school should be asking these questions. Questions like the ones I saw normalize behavior that at least some parents want to discourage. Again, let's just focus on education and get this stuff out of the schools.
I'll do a separate post on some other questions I saw.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It does look like a great curriculum. Will FCPS pay so parents can send their child with similar needs to WTMA too?Anonymous wrote:paulforfcsb wrote:re homeschooling this year - just based on past experience homeschooling during the covid shutdowns. She needed some more attention and rigor - and she's getting it. We use an online program through Well Trained Mind Academy - great curriculum.
OK, so public school during Covid wasn't good enough for your kid, public school last year after Covid wasn't good enough for your kid, and now regular non-Covid 6th grade isn't good enough for your kid? When you live in one of the best public school areas in Fairfax?
Sorry, SB candidates need to put their money where their mouth is. I wouldn't vote for Karl or Melanie for similar reasons.
https://www.wtmacademy.com/
I would be interested in your candidacy if you were talking more about bringing in rigorous curriculum like Well Trained Mind into FCPS, and a whole lot less about weird Republican fixations on YA books.
Yes! My whole platform is to improve the quality of education FCPS provides and stop pushing political agendas. The fixation comment works both ways - rest assured that I believe our time, and the Board's time, would be far better spent on improving the education our schools provide. If you've attended a Board meeting, there is precious little time spent on that fundamental topic and much more spent on sex and sexuality, etc. I've already said I find much of it inappropriate, the books, the discussions with the kids, etc. Again, call me old-fashioned, but I think most of those sensitive topics are better left outside the schools and the schools should focus on education. And bear in mind that all of it takes energy, class-time, and resources away from reversing the losses we've seen in English, math, science, etc.
I did it again. This was me but my computer logged me out.
Anonymous wrote:paulforfcsb wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:paulforfcsb wrote:Anonymous wrote:On your website regarding the SB you cite, “… a disturbing effort to introduce age-inappropriate sexual concepts and ideas to our youngest students”. Could you give some examples?
Sure - I've seen SEL questionnaires where ~8th grade students (I believe it was eighth but my answer would be the same for older students)were asked, for example, how many sexual partners they've had. Here's a senator reading books that FCPS (and many other school districts) insists must stay in our school libraries:
https://youtu.be/KBhy_vlgKS4
No place for that in any school library - and it does disturb me that adults are so eager to make those books available to our kids. Call me old-fashioned!
So would you act based on your opinions in books rather than defer to the school librarians who are professional educators?
Not the school board candidate here, just a random parent.
Just a side note on how FCPS selects books for the library. A FCPS English teacher/librarian type employee explained this to me once.
The librarians don't usually read all the books they select.
The publishers send "theme" type book packages, with a bunch of titles that fit the overall theme. For example (and this might be a little broad) there is a civil rights package or an early American history or a military battles package. The librarian/dept head/subject team picks the entire package, without necessarily reading the entire book collection, then the books from the list goes into the libraries/class libraries.
Reading through the entire book collection is, for at least the teachers, not paid time and something they are expected to do on their own time.
Often, the departments will just skim the summaries, spot check books, and approve the book list in its entirety.
Other times, the department or a group of teachers will try to split up the titles so they can get through the entire list collectively. But it is a lot of reading, and of course, everyone's standards are a little different on what one deems appropriate for a school library. So an experienced teacher might be horrified by a book such as Gender Queer in a middle school library, while a fresh out of college teacher might see it as important identity advocacy.
Occassionally, you might get one gem of the teacher who has the time and desire to read through the entire collection on their own time, with no pay, before putting down their name as approving the list. But that is a lot of reading, so I suspect that this rarely happens.
You are assuming that having book objections means that you are undermining the librarian. But the librarians might not have actually read the book in question. They might just have approved the "finding your identity" themed book list from the publisher, but not the dozens or more individual books in that collection. There are thousands of books in the library. I doubt any librarian has actually read through all of them. I am a voracious reader, and it still takes me a few days to get through one title, reading several hours per night. There are simply not enough hours for one librarian or a team of teachers to read through every book schools offer.
At least at the high school level, the districts need 2 parents to read and approve books offered in classes or for class readings. I believe this is something new from the Youngkin administration, and is a very positive thing. I volunteered for this committee and ended up approving all of the books I have read so far. You can make comments (such as for 16+, or too much profanity/misogyny/violence/insert controversy). If you reject a book, you can explain why. (Perhaps this is required, but a
I haven't rejected a book yet so I am not 100% certain.) If an official reviewer says no, the book gets pulled for further review, including reviewing the reasons why it was rejected. I know several parents from our high school who have reviewed books. The only book I know of that was rejected had very good reasons for the rejection.
For Paul:
Perhaps the new school board could set up a parent volunteer reading committee district wide to get through new library collections before approval, similar to what our FCPS high school does. Some of the parents might discover that most of the books are not as controversial as they seem. Others might find that even though they thought all the books are fine, there are actually books that have little redeeming qualities and are completely inappropriate for school. This could then be addressed before the questionable books get to the students and cause controversy.
We can't show more than PG rated movies on our high school bus trips. Why should books in middle schools be any different?
This is thoughtful but do recall that the parents objected to at least one of the books the senator was reading and the school board insisted that they remain. In other words, it's not negligence - they really want this material available to the kids for some reason. Langley HS had a special table with books that they knew parents found inappropriate for the kids. https://www.newsweek.com/school-apologizes-display-showing-books-adults-dont-want-you-read-1679670
I wish it were mere negligence, but it seems to be more than that.
FCPS has a whole regulation on how library collections are built and another multi-step process for challenges to books in libraries. Parents are informed of reading lists for classes and are given the option of asking for substitute books. I agree with these processes and am not interested in board members taking books out of the libraries on their own whims, without the process. Paul, will you follow these processes or will you substitute your opinions for these processes?
I also don’t love that you represented the plaintiffs in the mask challenge case. It makes me think you are into culture wars rather than academics. Please comment.
I would love your answers because I really don’t want to vote for Lady. I am tired of school board members fealty to a political agenda. I want someone who will focus on academics, provide efficient oversight of the budget, question initiatives that seem political, and actually pay some attention to facilities, 8ncluding getting McLean renovated and getting proffers given to schools in the Dranesville district actually used to address the crowding in the Dranesville district, not diverted to other areas.
Fair comments - let me try to respond. Re the books, I'm troubled by (1) the inappropriate sexual content of those books and the (to me) odd desire to make that content available to our kids; and (2) those inappropriate books taking shelf space from books that have legitimate educational content. If the "process" is geared towards those books - I am seeking to change that process. We need to focus, only and always, on academics and learning. If you like what you heard on the video that I shared, then we may disagree on that particular issue.
Re the mask case - I am running to get the culture war fights OUT of schools. Let's teach these kids reading, writing, math, science, and history, and leave the political infighting to the DCUM blog
. With respect to the lawsuit, it came at a time when (1) Governor Youngkin ordered school districts to cease the mandates, so as a legal matter, they were obligated to comply (my case was mooted but the issue was decided against the Loudoun County School Board on the exact same facts); (2) the data was crystal clear that the mask mandates didn't work and were impairing learning. The issue was very tribal at that point, as evidenced by the fact that the Board had no answer to why they insisted that the mandate continue.
I agree about reticence that any candidate from the political party that holds all 12 board seats will truly challenge the status quo. It's why I'm running.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:You are very brave to jump into this lions den, especially as an R. That in itself speaks well of your convictions. This forum does not like Republicans or independents.
Every kid is unique in their educational needs, and 6th grade is a really tumultuous time for kids. Peronally, I would not fault any parent for making an individual education decision for their kid that may or may not include public schools, home schooling, online school, private school or Catholic school, especiallyduring the middle school years.
And honestly, looking at my neighborhood, post pandemic there are many, many fcps families that are now moving their kids in and out of FCPS depending on the grade or school level. I have multiple neighbors who now have some kids in Catholic, some kids in home school and other kids in FCPS, all in one family.
So on that note, this candidate seems to represent a lot of FCPS families who are going year by year to find the best educational method for thier kids at any given year.
And in the end, don't the public schools *want* these kids to eventually land back into their local public schools? A parent with the experience of utilizing educational flexibility for their kid's schooling, which includes our public schools, will provide unique insight and a helpful voice to the school board discussions.
Completely agree. I’m impressed by Paul’s courage to allow himself to being bombarded with questions from anonymous posters, some of whom are not even in Fairfax County, let alone the Dranesville District, which he is hoping to represent.
Questions regarding his family’s personal choices in regards to their kids are completely out of bounds, and he doesn’t need to explain nor justify them. His children are entitled to their privacy, particularly when it comes to their academic life. In fact, they are protected under FERPA laws. Most importantly, the Bartkowski kids are not the ones running for School Board.
On the last public debate, his opponent, Robin Lady, brought up as one of her priorities to hire more black and Hispanic teachers for representation purposes in our schools; whereas Paul’s approach is to focus on hiring the best teachers regardless of their skin color, which, BTW, would include hiring Chinese and Indian teachers as well. He also emphasized that he would help repurpose funds so that teachers can be better remunerated for what they do, and because of their effort and sacrifice, such as the time spent after school hours for sponsoring clubs at school, coaching, or volunteering. Doing so, according to Paul, would help with not only hiring highly qualified teachers, but also with retaining them.
I’m grateful to have a candidate who takes learning so seriously that, along with his wife, has made sacrifices to ensure their kids get the best education possible, because according to him, that is an important factor to succeed in life, and he wishes that same goal for every single kid in the county.
The thing about an anonymous forum is we have no idea if this is Paul or someone from Paul's campaign.
It's me! I have a few people that I ask for advice from time to time but no "campaign" from which I could draw someone to pretend to be me on a blog.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:paulforfcsb wrote:Anonymous wrote:On your website regarding the SB you cite, “… a disturbing effort to introduce age-inappropriate sexual concepts and ideas to our youngest students”. Could you give some examples?
Sure - I've seen SEL questionnaires where ~8th grade students (I believe it was eighth but my answer would be the same for older students)were asked, for example, how many sexual partners they've had. Here's a senator reading books that FCPS (and many other school districts) insists must stay in our school libraries:
https://youtu.be/KBhy_vlgKS4
No place for that in any school library - and it does disturb me that adults are so eager to make those books available to our kids. Call me old-fashioned!
So would you act based on your opinions in books rather than defer to the school librarians who are professional educators?
Not the school board candidate here, just a random parent.
Just a side note on how FCPS selects books for the library. A FCPS English teacher/librarian type employee explained this to me once.
The librarians don't usually read all the books they select.
The publishers send "theme" type book packages, with a bunch of titles that fit the overall theme. For example (and this might be a little broad) there is a civil rights package or an early American history or a military battles package. The librarian/dept head/subject team picks the entire package, without necessarily reading the entire book collection, then the books from the list goes into the libraries/class libraries.
Reading through the entire book collection is, for at least the teachers, not paid time and something they are expected to do on their own time.
Often, the departments will just skim the summaries, spot check books, and approve the book list in its entirety.
Other times, the department or a group of teachers will try to split up the titles so they can get through the entire list collectively. But it is a lot of reading, and of course, everyone's standards are a little different on what one deems appropriate for a school library. So an experienced teacher might be horrified by a book such as Gender Queer in a middle school library, while a fresh out of college teacher might see it as important identity advocacy.
Occassionally, you might get one gem of the teacher who has the time and desire to read through the entire collection on their own time, with no pay, before putting down their name as approving the list. But that is a lot of reading, so I suspect that this rarely happens.
You are assuming that having book objections means that you are undermining the librarian. But the librarians might not have actually read the book in question. They might just have approved the "finding your identity" themed book list from the publisher, but not the dozens or more individual books in that collection. There are thousands of books in the library. I doubt any librarian has actually read through all of them. I am a voracious reader, and it still takes me a few days to get through one title, reading several hours per night. There are simply not enough hours for one librarian or a team of teachers to read through every book schools offer.
At least at the high school level, the districts need 2 parents to read and approve books offered in classes or for class readings. I believe this is something new from the Youngkin administration, and is a very positive thing. I volunteered for this committee and ended up approving all of the books I have read so far. You can make comments (such as for 16+, or too much profanity/misogyny/violence/insert controversy). If you reject a book, you can explain why. (Perhaps this is required, but a
I haven't rejected a book yet so I am not 100% certain.) If an official reviewer says no, the book gets pulled for further review, including reviewing the reasons why it was rejected. I know several parents from our high school who have reviewed books. The only book I know of that was rejected had very good reasons for the rejection.
For Paul:
Perhaps the new school board could set up a parent volunteer reading committee district wide to get through new library collections before approval, similar to what our FCPS high school does. Some of the parents might discover that most of the books are not as controversial as they seem. Others might find that even though they thought all the books are fine, there are actually books that have little redeeming qualities and are completely inappropriate for school. This could then be addressed before the questionable books get to the students and cause controversy.
We can't show more than PG rated movies on our high school bus trips. Why should books in middle schools be any different?
This is thoughtful but do recall that the parents objected to at least one of the books the senator was reading and the school board insisted that they remain. In other words, it's not negligence - they really want this material available to the kids for some reason. Langley HS had a special table with books that they knew parents found inappropriate for the kids. https://www.newsweek.com/school-apologizes-display-showing-books-adults-dont-want-you-read-1679670
I wish it were mere negligence, but it seems to be more than that.
Anonymous wrote:Paul, thank you for doing this. How do you plan on balancing the need to catch up lower income families and underrepresented minorities with the need to keep advanced students challenged? In other words, how do you feel about programs like AAP?
I don't see a tension between those two needs that requires balancing. Advanced students need to be challenged to achieve their potential and we need to do everything we can to help those that fell behind catch up, i.e., they, too, should be challenged to achieve their full potential. The covid shutdowns were very harmful to many students that are not at the top of the academic scale - and they need the help to reverse those losses.
I hope that is responsive - I favor advanced tracks for advanced students.
Anonymous wrote:On your website regarding the SB you cite, “… a disturbing effort to introduce age-inappropriate sexual concepts and ideas to our youngest students”. Could you give some examples?
Sure - I've seen SEL questionnaires where ~8th grade students (I believe it was eighth but my answer would be the same for older students)were asked, for example, how many sexual partners they've had. Here's a senator reading books that FCPS (and many other school districts) insists must stay in our school libraries:
https://youtu.be/KBhy_vlgKS4
No place for that in any school library - and it does disturb me that adults are so eager to make those books available to our kids. Call me old-fashioned!
Anonymous wrote:Paul how will you move forward with developing literacy curriculum based on the science of reading?
I understand that there is new data and science relating to the most effective ways to teach that skill, on which all other education is based. I haven't ever heard of the Board seriously considering whether we are employing the best, proven educational techniques to teach reading, which of course I would support.
I need to figure out how to reply to specific messages.
Regarding the staff as an interest group, the staff is certainly integral to the fundamental goal of the Board (at least as I see it): providing the children an excellent education. We need to cut staff members that do not advance that goal and reward those that do. That includes paying teachers more, with appropriate incentives for excellence, to attract and retain quality teachers.
Regarding the staff as an interest group, the staff is certainly integral to the fundamental goal of the Board (at least as I see it): providing the children an excellent education. We need to cut staff members that do not advance that goal and reward those that do. That includes paying teachers more, with appropriate incentives for excellence, to attract and retain quality teachers.
re homeschooling this year - just based on past experience homeschooling during the covid shutdowns. She needed some more attention and rigor - and she's getting it. We use an online program through Well Trained Mind Academy - great curriculum.
[already showed my novice weblogging skills] I accidentally didn't log in when I posted the original post. I believe I now show up as PaulforFCSB .
Paul
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Paul