Paul Bartkowski School Board Candidate Forum

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[Post New]10/14/2023 11:50
Anonymous
Hi all - I'm Paul Bartkowski and I'm running for School Board in Dranesville (McLean, Great Falls, and Herndon). I saw some questions about me on the forum and thought I'd answer them as well as be available to address other topics. Here are some answers to questions I saw:

Do I have kids in FCPS? Yes, three! Although we are homeschooling our sixth grader this year to prepare her for Longfellow next year.

Do I plan to address overcrowding and substandard facilities at McLean High School? Absolutely, yes. The Board has taken inordinate amounts of tax dollars from McLean voters and purposefully ignored McLean High School for far too long. I plan to forcefully address this with the Board and demand a real plan NOW to bring that school into the 21st century. It will not be easy, but it needs to be addressed and an outsider who is a parent is exactly what is needed to address the unfairness that McLean taxpayers have been subjected to by the current board and its predecessors. Interestingly, my opponent suggested an independent, outsider "consultant" get to the bottom of why McLean has been treated so unfairly. I can save the Board that money - I'm the outsider that will demand those answers.

Let me know if there is anything else I can clear up. I hope that I don't get trolled, which is what a few people told me would happen if I started this thread. We'll see!

Paul Bartkowski
Candidate for School Board - Dranesville

[Post New]10/14/2023 11:53
Anonymous
Hi Paul,

Why do you feel 6th grade at your base school won’t prepare your child for MS?

Thanks
[Post New]10/14/2023 11:53
paulforfcsb
Member Offline
[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
[Post New]10/14/2023 11:56
paulforfcsb
Member Offline
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.
[Post New]10/14/2023 12:01
Anonymous
Hi Paul,

Thanks for posting. I looked at your website. It reads: I'm running to represent the original interest groups when it comes to schools – students, parents, and taxpayers!

Why are school staff members not included? It seems they would be an integral part of the schools. What would you do to help support staff? How would you attract teachers to FCPS and increase retention? Do you support collective bargaining?
[Post New]10/14/2023 12:20
Anonymous
Paul how will you move forward with developing literacy curriculum based on the science of reading?
[Post New]10/14/2023 12:33
paulforfcsb
Member Offline
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.
[Post New]10/14/2023 12:36
paulforfcsb
Member Offline
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.
[Post New]10/14/2023 12:41
Anonymous
paulforfcsb wrote: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.


How would that be determined?

Do you have no answer regarding collective bargaining?
[Post New]10/14/2023 12:49
Anonymous
Sorry, if the public FCPS school in your MCLEAN/Falls Church neighborhood is not good enough for your child, then I don't want you on the school board.
[Post New]10/14/2023 12:52
Anonymous
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.
[Post New]10/14/2023 12:53
Anonymous
I'm sick of the whining from Mclean HS parents. Lots of shitty school buildings in FCPS and overcrowded schools that need attention.
[Post New]10/14/2023 12:54
Anonymous
Where should FCPS locate the Western HS they have been promising for 15 years nd how soon will you get that built?
[Post New]10/14/2023 12:57
Anonymous
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.


+1. Sorry, won't vote for anyone for school board who send their kids to a private school (which is what you do).
[Post New]10/14/2023 12:58
Anonymous
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.


So you have 2 children in FCPS, not 3. What aspects of the other two grade levels keep the other two children in FCPS vs homeschool?
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