Reply to $100 application fee for TJHSS&T?

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Reply to "$100 application fee for TJHSS&T?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm not in Fairfax county but that seems to defeat the purpose of PUBLIC education.[/quote]

So does the after school club and activity fee; curricular band, orchestra and art fees; the fee to take the PSAT as a junior; the new fees for APs over a certain number; the fee for PE uniforms, and the whole host of other mandatory fees I write checks for each year. [/quote]

I think these are a little different than asking for a consideration to attend a public school which is what application is. [/quote]

Well, it’s the same across FCPS.  As of 2017, you have to pay a $100 “processing” fee to apply for AP/IB transfer, language transfer, senior status transfer, to go to the ES magnet schools or immersion, etc.

https://www.fcps.edu/index.php/registration/student-transfers

Why is this okay, but asking TJ applicants to help defray the cost of taking the test and applying not?

I would think people would be pissed if language immersion and AP/IB had to pay the fee, and a TJ applicants did not. Especially since the fee is waived for FARMs in both cases. 
[/quote]

Agree with this. If you have to pay for a routine pupil placement, you certainly should have to pay when applying to TJ, when the TJ admissions process is more labor-intensive.

There is also a big double standard at work, when it comes to the School Board going along with the expenditure of monies raised by the TJ Partnership Fund, compared with the excruciating scrutiny that other schools have experienced when they lined up sponsors.[/quote]

Got it.  So TJ using public money is not okay. And when you find out they aren’t, you decide using private money is also not okay.  Talk about a double standard.

Plus, somehow, places like the Academy at Chantilly are getting some very nice equipment through public-private partnerships.  And Booster clubs of all sorts shake down parents of current students and alums for  sports, band, crew, music, academic teams, etc.  [/quote]

I don’t think TJ should have access to more public money than other high schools or be allowed to use private funds with fewer strings attached than other schools.  Not sure why that’s an unreasonable position.[/quote]

You can look at it this way--there is average per-pupil spending, and there is actual per pupil spending. At a lot of schools, the actual per pupil spending is way above average because there are a lot of students getting special education services, English language support services, etc. Also, some schools just have more higher paid teachers because the average teacher there has more tenure or more degrees than at other schools. Some schools are located such that many students require busing, others have mostly walking. Some schools have additional resources for after-school tutoring or additional resource teachers because of their SOL score trends. It's not like every kid in the system costs exactly the same, or every school has the exact same budget. Providing funding for an extra period at TJ is an example of how the school system has decided to allocate dollars and you may disagree with that policy decision, but its not out of line with lots of other ways the schools provide extra funding to different schools or different subgroups of students. [/quote]

And per pupil spending by FCPS at TJ comes in lower, even with 8th period, because there is no ESOL program, and there is no real special ed program. There is no remediation or remedial services.  The school may spend slightly more on 8th period, but they spend a lot less because they do not have ESOL, remediation programs for SOLs, many special ed services, special ed teachers or aids, etc.  There are no Title 1 Services. If you exclude the state supplement, which is a different matter and goes to all governors schools in the state,  I would bet a lot that FCPS spends less on average per pupil than Mt. Vernon or Lee.

And BTW, I have a kid on a 504 at TJ.  It is not that there are no 2e kids. And TJ will make some accommodations, like extended test time and front of the class seating. But the deal is that if you can’t make it through the TJ requirements with minimal modifications, take all the required classes and maintain an UW 3.0, you go back to your base school.  If you can’t make it through TJ Physics, for whatever reason— LD, or just not good in physics, you can sign up to go and see which ever teacher is available 8th period, ask for a student peer tutor, and get any accommodations for an LD that don’t change the content of the class, like extended assessment time, or use of a calculator for dysgraphia. Besides that, you pass and stay or fail and leave. You don’t get the intense remediation you do at the base schools to pass SOLs or meet diploma credits.

Also, what makes you think the TJPF operates under different rules than other FCPS HS Booster clubs?  They just happen to have incredibly loyal alums and a lot more companies and corporations donating. [/quote]

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