Reply to Cancel Virtual Academy

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I do not think the OP really has a problem with VA.  They just want Cogat back and MCPS is using VA as an excuse to not. [/quote]

Then OP should use a little critical thinking before lapping all that up and believing them.

MCPS has wanted to water down their magnet and special needs offerings for a very long time, years before the pandemic. All the special programs costs money, and they have equity concerns over the magnet selection methods, because equity is trendy nowadays and their priority is to position themselves as a group that's very aware of supposed cultural and socio-economic feelings. Furthermore, and this is completely legitimate, MCPS has serious concerns over future demographic trends weighing VERY HEAVILY on all services and programs, particularly in wealthy areas of the county.

As a result, over the years, they've cleaned house and reduced the special needs programs, at times so drastically they had to add teachers back in to prevent collapse, and they wish they could do the same thing to magnets.

This has nothing to do with the creation of virtual programs. But virtual programs are an easy excuse, and MCPS loves easy excuses because explaining budget considerations to parents who pay lots of taxes and expensive real estate doesn't go over too well.

Full disclosure: I am a parent of a child with special needs and a child who went to a magnet program. It's been 11 years of MCPS and I've seen how the reduced budget has affected services, accommodations, and teacher retention in all programs. Public schools need a serious injection of funds to continue to provide quality services in the face of population explosion. It always boils down to money.
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I think most people would agree we need more gifted and SN programs but you are 100% right it has nothing to do with VA.  If anything, VA would be cheaper as it doesn't require the same physical space or staffing an in person school has which is a win for everyone.   MCPS needs to do a huge clean up in terms of their spending and get rid of the wasteful spending but I think we all know that will not happen.[/quote]

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