Reply to The voucher effect

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So many right wing loonies on the FCPS and AAP boards right now. Back to school and election silly season has them acting out again and  threatening vouchers and private school. Whatever. Complain away. Yell into the void. FCPS is a public school with over 160,000 kids. Reid isn't going to be able consult every individual parent on every decision she bas to make. That's impossible. Her job is to make the best decisions she can to advance education and opportunities for the most students. If you don't like the way she is doing her job that she was hired to do, then put your application in. Go for it! See how you deal with having to make these decisions and having lunatic parents yelling in your face, calling you names, threatening your life, and generally muddying every conversation. [/quote]

Two things:

1) When you dismiss legitimate complaints about FCPS as “MAGA” or “right wing”, you go a long way toward hollowing out the Democratic Party. It’s akin to making an argument that you don’t want me in your coalition. That might not impact whether a Democrat gets elected in deep blue Fairfax, but are you sure you want to turn away people from the Democratic Party? Is that going to get Dems back into power? I’m incredibly frustrated with what’s going on at the national level. I’m also mad as hell at what this school board is doing. The school board is doing one hell of a job recruiting me for the Republican Party.

2) can you point me to the posting for the superintendent job? Otherwise, your point about people being able to apply for it just comes off as unserious.[/quote]

No one is dismissing your complaints.  I have been arguing with you here and I AGREE with your COMPLAINTS.  We are disagreeing with your idea that vouchers will help solve the issues you are raising. The idea that blowing up the system to get what you want is harmful to me and my kids.  It isn’t going to touch the schoool board.

In simple language:
We agree with your complaints.

We disagree that your solution will help.[/quote]

Other than accusing your opponents of being MAGA, what’s [b]your[/b] solution? [/quote]

In any post I have put up, I have very carefully said that you aren’t MAGA. Your solution however uses a similar thought process.

Early Release: Look if my kid came home saying they had been on a lap top for 3 hours, I would contact the school. I would request that my child read a book and be allowed outside during that block so they switch groups.  I would look for camps like code ninja or martial arts programs that pick up from school for those days. I would also escalate as necessary. Principal, executive principal, etc if that continued. Keep in mind if your kid is in elementary, that may be the last thing they did or the most salient in their minds.

Redistricting:  Personally, I’m biding my time until the next maps come out.  Then it is full frontal assault.  Keep pinging them on WHY they want this.  Join the facebook group fairfacts. Email your area BRAC members, school board.  Keep the pressure on.  Talk about how beleaguered we are as a county and how they can’t possibly have accurate enrollment information with the unemployment and deportments. Pressure has worked to have them lessen the scope and allow grandfathering.  Keep it up.

Alienating parents:  I think not have homework is a huge issue because we as parents don’t know what our kids are doing and what they need help with.  Make it mandatory. Sure some will hate this, but weekly homework issued on Monday and due on Friday keeps parents informed. It would go a long way to establish connection between home and school.

[/quote]

I agree with you on homework (within reason and appropriate).

On early dismissal you seem to miss the part where Reid lied to parents in 2025, took no parental feedback before the 2026 decision, and now you think it’s on parents to scramble to fix it at their own expense. This is the alienation point: if I’m taking PTO or paying for additional services to cover what is already supposed to be educational time, the school is already failed.  Yes parents can mitigate the failure, but [b]everything you suggested to mitigate the failure is a private option[/b]. If you’re saying I need to pay private organizations to educate my child…why wouldn’t I just take a voucher to offset the cost of paying a private organization to educate my child? 
[/quote]

No I didn’t say that privates were the only option. I said to make a complaint and escalate first. I would absolutely do this repeatedly if was contemplating taking time off work over sending my kid to the aftercare.

Another idea, ask one of your kids friends/parents if they can come over and the reciprocate another day.

If you are unable to see that paying a private program for 40 hours a year for supplemental activities is different than paying a years worth of academic tuition I’m not sure we are agreeing on how math works.

To you “Reid lied to us” point all school systems in the area “lied” because they were all scrambling last year. This year we were told well before summer. Early release PD days are common in most school districts. [/quote]

I don’t know that I consider May “well before summer”  or that five minutes at the end of a board meeting constitutes communication but sure. You can feel satisfied by that if you want. The lie was that last year was the only year we were doing it, and that we “had” to. Now here we are. You feel satisfied, I feel disrespected and alienated. We both get the same number of votes in an election and so the school needs to figure out how to get people while feel like I do to pull the lever for them.

And this isn’t a math problem, so much as a roles issue. Yes, I can take PTO, or organize playdates, but the point is that my child is wasting eight days they’re supposed to be learning. If I want them to be learning on those eight days, your point is I should pay a private organization to make sure they’re learning.  My point is if I am responsible for finding a private organization to educate my child eight of the days FCPS is already responsible for doing so, why don’t I just find one organization for the other 172 as well?
[/quote]

You are changing the argument from: I want to pay a private entity to educate my child for 180 days because of 40 hours. Ok that sounds like overkill to me, but sure do that.

To : Because I want this, I am going to vote to destroy public schooling in Fairfax.

That escalation right there is why you are acting out of emotion and not reason.

[/quote]

I think you’re projecting about emotional actions here. Vouchers won’t “destroy” public schooling in Fairfax unless a preponderance of families opt to leave. FCPS can make itself a place families don’t want to leave and save itself from this “destruction”.

If vouchers become available (and I think VA will opt in) and I have to pay for a private institution to educate my kids anyway, why don’t I just pay a private institution to educate my kids and take available money to do it.  If the public school wants to educate my kids they can start acting like it. [/quote]

Have you talked to DCPS parents about the voucher system? Did you listen to their stories about charters randomly closing? Or about the lottery system and getting vouchers? Or how hard it is to transport times across town?

Did you read any of the articles about the affects of vouchers on parents kids and school systems? I can tell you didn’t or you wouldn’t make statements like your above post.

I started asking you this pages ago and you have skirted the answer like than Bill
Clinton asking about the meaning of the word is.

Again, you aren’t being rational and looking at the real effects.

You want the dream of vouchers thinking YOU will be able to manipulate them to serve your purpose.

You are wrong, but apparently words and thoughts won’t help you understand this, you need a “lived experience” moment.

And so it goes…..

[/quote]

You’re responding to more than one poster, but yes I’ve read about DCs voucher program. As I’ve said it’s not my first choice. But no one is interested in reforming FCPS— just offloading more of their responsibilities onto parents, and telling parents to pay for private options anyway if they don’t like it.[/quote]

And so the parents become the chair throwers when they don’t get what they want…..

[/quote]

Yeah. It’s akin to violence to want your child in the classroom.

This? Is the abusive relationship metaphor. Want something better? You make me hit you.[/quote]

3 hours x 8 days of early release= 24 hours

That is what you claim is “abuse” and a measured response to you is to advocate for vouchers.

[/quote]

If you’re following along, you know it’s not just the time in question, but the lying, refusal to engage with parents, etc that I’m characterizing as abuse.

But also— I’ve never advocated for vouchers. [b]I’ve said I’d prefer my kid in a public school classroom. But since that’s not an option[/b], and my option is only to pay a private entity to educate my kid those days, why shouldn’t I take money being made available to me?
[/quote]

How is having your kid in public school not an option?

I’m not following the “logic” here. 
[/quote]

…because they’ve decided it’s better to have them in an auditorium on a Chromebook.

If I want her to do meaningful learning those days, I’m limited to private options. Even the FCPS booster suggests it. So if I have to find private options why not take a check?[/quote]

Are you referring to the handful of early release days?

So you want to go private over some early release days?

You sound rational.  :lol: [/quote]

Over some days we were lied to about, given no opportunity to comment on the impact of this year, and which in two years have both expanded and become less convenient.

So yes, I want to go private rather than have my kid in an auditorium on a Chromebook while I’m gaslit that this is somehow education.[/quote]

Agree. The number of hours our children are made to spend in front of the screen is bad and sad. Parents have no say. We moved our youngest to private. For the oldest, the damage is likely done. [/quote]

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