Reply to Cancel Virtual Academy

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I've been a consistent critic of the school closures, and the generally ridiculous COVID policies for school/preK/childcare, but I really don't understand the people that want to see virtual academy killed off. Yes, it is subpar education that bad for the development of kids, the alternative for some families would be homeschooling. And that would be even worse. VA is unfair to the kids stuck in it, but it isn't harming anyone else.  Let them keep it.

The main thing is change, though, is that virtual school should be handled statewide, not in individual districts. Have MSDE set up the program for anyone in the state that wants to use it instead of going to a local school.[/quote]

How is VA subpar?   Are your kids in it?    It’s nothing like last year and last year could have done more but parents screamed how hard it was.

We go by county so doing it statewide makes no sense.  They have the numbers to justify it.   Each county uses a different curriculum so state run is not logical.

How is it harming our kids?    Where is your evidence?   [/quote]

The data from last year is awfully compelling. Sure, whatever changes they made might reduce the gap, but there's no plausible way to close it.  And even if you could close the academic gap, you're still risking severe developmental harm by removing kids from normal social interactions. Anyone that knows homeschooled kids knows they don't generally do well transitioning to college.

Public education is guaranteed at a state level, not a county level. If we're going to provide public virtual education as an alternative to homeschooling, then we should make sure everyone in the state has that option. The best and most economical way to do that is to have the state provide that option to everyone. There are more counties in the state than MoCo to think about.  There's no good reason to handle virtual at a local level. Part of the point of virtual is that it doesn't matter where you're physically located.

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Do you not understand VA is very different from last year and your comments have nothing to do with VA?   We go by county.  You need the same curriculum so kids can switch between them.  It is economical.   It costs less than in person school and uses far less resources.   Removing 3k students would be a huge hit to funding.

If you don’t want it for your kids fine, but why do you care if others of us choose it?

If those of us left if they did not offer it, MCPS would have lost a lot of funding which then would impact your kids.

How are our kids being academically harmed if they have the same number of class hours and same curriculum?

[/quote]

I thought I was clear- people should be free to screw up their own kids with virtual education. It's almost certainly better than implicitly encouraging people to homeschool. I think VA should continue. I just think it is silly, inequitable, and inefficient to administer virtual at a county level. Handle it at a state level so that kids in counties big and small have access to it.

What do you find so threatening about having a common virtual option for kids across the state? Worried your kids might have to interact with black kids from Baltimore? It'll be good for them. If we're lucky, they'll end up less like you.[/quote]

That doesn’t make much sense. MCPS eliminates VA doesn’t automatically mean the state will open a VA. Why are you so judgemental about kids and parents in VA? [/quote]

If MCPS got rid of VA, which they aren't, and lost those 3000 kids, they'd lose a huge amount of money.  If VA went to the state level, MCPS would lose a huge amount of money.  VA doesn't cost as much as in person so that funding that should go to VA for students is being used elsewhere would be lost and the in person kids would suffer.[/quote]

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