Reply to Do you feel that FCPS has your child’s best interests at heart?

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Reply to "Do you feel that FCPS has your child’s best interests at heart?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’d like FCPS to provide top shelf education and stay out of politics and family life including gender and politics. That it fought so hard against aligning to national benchmarks on SOLs and spends all its energy on fringe issues like trans bathroom access is why it’s losing prestige. I in no way need FCPS in my families moral or personal business. They can classically educate and keep their opinions for their own families. [/quote]

I actually agree with you on a core point: schools shouldn’t be indoctrinating kids or inserting themselves into individual family choices. That’s not their role, and most parents across the spectrum want schools focused on education, not ideology.

Where I part ways is on what counts as “education” and on the idea that FCPS is somehow consumed by fringe issues. Education has always been more than just reading, writing, and math. Developing character, civic responsibility, critical thinking, empathy, and the ability to live and work respectfully with people from very different backgrounds is part of preparing students for real life in a pluralistic society. Acknowledging that differences exist, or that discrimination happens, isn’t the same thing as politicizing classrooms or telling families how to live.

I also don’t think it’s accurate to say FCPS is “spending all its energy” on things like trans bathroom access. Those policies take up very little day-to-day instructional time. What does consume enormous energy is the public and legal fight over them. The attention imbalance can make it feel like these issues dominate the system, even when they don’t, and even when the majority of energy is being spent by the detractors.

We should absolutely hold FCPS accountable for academic rigor, alignment with benchmarks, and outcomes. But I don’t think the answer is putting blinders on to social realities students already experience outside school. A strong education can do both: teach academic fundamentals well and help students become informed, decent, engaged citizens who know how to treat others fairly.[/quote]

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