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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]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]

MCPS and Baltimore use completely different curriculums so your post makes no sense.  The VA is based off the same curriculum as in person so kids can easily transfer in and out.

How are we messing up our kids education?  They are doing the same curriculum for the same class hours as yours.

How is it inefficient, inequitable and silly to do it at the county level?  We are county based.

Why don't you send your kids to school with kids in Baltimore?  When my kids are in person they are in a  low income/high minority schools so you are ranting at the wrong person.  Why don't you send your kids to a school like that?  Believe it or not, MCPS has plenty of those schools right here where the majority of kids are minorities.

And, if you look at the population in VA, there are a significant number of minorities in it.  You are ranting about stuff you don't know to justify your poor choice of sending your kids in person and you feel guilty you cannot handle having your kids at home.  Your kids NEED to be in person, but many of ours will thrive in either situation because as parents we support them.

Stop making everything about race and find a new attack.  As, VA has tons of minorities and many of us go to high minority schools.  Just because you don't, doesn't mean our kids don't either.[/quote]

Why does it matter that different counties have different curriculums?  This year was a transition year between virtual and in-person. I thought it made sense for districts to run their own virtual programs to try to make it easier to allow the kids to return after being vaccinated.

Next year, though, it makes sense to transition virtual to a sustainable, permanent program for parents that don't want their kids to have normal social interactions with others.  There's little reason to think anyone continuing in virtual next year will come back to an in-person program. That's not to say they couldn't, but already teachers and students have to accomodate moves to school districts. An unexpected move from virtual back to an in-person program would just be like moving from one county to another, which kids/parents do all the time.

While Moco is big enough it could economically handle a permanent virtual program, the same cannot be said for smaller counties. If you look beyond your own situation, to what is best for students everywhere, it clearly makes sense to move virtual to a shared system administered by the state.[/quote]

It's not going to happen, but please, continue pompously pontificating about matters over which you have no control.[/quote]

Keep in mind it's an issue that will be ultimately decide through political processes at the state and local levels. I don't see the state excited at the prospect of paying money to do duplicate online learning across 24 jurisdictions. Fighting a state-run system might lead to killing VA entirely.

And you still haven't given a coherent reason by the state can't do it. Though, one of your last posts alluded to one. Yes, the state would likely outsource virtual to a private sector company. You're outraged at the potential to have non-union teachers?  Is that what this is about?[/quote]

God, you're dense. I didn't say it "the state can't do it." I said the state is NOT doing it and will not be doing it any time soon. VA is already running, staffed and funded beyond this school year. So feel free to waste your time bloviating in overly verbose diatribes, but just know that that is indeed what you're doing -- wasting your time.

Oh, and any post about outsourcing to private companies is not mine. You're engaging with MULTIPLE people here telling you you're wrong.[/quote]

Are you really that clueless about how the state runs its educational system.  You should look into this more before ranting about it.  I spoke about the two private VA as we looked into them as we were NOT sending our kids back in person with covid and they were not very good programs.  You are making all kinds of assumptions and really know nothing about it.

MCPS is not just funding VA through this year.  It has funding for the future as well.  You really need to look into things before you spout out your wishes.

I really hope you don't have kids and if you do, I hope they are in person as you clearly don't care about their best needs and only your wants/needs matter.[/quote]

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