Absolutely not. Based on my experience, FCPS does not prioritize student education, safety, or staff well-being. The system is simply too large and poorly managed, with priorities that consistently miss what matters most in schools.

There is insufficient focus on safety (including technology safety), inconsistent use of curricula—often requiring teachers to create their own materials—overcrowded classrooms, and chronic understaffing, particularly in elementary and special education. Serious issues such as bullying, harassment, and vaping are not adequately investigated or addressed, and discipline policies lack meaningful accountability.

Too many decisions appear driven by politics rather than student needs, which has eroded trust among families and staff. Over the past decade, the quality of the school system has noticeably declined.

Many families would choose private school, homeschooling, or to leave the area if they could. However, military and government families often have limited options, and FCPS effectively holds a monopoly due to the high cost of private education. After ten years working in these schools, I have no confidence left in FCPS as a system. The school board and administration have no accountability.

FCPS cares about meeting state and federal standards for what public education is supposed to provide. Kids are supposed to graduate having mastered the material that is captured in the SOL, and that is not necessarily hard to do. It is the level of education that kids need to be productive members of society if they don’t go to college.

That is very different than what many parents expect, although I would bet that there are more parents happy with what FCPS provides then who are unhappy with what is being provided.

FCPS will provide the services needed to meet the state and federal mandates for kids with special needs, so keeping kids on grade level where they can. Parents are going to need to look to outside services if they want kids to be more then on grade level because the schools don’t have the mandate or money to provide services to ush beyond that.

FCPS will provide advanced options in the form of AAP, DE, and AP/IB classes but they are not going to be able to meet the needs of super advanced kids in ES. Parents will have to supplement in areas that they think there are weaknesses or where kids are not challenged enough.

I have an 8th grader, he has had some great opportunities. We are happy with the education he is getting.

Anonymous wrote:I have high achieving kids. I don't think FCPS cares about them (equity), but they have had some individual teachers who do (and also some who don't).

Individual teachers are a different than the system, which I see as the problem.

I have high achieving kids. I don't think FCPS cares about them (equity), but they have had some individual teachers who do (and also some who don't).

Hell no. It went DEI/crazy woke and now has to retrench and regain everyone's confidence. This is happening in all colleges and universities in America. It was another educational craze in America that pops up every few years and then proves not to work, and something else wacky gets proposed like eubonics.

Anonymous wrote:No, I think the whole this is one self serving mess.

I think the SB makes decisions that are almost completely self serving and political in nature, doing things that will help them move up in the political system (moving to local and state gov't positions), these usually do not align with putting children first. I think Reid is the tool that they use to do these things.

I think gatehouse is full of people trying to justify their high pay and job titles. They are constantly reinventing school policies to keep themselves employed, which usually does not align with putting children first.

I think the schools are full of Principals that want to move up the FCPS hierarchy, and create local policies that will make themselves look good so that they can beef up their resume to move on to gatehouse.

And I think there are teachers that are tired of all of the self serving nonsense that is being put in place by the people who are in charge and have checked out.

I have similar thoughts.

When they unionized that was the final nail in the coffin. Started with the build up of gatehouse, crazy progressive school board then the teacher union. They care about themselves and how to extract as much money from the tax payers while giving the least to the students

No, I think the whole this is one self serving mess.

I think the SB makes decisions that are almost completely self serving and political in nature, doing things that will help them move up in the political system (moving to local and state gov't positions), these usually do not align with putting children first. I think Reid is the tool that they use to do these things.

I think gatehouse is full of people trying to justify their high pay and job titles. They are constantly reinventing school policies to keep themselves employed, which usually does not align with putting children first.

I think the schools are full of Principals that want to move up the FCPS hierarchy, and create local policies that will make themselves look good so that they can beef up their resume to move on to gatehouse.

And I think there are teachers that are tired of all of the self serving nonsense that is being put in place by the people who are in charge and have checked out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:See subject. I’m not talking about individual teachers. I’m talking about whether the system is set up to care about students as humans as opposed to widgets.

Should FCPS only care about providing a teacher who teaches focuses solely on academics ignoring also other aspects (eg, behavior, personal issues) or should it care only about getting kids out the door in 12th grade regardless of grades?

Should it care about students welfare out side of school or their mental health?

If a parent sees a problem outside of school that may impact what happens inside of school, should they bother keeping school/FCPS informed?

If there are issues happening in school (eg, bullying) that may impact what happens at home, should FCPS/school inform the parents?

Is there any institution of more than 200,000 people (students and staff) that has individual interests at heart? Anything that big typically has its own interests and self-preservation at heart. I would go as far to say they don't even have students' educational interests at heart past meeting the bare minimum that they need to do to continue to exist.

That's without judgement - it's just a fact of super large organizations and institutions.

I get that but students should still feel like they are being served. This is why service industry (which on some level is what a school is), sends out surveys asking whether your cashier or rep says hello, did they take time to address your need, etc.?

I think about the dad of the HHS student shot and killed at a soccer park after reporting the issue and expecting some feed back. Instead, the response was the SRO is too busy to care. Did we ever see a report about whether the matter was appropriately handled by the school? Without it, we don’t know.

School seems to be sucking the humanity out of kids. See a kid lying on the floor? “It is not your business, kids” or “what kid on the floor?” School will just tell kids to just step over the body and go on with their day as if nothing is happening.

Should there be more? Of course. Is there any incentive or accountability to get us there? No.

FCPS has a functional monopoly so why would they need to serve their customers? Most people in the county can't afford the cost of the private schools that are here and/or can't or don't want to homeschool. And many people bought in Fairfax because of the schools and struggle mentally to pay more on top of that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:See subject. I’m not talking about individual teachers. I’m talking about whether the system is set up to care about students as humans as opposed to widgets.

Should FCPS only care about providing a teacher who teaches focuses solely on academics ignoring also other aspects (eg, behavior, personal issues) or should it care only about getting kids out the door in 12th grade regardless of grades?

Should it care about students welfare out side of school or their mental health?

If a parent sees a problem outside of school that may impact what happens inside of school, should they bother keeping school/FCPS informed?

If there are issues happening in school (eg, bullying) that may impact what happens at home, should FCPS/school inform the parents?

Is there any institution of more than 200,000 people (students and staff) that has individual interests at heart? Anything that big typically has its own interests and self-preservation at heart. I would go as far to say they don't even have students' educational interests at heart past meeting the bare minimum that they need to do to continue to exist.

That's without judgement - it's just a fact of super large organizations and institutions.

I get that but students should still feel like they are being served. This is why service industry (which on some level is what a school is), sends out surveys asking whether your cashier or rep says hello, did they take time to address your need, etc.?

I think about the dad of the HHS student shot and killed at a soccer park after reporting the issue and expecting some feed back. Instead, the response was the SRO is too busy to care. Did we ever see a report about whether the matter was appropriately handled by the school? Without it, we don’t know.

School seems to be sucking the humanity out of kids. See a kid lying on the floor? “It is not your business, kids” or “what kid on the floor?” School will just tell kids to just step over the body and go on with their day as if nothing is happening.

Anonymous wrote:Damn. Are you getting paid for these posts? We should have Jeff check the IP address to see if you're even in Fairfax County.

What are you talking about?

Anonymous wrote:See subject. I’m not talking about individual teachers. I’m talking about whether the system is set up to care about students as humans as opposed to widgets.

Should FCPS only care about providing a teacher who teaches focuses solely on academics ignoring also other aspects (eg, behavior, personal issues) or should it care only about getting kids out the door in 12th grade regardless of grades?

Should it care about students welfare out side of school or their mental health?

If a parent sees a problem outside of school that may impact what happens inside of school, should they bother keeping school/FCPS informed?

If there are issues happening in school (eg, bullying) that may impact what happens at home, should FCPS/school inform the parents?

Is there any institution of more than 200,000 people (students and staff) that has individual interests at heart? Anything that big typically has its own interests and self-preservation at heart. I would go as far to say they don't even have students' educational interests at heart past meeting the bare minimum that they need to do to continue to exist.

That's without judgement - it's just a fact of super large organizations and institutions.

Damn. Are you getting paid for these posts? We should have Jeff check the IP address to see if you're even in Fairfax County.

I do not feel this way. I have many examples of teachers and admins not caring but also, I get it- they have a job and caring about kids is not part of it. Caring takes a lot of energy and time and the schools are too big to add that to their plate.

I think schools should care about things that impact kids in school and out but I don't think that is their job

See subject. I’m not talking about individual teachers. I’m talking about whether the system is set up to care about students as humans as opposed to widgets.

Should FCPS only care about providing a teacher who teaches focuses solely on academics ignoring also other aspects (eg, behavior, personal issues) or should it care only about getting kids out the door in 12th grade regardless of grades?

Should it care about students welfare out side of school or their mental health?

If a parent sees a problem outside of school that may impact what happens inside of school, should they bother keeping school/FCPS informed?

If there are issues happening in school (eg, bullying) that may impact what happens at home, should FCPS/school inform the parents?