i think it's fine the way it is. most people just go to the recent topics page first anyway i assume.

Thanks for asking, Jeff. I think it would be easier to have a separate FCPS forum.

- Dcum daily poster

Anonymous wrote:If people just put "FCPS" or "APS" in the subject line there would be less confusion.

But yes, people get into heated arguments and then realize they are in different counties.

If you do FCPS search, you get thousands of thread and not everyone puts FCPS in the subject line when they post.

It's an excellent idea. FCPS has 180K students who it's huge compared to the VA school systems.

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is dominating right now since they shocked everyone this week. I just went back to a few random pages in the 400s and there were a mix of topics. I don’t think right now is a good time to determine if they should be their own forum. Often questions are asked comparing FCPS to APS, ACPS or Loudoun.

I agree with this.

If people just put "FCPS" or "APS" in the subject line there would be less confusion.

But yes, people get into heated arguments and then realize they are in different counties.

I have FCPS kids, so I’m not bothered, but I can see it being hard to filter out FCPS as an APS, FCCPS, LCPS, etc parent.

If you create a separate FCPS forum, consider how FCPS dominates the AAP forum. I realize it is for advanced academics elsewhere but the term AAP is used only in FCPS (I think). I hate having AAP in that title, because AAP has four levels of which Level IV (maybe Level III) is really discussed. The other three levels fall into the Gen Ed category. Maybe the forum name could be a little less FCPS centered.

It is also helpful to be able to see what is going on to compare area districts in one forum, like snow days, closings, distance learning, covid, etc.

Having a unified forum makes it easier to stay current while avoiding the recent topics feed.

I like the idea. A fairly large percentage of topics in the Va schools forum could apply to either FCPS or APS (possibly other systems as well), and there is frequently either some confusion about which system is being discussed or different posters talking about different systems altogether without realizing it at the time they post.

Currently in the forum there are multiple threads that at least start off with no clarity as to which system is being discussed. Sometimes it matters, sometimes it doesn’t.

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is dominating right now since they shocked everyone this week. I just went back to a few random pages in the 400s and there were a mix of topics. I don’t think right now is a good time to determine if they should be their own forum. Often questions are asked comparing FCPS to APS, ACPS or Loudoun.

I agree.

Keep it together.

Having house hunted in this are several times, having all the VA school info in one place is very helpful.

I think it's a good idea

I think it is a good idea. Sometimes people get snarky if you don't designate that you are talking about FCPS vs Arlington. (and vice versa) And, there is nothing stopping anyone from looking at the other school system thread.

FCPS is dominating right now since they shocked everyone this week. I just went back to a few random pages in the 400s and there were a mix of topics. I don’t think right now is a good time to determine if they should be their own forum. Often questions are asked comparing FCPS to APS, ACPS or Loudoun.

I don't think that makes sense. I'd like to keep the Virginia Schools Forum as it is. Sometimes similar issues affect all the schools in the region.

We are considering some forum changes to be made this weekend. One request we had was to split Fairfax County Public Schools off from VA Public Schools and have its own forum. That seems reasonable to me given the amount of FCPS-related traffic that tends to drown out other school systems. But, I wanted to get feedback from forum users. So, what do you all think?