I think it's silly to make such declarations before knowing who the candidates might be in 2023. Remember that School Board members aren't even supposed to run on a party ticket.

Right now I'd vote for anyone other than Tholen but it's always possible the Republicans could find someone worse to endorse.

Blue no matter who!

All the way down the line (and down into the basement)

Anonymous wrote:As long as R candidates are pushing crt lies, book banning, and other divisive culture wars, they don’t have my vote even though I am against the TJ changes and some other things like the Lewis Academy.

Same

Anonymous wrote:FCPS needs to hire someone other than Platenburg. That man has caused so many issues with facilities over the years.

+1000. I would lock him at MHS for a week, so he can experience the sensory overload as the kids are trying to push through the crowds to get around. Does he realize his actions have real impact on students? Meanwhile you can skate through the halls at Langley...

FCPS needs to hire someone other than Platenburg. That man has caused so many issues with facilities over the years.

Anonymous wrote:That one neighborhood on 7, near wolf trap (I forgot the name) advocated to get out, they even had a rep testifying along with several children, they volunteered to take one for the team and move to Langley.

Who wad “kicked out?”

Shouse Village, that’s it.

I couldn’t remember the name to save my life yesterday.

It’s a shame FCPS is so incredibly mismanaged at the central level. There are individual schools still doing great things, but with leadership like Brabrand and the current School Board they are fighting an uphill battle.

Public school is rapidly getting the reputation for what it actually is: government school.

People with options will increasingly avoid it the same way they avoid government housing.

Anonymous wrote:I am one of those democrats that was disappointed by this gang. I was actually happy that Youngkin won and he would bring things back to center. However, with all the nonsense that that fool is introducing, I'm rethinking my position.

I'd rather have a bunch of left wing nut jobs on the school board to offset the Youngkin nonsense.

If the LWNJs on the School Board can’t take care of the basics, and there’s plenty of recent evidence they can’t, and the Youngkin administration just creates chaos, public schools will still decline and more people will opt for privates.

I am one of those democrats that was disappointed by this gang. I was actually happy that Youngkin won and he would bring things back to center. However, with all the nonsense that that fool is introducing, I'm rethinking my position.

I'd rather have a bunch of left wing nut jobs on the school board to offset the Youngkin nonsense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So don’t let them.

An expanded McLean means the school community gets to stay together comfortably.

You are so wrong: the McLean "Community" was already ripped apart through the boundary change. Elaine, mcspaces, and McLean parents kicked kids out of the "Community." Please acknowledge that.

DP, but do you realize that Langley had been losing kids for the better part of a decade, to the extent that VHSL proposed to drop Langley from Class 6 to Class 5 (TJ and Lewis are the only FCPS high schools in Class 5 based on their lower enrollments) and Langley had to petition VHSL to remain in Class 6?

And that, despite this, Jeff Platenberg went ahead and expanded Langley during its renovation more than originally planned to 2370 seats?

So I’m wondering why you think the same School Board that had been ignoring McLean parents for years was suddenly going to defer to their preferences if they held out in unison for an addition and no boundary change in 2019. The fix had been in for years to move kids and Tholen was more than happy to do her part to make Platenberg look better. Since McLean’s enrollment is already higher than ever this year, it’s obvious which school benefitted from her actions and which one keeps getting screwed.

Spot on. And the overcrowding at McLean is down right dangerous. Thank Tholen for that.

She is not alone. Do not forget:

Jeff Platenberg, who reneged on FCPS's plans to build an addition at MHS (as conveyed by Janie Strauss to MHS parents in early 2015) because he decided it would make his life easier to just add seats that weren't originally planned or needed at Langley during its renovation.

Janie Strauss, who then didn't object or call Platenberg out when Facilities did something different than what she'd previously heard (and told McLean parents).

Karen Keys Gamarra, Karen Corbett Sanders, and other School Board members, who sat on Strauss's requests in 2018 and 2019 for a boundary study because they claimed there needed to be a county-wide boundary review (which never happened) through an "equity-based lens" (thus postponing any relief at MHS for years).

And, of course, there's Tholen, who pushed through a boundary change that is not equitable or effective, and who has failed to live up to her campaign promises to fight hard to secure funding for a permanent addition to McLean, even as the school's enrollment this year is at an all-time high.

The Democrats often claim that anyone who criticizes FCPS or the School Board must be from some "astro-turfed" organization backed by the Koch Brothers, but the sad truth is that locals have had to watch this debacle unfold year after year, due to the negligence of public employees and elected officials who are, by turn, incompetent, obstructive, and utterly hypocritical.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It’s frustrating to see the likes of the FCPS school board deliver state government to the Republicans. The Rs will do as much as they can to privatize public education, which could wreak further havoc on the public schools, but then the lack of attention to the basics (academics, facilities, civics) by people like Tholen and her ilk is what helped Youngkin cut into the margins in NoVa and win. What a shame the Democrats on the SB haven’t managed to do the simple jobs they were elected to do.


Well I am sure the Republicans appreciate all the help they got from Fairfax and Loudoun Democrat-run school boards.

They sure as hell were celebrating after Youngkin won.

I attended all public schools--state university for undergrad and a university in a different state for grad school.
I taught in public schools.
My kids graduated from public schools.
My DH is a product of public schools. His mom worked in public schools.
I never wanted or thought i would consider private schools for my kids.

I hope that public schools will once again turn into places where the emphasis is on the students and academics--and not as social petri dishes.
This School Board encourages me to consider that private schools are a better route.

I went public k-12 and had no reason to think I would regret putting my kids in FCPS. I wish I had insisted on private for Fall 2020 but mu kid trusted FCPS (I did too) when they promised kids could go two days a week and it was a disaster when they yanked the rug out from under him.

Exactly our situation. I felt let down by FCPS last year and have lost trust in public schools altogether. Pondering now whether to go with MHS for next year given the horror stories of the overcrowding there. Apparently McLean has become very stressful for students, given the extreme enrollment numbers this year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So don’t let them.

An expanded McLean means the school community gets to stay together comfortably.

You are so wrong: the McLean "Community" was already ripped apart through the boundary change. Elaine, mcspaces, and McLean parents kicked kids out of the "Community." Please acknowledge that.

DP, but do you realize that Langley had been losing kids for the better part of a decade, to the extent that VHSL proposed to drop Langley from Class 6 to Class 5 (TJ and Lewis are the only FCPS high schools in Class 5 based on their lower enrollments) and Langley had to petition VHSL to remain in Class 6?

And that, despite this, Jeff Platenberg went ahead and expanded Langley during its renovation more than originally planned to 2370 seats?

So I’m wondering why you think the same School Board that had been ignoring McLean parents for years was suddenly going to defer to their preferences if they held out in unison for an addition and no boundary change in 2019. The fix had been in for years to move kids and Tholen was more than happy to do her part to make Platenberg look better. Since McLean’s enrollment is already higher than ever this year, it’s obvious which school benefitted from her actions and which one keeps getting screwed.

Spot on. And the overcrowding at McLean is down right dangerous. Thank Tholen for that.

That one neighborhood on 7, near wolf trap (I forgot the name) advocated to get out, they even had a rep testifying along with several children, they volunteered to take one for the team and move to Langley.

Who wad “kicked out?”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So don’t let them.

An expanded McLean means the school community gets to stay together comfortably.

You are so wrong: the McLean "Community" was already ripped apart through the boundary change. Elaine, mcspaces, and McLean parents kicked kids out of the "Community." Please acknowledge that.

DP, but do you realize that Langley had been losing kids for the better part of a decade, to the extent that VHSL proposed to drop Langley from Class 6 to Class 5 (TJ and Lewis are the only FCPS high schools in Class 5 based on their lower enrollments) and Langley had to petition VHSL to remain in Class 6?

And that, despite this, Jeff Platenberg went ahead and expanded Langley during its renovation more than originally planned to 2370 seats?

So I’m wondering why you think the same School Board that had been ignoring McLean parents for years was suddenly going to defer to their preferences if they held out in unison for an addition and no boundary change in 2019. The fix had been in for years to move kids and Tholen was more than happy to do her part to make Platenberg look better. Since McLean’s enrollment is already higher than ever this year, it’s obvious which school benefitted from her actions and which one keeps getting screwed.