FCPS should have a cutoff where once an elementary school reaches 900 children, it needs to undergo a boundary study and be split up.

McNair has 1240 children. I can't imagine what that school must be like. Why does FCPS let their schools get so big?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If school safety was the utmost concern, we would have buses that weren't outdated by the school board'so own standards.
Despite record snow fall, Boston had more school than we did. Do they care about their kids less? I don't think so. But, they do place a higher priority on providing an education than FCPS does.
Wanting an education for one's child has nothing to do with daycare. Having school open during the school year is the best way to provide the best education we can and should offer our children.

We know that throwing money at a problem does not fix it, see DCPS. Does that necessarily mean that restricting money spent on a problem will fix it?

IOW, the buses are a huge problem, and they are expensive. We need to give FCPS lots more money to hire more teachers to create smaller classes, and to buy lots of new buses.

Sigh......

It's not the buses. Buses work fine in the kind of weather we have here. Look at the Metro buses and the bang buses to the casinos. They all start and run fine. Maybe the maintenance sux, but that means replace the maintenance manager, not buy more buses. (I maintain a fleet of buses and if they didn't start every day in the winter I'd be gone).

We do need more teachers, They don't need more money, they just need to reduce bureaucrats and replace them with classroom teachers. More teachers, less bureaucracy, Win..Win!

Clifton ES had under 400 students. The school had 100% parent involvement, no SACC, and high test scores. Jack Dale had an ax to grind. Dr Garza now needs to find space and she has an empty school waiting to reopen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of buses and put the onus on parents to take personal responsibility for getting their kids to and from school. Problem solved, millions of $ saved.

Our elementary school has over 900 kids. Not sure how they would manage the logistics of getting that many kids dropped off individually vs by bus.

That's a problem FCPS caused themselves. No elementary should have 900 kids. There are many schools that are under 700 kids though that would work fine to just allow parents to drop off. I even think certain schools would be willing to drive their kids on snow days and forgo busses those days just to keep the schools open.

No school should be allowed the warehouse that many kids.

My older DD went to an elementary that opened with 400 kids. It was SOOOOO nice. Over the years to grew to 800 and 10 portables. While the class sizes stay about the same, the "feel" of the school changed and not for the better. Recess was pure chaos as the playground was not intended to house that many kids burning off energy. They were not allowed to run on the blacktop and the grass field to closed most of winter and spring to keep it from turning into a dirt field. Most kids ate lunch in the classroom leading to bugs and ick on desks and floors. PE was doubled which means DDs second grade class had nearly 60 kids trying to do PE in the small elementary school gym. Most afterschool clubs/activities were impossible to enroll in. The principal didn't know more than 10% o the students' names. Drop off and pick up on a rainy day - OMG beyond ridiculous! 250 kids trying out for the drama production. You child wants to sing in the choir - forget about it! 6 portables and 4 classrooms shared 3 girls and 3 boy toilet - YUCK! The list goes on and on and on....

This must have been very stressful. What school was this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of buses and put the onus on parents to take personal responsibility for getting their kids to and from school. Problem solved, millions of $ saved.

Our elementary school has over 900 kids. Not sure how they would manage the logistics of getting that many kids dropped off individually vs by bus.

That's a problem FCPS caused themselves. No elementary should have 900 kids. There are many schools that are under 700 kids though that would work fine to just allow parents to drop off. I even think certain schools would be willing to drive their kids on snow days and forgo busses those days just to keep the schools open.

No school should be allowed the warehouse that many kids.

My older DD went to an elementary that opened with 400 kids. It was SOOOOO nice. Over the years to grew to 800 and 10 portables. While the class sizes stay about the same, the "feel" of the school changed and not for the better. Recess was pure chaos as the playground was not intended to house that many kids burning off energy. They were not allowed to run on the blacktop and the grass field to closed most of winter and spring to keep it from turning into a dirt field. Most kids ate lunch in the classroom leading to bugs and ick on desks and floors. PE was doubled which means DDs second grade class had nearly 60 kids trying to do PE in the small elementary school gym. Most afterschool clubs/activities were impossible to enroll in. The principal didn't know more than 10% o the students' names. Drop off and pick up on a rainy day - OMG beyond ridiculous! 250 kids trying out for the drama production. You child wants to sing in the choir - forget about it! 6 portables and 4 classrooms shared 3 girls and 3 boy toilet - YUCK! The list goes on and on and on....

Anonymous wrote:If school safety was the utmost concern, we would have buses that weren't outdated by the school board'so own standards.
Despite record snow fall, Boston had more school than we did. Do they care about their kids less? I don't think so. But, they do place a higher priority on providing an education than FCPS does.
Wanting an education for one's child has nothing to do with daycare. Having school open during the school year is the best way to provide the best education we can and should offer our children.

We know that throwing money at a problem does not fix it, see DCPS. Does that necessarily mean that restricting money spent on a problem will fix it?

IOW, the buses are a huge problem, and they are expensive. We need to give FCPS lots more money to hire more teachers to create smaller classes, and to buy lots of new buses.

If school safety was the utmost concern, we would have buses that weren't outdated by the school board'so own standards.
Despite record snow fall, Boston had more school than we did. Do they care about their kids less? I don't think so. But, they do place a higher priority on providing an education than FCPS does.
Wanting an education for one's child has nothing to do with daycare. Having school open during the school year is the best way to provide the best education we can and should offer our children.

Anonymous wrote:The argument abt law suits should school be open doesn't follow. FCPS employees including bus drivers are not liable for anything but intentional torts. So, unless the bus driver purposefully got into an accident, there is no liability. The lawsuit is thrown out before a judge even hears it. The only potential liability is that the county could have to pay up to the amount of their insurance for physical injuries and no more. Their limit is $50,000. A short hospital stay wo insurance, even w insurance in some cases, exceeds $50,000.
I'm sure FCPS likes this lawsuit myth that is constantly thrown out to defend their decision to close school.
By comparison a court in PA awarded a plaintiff 14 million for a school bus accident (later reduced to 500,000).

I think it goes beyond concern about legal liability, but more of a concern for student safety. The people who make these decisions care about the safety of the children and parents who are affected by their decisions. Even without legal liability, they would certainly feel bad if they decided to have school and people were injured because of snowy or icy streets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reopen Clifton ES. My kids commute went from 10 minutes to 35 minutes. FCPS is moving toward larger classrooms and bigger school campuses to save money.

We need to demand better.

OMG, give it up already. The lawsuit by those parents who felt entitled to a tiny school has cost all of us and our kids much-needed money.

Well the kids from Clifton now go to schools far away from where they live. Some kids now go to schools with over a thousand students.

How about get out of the mindset that school=free day care. It doesn't. Plan ahead, arrange care. The same people bitching about school closing are the same ones to bitch when school opens and it shouldn't. The people who make these decisions don't do so just for the hell of it. They do it based on road conditions and weather. And don't compare us to MoCo. The weather can be vastly different in parts of Fairfax Co. on any given day.

The argument abt law suits should school be open doesn't follow. FCPS employees including bus drivers are not liable for anything but intentional torts. So, unless the bus driver purposefully got into an accident, there is no liability. The lawsuit is thrown out before a judge even hears it. The only potential liability is that the county could have to pay up to the amount of their insurance for physical injuries and no more. Their limit is $50,000. A short hospital stay wo insurance, even w insurance in some cases, exceeds $50,000.
I'm sure FCPS likes this lawsuit myth that is constantly thrown out to defend their decision to close school.
By comparison a court in PA awarded a plaintiff 14 million for a school bus accident (later reduced to 500,000).

Holy god, I can't imagine the traffic nightmares that would exist if there weren't school buses.


Plus the environmental issues. Yiiiikes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of buses and put the onus on parents to take personal responsibility for getting their kids to and from school. Problem solved, millions of $ saved.

plus a gazillion! I would rather pay for public transportation buses to take the kids than what is currently happening. It's absolutely ridiculous! I am inches away from signing my kids up to be homeschooled and I am NOT of the ilk that would have ever considered that as a viable option -- but I have had it.

Our ES school has 800 students. Can you imagine the insanity of 500 cars (because, yes, some are siblings) trying to drop off their kids at kiss and ride? Talk about a mess.

You know this isn't viable. Try again.

NP here. That's actually how it worked where I grew up and went to school, and in the (separate) district where my mom now teaches. The only buses were for students who lived over 5 miles from their assigned school, or special ed students. Everyone else walked/drove/carpooled/rode their bikes. In high school, many people took public buses. There were discounted rates (like $1/ride) for high school kids.

Granted, my elementary school only had 500 kids, not 800, but the high school had 2500 and the junior high had 1200 and it somehow worked.

We would need more sidewalks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of buses and put the onus on parents to take personal responsibility for getting their kids to and from school. Problem solved, millions of $ saved.

plus a gazillion! I would rather pay for public transportation buses to take the kids than what is currently happening. It's absolutely ridiculous! I am inches away from signing my kids up to be homeschooled and I am NOT of the ilk that would have ever considered that as a viable option -- but I have had it.

Our ES school has 800 students. Can you imagine the insanity of 500 cars (because, yes, some are siblings) trying to drop off their kids at kiss and ride? Talk about a mess.

You know this isn't viable. Try again.

NP here. That's actually how it worked where I grew up and went to school, and in the (separate) district where my mom now teaches. The only buses were for students who lived over 5 miles from their assigned school, or special ed students. Everyone else walked/drove/carpooled/rode their bikes. In high school, many people took public buses. There were discounted rates (like $1/ride) for high school kids.

Granted, my elementary school only had 500 kids, not 800, but the high school had 2500 and the junior high had 1200 and it somehow worked.

What public busses? The current bus system is to ferry people in and out of DC or Metro stations, schools are not usually stops and one line may pass nearby.