Anonymous wrote:I was against charter schools. Then, I moved from FCPS to a state with public charter schools, and the charters have been fantastic. The education has been incredibly strong, and finally my kids have a school that actually challenges high achievers.

I don't see how public charter schools could be sucking the system dry. They generally receive quite a bit less money per student than the public schools, and they're still required to meet all of the public school standards.

The net result of public charters isn't significantly different from the immersion or magnet programs in FCPS. In both cases, kids are picked via a lottery, busing may not be provided, the kids are generally at or above average, and the families are involved in their kids' educations. The main difference is that the charter is getting less money per student from the state.

What you say makes logical sense (though my kids are all FCPS). The anti-charter crowd is mainly teachers who don't want their pensions/powers diluted while at the same time not having to deal with additional workloads if they are stuck with "bad" kids and money is diverted to charter schools. Let's come up with a system where the county school system competed with private schools for kids' money. I'd gladly take whatever money FCPS spends today on my child and apply that towards private school tuition.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Charters would require legislation which would require either the senate's approval or a two year wait and hoping that it flips. The fight would definitely be ugly because you'd be cutting funding to existing schools in order to come up with the money. There's also the chance that 4 years from now new governor kills the whole thing before it even gets off the ground.

Charter schools have been authorized in Virginia since the 1990s.

For an overview, see https://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/charter_schools/

So charters would not require legislation. Legislation would be required, however, if the intent was to strip local school boards, such as the FCPS School Board, of their ability to impede the creation of new charters.

There is so much unnecessary hysteria. The FCPS School Board refused to act on an application for a charter called the "Fairfax Leadership Academy" that could have operated in a former pubic school building. Yet Karen Keys Gamarra is pushing the idea of a "social justice" Academy at Lewis HS, an existing, troubled public high school, with a specialized curriculum.

So it seems it's all about control. If local teachers and community members want to create a charter, it's bad. But if Keys Gamarra wants to suck up the time and attention of the School Board on her pet project Academy, it's fine.

Exactly. And the fact that a "Social Justice" Academy was met with enthusiasm and approval speaks volumes. These dopes would rather throw money and time at a social justice project than ACTUAL EDUCATION. The priorities of this SB are so, so out of whack. 2023 can't come soon enough.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does out of state charter mom keep telling us about the law in her state? This is about Virginia.

I assume because she has experience with both FCPS and charters in another state, and people have suggested the new Secretary of Education in Virginia will support more charter schools in Virginia?

It doesn't seem like a stretch. Why are you trying to silence other posters?

But that PP has already demonstrated that her FCPS info is outdated (literacy) and charter experience irrelevant (we already have AAP).

She’s just replying because she gets off on sharing her unhelpful opinion. Again and again. Not because it actually constructively contributes to this thread.

Some of the literacy reforms (if by that you mean changes in reading pedagogy) are only now being considered and implemented, and the experience of a student at a charter school may well be quite different from the experience of a student in FCPS's AAP program, which is now both bloated and increasingly at odds with FCPS's anti-meritocratic ideals.

I suspect she reiterates her views in response to the frequency with which posters like you try to dismiss them out of hand. It's what many of us have come to expect when it comes to any issue involving FCPS that the coalition of FCPS insiders, School Board members, and party loyalists who view any criticism of FCPS policies or practices as tantamount to an attack on the Democratic Party finds unpalatable.

+ a million on all counts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does out of state charter mom keep telling us about the law in her state? This is about Virginia.

I assume because she has experience with both FCPS and charters in another state, and people have suggested the new Secretary of Education in Virginia will support more charter schools in Virginia?

It doesn't seem like a stretch. Why are you trying to silence other posters?

But that PP has already demonstrated that her FCPS info is outdated (literacy) and charter experience irrelevant (we already have AAP).

She’s just replying because she gets off on sharing her unhelpful opinion. Again and again. Not because it actually constructively contributes to this thread.

DP. You know AAP is not available to everyone, right? Many of us have said that the AAP curriculum should be the "normal" one, for all, and that an ACTUAL gifted program, for the very tiny minority of truly gifted students, should be implemented (again, as it used to be). The poster you're referring to has been very helpful and has contributed enormously to this thread - unlike you. You simply want to silence her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does out of state charter mom keep telling us about the law in her state? This is about Virginia.

I assume because she has experience with both FCPS and charters in another state, and people have suggested the new Secretary of Education in Virginia will support more charter schools in Virginia?

It doesn't seem like a stretch. Why are you trying to silence other posters?

+1
It's so telling, isn't it? The anti-charter school crowd is incredibly dishonest, with all their fear-mongering. Michael Bloomberg explains why he is donating $750 of his own money to fund charter schools across the nation:

American public education is broken. Since the pandemic began, students have experienced severe learning loss because schools remained closed in 2020—and even in 2021 when vaccinations were available to teachers and it was clear schools could reopen safely. Many schools also failed to administer remote learning adequately.

Before the pandemic, about two-thirds of U.S. students weren’t reading at grade level, and the trend has been getting worse. Results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly known as the nation’s report card, show that in 2019, eighth-grade math scores had already fallen significantly.

Teachers understand the severity of the problem, and many are doing heroic work, yet some of their union representatives are denying reality. “There is no such thing as learning loss,” said Cecily Myart-Cruz, head of the Los Angeles teachers union, in an interview with Los Angeles Magazine this past summer. “Our kids didn’t lose anything. It’s OK that our babies may not have learned all their times tables. They learned resilience.”

What nonsense. How about reading, writing and arithmetic, the critical skills we are funding schools to teach?

We know what works, because we can see it in real time. Success Academy’s network of 47 public charter schools is serving New York children whose families predominantly live below the poverty line. Their students are outperforming public-school students in Scarsdale, N.Y.—the wealthiest town on the East Coast and the second-wealthiest town in America—by significant margins. Yet a statewide cap on charter schools is blocking Success Academy from expanding.

We need a new, stronger model of public education that is based on evidence, centered on children, and built around achievement, excellence and accountability for all. The future of America’s most vulnerable children—and of our country—is riding on whether we can deliver it.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/michael-bloomberg-why-im-backing-charter-schools-covid-19-learning-loss-teachers-union-11638371324

Anonymous wrote:Why does out of state charter mom keep telling us about the law in her state? This is about Virginia.

That poster's information applies to VA as well. Google is your friend:

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title22.1/chapter13/article1.2/

Anonymous wrote:Charters would require legislation which would require either the senate's approval or a two year wait and hoping that it flips. The fight would definitely be ugly because you'd be cutting funding to existing schools in order to come up with the money. There's also the chance that 4 years from now new governor kills the whole thing before it even gets off the ground.

Charter schools have been authorized in Virginia since the 1990s.

For an overview, see https://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/charter_schools/

So charters would not require legislation. Legislation would be required, however, if the intent was to strip local school boards, such as the FCPS School Board, of their ability to impede the creation of new charters.

There is so much unnecessary hysteria. The FCPS School Board refused to act on an application for a charter called the "Fairfax Leadership Academy" that could have operated in a former pubic school building. Yet Karen Keys Gamarra is pushing the idea of a "social justice" Academy at Lewis HS, an existing, troubled public high school, with a specialized curriculum.

So it seems it's all about control. If local teachers and community members want to create a charter, it's bad. But if Keys Gamarra wants to suck up the time and attention of the School Board on her pet project Academy, it's fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does out of state charter mom keep telling us about the law in her state? This is about Virginia.

I assume because she has experience with both FCPS and charters in another state, and people have suggested the new Secretary of Education in Virginia will support more charter schools in Virginia?

It doesn't seem like a stretch. Why are you trying to silence other posters?

But that PP has already demonstrated that her FCPS info is outdated (literacy) and charter experience irrelevant (we already have AAP).

She’s just replying because she gets off on sharing her unhelpful opinion. Again and again. Not because it actually constructively contributes to this thread.

Some of the literacy reforms (if by that you mean changes in reading pedagogy) are only now being considered and implemented, and the experience of a student at a charter school may well be quite different from the experience of a student in FCPS's AAP program, which is now both bloated and increasingly at odds with FCPS's anti-meritocratic ideals.

I suspect she reiterates her views in response to the frequency with which posters like you try to dismiss them out of hand. It's what many of us have come to expect when it comes to any issue involving FCPS that the coalition of FCPS insiders, School Board members, and party loyalists who view any criticism of FCPS policies or practices as tantamount to an attack on the Democratic Party finds unpalatable.

Anonymous wrote:We already have AAP. Why would we need to pull money from AAP to create a duplicate AAP?

AAP is on it's way out as it was. They're already using school based norms to get in and removing work that was taught years ago. AAP doesn't look the way it did 10 years ago even 5. It's called AAP in name only to show FCPS is providing gifted services.

Charters would require legislation which would require either the senate's approval or a two year wait and hoping that it flips. The fight would definitely be ugly because you'd be cutting funding to existing schools in order to come up with the money. There's also the chance that 4 years from now new governor kills the whole thing before it even gets off the ground.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does out of state charter mom keep telling us about the law in her state? This is about Virginia.

I assume because she has experience with both FCPS and charters in another state, and people have suggested the new Secretary of Education in Virginia will support more charter schools in Virginia?

It doesn't seem like a stretch. Why are you trying to silence other posters?

But that PP has already demonstrated that her FCPS info is outdated (literacy) and charter experience irrelevant (we already have AAP).

She’s just replying because she gets off on sharing her unhelpful opinion. Again and again. Not because it actually constructively contributes to this thread.

Anonymous wrote:I hope he will have no effect whatsoever.

She?

I hope he will have no effect whatsoever.

Anonymous wrote:Why does out of state charter mom keep telling us about the law in her state? This is about Virginia.

I assume because she has experience with both FCPS and charters in another state, and people have suggested the new Secretary of Education in Virginia will support more charter schools in Virginia?

It doesn't seem like a stretch. Why are you trying to silence other posters?

Why does out of state charter mom keep telling us about the law in her state? This is about Virginia.