Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Academics are not everything, you know.

Look at FFX schools amazing achievements in equity, diversity, inclusion, and their anti-racism curriculum, not to mention the new FLE / gender equality achievements.

Is this satire?

You know we're living in clown world when we can't tell the difference between satire and a genuine statement.

My guess is that it's satire; but there really are people out there in la-la-land who think that all of these political virtue signaling causes are more important than actual learning and academics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A better alternative might be to go back to a system where School Board members are appointed rather than elected. Perhaps that way the Board of Supervisors could give some thought to appointing members who have an appropriate cross-section of expertise and aren't so controlled by the special interest groups. 95% of the current agenda is dictated by teachers' groups and the NAACP.

This is it. Elected boards have to play a political game and their decisions are always subject to partisan criticism. Appointed boards can straight up do the right thing for schools, students, and staff.

No - that's not a solution. Ultimately, it is the citizens who are responsible for the school board -- either through direct elections, or through electing the person who "appoints" the school board. All that would do is create another level of separation between the citizens and their school board.

The fault lies with the voters -- you are all voting for this moronic school board and its non-academic based policies. You do it because it touches all your political buttons and it makes you feel good. You want to vote "Democrats" onto your school board to stop Drumpf or whatever inane political reason you tell yourself. You all get the schoolboard and the lowest common denominator school system you deserve.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A better alternative might be to go back to a system where School Board members are appointed rather than elected. Perhaps that way the Board of Supervisors could give some thought to appointing members who have an appropriate cross-section of expertise and aren't so controlled by the special interest groups. 95% of the current agenda is dictated by teachers' groups and the NAACP.

This is it. Elected boards have to play a political game and their decisions are always subject to partisan criticism. Appointed boards can straight up do the right thing for schools, students, and staff.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Academics are not everything, you know.

Look at FFX schools amazing achievements in equity, diversity, inclusion, and their anti-racism curriculum, not to mention the new FLE / gender equality achievements.

Is this satire?

Anonymous wrote:Academics are not everything, you know.

Look at FFX schools amazing achievements in equity, diversity, inclusion, and their anti-racism curriculum, not to mention the new FLE / gender equality achievements.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A better alternative might be to go back to a system where School Board members are appointed rather than elected. Perhaps that way the Board of Supervisors could give some thought to appointing members who have an appropriate cross-section of expertise and aren't so controlled by the special interest groups. 95% of the current agenda is dictated by teachers' groups and the NAACP.

This is it. Elected boards have to play a political game and their decisions are always subject to partisan criticism. Appointed boards can straight up do the right thing for schools, students, and staff.

But don't you agree: social justice is far more important than academics?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A better alternative might be to go back to a system where School Board members are appointed rather than elected. Perhaps that way the Board of Supervisors could give some thought to appointing members who have an appropriate cross-section of expertise and aren't so controlled by the special interest groups. 95% of the current agenda is dictated by teachers' groups and the NAACP.

This is it. Elected boards have to play a political game and their decisions are always subject to partisan criticism. Appointed boards can straight up do the right thing for schools, students, and staff.

Anonymous wrote:An online textbook is not a textbook!!!!!

Anonymous wrote:A better alternative might be to go back to a system where School Board members are appointed rather than elected. Perhaps that way the Board of Supervisors could give some thought to appointing members who have an appropriate cross-section of expertise and aren't so controlled by the special interest groups. 95% of the current agenda is dictated by teachers' groups and the NAACP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what's the solution besides venting on this forum? I'm not being snarky. What can be done?

A new school board. Unfortunately that is practically impossible at this point. The school board is political and they are all democrats. The school board would do better if it were a mix or independent. We live in an area where almost everyone votes democrat. (I’ve been guilty of doing that as well - not again.) So even people who don’t have kids or don’t care about the school board at all will go and vote and just vote for the democrats on the ballot. A lot of the school board members don’t really care about the school system - they are using it to further their political career. And that means they care less about education and more about social issues.

And so all we can really do is vent on forums like this.

see I asked the question. I am a Democrat and I believe in education. The idea that Republicans prioritize education is pretty ridiculous. To me social justice does not equal having mediocre expectations of students.

But that is what happens.

Look at DC public schools. Look at what happened to Montgomery County PS. Look at what is currently happening to Howard County public schools - they aren't too far behind us on tearing down their public schools in the name of social justice.

Democrats undoubtedly do better with handling education but there seems to be a tipping point when a school system or area goes too far to the liberal side.

Yeah, I am a liberal Democrat but I also may be a bit of an elitist and a snob. I DON’T think eradicating tracks for more and less advanced students ensures equity. It just makes teaching more difficult and frustrating, and the kids who end up getting shortchanged are the ones I would prefer to spend MORE time with!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AAP is the least of FCPS’s problems. The district needs to invest in a science-based reading curriculum so that kids actually learn to read. Then it needs to buy textbooks and use them. My DS is in middle school and all his assignments are to watch videos and answer questions. So he isn’t “reading to learn” at all. They also need to reduce class sizes. There shouldn’t be 3rd grade classes with 30 kids in them. Maybe if Gen Ed were actually providing an education, families wouldn’t be so desperate to get their kids in AAP.

Your FCPS middle school student's assignments are to watch videos and answer questions? In what class?

Language Arts got brand-new textbooks this year and also an online grammar/writing program. Is your kid's school not using those?

DP but I've heard of kids being shown Flocabulary videos in social studies in lieu of an actual lesson.

I hate videos bu I have had to start using them more often to accommodate the kids with incredibly slow reading rates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are fcps middle schoolers who got language arts textbooks!?? Wtf we don’t have any textbooks at our house ??

Perhaps thats a sign of equity not equality?