Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...

Plan now to teach the basics; handwriting, spelling, math facts, reading comprehension, grammar, pre-algebra skills, geography, to name a few.

Set aside money for private tutors now if you aren't up to the task or never took chemistry, or can't remember geometry.

This is all absolutely true. Thank you for your honesty.

-1. Typical MAGA blather.

A PP wrote and bolded some elementary school basics. Exactly what does that have to do with MAGA? FCPS calls for on site elementary school volunteers whether middle school after school] or Grandinvolve [meaning retirees] to work with students at schools.

From 2003 to 2018 FCPS enrollment has grown about 23k and 101% is Hispanic, 78% of the growth is Hispanic/ELs/disadvantaged as per VDOE. That increase is not a socioeconomic spread of students from Venezuela. Growth in the number of students means additional facilities. Programs drive building capacity so FCPS has buildings where design capacity is greater than program capacity-lower class sizes, etc.

Who pays for the buildings? If a new building has 50% ELs /disadvantaged/Hispanic and costs 50 million on the CIP then it's 25m long term debt-bond repayment - cost to local property tax payers.

THIS! This is the problem. For some reason stating these facts will get you called a racist, but the reality is we need to come together to solve how to handle this influx of students so that ALL students can get a good education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...

Plan now to teach the basics; handwriting, spelling, math facts, reading comprehension, grammar, pre-algebra skills, geography, to name a few.

Set aside money for private tutors now if you aren't up to the task or never took chemistry, or can't remember geometry.

This is all absolutely true. Thank you for your honesty.

-1. Typical MAGA blather.

A PP wrote and bolded some elementary school basics. Exactly what does that have to do with MAGA? FCPS calls for on site elementary school volunteers whether middle school after school] or Grandinvolve [meaning retirees] to work with students at schools.

From 2003 to 2018 FCPS enrollment has grown about 23k and 101% is Hispanic, 78% of the growth is Hispanic/ELs/disadvantaged as per VDOE. That increase is not a socioeconomic spread of students from Venezuela. Growth in the number of students means additional facilities. Programs drive building capacity so FCPS has buildings where design capacity is greater than program capacity-lower class sizes, etc.

Who pays for the buildings? If a new building has 50% ELs /disadvantaged/Hispanic and costs 50 million on the CIP then it's 25m long term debt-bond repayment - cost to local property tax payers.

Anonymous wrote:Please. NP here, but the PPs that talked about how hard it is to accommodate kids who have never held a book and kids that are reading fluently in kindergarten are absolutely correct. I know it's not politically correct--and I am a Dem--but it is impossible to deal with kids who don't speak English, whose parents are not literate in their native languages, who are traumatized by what has happened or is going on at home, who face poverty or homelessness, and/or who have serious behavioral issues, and also accommodate the typical middle class kid. And God forbid that typical kid is quiet and well-behaved (especially a girl), because that kid will be ignored entirely.

My DD spent most of early elementary school at her Title I school stuck in a corner doing worksheets and reading quietly while the teacher dealt with behavioral issues and offering remedial instruction. DD qualified for AAP, but even at her Level IV center the classes are overcrowded, and there are numerous behavioral issues. I went to an underfunded, high poverty public school in the South, and my education was superior to what I am seeing in FCPS. Not impressed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the FCPS ESL student success stories? Can an ESL student be admitted to AAP in elementary school? Has a FARMS/ESL AAP student attain the Holy Grail of admission to TJHSST?

Yes. I teach 8th grade math at a low income middle school in FCPS. I have written recommendations for multiple kids on free lunch who gained TJ admission.(the flip side is that they really struggled there—but they saw it as opening doors and worked their tails off to get through)

Anonymous wrote:Where are the FCPS ESL student success stories? Can an ESL student be admitted to AAP in elementary school? Has a FARMS/ESL AAP student attain the Holy Grail of admission to TJHSST?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our elementary schools can't continue to be absolutely everything to everyone; FARMS to include backpack or weekend subsistence, clothing closets, food pantries, PTA subsidized school supplies, field trips, instrument provision, ESOL, translators for parent meetings and conferences or even a simple emergency call to home, holiday gift distribution...and the list goes on.

And before I get pummeled for daring to mention these issues, I speak from experience and have given my time and money to quietly support FCPS, but I have donor fatigue.

It's rough to send your average, non gifted, English speaking child with two college educated parents to FCPS kindergarten and I've done it four times.

Your solidly average student will quite frankly be lost in the shuffle. I'm convinced that the uptick in IEPs and parent referral to AAP and legions of twice exceptional students is actually a well played, strategic move by savvy and smart FCPS parents. So, if your kid doesn't have a "hook," forget it.
Move your kid to the head of the class if there's an IEP, kid is 2E, ESL, AAP, homeless, pregnant, FARMs, legally emancipated, parent incarcerated or deported, no computer in the home. Help and programs and services will be on the way!

Plan now to teach the basics; handwriting, spelling, math facts, reading comprehension, grammar, pre-algebra skills, geography, to name a few.

Set aside money for private tutors now if you aren't up to the task or never took chemistry, or can't remember geometry.

This is all absolutely true. Thank you for your honesty.

-1. Typical MAGA blather.

Please stop. Why is no one, liberal or conservative, beating down the doors to go to Herndon, Lee, Mt. Vernon, Annandale, Justice, or Falls Church (or their pyramid schools)? Why are Langley parents desperate not to be rezoned to Herndon? I think you know the answer to that question.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...

Plan now to teach the basics; handwriting, spelling, math facts, reading comprehension, grammar, pre-algebra skills, geography, to name a few.

Set aside money for private tutors now if you aren't up to the task or never took chemistry, or can't remember geometry.

This is all absolutely true. Thank you for your honesty.

-1. Typical MAGA blather.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a longtime FxCo resident - attended FCPS as well. The elementary and middle schools are nowhere near as rigorous as they were in the 80s. The whole AAP nonsense has been such an unwelcome distraction. The county should have stuck to its very well-regarded GT program that only accepted a tiny percentage of kids. AAP has turned into a circus and isn't really much different from Gen Ed. That, in and of itself, has made elementary and middle school education somewhat of a joke.

However, the high schools do an excellent job of educating students - probably because at that point, AAP ends and all students have the opportunity to take whatever level they want to (regular, honors, or AP/IB). My kids all said that they didn't feel they were really learning anything until they got to high school - and then it was a brand new and interesting world. No more busy work and silly projects.

Two of my kids are now in college, and the third is still in high school. The college kids have been very well prepared. Maybe one day FCPS will come to its senses and do away with AAP; simply raise the bar for ALL kids.

New poster. Sorry that your particular AAP did not prepare your particular kids as well as you would have liked for their excellent HS education; however, the AAP my child did in FCPS was great preparation for the very rigorous education DC got in an FCPS high school. The kids who went through AAP at our ES and MS were more than ready to handle high school and benefit from it.

Your particular experience, and mine, do not define every family's experience with AAP.

There is a huge tendency on DCUM to tar AAP as horrible yet we and other families who went to our specific schools had good experiences overall and some kids had excellent experiences. The constant drumbeat here of "do away with all AAP" pretends that every school, every program, every teacher, every student is the same and has the same experiences. That's just not the real world. If AAP disappeared tomorrow, you'd get what you call "raise the bar for all kids" and teachers would call "differentiation in the classroom." Over time, the complain of parents like you would be this: "In our school there's not enough differentiation to keep kids who work at a higher level interested in learning! We need to give them more stimulation that meets their needs." That's exactly why AAP (whether at center schools or in all schools) exists. Make it vanish in favor of differentiation in the classroom and see how well that works over time. You'll go back to wanting some form of GT or AAP or separate "streams" for students at that level, because teachers just can't help the kids who need help and at the same time provide what other students need to keep engaged and be ready for MS and HS.

PP here. You seem to have not bothered to actually read what I wrote, and instead simply reacted in a knee-jerk way at the very mention of AAP. I didn't say AAP prepared or didn't prepare my kids for high school - I said the program creates a circus in elementary and middle school and isn't much different from Gen Ed. I actually didn't mention whether my kids were in AAP or not because it's irrelevant. They were prepared very well for high school, basically because most of what they learned came from reading they did outside of school. Luckily, they were (and are) curious kids who enjoy learning, because the weak instruction they were given in elementary and middle school alone wouldn't have done much to prepare them for high school. I remember an English "book report" one of them had in 7th grade. It consisted of making a movie poster to describe the book. Another one was to make a movie preview-type video about the book. No writing at all. Pathetic. They excelled in high school because the classes were finally interesting and there was no more busy work.

And in my post, which you clearly didn't read, I DID advocate for keeping some sort of gifted education - the GT program, not AAP (which isn't a gifted program, for starters). Of course there are some exceptionally gifted students who need differentiation. A tiny percentage of kids fit that description, not the ridiculously bloated AAP program we have today.

Please read more carefully before commenting next time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our elementary schools can't continue to be absolutely everything to everyone; FARMS to include backpack or weekend subsistence, clothing closets, food pantries, PTA subsidized school supplies, field trips, instrument provision, ESOL, translators for parent meetings and conferences or even a simple emergency call to home, holiday gift distribution...and the list goes on.

And before I get pummeled for daring to mention these issues, I speak from experience and have given my time and money to quietly support FCPS, but I have donor fatigue.

It's rough to send your average, non gifted, English speaking child with two college educated parents to FCPS kindergarten and I've done it four times.

Your solidly average student will quite frankly be lost in the shuffle. I'm convinced that the uptick in IEPs and parent referral to AAP and legions of twice exceptional students is actually a well played, strategic move by savvy and smart FCPS parents. So, if your kid doesn't have a "hook," forget it.
Move your kid to the head of the class if there's an IEP, kid is 2E, ESL, AAP, homeless, pregnant, FARMs, legally emancipated, parent incarcerated or deported, no computer in the home. Help and programs and services will be on the way!

Plan now to teach the basics; handwriting, spelling, math facts, reading comprehension, grammar, pre-algebra skills, geography, to name a few.

Set aside money for private tutors now if you aren't up to the task or never took chemistry, or can't remember geometry.

This is all absolutely true. Thank you for your honesty.

-1. Typical MAGA blather.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our elementary schools can't continue to be absolutely everything to everyone; FARMS to include backpack or weekend subsistence, clothing closets, food pantries, PTA subsidized school supplies, field trips, instrument provision, ESOL, translators for parent meetings and conferences or even a simple emergency call to home, holiday gift distribution...and the list goes on.

And before I get pummeled for daring to mention these issues, I speak from experience and have given my time and money to quietly support FCPS, but I have donor fatigue.

It's rough to send your average, non gifted, English speaking child with two college educated parents to FCPS kindergarten and I've done it four times.

Your solidly average student will quite frankly be lost in the shuffle. I'm convinced that the uptick in IEPs and parent referral to AAP and legions of twice exceptional students is actually a well played, strategic move by savvy and smart FCPS parents. So, if your kid doesn't have a "hook," forget it.
Move your kid to the head of the class if there's an IEP, kid is 2E, ESL, AAP, homeless, pregnant, FARMs, legally emancipated, parent incarcerated or deported, no computer in the home. Help and programs and services will be on the way!

Plan now to teach the basics; handwriting, spelling, math facts, reading comprehension, grammar, pre-algebra skills, geography, to name a few.

Set aside money for private tutors now if you aren't up to the task or never took chemistry, or can't remember geometry.

This is all absolutely true. Thank you for your honesty.

Anonymous wrote:Our elementary schools can't continue to be absolutely everything to everyone; FARMS to include backpack or weekend subsistence, clothing closets, food pantries, PTA subsidized school supplies, field trips, instrument provision, ESOL, translators for parent meetings and conferences or even a simple emergency call to home, holiday gift distribution...and the list goes on.

And before I get pummeled for daring to mention these issues, I speak from experience and have given my time and money to quietly support FCPS, but I have donor fatigue.

It's rough to send your average, non gifted, English speaking child with two college educated parents to FCPS kindergarten and I've done it four times.

Your solidly average student will quite frankly be lost in the shuffle. I'm convinced that the uptick in IEPs and parent referral to AAP and legions of twice exceptional students is actually a well played, strategic move by savvy and smart FCPS parents. So, if your kid doesn't have a "hook," forget it.
Move your kid to the head of the class if there's an IEP, kid is 2E, ESL, AAP, homeless, pregnant, FARMs, legally emancipated, parent incarcerated or deported, no computer in the home. Help and programs and services will be on the way!

Plan now to teach the basics; handwriting, spelling, math facts, reading comprehension, grammar, pre-algebra skills, geography, to name a few.

Set aside money for private tutors now if you aren't up to the task or never took chemistry, or can't remember geometry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a longtime FxCo resident - attended FCPS as well. The elementary and middle schools are nowhere near as rigorous as they were in the 80s. The whole AAP nonsense has been such an unwelcome distraction. The county should have stuck to its very well-regarded GT program that only accepted a tiny percentage of kids. AAP has turned into a circus and isn't really much different from Gen Ed. That, in and of itself, has made elementary and middle school education somewhat of a joke.

However, the high schools do an excellent job of educating students - probably because at that point, AAP ends and all students have the opportunity to take whatever level they want to (regular, honors, or AP/IB). My kids all said that they didn't feel they were really learning anything until they got to high school - and then it was a brand new and interesting world. No more busy work and silly projects.

Two of my kids are now in college, and the third is still in high school. The college kids have been very well prepared. Maybe one day FCPS will come to its senses and do away with AAP; simply raise the bar for ALL kids.

New poster. Sorry that your particular AAP did not prepare your particular kids as well as you would have liked for their excellent HS education; however, the AAP my child did in FCPS was great preparation for the very rigorous education DC got in an FCPS high school. The kids who went through AAP at our ES and MS were more than ready to handle high school and benefit from it.

Your particular experience, and mine, do not define every family's experience with AAP.

There is a huge tendency on DCUM to tar AAP as horrible yet we and other families who went to our specific schools had good experiences overall and some kids had excellent experiences. The constant drumbeat here of "do away with all AAP" pretends that every school, every program, every teacher, every student is the same and has the same experiences. That's just not the real world. If AAP disappeared tomorrow, you'd get what you call "raise the bar for all kids" and teachers would call "differentiation in the classroom." Over time, the complain of parents like you would be this: "In our school there's not enough differentiation to keep kids who work at a higher level interested in learning! We need to give them more stimulation that meets their needs." That's exactly why AAP (whether at center schools or in all schools) exists. Make it vanish in favor of differentiation in the classroom and see how well that works over time. You'll go back to wanting some form of GT or AAP or separate "streams" for students at that level, because teachers just can't help the kids who need help and at the same time provide what other students need to keep engaged and be ready for MS and HS.