Anonymous
03/20/2025 09:00
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
They didn't even consider cutting the county's random rec center after school program. I find that strange. How many kids use that program vs the after school programs at the school? No one even knows it exists. Its is a jobs program for counth employees? Whats the deal?
Anonymous
03/20/2025 08:55
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
Anonymous wrote:How much does fcps spend on that SEL survey they nake the kids take several times a year with the completely meaningless results?
How much did rhey spend on consultants to conclude once again that start times are not fixable for free?
How many useless principals failed upward to makework jobs at Gatehouse?
Fcps wastes tons of money. It should be easy to find funds for this program.
OTOH the county seems to run a redundant afterschool program used by a fraction of the kids. Why not just cut that?
Exactly? What is the purpose of an after-school program that isn't at a school? Makes no sense. Sure if you have the money, but the one that should be cut is the one NOT at the school. Not the one at the school readily available right after school ends and coinciding with teachers staying after to mentor students.
Anonymous
03/20/2025 07:59
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
The decision hasn’t been made. The county doesn’t vote on its budget until May. They have budget town halls and public hearings.
Anonymous
03/20/2025 07:58
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
Do anyone have any actual intel about whether something can be done at this point? Or this a decision that has already been made?
Anonymous
03/20/2025 05:23
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
How much does fcps spend on that SEL survey they nake the kids take several times a year with the completely meaningless results?
How much did rhey spend on consultants to conclude once again that start times are not fixable for free?
How many useless principals failed upward to makework jobs at Gatehouse?
Fcps wastes tons of money. It should be easy to find funds for this program.
OTOH the county seems to run a redundant afterschool program used by a fraction of the kids. Why not just cut that?
How much did rhey spend on consultants to conclude once again that start times are not fixable for free?
How many useless principals failed upward to makework jobs at Gatehouse?
Fcps wastes tons of money. It should be easy to find funds for this program.
OTOH the county seems to run a redundant afterschool program used by a fraction of the kids. Why not just cut that?
Anonymous
03/19/2025 21:38
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
Anonymous wrote:I'm so confused by this ridiculously LONG thread and yet no one has truly answered just what PROGRAMS are being cut. Can someone speak to this?
OMG, learn how to read and how to comprehend what you read. THE MIDDLE SCHOOL AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM. It's literally right there in the title of the thread.
https://www.fcps.edu/get-involved/activities/after-school-program-middle-school
Anonymous
03/19/2025 19:07
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why doesn’t FCPS pay for this?
It was originally funded by the county rather than FCPS because having after school programs for MS kids was treated as a public safety issue.
It is a partnership, which FCPS contributing $1.9 million and the county contributing $3.8 million (if I recall the numbers correctly).
Then again, the FCPS budget gets most of its money from the county, so if FCPS “paid for all of it” that $3.8 million would still come from the county.
On the other hand, the county does not grant only certain portions or parts of the FCPS budget, they just approve an overall amount. It is up to FCPS to decide what to fund with that money. So if FCPS “paid for all of it” it would remove the county’s ability to withhold that $3.8 million for that program. FCPS would need to allocate the money for the program from the pot they get from the county.
But it’s all the same money, just a matter of how much say the county exerts over what it is spent on.
Anonymous
03/19/2025 18:44
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
Anonymous wrote:Why doesn’t FCPS pay for this?
It was originally funded by the county rather than FCPS because having after school programs for MS kids was treated as a public safety issue.
Anonymous
03/19/2025 17:45
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
Why doesn’t FCPS pay for this?
Anonymous
03/19/2025 17:38
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I'm so confused by this ridiculously LONG thread and yet no one has truly answered just what PROGRAMS are being cut. Can someone speak to this?
Every FCPS middle school has an afterschool program paid for by NCS thru Fairfax County--not FCPS--usually 3 or 4 days a week. There is a "late bus" home around 5 pm also usually 3 or 4 days per week. There is homework help, test retaking, and there are all kinds of clubs--board games, spelling bee, math olympiad, open gym for basketball, frisbees or kickball outside, etc etc etc. The teachers are paid a small amount of money from the County to stay after school and supervise. Each MS has an after school specialist who coordinates all the clubs, sports, tryouts for plays, runs the spelling bee, etc. That person is a county employee.
The program is beloved and HUGELY important for MS kids mental health and making friends. I think especially important in post-Covid times, where they all seem to have stunted social skills. It is basically the only fun thing about middle school, which otherwise seems to be just a lot of time doing work on laptops.
All of this is provided to kids for $5 million which is a bargain IMO.
Small correction - classroom teachers are not paid to stay and provide help or for students to retake tests. That is forced, unpaid time. But falls under "professional obligations" (how they get around contract hours).
If I am supervising a club or board games, then it's paid (but a fraction of my hourly pay rate).
Anonymous
03/17/2025 14:26
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
Anonymous wrote:I'm so confused by this ridiculously LONG thread and yet no one has truly answered just what PROGRAMS are being cut. Can someone speak to this?
Every FCPS middle school has an afterschool program paid for by NCS thru Fairfax County--not FCPS--usually 3 or 4 days a week. There is a "late bus" home around 5 pm also usually 3 or 4 days per week. There is homework help, test retaking, and there are all kinds of clubs--board games, spelling bee, math olympiad, open gym for basketball, frisbees or kickball outside, etc etc etc. The teachers are paid a small amount of money from the County to stay after school and supervise. Each MS has an after school specialist who coordinates all the clubs, sports, tryouts for plays, runs the spelling bee, etc. That person is a county employee.
The program is beloved and HUGELY important for MS kids mental health and making friends. I think especially important in post-Covid times, where they all seem to have stunted social skills. It is basically the only fun thing about middle school, which otherwise seems to be just a lot of time doing work on laptops.
All of this is provided to kids for $5 million which is a bargain IMO.
Anonymous
03/17/2025 13:41
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
Anonymous wrote:I'm so confused by this ridiculously LONG thread and yet no one has truly answered just what PROGRAMS are being cut. Can someone speak to this?
"The MSASP partners with over 25 outside organizations and individuals and offers more than 940 different program activities across 26 middle schools and Burke School. These programs are supported by paid staff and by approximately 108 adult volunteers and 140 student volunteers each school quarter. In FY 2024, 23,884 middle school students attended the after-school program. The typical weekly attendance across all schools was 13,937 students." From FCPS website
Anonymous
03/17/2025 13:38
Subject: Re:PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
The entire Middle School After School program (MSAS) at all 26 FCPS middle schools.
Here's a link about the program: https://www.fcps.edu/get-involved/activities/middle-school-student-activities/impact-afterschool-activities
Here's a link about the program: https://www.fcps.edu/get-involved/activities/middle-school-student-activities/impact-afterschool-activities
Anonymous
03/17/2025 13:04
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs
I'm so confused by this ridiculously LONG thread and yet no one has truly answered just what PROGRAMS are being cut. Can someone speak to this?
Anonymous
03/17/2025 11:03
Subject: PSA: Fairfax County Proposed Budget CANCELS Middle School After School Programs