Anonymous wrote:For two kids I have a monthly budget of $2000.00 for tutoring and enrichment. We are in McLean and majority parents are doing the same, if McLean schools look solid on paper it’s only because of parental involvement and enrichment/tutoring spending. No credit goes to FCPS.

I would agree with this. I do the same and my kids are at a "Blue Ribbon" elementary school. If I had the financial resources, I'd put them in private school, but this is the band-aid for now. Moved from outside the country to FCPS 1.5 yrs ago and absolutely disappointed. (I went to Virginia public schools in a county that would be considered 'average', and it was better than the education my kids are getting at their 'great' school... granted this was 30 yrs ago)

Anonymous wrote:Many years ago I started a thread on this site about a Washington Post article discussing FCPS’ future. I’ll try to find the thread later. The writer’s predictions weren’t wrong.

Not PP, but this 2014 talks about the strain a rising immigrant population had at that time put a strain on resources, pulling money away from more affluent schools, to provide resources to schools whose student bodies are comprised of families that are poor and often illiterate in their primary language.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/in-fairfax-county-kindergarten-classes-school-systems-future-comes-into-focus/2014/06/28/1ced10d2-f25e-11e3-914c-1fbd0614e2d4_story.html

"Grace Choi, a kindergarten language teacher at London Towne, said children from poor families often arrive for the first day of school not knowing the alphabet, a standard lesson in preschool. Many cannot differentiate animal words such as cat, lion and cheetah or food words such as potato, eggs and tomato."

"At Springfield’s Lynbrook Elementary, 502 out of the 637 students speak Spanish at home, school records show, and 89 percent of those Spanish-speaking children were born in the United States."

"In other schools . . . they can see the other students and want to make a difference in themselves," said Moran, 32, who came to the United States from Mexico 10 years ago. "In Hybla Valley, it's 90 percent Hispanic. What the problem is, I think, is the style of life is all the same."

Anonymous wrote:I went to FCPS ES-HS with a relatively large cohort of Vietnamese and Iranian refugees. I can’t think of one of my immigrant classmates who struggled to learn English nor do I recall any needing much or any special assistance. All were quickly integrated into the school community and several became my close friends. Notably and with few exceptions, this group ended up being high-achieving, stellar students.

FCPS is now overwhelmed by illegal immigrants and students who arrive here at 16 or older and emancipate themselves.

And certain areas have large ESOL populations that are largely uninterested in assimilating because of undocumented individuals in their community or because of the resources/opportunities that already exist within their sub-community.

I went to FCPS ES-HS with a relatively large cohort of Vietnamese and Iranian refugees. I can’t think of one of my immigrant classmates who struggled to learn English nor do I recall any needing much or any special assistance. All were quickly integrated into the school community and several became my close friends. Notably and with few exceptions, this group ended up being high-achieving, stellar students.

FCPS is now overwhelmed by illegal immigrants and students who arrive here at 16 or older and emancipate themselves.

Anonymous wrote:The quality of the education I received 25 years ago was far superior to what is being offered now. Anyone else notice this?

It happened when the Republicans forced through the SOLs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax county is one of the top 5 destination counties for migrants (from all countries) who unlawfully cross the southern border with Mexico.

ESOL, and related services, consume a large part of FCPS budget compared to non-ESOL services.

Maybe.... But that is not the big problem in FCPS. Gatehouse is the big problem.

I strongly agree the school system is too big, but I see zero chance that will change.

They need to break up to county into multiple parts and have separate school district for each new county.I they should split it into 4 or 5 parts.

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Anonymous wrote:One data point:

My child in Honors 9th grade English at Langley is reading an abridged version of the Odyssey. It’s about 1/3 the length of the original book and the language is simplified.

I read the full book when I was in 9th grade in FCPS and her older cousin also read the full book about 10 years ago in another FCPS high school.

Then have your child read the full book at home. Fairfax County has libraries.

Don’t count on the schools to do as well by your children as they did by you. It’s all about supplementation, homeschooling and private school these days.

Colleague with kids in MCPS says the same general trends discussed here about FCPS also are true there. His oldest was MCPS all the way. Next bailed at MS for private, youngest was moved to private after 2nd grade. They watched the decline in their own kids. Neighbors here are reporting the same for FCPS.

Only the small township based school districts of the northeast and other parts of the U.S. appear to be largely immune from such trends. Of course, the problem there is funding problems for the poorer towns with more diverse housing types.

It's amazing what happens when you draw lines to exclude poor kids.

So too is what happens when you ignore borders and allow a flood of poorly educated.

My legal immigrant US citizen wife and myself are just waiting until the spring housing market cycle to sell and relocate our family. Job market and public schools brought us here, but with the direction FCPS is heading it no longer sits on the positive column of any decision making criteria. Might as well transfer my kids into the best HS pyramid in another county in VA where there's no influx of undocumented, poorly educated immigrants.

If you think any other county in VA is producing better results than FCPS than by all means, have at it.

You're statement is racist at best and translates to "I don't want my child to be in the vicinity of poor brown children so I shall seek out other whiter areas of the state to reside."

Isn’t that in part the reason that people live in the suburbs? To avoid poor schools? I mean the same thing happens in cities and parts of Appalachia. The color is not really part of the equation.

But the above poster is not trying to avoid poor SCHOOLS, just poor PEOPLE. FCPS has more money and resources and higher student outcomes than any other county in the state. Saying you're going to leave FCPS to find greener pastures in another area of the state is only about avoiding poor people, not to find a better funded, or a better resourced school system, because it doesn't exist.

Outcomes and results vary wildly depending on the area and school, and FCPS has utterly failed certain areas and schools with the budget and resources it has had. Are you raising a family in Fairfax, zoned for one of the top 20 state public high schools, and safe from boundary changes? Good for you, you are in one of the greenest school pastures in the state (that also has low FARMS rates). But, most residents are have-nots and should not be fooled into thinking that because they live in Fairfax their children are receiving a better academic outcome because of the FCPS label.

FCPS is underfunded

FCPS is actually really well funded. They just choose to spend the money on the wrong things.

Yes think gatehouse

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax county is one of the top 5 destination counties for migrants (from all countries) who unlawfully cross the southern border with Mexico.

ESOL, and related services, consume a large part of FCPS budget compared to non-ESOL services.

🧱

🤡

When I started Kindergarten in the early 70s, every kid in the class already knew the alphabet, could read simple kids books and understood basic 2+2=4 maths. I suspect parents would have felt shame to send their kids to school without these skills…
Now half the kids turn up to first day at school illiterate, innumerate and some not even toilet trained…
Demographics is definitely lowering the overall education bar, but a complete lack of parental pride is compounding the problem from day one at school…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax county is one of the top 5 destination counties for migrants (from all countries) who unlawfully cross the southern border with Mexico.

ESOL, and related services, consume a large part of FCPS budget compared to non-ESOL services.

Maybe.... But that is not the big problem in FCPS. Gatehouse is the big problem.

I strongly agree the school system is too big, but I see zero chance that will change.

DP. The PP is correct - it IS a big problem in FCPS. Have you ever been in any of the Title 1 schools?? ESOL takes up a HUGE chunk of the budget.

When I graduated from FCPS in the 1980s AKA the late 1900s, my high school’s biggest problem was adjusting to a tobacco-free campus after allowing student smoking lounges. Legions of “narcs” were hired to patrol the halls and parking lots.

Second concern was truancy and the concern that students were leaving for lunch.

I long for those days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax county is one of the top 5 destination counties for migrants (from all countries) who unlawfully cross the southern border with Mexico.

ESOL, and related services, consume a large part of FCPS budget compared to non-ESOL services.

Maybe.... But that is not the big problem in FCPS. Gatehouse is the big problem.

I strongly agree the school system is too big, but I see zero chance that will change.

Perhaps it is not the problem in your pyramid...but the absolute horror that most posters have on this board at the prospect of being rezoned to some schools says differently.

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax county is one of the top 5 destination counties for migrants (from all countries) who unlawfully cross the southern border with Mexico.

ESOL, and related services, consume a large part of FCPS budget compared to non-ESOL services.

Maybe.... But that is not the big problem in FCPS. Gatehouse is the big problem.

I strongly agree the school system is too big, but I see zero chance that will change.

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax county is one of the top 5 destination counties for migrants (from all countries) who unlawfully cross the southern border with Mexico.

ESOL, and related services, consume a large part of FCPS budget compared to non-ESOL services.

🧱

Fairfax county is one of the top 5 destination counties for migrants (from all countries) who unlawfully cross the southern border with Mexico.

ESOL, and related services, consume a large part of FCPS budget compared to non-ESOL services.