I had a kid at a 900 student school.

Unless the cafeteria is enormous, once an elementary school hits 800 students, you end up with a situation where some students must eating their lunch an hour after school starts, where others don't get to eat lunch until around an hour before the end of the day.

My kid was at a 900 student school. One year their lunch was 75 minutes after the start of school. They went from a morning lunch to an approximately 4PM dismissal. It was awful.

A school system as wealthy as FCPS should never have an elementary school larger than 600-700 students, especially one that was caused by a school board member who prioritizes dogs and childless millenials over children. Any party that endorses a candidate like Frisch should not be listened to when elections roll around.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parties pick who appear on their sample ballots. And then most people in Fairfax County do not use their own critical thinking and then just vote the D sample ballot.

"do not use their own critical thinking" describes everyone who votes for any Republican candidate for school board in every recent election. The last McLean-based candidate, running at-large, was a traitor who joined the terrorists on the Mall on January 6. The big attention-getter this time is violent wife-beating thug Harry Jackson running in Hunter Mill. Everyone else the GOP endorses is also a Trump cultist wanting to initiate creeping theocracy and fascism in the schools through book-bannings and demonizing gays and minorities. You don't hear any of them talk about real issues that ordinary parents care about. There is much that needs improvement in our largely terrific school system (I have 3 kids in FCPS right now), but the GOP isn't offering any alternative voices on any of that.

What about Mafia Don Melanie Meren who doxes parents that make critical comments about her performance (considering she can't work 7 hrs a day) on Facebook posts, copying their employer, in an attempt to get them fired? There is also the child porn and pedophilia she doubled down on, blamed and shamed rape victims, and has ties to the Loudon Love Warriors who have advocated for shooting, dismembering, and killing those of the opposition.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parties pick who appear on their sample ballots. And then most people in Fairfax County do not use their own critical thinking and then just vote the D sample ballot.

"do not use their own critical thinking" describes everyone who votes for any Republican candidate for school board in every recent election. The last McLean-based candidate, running at-large, was a traitor who joined the terrorists on the Mall on January 6. The big attention-getter this time is violent wife-beating thug Harry Jackson running in Hunter Mill. Everyone else the GOP endorses is also a Trump cultist wanting to initiate creeping theocracy and fascism in the schools through book-bannings and demonizing gays and minorities. You don't hear any of them talk about real issues that ordinary parents care about. There is much that needs improvement in our largely terrific school system (I have 3 kids in FCPS right now), but the GOP isn't offering any alternative voices on any of that.

What about Mafia Don Melanie Meren who doxes parents that make critical comments about her performance (considering she can't work 7 hrs a day) on Facebook posts, copying their employer, in an attempt to get them fired? There is also the child porn and pedophilia she doubled down on, blamed and shamed rape victims, and has ties to the Loudon Love Warriors who have advocated for shooting, dismembering, and killing those of the opposition.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone announced that they are running against Anderson, Meren, or Frisch yet? Either as a Democrat trying to get the D endorsement (seems unlikely without a primary) or as a R or I.

They all have opponents:

https://www.vpap.org/localities/fairfax-county-va/elections/

Thank you! Also how in God’s green earth has Karl Frisch raised nearly $200k?? WHO likes this guy that much??!?

His funds come from out of state.

Mostly west coast/California.

He also gets financial support from nqtional donors.

He has very lottle support from fcps parents and local families.

No one cares what I think but I feel like you should only be able to fundraise from your own constituency. I feel like people who live out of state don’t know about our local issues by not sharing our lived experience here & I really don’t think their funding should be able to influence our election.

I don't care who donates to them as long as they're responsive, and Karl Frisch always has been.

So, you wanted the dog park instead of a school. Got it.

Honestly yes. My kids went to Shrevewood and it was so overcrowded - this new school in Dunn Loring will finally ease overcrowding in the nearby schools as Tysons and West Falls Church develop. I don't care about the dog park, but I like this new school site better than Oakton.

Key Word - "WAS" overcrowded - it no longer is overcrowded and neither are the schools that are around it. This project is a $60 Million waste of money that Karl Frisch is fully responsible for. Elected officials should be good stewards of tay payer money. I wonder if any school board member in history has wasted more money than Karl.

Think of the addition that McLean High or Chantilly high could have had with this money.

The issue was that the money was originally earmarked in a bond for a "Fairfax/Oakton elementary school." I'm sure Frisch had John Foster jump through some hoops to make the case that an elementary school in Dunn Loring was still a "Fairfax" elementary school.

In comparing, while re-allocating the money to McLean and Chantilly (assuming there is no need to build another ES in Fairfax/Oakton, though Mosaic sure is awfully big for an ES) would have made far more sense, it probably would have required more work on the part of county staff to justify. And they'd rather throw $60M in taxpayer money at a school that isn't needed at that site than actually work through how to adjust their plans and build more sensibly.

This is primarily on Frisch, but every other Board member who went along with his nonsense deserves to be voted out as well. These people are total nitwits and anything but good stewards of county resources.

Yes, this. And all of you just glossing over where the *new* site was chosen... there were PLENTY of families in Fairfax who are displeased because the school was NOT built on the "dog park." My child attends Mosaic and it's huge. Way too huge for an elementary school. It's not just about the physical building, which they are renovating (although, interestingly, not increasing the capacity, just making better use of space). It's about having a school so huge -- and the challenges that creates in terms of creating a sense of community, in terms of logistics for things. Every school wide event is an enormous challenge, with no parking, so many families that they need security, no elbow room, etc. Most Elementaries don't have that, so they end up with a LOT more PTA Bingo nights, ice cream nights, fun family nights, etc. But Karl wouldn't know or care about that since he isn't a parent and apparently cares more about dogs and / or their loudmouth nimby owners than our children.

Meh, Mosaic is on the bigger side, but it's not some huge outlier, there's 115 FCPS ES with a smaller design capacity, but there's also 26 with a larger design capacity. The average FCPS ES has a design capacity of ~900, Mosaic at 1,038 is ~15% bigger than your average ES. *shrug*

Well, I’m glad you can just shrug it off. Clearly you don’t have children at Mosaic. If the average ES is 900 children, then that’s yet another FCPS problem. I’ve lived all over the country and no where else has that been considered acceptable in terms of school size for tiny children as young as 5. There are all sorts of complications that it causes, not to mention being very overwhelming for small children.

And we were all told enrollment would be declining, but now there are several large residential developments in the works, so even worse. But you all got your dog park, so you win!

An elementary school of 900 students is not unreasonable. It is not a problem as long as staff is appropriate and space is adequate. And, it is not overwhelming for small children as they are not roaming the halls.
signed: former Kindergarten teacher

I had a kid at a 900 student school.

Unless the cafeteria is enormous, once an elementary school hits 800 students, you end up with a situation where some students must eating their lunch an hour after school starts, where others don't get to eat lunch until around an hour before the end of the day.

My kid was at a 900 student school. One year their lunch was 75 minutes after the start of school. They went from a morning lunch to an approximately 4PM dismissal. It was awful.

A school system as wealthy as FCPS should never have an elementary school larger than 600-700 students, especially one that was caused by a school board member who prioritizes dogs and childless millenials over children. Any party that endorses a candidate like Frisch should not be listened to when elections roll around.

Amen! While I understand the Teacher Who Loves Huge Schools’ point that our dense neighborhoods aren’t conducive to smaller schools, she misses the point that the entire reason parents are mad at Frisch is BECAUSE we actually had a rare chance to have another school build amidst these dense townhome neighborhoods that WOULD have made the schools smaller, and he derailed it. Parents don’t like 900+ student schools. And just because little kids aren’t roaming the halls doesn’t mean they don’t get overwhelmed… the cafeteria, school assemblies, after school activities, dismissal, all these are chaos with schools this large and Kindergartners are in the thick of all of it.

I do agree with her, though, that class size is an even bigger issue. But I like to think that a “top school district” in the US could do well on BOTH those issues?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moderate Democrat here. I think I’m gonna give Paul a shot. He’s a dad and I know he is beloved within the McLean Little League community. Currently, there are no fathers on the school board and I think that’s problematic. Especially if you believe in diversity and equity. Moreover, I would rather have a non-education major on the school board. Everyone knows education majors have the lowest SAT scores and were not the bright bulbs in college.

There's nothing on his web site that makes him seem like anything other than a MAGA Republican. Nothing about where he lives, whether he has kids, whether his kids attend FCPS, how the policies of the current School Board have affected his own family, etc. No indication that he would prioritize addressing the facilities needs within the McLean pyramid, or where he stands with respect to academic challenges in the Herndon pyramid. Just a lot of Youngkin-like complaints about the current School Board having an "ideologically driven agenda." It's way too general and not nearly specific enough. It will make Jo Jo Sears, Asra Nomani, Glenn Miller, and the handful of moms in Great Falls who tried to get Elaine Tholen recalled happy, but that's about it.

You can always point out the blue Virginia crowd by the throwing around of "maga: towards anyone from moderate dems to centrists and right of center.

It definitely dilutes the word.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parties pick who appear on their sample ballots. And then most people in Fairfax County do not use their own critical thinking and then just vote the D sample ballot.

"do not use their own critical thinking" describes everyone who votes for any Republican candidate for school board in every recent election. The last McLean-based candidate, running at-large, was a traitor who joined the terrorists on the Mall on January 6. The big attention-getter this time is violent wife-beating thug Harry Jackson running in Hunter Mill. Everyone else the GOP endorses is also a Trump cultist wanting to initiate creeping theocracy and fascism in the schools through book-bannings and demonizing gays and minorities. You don't hear any of them talk about real issues that ordinary parents care about. There is much that needs improvement in our largely terrific school system (I have 3 kids in FCPS right now), but the GOP isn't offering any alternative voices on any of that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone announced that they are running against Anderson, Meren, or Frisch yet? Either as a Democrat trying to get the D endorsement (seems unlikely without a primary) or as a R or I.

They all have opponents:

https://www.vpap.org/localities/fairfax-county-va/elections/

Thank you! Also how in God’s green earth has Karl Frisch raised nearly $200k?? WHO likes this guy that much??!?

His funds come from out of state.

Mostly west coast/California.

He also gets financial support from nqtional donors.

He has very lottle support from fcps parents and local families.

No one cares what I think but I feel like you should only be able to fundraise from your own constituency. I feel like people who live out of state don’t know about our local issues by not sharing our lived experience here & I really don’t think their funding should be able to influence our election.

I don't care who donates to them as long as they're responsive, and Karl Frisch always has been.

So, you wanted the dog park instead of a school. Got it.

Honestly yes. My kids went to Shrevewood and it was so overcrowded - this new school in Dunn Loring will finally ease overcrowding in the nearby schools as Tysons and West Falls Church develop. I don't care about the dog park, but I like this new school site better than Oakton.

Key Word - "WAS" overcrowded - it no longer is overcrowded and neither are the schools that are around it. This project is a $60 Million waste of money that Karl Frisch is fully responsible for. Elected officials should be good stewards of tay payer money. I wonder if any school board member in history has wasted more money than Karl.

Think of the addition that McLean High or Chantilly high could have had with this money.

The issue was that the money was originally earmarked in a bond for a "Fairfax/Oakton elementary school." I'm sure Frisch had John Foster jump through some hoops to make the case that an elementary school in Dunn Loring was still a "Fairfax" elementary school.

In comparing, while re-allocating the money to McLean and Chantilly (assuming there is no need to build another ES in Fairfax/Oakton, though Mosaic sure is awfully big for an ES) would have made far more sense, it probably would have required more work on the part of county staff to justify. And they'd rather throw $60M in taxpayer money at a school that isn't needed at that site than actually work through how to adjust their plans and build more sensibly.

This is primarily on Frisch, but every other Board member who went along with his nonsense deserves to be voted out as well. These people are total nitwits and anything but good stewards of county resources.

Yes, this. And all of you just glossing over where the *new* site was chosen... there were PLENTY of families in Fairfax who are displeased because the school was NOT built on the "dog park." My child attends Mosaic and it's huge. Way too huge for an elementary school. It's not just about the physical building, which they are renovating (although, interestingly, not increasing the capacity, just making better use of space). It's about having a school so huge -- and the challenges that creates in terms of creating a sense of community, in terms of logistics for things. Every school wide event is an enormous challenge, with no parking, so many families that they need security, no elbow room, etc. Most Elementaries don't have that, so they end up with a LOT more PTA Bingo nights, ice cream nights, fun family nights, etc. But Karl wouldn't know or care about that since he isn't a parent and apparently cares more about dogs and / or their loudmouth nimby owners than our children.

Meh, Mosaic is on the bigger side, but it's not some huge outlier, there's 115 FCPS ES with a smaller design capacity, but there's also 26 with a larger design capacity. The average FCPS ES has a design capacity of ~900, Mosaic at 1,038 is ~15% bigger than your average ES. *shrug*

Well, I’m glad you can just shrug it off. Clearly you don’t have children at Mosaic. If the average ES is 900 children, then that’s yet another FCPS problem. I’ve lived all over the country and no where else has that been considered acceptable in terms of school size for tiny children as young as 5. There are all sorts of complications that it causes, not to mention being very overwhelming for small children.

And we were all told enrollment would be declining, but now there are several large residential developments in the works, so even worse. But you all got your dog park, so you win!

An elementary school of 900 students is not unreasonable. It is not a problem as long as staff is appropriate and space is adequate. And, it is not overwhelming for small children as they are not roaming the halls.
signed: former Kindergarten teacher

I had a kid at a 900 student school.

Unless the cafeteria is enormous, once an elementary school hits 800 students, you end up with a situation where some students must eating their lunch an hour after school starts, where others don't get to eat lunch until around an hour before the end of the day.

My kid was at a 900 student school. One year their lunch was 75 minutes after the start of school. They went from a morning lunch to an approximately 4PM dismissal. It was awful.

A school system as wealthy as FCPS should never have an elementary school larger than 600-700 students, especially one that was caused by a school board member who prioritizes dogs and childless millenials over children. Any party that endorses a candidate like Frisch should not be listened to when elections roll around.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone announced that they are running against Anderson, Meren, or Frisch yet? Either as a Democrat trying to get the D endorsement (seems unlikely without a primary) or as a R or I.

They all have opponents:

https://www.vpap.org/localities/fairfax-county-va/elections/

Thank you! Also how in God’s green earth has Karl Frisch raised nearly $200k?? WHO likes this guy that much??!?

His funds come from out of state.

Mostly west coast/California.

He also gets financial support from nqtional donors.

He has very lottle support from fcps parents and local families.

No one cares what I think but I feel like you should only be able to fundraise from your own constituency. I feel like people who live out of state don’t know about our local issues by not sharing our lived experience here & I really don’t think their funding should be able to influence our election.

I don't care who donates to them as long as they're responsive, and Karl Frisch always has been.

So, you wanted the dog park instead of a school. Got it.

Honestly yes. My kids went to Shrevewood and it was so overcrowded - this new school in Dunn Loring will finally ease overcrowding in the nearby schools as Tysons and West Falls Church develop. I don't care about the dog park, but I like this new school site better than Oakton.

Key Word - "WAS" overcrowded - it no longer is overcrowded and neither are the schools that are around it. This project is a $60 Million waste of money that Karl Frisch is fully responsible for. Elected officials should be good stewards of tay payer money. I wonder if any school board member in history has wasted more money than Karl.

Think of the addition that McLean High or Chantilly high could have had with this money.

The issue was that the money was originally earmarked in a bond for a "Fairfax/Oakton elementary school." I'm sure Frisch had John Foster jump through some hoops to make the case that an elementary school in Dunn Loring was still a "Fairfax" elementary school.

In comparing, while re-allocating the money to McLean and Chantilly (assuming there is no need to build another ES in Fairfax/Oakton, though Mosaic sure is awfully big for an ES) would have made far more sense, it probably would have required more work on the part of county staff to justify. And they'd rather throw $60M in taxpayer money at a school that isn't needed at that site than actually work through how to adjust their plans and build more sensibly.

This is primarily on Frisch, but every other Board member who went along with his nonsense deserves to be voted out as well. These people are total nitwits and anything but good stewards of county resources.

Yes, this. And all of you just glossing over where the *new* site was chosen... there were PLENTY of families in Fairfax who are displeased because the school was NOT built on the "dog park." My child attends Mosaic and it's huge. Way too huge for an elementary school. It's not just about the physical building, which they are renovating (although, interestingly, not increasing the capacity, just making better use of space). It's about having a school so huge -- and the challenges that creates in terms of creating a sense of community, in terms of logistics for things. Every school wide event is an enormous challenge, with no parking, so many families that they need security, no elbow room, etc. Most Elementaries don't have that, so they end up with a LOT more PTA Bingo nights, ice cream nights, fun family nights, etc. But Karl wouldn't know or care about that since he isn't a parent and apparently cares more about dogs and / or their loudmouth nimby owners than our children.

Meh, Mosaic is on the bigger side, but it's not some huge outlier, there's 115 FCPS ES with a smaller design capacity, but there's also 26 with a larger design capacity. The average FCPS ES has a design capacity of ~900, Mosaic at 1,038 is ~15% bigger than your average ES. *shrug*

Well, I’m glad you can just shrug it off. Clearly you don’t have children at Mosaic. If the average ES is 900 children, then that’s yet another FCPS problem. I’ve lived all over the country and no where else has that been considered acceptable in terms of school size for tiny children as young as 5. There are all sorts of complications that it causes, not to mention being very overwhelming for small children.

And we were all told enrollment would be declining, but now there are several large residential developments in the works, so even worse. But you all got your dog park, so you win!

An elementary school of 900 students is not unreasonable. It is not a problem as long as staff is appropriate and space is adequate. And, it is not overwhelming for small children as they are not roaming the halls.
signed: former Kindergarten teacher

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moderate Democrat here. I think I’m gonna give Paul a shot. He’s a dad and I know he is beloved within the McLean Little League community. Currently, there are no fathers on the school board and I think that’s problematic. Especially if you believe in diversity and equity. Moreover, I would rather have a non-education major on the school board. Everyone knows education majors have the lowest SAT scores and were not the bright bulbs in college.

There's nothing on his web site that makes him seem like anything other than a MAGA Republican. Nothing about where he lives, whether he has kids, whether his kids attend FCPS, how the policies of the current School Board have affected his own family, etc. No indication that he would prioritize addressing the facilities needs within the McLean pyramid, or where he stands with respect to academic challenges in the Herndon pyramid. Just a lot of Youngkin-like complaints about the current School Board having an "ideologically driven agenda." It's way too general and not nearly specific enough. It will make Jo Jo Sears, Asra Nomani, Glenn Miller, and the handful of moms in Great Falls who tried to get Elaine Tholen recalled happy, but that's about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:question: Why does our SB have a resolution at this week's meeting honoring a religion?

If you read the resolution, they aren't honoring the religion, but instead the contribution of Muslim Americans, and expressing their continued opposition to Islamophobia.

If they spoke out against anti-Semitism, would you imply they are somehow making Judaism the official religion of Fairfax County?

It's these types of fake questions from the far right that make it more likely that the next School Board will again be 12-0 Democratic, which is not a good thing but may yet be an inevitable one.

March 30, they honored Arab Americans."

When are they going to honor Christian Americans? You know the ones who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and their contribution to our society?

Have they honored Jewish Americans?

This is really how the GOP activists think they are going to win seats this fall? Complaining about not paying enough attention to Christians in the United States?

You never learn and you WILL get slaughtered at the polls again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax Democrats posted on their website re: the endorsement process: https://www.fairfaxdemocrats.org/2023endorsement/

This is a change from 2019 and I don’t want anyone to forget it. In 2019 they did not have the qualified voter caveat and Omeish got a ton of people who couldn’t vote in the regular election to vote for her in the FCDC sample ballot process. They did change their rules as a result but that doesn’t change the fact that largely based on their endorsement she won.

Since 2019, FCDC has kicked out lifelong Dems, and did not allow anyone to join who was critical of the school board. They are in an echo chamber and further radicalizing. The ones left to sign a petition to endorse candidates are fringe left. Their only hope is to paint opposition as a extreme right wing.

Anonymous wrote:The parties pick who appear on their sample ballots. And then most people in Fairfax County do not use their own critical thinking and then just vote the D sample ballot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:question: Why does our SB have a resolution at this week's meeting honoring a religion?

If you read the resolution, they aren't honoring the religion, but instead the contribution of Muslim Americans, and expressing their continued opposition to Islamophobia.

If they spoke out against anti-Semitism, would you imply they are somehow making Judaism the official religion of Fairfax County?

It's these types of fake questions from the far right that make it more likely that the next School Board will again be 12-0 Democratic, which is not a good thing but may yet be an inevitable one.

March 30, they honored Arab Americans."

When are they going to honor Christian Americans? You know the ones who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and their contribution to our society?

Have they honored Jewish Americans?

Arab American is not a religion.

Anonymous wrote:They also plan to honor Holocaust victims at the May 27th Board meeting according to the latest meeting calendar.

I'm less concerned with resolutions to honor different groups than with the fact that every single Board member seems to feel obliged to speak to each resolution or recognition. It drags things out and then they don't get around to their real business until many people have retired for the night. And even then they ignore things that people would have liked to have heard discussed during prime time hours, such as academics and facilities.