I'm in a neighboring district and my kid is headed off to middle school. I had no idea there even were after school programs. We never had any in elementary school (at least not free or provided by school). Does FCPS have elementary school after school programs?

Anonymous wrote:Pretty much all of my kids friends spend at least 1 day, if not 2, in the after school programs at the MS. I know DC attends two days a week. Many of his friends did the cross country in the fall and will do track in the spring. I am not sure if those count into the tally or not, but I have to believe that the cross country/track programs are bigger then the numbers reported above.

DC will end up with around 80 days at afterschool activities this year at Carson. Obviously, that doesn't include the events on the weekends that his club has participated in. It has been a great experience for him and his friends.

The way they are trying to skew the participation numbers means they are subtracting the kids who did FCPS sponsored after school track from the MSAS participation.

IT looks like they are going to propose parents pay for their students to have access to the middle school clubs and sports--citing other counties which charge $400+ per month and stating it is the same as SACC which has a sliding scale.

Not sure how that would work with kids picking and choosing which clubs they want to participate in. Its not the same programming as ES age childcare.

Also, this is an EXTREMELY misleading statement. There are no FCPS sponsored middle school after school activities other than one sport--running. Are they going to run the late buses for just one sport?

"It is anticipated that families in need of after-school care would have options to transition to alternative
programs. There are County, FCPS, and community-based options available for students including
sporting activities, clubs, teen centers and teen programs at community centers, private programs,
neighborhood resource centers, and a robust out-of-school time network of partners to which families
can be connected. Additionally, NCS community and teen centers that offer after-school programs are
strategically located within communities to serve the most vulnerable residents. Of the 27 locations,
four are Title I schools (Glasgow, Holmes, Key, and Poe), and transportation options for these schools
could be provided by FCPS or NCS to the closest community after-school program."

Pretty much all of my kids friends spend at least 1 day, if not 2, in the after school programs at the MS. I know DC attends two days a week. Many of his friends did the cross country in the fall and will do track in the spring. I am not sure if those count into the tally or not, but I have to believe that the cross country/track programs are bigger then the numbers reported above.

DC will end up with around 80 days at afterschool activities this year at Carson. Obviously, that doesn't include the events on the weekends that his club has participated in. It has been a great experience for him and his friends.

Why does McKay get a personal slush fund?

^^And some kids can only stay if there is a late bus, so our school which had 3 late bus days, meant they could only participate a max of 3 days per week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Covid memorial doesn’t come from the county budget. It’s McKay’s discretionary fund.

The After-School program has way fewer regular users than I thought based on the outcry here. Maybe it’s okay to cut it.

Lots of details on both of these issues on the county’s budget question page. https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/budget/sites/budget/files/Assets/Documents/fy2026/QA/FY_2026_QA.pdf

Thanks for posting the link. It has the level of information that should be on the FCPS program budget. Utilization by students should also have per school during SY2023-24:

1-9 days 12,000
10-19 days 4,732
20-29 days 2,716
30-59 days 3,496
60 - 89 days 783
90+ days 157

Total users for the BOS was 23894. 75% of students used it zero to 19 days. FCPS program budget states 27757. FCPS program budget often includes all students NOT program actual users like for IB goal of diploma candidates. What the county would be cutting is paying the salary and benefits for FCPS to have 1 staff per school plus 1 at Gatehouse. Gatehouse + 6 regions should be capable of coordinating all schools afterschool programming and paying a stipend to a school based staffer.

The late busses would still run and some schools are on a 3 day late bus schedule.

My kid did basketball team and futsal. Probably around 15 days total for both. He loved both and they were his favorite part of middle school. Some kids only do the school play, or the volleyball, or spelling bee. Its not the same activities year round, so kids pick and choose what they want to do. A kid using only "19" days is normal and fine. That kid is still getting a huge benefit from the program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please encourage your kids to sign the petition: my 6th grader did, she was really looking forward to the after school programs, especially basketball.

https://www.change.org/p/restore-funding-to-fairfax-county-middle-school-after-school-programs

Just an FYI, the basketball is far from an organized activity. Really just staying after and playing "hack the kid with the ball until they chuck up a shot" with a bunch of other kids until the next activity block. It's nothing like a real game with refs or even supervision. The teams chosen to play other schools at the end of the quarter are whichever group of friends is good enough to beat the others, not players selected by a teacher or coach.

Hmm. At our FCPS middle school, there was open gym almost every day. There was also a special program where kids tried out for a boys or girls team and then played 2 or 3 games against other middle schools. The coaches selected the best players who tried out. Sorry your kid's school was so disorganized.

Anonymous wrote:The Covid memorial doesn’t come from the county budget. It’s McKay’s discretionary fund.

The After-School program has way fewer regular users than I thought based on the outcry here. Maybe it’s okay to cut it.

Lots of details on both of these issues on the county’s budget question page. https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/budget/sites/budget/files/Assets/Documents/fy2026/QA/FY_2026_QA.pdf

Thanks for posting the link. It has the level of information that should be on the FCPS program budget. Utilization by students should also have per school during SY2023-24:

1-9 days 12,000
10-19 days 4,732
20-29 days 2,716
30-59 days 3,496
60 - 89 days 783
90+ days 157

Total users for the BOS was 23894. 75% of students used it zero to 19 days. FCPS program budget states 27757. FCPS program budget often includes all students NOT program actual users like for IB goal of diploma candidates. What the county would be cutting is paying the salary and benefits for FCPS to have 1 staff per school plus 1 at Gatehouse. Gatehouse + 6 regions should be capable of coordinating all schools afterschool programming and paying a stipend to a school based staffer.

The late busses would still run and some schools are on a 3 day late bus schedule.

My son was absolutely miserable in FCPS middle school. No recess, no after school programs, no time for socializing during the day. 5 minutes between classes. They never even went outside. He became literally depressed, his grades dropped and his behavior deteriorated. He said he was getting in trouble because he was talking in class - trying to make friend. Lucky we had the money to put him in sports and other after school activities but it was awful. His confidence suffered, his love for school - gone.

So unhealthy for a district that promotes socio-emotional learning. We moved further out to a district that has lots of middle school activities - sports, dance, cheer, theater, science club - and while the district is not as wealthy as FCPS, my kids are much happier.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please encourage your kids to sign the petition: my 6th grader did, she was really looking forward to the after school programs, especially basketball.

https://www.change.org/p/restore-funding-to-fairfax-county-middle-school-after-school-programs

Just an FYI, the basketball is far from an organized activity. Really just staying after and playing "hack the kid with the ball until they chuck up a shot" with a bunch of other kids until the next activity block. It's nothing like a real game with refs or even supervision. The teams chosen to play other schools at the end of the quarter are whichever group of friends is good enough to beat the others, not players selected by a teacher or coach.

We need more sports options like this.

Agree. Cost and ability have become barriers to entry for sports. And while it shouldn’t be either/or, one might argue that free and safe after school activity options may more directly support underserved communities than macro-level and expensive DEI initiatives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please encourage your kids to sign the petition: my 6th grader did, she was really looking forward to the after school programs, especially basketball.

https://www.change.org/p/restore-funding-to-fairfax-county-middle-school-after-school-programs

Just an FYI, the basketball is far from an organized activity. Really just staying after and playing "hack the kid with the ball until they chuck up a shot" with a bunch of other kids until the next activity block. It's nothing like a real game with refs or even supervision. The teams chosen to play other schools at the end of the quarter are whichever group of friends is good enough to beat the others, not players selected by a teacher or coach.

We need more sports options like this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please encourage your kids to sign the petition: my 6th grader did, she was really looking forward to the after school programs, especially basketball.

https://www.change.org/p/restore-funding-to-fairfax-county-middle-school-after-school-programs

Just an FYI, the basketball is far from an organized activity. Really just staying after and playing "hack the kid with the ball until they chuck up a shot" with a bunch of other kids until the next activity block. It's nothing like a real game with refs or even supervision. The teams chosen to play other schools at the end of the quarter are whichever group of friends is good enough to beat the others, not players selected by a teacher or coach.

So what? It's still a great activity for the kids. Not all children are cut out for travel basketball, some of them just want to play their friends.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please encourage your kids to sign the petition: my 6th grader did, she was really looking forward to the after school programs, especially basketball.

https://www.change.org/p/restore-funding-to-fairfax-county-middle-school-after-school-programs

Just an FYI, the basketball is far from an organized activity. Really just staying after and playing "hack the kid with the ball until they chuck up a shot" with a bunch of other kids until the next activity block. It's nothing like a real game with refs or even supervision. The teams chosen to play other schools at the end of the quarter are whichever group of friends is good enough to beat the others, not players selected by a teacher or coach.

So what? It's still a great activity for the kids. Not all children are cut out for travel basketball, some of them just want to play their friends.

Anonymous wrote:The Covid memorial doesn’t come from the county budget. It’s McKay’s discretionary fund.

The After-School program has way fewer regular users than I thought based on the outcry here. Maybe it’s okay to cut it.

Lots of details on both of these issues on the county’s budget question page. https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/budget/sites/budget/files/Assets/Documents/fy2026/QA/FY_2026_QA.pdf

Well then McKay should use his discretionary budget on the children and not his pet projects.