Check out the budget questions and the amount of personnel--that do not work with kids-- making over $150 K, while the teachers are not even close--except for a small amount who've been teaching for years and years and have PhDs.

I feel like each year there is some sort of small item the boars gets people to focus on rather than the bigger picture.

Anonymous wrote:

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

I pickup my kid from Carson and the cafeteria seems full of kids using the program. Might be different elsewhere

Agreed, we are at Carson as well. There are Academic clubs (Mathcounts, Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, Japanese Club, etc...), sports (basketball, volleyball, cross country, track and field, futsol), and fun clubs (baking club, book clubs, D&D, board games, Magic the Gathering, and the like). It is an impressive list and there are lots of kids who participate. Maybe it works because there are parent volunteers that run many of the clubs, with oversight from the coordinator.

Future Carson parent here and I've heard the after school program is amazing - like neighbor's kids say it's the most fun part of middle school and I see most of them coming home on the late bus several times a week. I'm devastated that my children will not get to experience this. She's going to bored out of her mind coming home at 2:30 and fending for herself for 2 hours until her sibling comes home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

Yes. varies by school. Some hosted by school and some by private companies.

FCPS MS lets out at 2:15. That's pretty much the middle of the workday. Does your child's MS end at 2:15?

My child's elementary school ends at 2:10. And elementary students cannot be left alone, however MS students could potentially be left alone for an hour or so.

That’s exactly why the program started many years ago. It was originally funded by a federal grant, and then the results were so good the county continued to pay for it.

Research used to justify the program showed middle school is prime age where kids choose whether to go down the path of drugs or gangs or sexual activity when left alone after school for multiple hours. Elementary schoolers are supervised out of necessity, highschoolers have the opportunity to do school sports or get jobs in the afternoon, but middle schoolers are left to their own devices if parents are working and programs for them do not exist that are easily accessible.

I don’t think it is the schools’ job to pay for it. It doesn’t make academics easier/more successful. It makes the county as a whole safer and a better place to live. Have you ever gone to a shopping center near a middle school at Friday dismissal? There are no clubs on Fridays and those kids run wild at the shopping centers for 3 hours until parents come get them. The one by Irving had to have cops there every Friday for a while (maybe still?) to try to prevent shoplifting in Walgreens and kids running through parking lots. It benefits ALL county residents to have our young teens positively engaged in a supervised location.

(Should parents…parent their kids? Absolutely. But clearly many can’t/don’t, and this is a relatively cheap, positive way to problem solve—cheaper than trying to get kids out of gangs or off drugs or into juvy for committing crimes)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

Yes. varies by school. Some hosted by school and some by private companies.

FCPS MS lets out at 2:15. That's pretty much the middle of the workday. Does your child's MS end at 2:15?

My child's elementary school ends at 2:10. And elementary students cannot be left alone, however MS students could potentially be left alone for an hour or so.

Absolutely! And some of them will be left alone for upwards of 3 or 4 hours every afternoon and might get into trouble. Because 13 and 14 year olds are known for their good judgment.

Anonymous wrote:Cooper at least has god awful afterschool activities. Almost designed so the teachers don't actually have to do anything. "Movie club" - for example. What kids want to sit for another 2 hours, after school, watching some crappy movie on Disney channel when they could do it at home? Library Club! Honestly, just terrible.

It’s still better than MS kids going home alone and/or doing who knows what when the rest of society is at work or school. At least this way, they’re somewhere safe, supervised, and with peers. My parents always had a rule that I couldn’t be at someone else’s house if the parents weren’t home. As the now parent of a MS-aged kid, I get it. I’m not saying it’s the school or county’s responsibility per se, but I’m all for any opportunity for adolescent kids to have something safe to do with friends, regardless of how mundane it might be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

Yes. varies by school. Some hosted by school and some by private companies.

FCPS MS lets out at 2:15. That's pretty much the middle of the workday. Does your child's MS end at 2:15?

My child's elementary school ends at 2:10. And elementary students cannot be left alone, however MS students could potentially be left alone for an hour or so.

Quick shout out to Mr Barrows for his exemplary work running the Carson after school program! It has a treasure chest of offerings and my kids greatly benefited by participating in the after school programs. After paying for each afterschool activity in ES, the MS offerings were too good to be true. It would be a sad day if they sunset the after school offerings.

Anonymous wrote:

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

I pickup my kid from Carson and the cafeteria seems full of kids using the program. Might be different elsewhere

Agreed, we are at Carson as well. There are Academic clubs (Mathcounts, Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, Japanese Club, etc...), sports (basketball, volleyball, cross country, track and field, futsol), and fun clubs (baking club, book clubs, D&D, board games, Magic the Gathering, and the like). It is an impressive list and there are lots of kids who participate. Maybe it works because there are parent volunteers that run many of the clubs, with oversight from the coordinator.

The After School Specialist is key to the success of each program. Some like Carson's Specialist, work endlessly to ensure clubs have the right sponsor, while others try and do the bare minimum. Assuming funding is reinstated to the program, this should serve as a wakeup call that more oversight and uniformity (within reason) is needed to ensure all programs meet a minimum standard.

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

I pickup my kid from Carson and the cafeteria seems full of kids using the program. Might be different elsewhere

Agreed, we are at Carson as well. There are Academic clubs (Mathcounts, Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, Japanese Club, etc...), sports (basketball, volleyball, cross country, track and field, futsol), and fun clubs (baking club, book clubs, D&D, board games, Magic the Gathering, and the like). It is an impressive list and there are lots of kids who participate. Maybe it works because there are parent volunteers that run many of the clubs, with oversight from the coordinator.

Cooper at least has god awful afterschool activities. Almost designed so the teachers don't actually have to do anything. "Movie club" - for example. What kids want to sit for another 2 hours, after school, watching some crappy movie on Disney channel when they could do it at home? Library Club! Honestly, just terrible.

Anonymous wrote: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?

Yes. varies by school. Some hosted by school and some by private companies.

FCPS MS lets out at 2:15. That's pretty much the middle of the workday. Does your child's MS end at 2:15?

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I get that and there is NO way any given school should get 3 days of late bus and another 4 or even 5 if that happens. The real problem is FCPS which should be funding the entire thing. I posted the utilization. Could FCPS run the same program without paying 1 Gatehouse + 1 staffer per school to do the schedules and enrollment. Or better yet FCPS should cut programs that use extra money not allocated to all schools.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Of course- they are separate programs funded by separate pots of money. The question here is whether the county should continue spending $4 million each year on this program which not many kids use that often.

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

I pickup my kid from Carson and the cafeteria seems full of kids using the program. Might be different elsewhere