Anonymous wrote:If the argument here was simply that overcrowding and increased ESOL requirements are straining FCPS schools and teachers, I'd be right there with you. But instead, posters here are making it an issue of ZOMG ILLEGAL! IMMIGRATION!! I lived in one of those high FARMS/ESOL school districts you're bashing, and I can tell you that [white, middle class] people started moving out of those SFHs 15+ years ago when money and gas were cheap and you could get your shiny new McMansion in Ashburn or Stafford for next to nothing. As a result, student populations declined in close-in neighborhoods like Annandale, FCPS closed the neighborhood schools and converted them to community/social services centers, and immigrant communities began moving in when the prices dropped in 2008. Now the student #s have rebounded, and with a demographic shift towards higher-needs students...and the resources simply aren't there. My siblings' elementary schools in "good" neighborhoods were overcrowded 10 years ago. That hasn't gotten any better since. FCPS is struggling from an overall failure to anticipate (and/or respond to) population demographics. Pinning the results of that on your fear of illegal immigrants is narrow-minded and spiteful.

Anonymous wrote:It's always easy to blame people of color. The truth is an extreme bias towards the top 10 percent of students while the rest are warehoused. Immigrants comprise less than three percent, whether illegal or not. Their numbers aren't large enough to drag down overall school performance, but that's what is happening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m the PP who noted that nice SF homes are being rented to illegals who burden neighborhood schools. Regardless of our politics, I think all reasonable people can agree that illegal immigration has been detrimental to our schools and neighborhoods. FARMS and ESOL students require a lot of resources, which limits the amount left for everyone else. We need a to wake up and crack down. How are we letting people overstay visas, waltz across the border, come here to deliver anchor babies?

How do you know they are "illegals"? FARM and ESOL does not mean "illegal".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a huge issue and has gone out of control. Look at this article in Bethesda magazine. It's worth a read: http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/November-December-2017/Hope-Lives-Here/ While this school is in MCPS, make no mistake- this is a reality in a good number of schools throughout the DMV.

So you hate poor people who live in trailers?

I thought it was a lovely story of how one community is supporting those in need. Those are some great teachers.

Who said that I hated poor people in trailers? Did you read it?
Of course principal and staff at the school are clearly amazing; but the fact is, teaching is only PART of their jobs these days. They're busy caring for these kids as if they are their own. If you don't see how that impacts education and our communities, then you are delusional. Send your kid to that school and let me know how much his education his impacted. Of course the fact that the school is over 75% farms and the fact that a good number of the students there are illegal immigrants impact public education and unfortunately the burden lays on just a few schools. YOu will never see this in the neighborhoods of McLean, Bethesda, Potomac, etc. Is that fair?

How do you know they are "illegal"?

Anonymous wrote:I’m the PP who noted that nice SF homes are being rented to illegals who burden neighborhood schools. Regardless of our politics, I think all reasonable people can agree that illegal immigration has been detrimental to our schools and neighborhoods. FARMS and ESOL students require a lot of resources, which limits the amount left for everyone else. We need a to wake up and crack down. How are we letting people overstay visas, waltz across the border, come here to deliver anchor babies?

Anonymous wrote:If the argument here was simply that overcrowding and increased ESOL requirements are straining FCPS schools and teachers, I'd be right there with you. But instead, posters here are making it an issue of ZOMG ILLEGAL! IMMIGRATION!! I lived in one of those high FARMS/ESOL school districts you're bashing, and I can tell you that [white, middle class] people started moving out of those SFHs 15+ years ago when money and gas were cheap and you could get your shiny new McMansion in Ashburn or Stafford for next to nothing. As a result, student populations declined in close-in neighborhoods like Annandale, FCPS closed the neighborhood schools and converted them to community/social services centers, and immigrant communities began moving in when the prices dropped in 2008. Now the student #s have rebounded, and with a demographic shift towards higher-needs students...and the resources simply aren't there. My siblings' elementary schools in "good" neighborhoods were overcrowded 10 years ago. That hasn't gotten any better since. FCPS is struggling from an overall failure to anticipate (and/or respond to) population demographics. Pinning the results of that on your fear of illegal immigrants is narrow-minded and spiteful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a huge issue and has gone out of control. Look at this article in Bethesda magazine. It's worth a read: http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/November-December-2017/Hope-Lives-Here/ While this school is in MCPS, make no mistake- this is a reality in a good number of schools throughout the DMV.

So you hate poor people who live in trailers?

I thought it was a lovely story of how one community is supporting those in need. Those are some great teachers.

Who said that I hated poor people in trailers? Did you read it?
Of course principal and staff at the school are clearly amazing; but the fact is, teaching is only PART of their jobs these days. They're busy caring for these kids as if they are their own. If you don't see how that impacts education and our communities, then you are delusional. Send your kid to that school and let me know how much his education his impacted. Of course the fact that the school is over 75% farms and the fact that a good number of the students there are illegal immigrants impact public education and unfortunately the burden lays on just a few schools. YOu will never see this in the neighborhoods of McLean, Bethesda, Potomac, etc. Is that fair?

Anonymous wrote:The best teachers were all skimmed off to teach AP and gifted students. Education for struggling and average students, including those born in America, took the hit. Schools are now blaming the immigrants, always an easy target.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you believe that FCPS or another VA school system has experienced "reduced quality of public education due to the illegal situation" (as someone commented on in another thread), can you please provide some stats to factually illustrate how big of an issue this really is? I have not been able to find any information to support this claim.

Specifically:
1) Name a school currently impacted.

2) What % of students there are "illegal"?

This is not in question. It is 100% true and fact. My school has turned into a third world country in the last 10 years since Obama put DACA into place. Thousands are here. Also here are the children of illegal immigrants who do not speak english and come from illiterate parents. They are themselves birthright citizens, but they otherwise would not be here were the illegal immigration problem addressed.

Also reducing the quality of public education in this area is the FFX housing subsidies. What you end up having is concentrated pockets of the populace who end up placing undue burden on specific schools. The parents who know this fight redistricting and affordable housing development in their neighborhoods tooth and nail.

And illegals are also crowding into single family homes in “nice” neighborhoods. That has caused my neighborhood school to rapidly decline. If a landlord accepts housing vouchers, that happens. A lot of SF homes in this area are rentals due to heavy military presence.

Thank you! I brought up the same thing - my parents' nice SFH has lost half its value due to the influx of illegals and the rapid decline of the schools (the majority are FARMS and ESOL, and it was a nice middle-class school when I went there.) Illegal immigrants are bunching up two and three families to a house. It's terrible.

Did you happen to see the response upthread- from someone who was in this country illegally? First, she blamed me for "letting" my parents stay in the house, but worse....she bragged that her kids are FARM and ESOL, while at the same time, bragging how she herself "steered clear" of neighborhoods with schools that had a high percentage of FARM and ESOL kids! The gall. She doesn't want her kids to be in school district with poor and non-English speakers, populated with people like her kids, because it brings down the quality of education. And she was here illegally! (Twice, she said.)

You have NO IDEA if your parents' neighbors are "illegal". You only know that they are low-income and maybe some speak Spanish. Stop making sh1t up in your head.

Oh, please. Get real. This happened with Obama's reign, when he relocated a disproportionate percentage of illegal immigrants to the DMV. And did you know that he dumped a lot of them here in Virginia without even notifying the elected officials he was going to do so? Didn't want middle-class people with schoolkids getting word of it ahead of time and objecting. Sneaky.

Anonymous wrote:The best teachers were all skimmed off to teach AP and gifted students. Education for struggling and average students, including those born in America, took the hit. Schools are now blaming the immigrants, always an easy target.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best teachers were all skimmed off to teach AP and gifted students. Education for struggling and average students, including those born in America, took the hit. Schools are now blaming the immigrants, always an easy target.

Do you have some kind of statistics to back up your statement? Teacher’s SAT scores? GPAs? Some other metric?
Because, my anecdotal evidence based on experience in teaching in FCPS for 30+ years says otherwise.