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Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

So MCPS is suppose to defund a 28,000 student function that every other county has in order to fund a 800 student venture that no other county has?

This is false. Please stop making stuff up to support your hatred of the MVA. Of course there are other counties that provide virtual learning academies

What other county has their own K-12 Virtual academy? I know several have virtual academies for HS.

In md alone, multiple. And it’s 1-12. Pay attention before you comment.

Again I say which counties? Noticed you neglected to answer the question. A few have a virtual academy for HS, there is one for gifted students, and MoCO and Fredrick are both closing there’s for financial reasons.

Prince Frederick McMary's County has pre-prek-13 virtual school. And they've promised it is never going away.

What is Prince Frederick McMary's County?

Got the name wrong. It's Princess Mary McFrederick County.

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Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

So MCPS is suppose to defund a 28,000 student function that every other county has in order to fund a 800 student venture that no other county has?

This is false. Please stop making stuff up to support your hatred of the MVA. Of course there are other counties that provide virtual learning academies

What other county has their own K-12 Virtual academy? I know several have virtual academies for HS.

In md alone, multiple. And it’s 1-12. Pay attention before you comment.

Again I say which counties? Noticed you neglected to answer the question. A few have a virtual academy for HS, there is one for gifted students, and MoCO and Fredrick are both closing there’s for financial reasons.

Prince Frederick McMary's County has pre-prek-13 virtual school. And they've promised it is never going away.

What is Prince Frederick McMary's County?

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

So MCPS is suppose to defund a 28,000 student function that every other county has in order to fund a 800 student venture that no other county has?

This is false. Please stop making stuff up to support your hatred of the MVA. Of course there are other counties that provide virtual learning academies

What other county has their own K-12 Virtual academy? I know several have virtual academies for HS.

In md alone, multiple. And it’s 1-12. Pay attention before you comment.

Again I say which counties? Noticed you neglected to answer the question. A few have a virtual academy for HS, there is one for gifted students, and MoCO and Fredrick are both closing there’s for financial reasons.

What does it matter what other counties do? To that end, let’s close every magnet school in MCPS that doesn’t have an equivalent in every other Maryland county

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

So MCPS is suppose to defund a 28,000 student function that every other county has in order to fund a 800 student venture that no other county has?

This is false. Please stop making stuff up to support your hatred of the MVA. Of course there are other counties that provide virtual learning academies

What other county has their own K-12 Virtual academy? I know several have virtual academies for HS.

In md alone, multiple. And it’s 1-12. Pay attention before you comment.

Again I say which counties? Noticed you neglected to answer the question. A few have a virtual academy for HS, there is one for gifted students, and MoCO and Fredrick are both closing there’s for financial reasons.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

So MCPS is suppose to defund a 28,000 student function that every other county has in order to fund a 800 student venture that no other county has?

This is false. Please stop making stuff up to support your hatred of the MVA. Of course there are other counties that provide virtual learning academies

What other county has their own K-12 Virtual academy? I know several have virtual academies for HS.

In md alone, multiple. And it’s 1-12. Pay attention before you comment.

Again I say which counties? Noticed you neglected to answer the question. A few have a virtual academy for HS, there is one for gifted students, and MoCO and Fredrick are both closing there’s for financial reasons.

Prince Frederick McMary's County has pre-prek-13 virtual school. And they've promised it is never going away.

What is Prince Frederick McMary's County?

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:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

So MCPS is suppose to defund a 28,000 student function that every other county has in order to fund a 800 student venture that no other county has?

This is false. Please stop making stuff up to support your hatred of the MVA. Of course there are other counties that provide virtual learning academies

What other county has their own K-12 Virtual academy? I know several have virtual academies for HS.

In md alone, multiple. And it’s 1-12. Pay attention before you comment.

Again I say which counties? Noticed you neglected to answer the question. A few have a virtual academy for HS, there is one for gifted students, and MoCO and Fredrick are both closing there’s for financial reasons.

Prince Frederick McMary's County has pre-prek-13 virtual school. And they've promised it is never going away.

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:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

So MCPS is suppose to defund a 28,000 student function that every other county has in order to fund a 800 student venture that no other county has?

This is false. Please stop making stuff up to support your hatred of the MVA. Of course there are other counties that provide virtual learning academies

What other county has their own K-12 Virtual academy? I know several have virtual academies for HS.

In md alone, multiple. And it’s 1-12. Pay attention before you comment.

Again I say which counties? Noticed you neglected to answer the question. A few have a virtual academy for HS, there is one for gifted students, and MoCO and Fredrick are both closing there’s for financial reasons.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

Political cover. He can say he’s transparent and seeking community input while knowing all too well that there’s nothing he can do to reverse the BOE’s decision. It was a way for him to make clear that the closure was the fault of others and that he should get a clean slate with this constituency and be judged on how well he listens from here on out. Not to say that he’s a bad person at all - he’s doing what any good leader would do in his position in seeking input on how he can help these families that were dealt a bad hand and got a raw deal from the prior admin.

I guess. Again, definitely would not be my first priority. And I’m not sure why the MVA families showed up knowing it wouldn’t change the outcome.

But it does solidify that Taylor’s top priority is PR and image, which is exactly what the community told the BOE we didn’t want to continue to prioritize.

Was a couple hours of his time. I’d hardly call that a first priority. But yes, he’s learning quickly that you can survive in the game if you put up a good show. Last month it was the Maryland state senator who expressed grave concern and vowed to look into it. And next month it will likely be someone else until the clock runs out completely.

I’m just surprised that MCPS lawyers let him meet with the group now that they’ve threatened lawsuits over unlawful school closure statutes.

It’s the first meet and greet he’s doing with MCPS families. I’d call that a first priority. He could’ve met with Jewish families who have blasted MCPS over antisemitism, black families who have been left behind with the antiracism action plan stalling, Ethiopian families who have felt alienated and ignored with the BOE’s abandonment of the ELA LGBT opt-out option, but no, he decided to meet first with the MVA families.

That says something about his priorities.

As a pragmatist grounded in reality, and not someone looking to complain about anything that the new Super does, I saw this merely as meeting with a group that has an imminent need for action, since their program was closed on short notice last month and they're scrambling to find alternatives or to get a final answer whether the MVA might actually be back next year.

Either way, I'm sure people would have found something to complain about if he met with one of the groups you mentioned "first". If he met with black families, he'd be labeled as a DEI stooge. If he met with those Ethiopian families you mentioned, he'd be bowing to the demands of the radical right who are looking to ban books and cancel trans kids. If he met with Jewish families, he'd be a privileged white male ignoring the plight of black and brown MCPS families.

And how do you know the new Super hasn't reached out to these groups "first"? Maybe they scheduled their meetings for later in the summer. Do you know for a fact that this was his first meeting with a coalition of MCPS families? I don't think you do know, nor could you know. This meeting just had a bunch of publicity around it because the MVA families invited the media to try to keep their fight relevant to the public. Who's to say the Super hasn't already had calls and meetings with representatives of other groups? Just because there were cameras and journalists present doesn't mean it was his first anything.

The MVA families are an organized group and a PTO that is heavily advocating. Any group can testify at the BOE, email him, call and protest. He's the BOE puppet. He will not help anyone not approved by the BOE and they are playing a blame game. BOE says Taylor has to approve the funding, Taylor says its out of his hands and with the BOE. So, which is correct.

All he cares about is PR. He hasn't made any changes or done anything. Nothing about the MVA, school safety, the curriculum, student behavior, holding staff accountable.

It was also intersting at how many new appointments to the central office there were. What exactly do all these people do?

Give him a break. He has been on the job a couple of weeks.

A few weeks officially on the job, but he was hired at least weeks before that.

+1 the guy should have started working on behalf of MVA families the day his contract was signed on June 25 even if it was before his contracted start date of July 1. If he really cared, he would have started the outreach then without being paid and without being the actual superintendent. To heck with his contract and actual appointment start dates. To be honest, he should have started working his priorities the day he applied for the job. What a loser.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

So MCPS is suppose to defund a 28,000 student function that every other county has in order to fund a 800 student venture that no other county has?

This is false. Please stop making stuff up to support your hatred of the MVA. Of course there are other counties that provide virtual learning academies

What other county has their own K-12 Virtual academy? I know several have virtual academies for HS.

In md alone, multiple. And it’s 1-12. Pay attention before you comment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

Political cover. He can say he’s transparent and seeking community input while knowing all too well that there’s nothing he can do to reverse the BOE’s decision. It was a way for him to make clear that the closure was the fault of others and that he should get a clean slate with this constituency and be judged on how well he listens from here on out. Not to say that he’s a bad person at all - he’s doing what any good leader would do in his position in seeking input on how he can help these families that were dealt a bad hand and got a raw deal from the prior admin.

Rookie mistake. He threw the BOE under the bus on this for a program that is no longer financially tenable. It's unlikely he is going to use his political capital on MVA, which has value for some, but not for the many. He needs to familiarize himself with the state's Blueprint for Maryland's Future. There isn't current funding for it and it is a state mandate with which MCPS must comply.

But administrator dinners are still in the budget!!!!! Yippeee

dp.. if they are working through dinner, then, I don't begrudge them that. And how much is that budget compared to the mva budget? I'm thinking, a fraction.

That are not in restaurants working.
How much? Double the MVA budget.

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Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

It could scale effectively. There was a waitlist for the MVA last year.

The people who cite the data saying that the program lost more than 67% of its participants overall and lost more than 40% of its participants 2 years in a row are just mean.

Guess where there is not a waitlist? In person where class sizes continue to grow. Guess who would like smaller class sizes and attention? Students and families in person who continue to deal with the consequences of budget constraints.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

So MCPS is suppose to defund a 28,000 student function that every other county has in order to fund a 800 student venture that no other county has?

This is false. Please stop making stuff up to support your hatred of the MVA. Of course there are other counties that provide virtual learning academies

What other county has their own K-12 Virtual academy? I know several have virtual academies for HS.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

The battle will continue until its reopened. If they don't do it for this year, there is always next year.

MCPS isn't going to bring back MVA when it is obvious the better long-term solution is a state program.

The state isn't offering a solution although most states don't provide their own program and they outsource it to K-12. Clearly you haven't looked into it. Its actually cheaper to do it inhouse.

The county isn't offering synchronous online school, either.

If it's really cheaper to insource it, then the state could do that. But you don't know what contracted rates the states pay, just what they charge individuals.

It’s not the state who provides education, the county does. The state provides over site. What is your obsession with the state providing it? The county woukd have to pay the state if that happened like in VA. Mcps would not get it for free.

There aren't even enough students in Montgomery County to make MVA scale effectively (e.g., the 10-person classrooms in some grades). How could smaller counties ever do virtual without being grouped with kids from the larger counties?

A state-based program makes much more sense for a niche program like virtual learning for kids.

800 students is plenty.
MCPS has a number of programs with less thsn that.

Nots with their own standalone administration, and not for kids with no identified special needs.

Running an entire separate administrative and educational apparatus for 800 kids is a terrible use of money. It makes much more sense to scale that up to the state level.

Way more is spent on school athletic programs. Those aren’t needed at all and don’t serve kids with any special need. There’s an entire admin apparatus behind it with athletic directors, coaches, athletic trainers, etc. and that doesn’t even count the millions spent on fields and equipment. The state needs to fund all that or else close them all down and use the money for the educational needs of all kids rather than the extracurricular choices of the few who play sports.

I have a child who has never, and will never, do a sport in MCPS and I still think you are dead wrong here. First of all, it's really not "a few" kids who play sports. I'd actually guess that the majority of MCPS kids play at least one sport, one time, in either MS or HS. It might be a sport they already play, or trying something new like cross-country or volleyball or bocce (which is reserved for kids who don't normally play sports and kids with learning differences).

It's like orchestra - most kids will try it at some point (4th or 5th grade) and then have the chance to decide whether it is right for them.

Also, as an MCPS parent, I actually think the district does a good job of communicating healthy messages about sports. Again, my kid is emphatically not athletic, but their principals have celebrated the athletes AND the mathletes AND the theater kids, so every kid feels like they have something they can be proud of.

Sports also add value to the overall student experience. Watching two MCPS schools battle it out in the girls soccer championship last year was a peak high school experience for a lot of kids.

Basically, this is the wrong tree to bark up. Not quite as bad as advocating to close the highest-needs schools, but close.

Let's stick to the facts here, please, and stop making stuff up about a majority of kids participating in sports at the MS and HS level.

"Approximately 23,000 student-athletes participate annually on the high school level, 5,000 on the middle school level" https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/athletics/contacts/

That's about 15% of middle schoolers participating and 43% of high schoolers.

So MCPS is suppose to defund a 28,000 student function that every other county has in order to fund a 800 student venture that no other county has?

This is false. Please stop making stuff up to support your hatred of the MVA. Of course there are other counties that provide virtual learning academies