Fairfax County Public Schools Faces $140 Million Shortfall (Alexandria, Chantilly: rent, chapel)

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by jmking

I just sold my home of 15 years 2 months ago in Fairfax to payoff medical debt. I am now renting nearby and will not purchase a new home in Fairfax with the rather large profit. In my circumstance my wife and I are very lucky to have been able to unload the home, pay off all debts, and still have a bit of money left.

What is alien to me is when I was in elementary school the class sizes where closer to 50 per class.

You and another poster mentioned class sizes from years ago, you both have to understand these are much different times. Education is now such a performance based field that teachers need to optimal environment to be successful at times and it doesn't help them when so many kids have social issues that go beyond the classroom. There are things that kids deal with now that 10-15 years ago, were just not very prevalent.

[HokieFan]

Originally Posted by BlueRidge1

This is such a myth and it's surprising it's never questioned. The idea that 1 out of 8 people are "struggling with hunger" conjures up images of people starving and unable to get more than a meal every few days. This isn't what these inflammatory statistics actually represent. They are measures of whether people are worried that their food might run out before they get more money, or if they can't afford a "balanced meal", or having to rely on low-cost food. Not exactly the image of hungry school children, is it?

The larger issue is whose responsibility is it to feed children: the school/govt or their parents? If you can find starving children by all means I will be the first to donate food. But these programs overwhelmingly feed kids who aren't malnourished, and all they do is encourage dependence on these breakfasts/lunches and provide no incentive for parents to feed their children. The DC metro area is the richest in the nation - 1 in 8 are not hungry. But why buy breakfast/lunch for your children if the county - via other taxpayers - will?

Good lord. I've got no dog in this fight. I don't even have children. If it's better that the money come out of a different bubget, so be it.

I'm just of the opinion that if a child comes to school hungry, feed him/her. And just because this is one of the richest areas in the nation doesn't mean there aren't hungry people out there. Do you have a link with statistics to support your statement in paragraph 1? I'm not saying you're wrong butit would be interesting to see the stats that support it.

[choff5]

Originally Posted by pgtvatitans

You and another poster mentioned class sizes from years ago, you both have to understand these are much different times. Education is now such a performance based field that teachers need to optimal environment to be successful at times and it doesn't help them when so many kids have social issues that go beyond the classroom. There are things that kids deal with now that 10-15 years ago, were just not very prevalent.

Amen. After the big deal of adding more social workers and psychologists last year due to all the media news on the need for mental health services, part of the proposed cuts are in those positions and in school counselors. I don't have a answer here. I'm not knocking reducing support personnel, esp in the admin offices, but I think they really need to look closely at all positions and see what and how they actually are impacting student achievement. Some truly do, even if they aren't the front line classroom teacher.

[BlueRidge1]

Originally Posted by HokieFan

Good lord. I've got no dog in this fight. I don't even have children. If it's better that the money come out of a different bubget, so be it.

I'm just of the opinion that if a child comes to school hungry, feed him/her. And just because this is one of the richest areas in the nation doesn't mean there aren't hungry people out there. Do you have a link with statistics to support your statement in paragraph 1? I'm not saying you're wrong butit would be interesting to see the stats that support it.

I agree that if a kid is hungry they should be fed - don't get me wrong. I'm disputing that such programs are necessary, and the larger budget implications.

I haven't done any surveys to see if anyone is starving - I reached that conclusion through deductive reasoning. I do know that the methodologies used to reach these stats of "1 in 8 are hungry" (or whatever the number is) are flawed. "1 in 8 sometimes have to budget and buy inexpensive, less nutritious food" is a lot less sexy of a statistic.

[ICS67]

Originally Posted by Darkseid

Just curious. Was that the entire grade or just your class?

That was just my class, all boys. The good sisters segregated us by gender from fourth grade onward before all those frisky hormones kicked in. The girls' class numbered 51 at graduation.

In reply to a previous poster, no Irish twins in the class (actually very few Irish students at all) but we did have a set of Italian twins. And I do agree with that poster that when talking about class size, smaller is better than larger. But "all else being equal", class size is not going to be the dominant factor in determining a student's success, or lack thereof.

[jmking]

Originally Posted by pgtvatitans

You and another poster mentioned class sizes from years ago, you both have to understand these are much different times. Education is now such a performance based field that teachers need to optimal environment to be successful at times and it doesn't help them when so many kids have social issues that go beyond the classroom. There are things that kids deal with now that 10-15 years ago, were just not very prevalent.

I agree. Smaller class size is ideal for learning for sure. I remember my teachers really couldn't teach their best because of all of the children.

[jmking]

Originally Posted by HokieFan

Good lord. I've got no dog in this fight. I don't even have children. If it's better that the money come out of a different bubget, so be it.

I'm just of the opinion that if a child comes to school hungry, feed him/her. And just because this is one of the richest areas in the nation doesn't mean there aren't hungry people out there. Do you have a link with statistics to support your statement in paragraph 1? I'm not saying you're wrong butit would be interesting to see the stats that support it.

I understand what the poster was stating in that children in the area are not starving to death. Of course they're not. What they are eating is a well balanced hot meal that is beneficial to their health.

[LuvVA]

This is purely an inefficient administration.

Whoever was authorized to manage the budget didn't do his/her job. FCPS should have caught this much earlier before it became a big monster deficit.

Feeding poor kids should not be an issue. FCPS is losing money somewhere. There should be an investigation to find out who is at fault, where they lost money.

[PetaltoMetal]

It is worth pointing out that even though Langley, Oakton, etc. are excellent school districts, they are being degraded as well. Class sizes are rising in all areas of the county. The affluent aren't permitted to "buy" teachers. That is, they can't fund a teaching position.

So the whole county is suffering from the influx of poverty. Some schools in affluent areas (I won't name them) are shamefully run down with air conditioning problems, crumbling infrastructure, etc. Meanwhile, they are building sparkling new schools in poor areas because that's where the growth in population is.

[patriot201]

Originally Posted by ICS67

So, class size may be increased by one student and, to quote the Hunter Mill school board rep cited by the Post, "Some elementary schools in Vienna already have class sizes over 30 in some grades."

It seems that this rep is implying that large class sizes are only present in some elementary schools in Vienna. I don't think it is "breaking news" that there are elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools across the county (and elsewhere, of course) that have class sizes of over 30 students. This is not isolated to Vienna elementary classrooms.

And if teachers don't like their current level of compensation, they are free to go look for work elsewhere.