Please, no racist remarks. Let's generate some rational ideas from the people who are actually in the schools.

1. Get rid of the instructional coaches. Make class sizes smaller as a result. That is the one sure thing that affects achievement.

2. Make the principals post online somewhere how they are spending their school's money. Our school bought new library computers and paid for other new technology that is not necessary for an elementary school. We are not having third graders do high-level research here. We just need basic Internet access. Now we are getting some new library database and only a very few students even use any databases, and they are available at the public library, which can be accessed online.

Our school bought new Tshirts for every teacher. How much did that cost? Matching Tshirts are a frill, not a necessity.

We paid for some special education online testing that is only being used twice this year and again, is a frill, not a need. We have lots of data already. It just looks good to Gatehouse to use this crap.

Principals should have to account to the community what they pay for, and with what funds. Perhaps they do, but where?

3. Make the libraries in the schools account for what they purchase and how often those materials are used. Our library has lots of magazines that no kids ever check out. Cut it to what the kids actually use. Every little bit helps.

4. Cut the FLES program. It is a frill, not a necessity. We have enough kids that already speak two languages, and having a lesson a couple of times a week does not make a huge difference. They can take a language in middle school. Again, a frill, not a need.

5. Cut the AAP elementary centers to kids that are truly exceptionally gifted. The amount of students that are currently enrolled cannot really be statistically gifted, unless there is something in the drinking water here that has geniuses being born in every other home. The cutoff IQ used to be 140 Full Scale IQ. Now, bright kids with 130s get in. 130 means a smart kid, but it may only be in one area, not overall. With one area of strength, a smart kid can get what they need at the base school. Now that they have compacted math, the bright math kids can be challenged at the fifth grade, and grouping can occur at the lower levels if schools think outside the box.

What do the elementary AAP centers cost to run? Does it make a difference? They have to be in a school somewhere, anyway. Does anyone know? We should all know what the costs of these programs are.

Any other rational ideas?

1) Do a thorough review to see if "educational consultants" are needed. If they are (and this would need to be justified), then FCPS needs to select ONE such consultant. FCPS would then negotiate with this consultant to get the lowest possible rate. Having multiple consultants wastes money and promotes inefficiency.

2) Take a serious look at cutting/reducing school sports. They are REALLY expensive.

3) If it is true that fundraisers such as Boosterthon are getting a free ride at the schools, that needs to stop. It is not acceptable for Karen Garza to write the matter off as closed.

4) Develop a "jettison" plan in case of budget shortfalls. That means, if FCPS and the County can't come to terms, FCPS needs to fire people, cancel programs, whatever. No more of this carrying bigger and bigger shortfalls across election years.

5) Increase transparency. If FCPS won't comment on a consultant's background or the procurement process, no more hiring that consultant. No more sweetheart deals with vendors, just because they've been using vendors forever. All bids over $5,000 or so need to be competed. If a sole source contract MUST happen, the documentation needs to be public.

The County needs to put the brakes on illegal immigration.

You could educate a lot of Hispanic kids for what a handful of these useless consultants charge.

Remember, wise guy, that unless your name is Sitting Bull, immigration is how YOU got here.

Que Lastima Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You could educate a lot of Hispanic kids for what
> a handful of these useless consultants charge.
>
> Remember, wise guy, that unless your name is
> Sitting Bull, immigration is how YOU got here.


That may be, but we set up on our own dammed schools and educated and fed our own. Sitting bull didn't provide a free lunch program. Your comment is of no practical importance.

How about not changing the time school starts? And to help kids still have the ability to sleep in, get rid of stupid electives. Your kid doesn't need to go to school for all 7 periods junior and senior year. Senior year all I needed to take was English and Government. I could have been out working to save for college but in FCPS in order to do that you have to prove financial need. Instead we are making kids take gourmet foods, wasting the student's time and school money. I heard that they now have "AP Study Hall" as an elective. This is stupid. Just give them a free period and if they want to study, great. If they want to go home, get food out, sleep, etc, let them do it. That elective is essentially paying a teacher to baby sit 16-18 year olds in a cafeteria. Pointless.

1. Quit paying AP testing fees for all students except those on the FRM program. At $84 a pop, that's a lot of money the county is shelling out per student who takes the test. No idea why the students aren't paying their own AP testing fees. I doubt it would create a financial hardship for most families in the area.
2. Speaking of FRM, start requiring some kind of proof to enroll. Currently, the schools basically take your word for it. I'm not saying a school needs to do an extensive check on a family's finances, but there should be some sort of verification that they qualify (i.e., proof that they're receiving housing or food assistance, etc)
3. Eliminate IB Programs. Too expensive and AP is more desirable.
4. District supervisors need to crack down on housing ordinances.

Quit buying scads of clothing for the staff.
Quit buying snacks and refreshments and feeling obligated to throw luncheons for 250.
Quit throwing parties.
Get rid of consultants and listen to what the citizens are saying.
Quit charging fancy dinners and things to public funds. No lobster, filet, etc.
Quit approving $300 hotel rooms for conferences.
Evaluate how much people really need to travel.
Have all meetings in the 200 buildings that we have bought the school system. No exceptions.

Put all the Hispanics in camps, or just send them over to PG county.

No more buses. Transportation is NOT required by law (except for tards in short bus).

I grew up in CA and there were no school buses. We got our own asses to school.

God knows everybody in FFX has a fucking car. Use it to take the kids to school!

Killing transportation would allow FCPS to get rid of thousands of employees and save well over $100 million per year. There it is folks, budget shortfall solved in one bold stroke!

Step 1: Remove dumb electives and classes: We do not need 7th period classes. Seniors and juniors are - for the most part not attending/ditching their first period, fifth period, seventh period class, etc. We do not 2 years of Physical Education, not a lot of people like tennis, or sports.

Step 2: Lay off the Librarian staff. We do not need 3, or 4 Librarian staff. Just one. Sell books. Nobody reads books enough to actually go to the Library, and if they go to the Library they just go on the computers.

Step 3: As said above, Cut the FLES program. That also means the WIDA test that immigrants HAVE to take in High school to prove that speak english.

Step 4: ???

Step 5: $$$

Expand Marching Band!

Make it a requirement for all kids, K-12. This replaces all phys-ed and arts programs. The only equipment needed is instruments and uniforms, which the parents pay for, not the district. And it eliminates the need for school buses, because the kids can march to and from school each day.

And a marching band staffed by every single child in the district would dominate all other marching bands around the world. Even the North Koreans couldn't compete! This would instill the voting populace with pride enough to provide any funding required by the district.

end transportation Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No more buses. Transportation is NOT required by
> law (except for tards in short bus).
>
> I grew up in CA and there were no school buses.
> We got our own asses to school.
>
> God knows everybody in FFX has a fucking car. Use
> it to take the kids to school!
>
> Killing transportation would allow FCPS to get rid
> of thousands of employees and save well over $100
> million per year. There it is folks, budget
> shortfall solved in one bold stroke!

Transportation IS required. State law.

&& Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> end transportation Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > No more buses. Transportation is NOT required
> by
> > law (except for tards in short bus).
> >
> > I grew up in CA and there were no school buses.
>
> > We got our own asses to school.
> >
> > God knows everybody in FFX has a fucking car.
> Use
> > it to take the kids to school!
> >
> > Killing transportation would allow FCPS to get
> rid
> > of thousands of employees and save well over
> $100
> > million per year. There it is folks, budget
> > shortfall solved in one bold stroke!
>
> Transportation IS required. State law.

No, it is a local regulation. But, try getting 180,000 kids to and from school without buses.

Close public schools and make the parents do their job and take responsibility for their children. Only a brain dead lib would allow a person they don't know teach their kids.

Sharon Bulova wanted to put the meals tax on as a referendum but knew it would get hammered.

The FCPS budget needs to be managed by referendum. If people vote against travel to Orlando and hiring some dubious psychologist, then the trip doesn't happen and the psychologist doesn't get hired.

If these things are such good ideas, then FCPS could explain them well enough to get the votes for them.

>Remember, wise guy, that unless your name is Sitting Bull, immigration is how YOU got here.

And welfare had yet to be invented.

Close the border!

Turf fields

More snow days

shitting bullshit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Que Lastima Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You could educate a lot of Hispanic kids for
> what
> > a handful of these useless consultants charge.
> >
> > Remember, wise guy, that unless your name is
> > Sitting Bull, immigration is how YOU got here.
>
>
> That may be, but we set up on our own dammed
> schools and educated and fed our own. Sitting bull
> didn't provide a free lunch program. Your comment
> is of no practical importance.

My ancestors came here legally and didn't expect the government to provide for them. Imagine that.

Oakton HS is putting in surveillance cameras-like many other schools.

probably $100k.

money cant be too tight if that kinda dough is available.

money is everywhere Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oakton HS is putting in surveillance cameras-like
> many other schools.
>
> probably $100k.
>
> money cant be too tight if that kinda dough is
> available.


No. They are destitute.

1. Eliminate instruction coaches positions.
2. Special Ed services just for special needs kids, not behavioral or lazy
students.
3. Suburbans for bus routes that are small and for handicapped.
4. Keep current opening times and not buy new busses and not hire more drivers.
5. Eliminate IB and only offer AP classes.
6. Eliminate some Assistant Principal positions - have them do less paper pushing
by evaluating teachers less often and requiring less paperwork for the
evaluation.
7. Use more on-line texts.
8. Eliminate useless school time like the remediation times at the high schools.
9. More part-time teachers - they teach 3 classes for 1/2 pay - BARGAIN!!

retired teacher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1. Eliminate instruction coaches positions.
> 2. Special Ed services just for special needs
> kids, not behavioral or lazy
> students.
> 3. Suburbans for bus routes that are small and for
> handicapped.
> 4. Keep current opening times and not buy new
> busses and not hire more drivers.
> 5. Eliminate IB and only offer AP classes.
> 6. Eliminate some Assistant Principal positions -
> have them do less paper pushing
> by evaluating teachers less often and
> requiring less paperwork for the
> evaluation.
> 7. Use more on-line texts.
> 8. Eliminate useless school time like the
> remediation times at the high schools.
> 9. More part-time teachers - they teach 3 classes
> for 1/2 pay - BARGAIN!!

no more conferences
no more consultants
no more Boosterthon
scale back sports

get rid of the new school board raises?

we have to pay for their raises and gatehouse travel to Orlando and las vegas when the poor children from other nations need to be fed breakfast and lunch, need haircuts, need backpacks, need shoes, need English lessons, and need fee waivers?

none of the middle class people were layed off during the recession? none of the middle class people lost healthcare? all of the middle class people travel on corporate expense accounts even though defense spending was cut? all of the middle class people continued to receive raises, got paid for 13 snow days, week of spring break, almost two weeks of winter break, vacation and sick days in addition to summer off?

why does anyone in fcps need to learn anything new when they are irreplaceable cream of the crop teachers and the admn already knows how to run a world class school system? according to their boastful measures of success, they should be teaching other school systems how to be world class.

retired teacher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1. Eliminate instruction coaches positions.
> 2. Special Ed services just for special needs
> kids, not behavioral or lazy
> students.
> 3. Suburbans for bus routes that are small and for
> handicapped.
> 4. Keep current opening times and not buy new
> busses and not hire more drivers.
> 5. Eliminate IB and only offer AP classes.
> 6. Eliminate some Assistant Principal positions -
> have them do less paper pushing
> by evaluating teachers less often and
> requiring less paperwork for the
> evaluation.
> 7. Use more on-line texts.
> 8. Eliminate useless school time like the
> remediation times at the high schools.
> 9. More part-time teachers - they teach 3 classes
> for 1/2 pay - BARGAIN!!

Ummm, those part-time teachers get a full benefits package. About ten years ago when the money was flowing the county had LOTS of people working part time. So to get one job done you had to pay one whole salary and two benefits packages. It was costing a huge amount of money and one of the few financially sensible things I've seen FCPS do is to eliminate a large number of these part-time positions.

Furthermore, as somebody who has worked with a few part-time teachers, I can't tell you how many times I heard "I can't do that, I'm part-time." As a full-time teacher I regularly did lesson planning and grading and meetings before and after school and on the weekends, but all the part-time people I worked with wouldn't do ANYTHING outside of their contract hours.

The problem with FCPS is the FRL programs, ESOL programs, and the fact that enrollment has increased dramatically in schools located in established areas with no new home construction.
The tax base is not there to support this model, our system was not designed with funding based on multiple families in a single family dwelling. Property values are up, the property assessment tax rate is increased, yet we are still unable to find our system.

It's not rocket science.

Eliminate one AP position and one secretary position and one SPED position in every elementary school. Eliminate FLES.

There, that is five positions per elementary school. That's a savings of about $850,000 per elementary school when benefits and all are added in. Give everybody else a decent step and COLA and move on.

I've worked in a lot of elementary schools. You've got a lot of AP's and secretaries just standing (or sitting) around. SPED caseloads have shrunk dramatically over the past 10 years with no significant increase in test scores or student achievement.

". More part-time teachers - they teach 3 classes for 1/2 pay - BARGAIN!!"


Bad idea. Where will these people come from?

I get it. I have to pay for turf fields, instructional coaches, fancy dinners, expensive luxury travel, unqualified consultants, retreats, and who knows what else.

Stop paying for attorney fees for bad principals who get sued. Let them handle it on their own. i.e.: Bailey's ES Principal defended for months, not once but twice and by immmm…how many people?? defended using our tax dollars. Stop wasting money!!

Wrap it new parents
Attachments:

prostitute the grounds keepers after hours

come up with a better idea than condoms. obviously people hate using them.

Get rid of the at large members. They don't return calls or email. All of them are good at going to conferences. McElveen is good at accepting prom invitations.

Who needs them?

school board reduction Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Get rid of the at large members. They don't return
> calls or email. All of them are good at going to
> conferences. McElveen is good at accepting prom
> invitations.
>
> Who needs them?


None of them return calls or messages. It isn't just the at-large members. But they can sure get to a conference. Agree on that.

Vote them all out-school board members, board of supervisors, all of them. The new school board can remove Garza, the new supervisors can cut the school budget to a realistic figure.

OP we are all experts.

1. Cut teachers.
2. Cut theater.
3. Take Science 7 Honors and put with Science AAP.
4. Put large Honors / AAP Class in Little Theater. Big class like colleges.
5. Do again for each grade.

How come everyone failed the last Science 7 Honors test? Cause they were not taught. Facts in results. Go to 1. Cut teachers and do not collect $200.

Lots of great and realistic solutions on here. But the real answer is to continue asking for more money every and having the Board of Supervisors approve it. Sorry you silly taxpayers, try again next year.

Sorry you silly taxpayers, try again next year.

i'm not sorry

and i'm not your bitch

Try a 6 period HS schedule, that is all we need. A student needs 24 credits for advanced diploma graduation, and 22 for standard diploma. That can be done in a 6 periods per year. Everything else is extra and not required. Savings: $75M/year, and spare capacity built into HS facilities for growth instead of building more schools. Other things scale as well; facility, admin, sped teachers, ESOL teachers etc.

By not-installing transgender bathrooms in the future.

Cost-effective public administration at any level derives from intelligent budget analysis paired with realistic planning. There are numerous techniques managers use to tap obscure pots of funds for things they don't want to put into the budget. If a line item is approved for an entire year, but the need for it ends after four months, the remaining funds can be used for something that just popped up, often described as an unexpected opportunity, or non-recurring expenditure. By the time the next budget is in draft, the non-recurring morphs into a recurring expenditure and the funding becomes part of the previous budget's actual liquidations, which is typically the base for the next budget. Oversight by a non-professional school board is no match for the razzle-dazzle of the professional manager adept at making the numbers say whatever is needed at the time. That is why budgets can keep growing even during times of economic stagnation, or deflation, as was seen from 2007 until about 2011.

This is by far one of the most intelligent explanations of FCPS's budget problems I have ever heard. It is absolutely correct. They keep adding recurring expenditures by using one time funds.

Dn7XM Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> By not-installing transgender bathrooms in the
> future.


Going to happen.

FCPS could save a lot of money by doing simple research on consultants the various schools want to hire.

Some of these consultants are really slick, so slick no one questions what they say.

Case in point, Flip Flippen. He sells "consulting services" to schools, businesses, sports teams, and the government. He says he's a psychotherapist. The State of Texas says he's a "licensed professional counselor" but one with an inactive license.

Oops.

Five minutes on the Internet could have saved FCPS no telling how much money they paid this guy.

If their credentials don't check out, don't hire them and put them on a black list.

1. Charge for busing or use county buses. We pay to ride public transportation, why not kids? Don't like it? Take the regular bus.
2. Get rid of textbooks. Who needs them? Pearson takes enough of my money through the state tests. We have plenty of PhD teachers and administrators. Have them write a book or something.
3. Stop giving so many SOLs. Money wasted for practice booklets and papers and all that crap for a test we could make ourselve without paying a bit company.
4. Install generators in schools and instead of PE have kids generate electricty by running or biking or whatever. Probably make enough to sell electricty back to Dominion Power.
5. Put everyone in AAP. Everyone is in so that way we don't need centers or extra buses. No need for extra courses at high school, either. Saves money.
6. Make every high school Jefferson. Gets rid of the conversation, the wasted time on the testing, the extra classes, the extra people and additional buses to Jefferson.
7. Stop sending so many people to jail for minor shit. Save the money for the school.
8. Tell those smaller Virginia counties to quit whining and give us our tax dollars back.
9. If our schools are so good, let's charge people in crappy schools to go to our schools online.
10. Sell off the names of all the football field to pay for school sports. Patriot Center got half a million per year for that place. If each school get 200,000 (maybe 300,000 for the bigger schools), that's like 5 million per year alone.
11. Hire all the grandparents in Fairfax to tutor all the kids in the schools that need all this extra money and consultants. Bet they will do a better job and be cheaper. Probably enough to have one private tutor for every kid, too.
12. Get business to sponsor the lawn mowing of the schools and put up lawn signs advertising their business.

TJHSST is an awesome high school. Stressful, but awesome. I fully approve of making all schools like TJ. :D

I'm in the wrong place again. I thought this was the drinking thread.

Expand Marching Band Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Expand Marching Band!
>
> Make it a requirement for all kids, K-12. This
> replaces all phys-ed and arts programs. The only
> equipment needed is instruments and uniforms,
> which the parents pay for, not the district. And
> it eliminates the need for school buses, because
> the kids can march to and from school each day.
>
> And a marching band staffed by every single child
> in the district would dominate all other marching
> bands around the world. Even the North Koreans
> couldn't compete! This would instill the voting
> populace with pride enough to provide any funding
> required by the district.

Best suggestion yet! Can barely type just imagining all these kids marching along sidewalks on their way to school! Have been laughing for 15 minutes.

It pains Dr Memory to have to state this as it is so obvious, but any school district employee who is found to be responsible for neglecting to do due diligence in contracting for goods and services should be disciplined, up to and including dismissal.

In some instances, there are not many where it is possible, use existing Fairfax Connector and Metrobus routes to transport middle and high school students to and from shcool. I know it is done in DC to some extent. Would not recommend it for little elementary kids though.

Don't raise the School Board's salary. Many school systems don't even pay school board members.

Cut administration positions. They just walk around in their suits looking important, while doing nothing.

Never defer maintenance in the name of economy. Ensure approved bills are paid on time to avoid late charges. Research options for bank accounts and put funds in accounts that pay something rather than non-interest bearing accounts. Maximize use of competitive bidding for supplies. Identify unused assets that can be liquidated to recover latent cash value (real estate, buildings, vehicles, excess supply items, scrap, appliances, musical instruments, outdated textbooks and other instructional materials). Identify recyclables that can be sold. Green roofs. No public funding for out of state conference travel by teachers, staff or administration. Institute an annual award for one student, one staff member, one faculty member and one administrator for excellence in advancing responsible business practices in public school operations. Establish high school internships for students interested in public administration, and assign the interns to financial and acquisitions offices to bring fresh eyes, and ideas, to bear on the search for economies.

Teach your own kids Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Close public schools and make the parents do their
> job and take responsibility for their children.
> Only a brain dead lib would allow a person they
> don't know teach their kids.


Did you go to school? Private /public/college? You are a retard.

Dr Memory Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Never defer maintenance in the name of economy.
> Ensure approved bills are paid on time to avoid
> late charges. Research options for bank accounts
> and put funds in accounts that pay something
> rather than non-interest bearing accounts.
> Maximize use of competitive bidding for supplies.
> Identify unused assets that can be liquidated to
> recover latent cash value (real estate, buildings,
> vehicles, excess supply items, scrap, appliances,
> musical instruments, outdated textbooks and other
> instructional materials). Identify recyclables
> that can be sold. Green roofs. No public funding
> for out of state conference travel by teachers,
> staff or administration. Institute an annual
> award for one student, one staff member, one
> faculty member and one administrator for
> excellence in advancing responsible business
> practices in public school operations. Establish
> high school internships for students interested in
> public administration, and assign the interns to
> financial and acquisitions offices to bring fresh
> eyes, and ideas, to bear on the search for
> economies.

Sounds good. Put a citizen category on the annual award list.

Do a Jack Welch. For a couple of years, the bottom 10% of employees get fired. Keep this up until things are running well.

It applies to all-teachers, administrators, whatever.

And, enforce the sole source procurement regulations. Anyone caught trying to bypass them is fired on the spot. That'll cut down on the yo-yo consultants.

Enforce illegal immigration ... most come here get a tax payer funded education by the home owners .. but most of the illegals rent.

Sell the football stadium naming rights to private corporations like GMU did.

Get rid if whatever is not required by law. FLES? Alternative learning Centers/ alternative high schools? Go back to the 6 period day... Cut some athletics and don't cave to all the parent pressure there. Increase AP class size to college level. Get rid of the Chiefs and give help to the region offices. I like the grandparent idea. Just don't raise other class sizes and don't let your good people go. If it was easier to fire people that would solve a good bit of the problem.

get rid of board raises and admn travel

"Enforce illegal immigration ... most come here get a tax payer funded education by the home owners .. but most of the illegals rent."


That's not up to the county. The feds have to do that.

Don't waste money on consulting services for transgender pandering.

The FCPS administrator to teacher ratio is more than .7, that is to say there are more than .7 administrators to teachers.

Eliminate administrative overhead and get more money into the actual classrooms.

- can't speak English? Go to a newly created special school for intensive English immersion. Eliminate ESL teachers and crowded classrooms. You leave your language school when you pass a proficiency test.

- see above. Stop printing school/PTA materials in 17 foreign languages. Colossal waste, as deep, dark secret is many adult immigrants Re illiterate in their native language. Stop providing translators for parent conferences, phone calls, principal meet and greets. This is America. We speak English.

- reexamine IEPs. Another drain and perhaps do as FCPS does with AAP/GT kids...all special snowflakes get their own classrooms and teachers. I resent that my average kid gets no extra time, attention or classes or instruction and a vast amount of my tax dollars are being wasted on every other kid who has an IEP (ADHD, SPD, ODD, OCD, Aspies, some spectrum disorder). Surprise! Many AAP kids also have IEPs.

- eliminate elementary school counselors. Really? Let's see, we have school social workers, school psychologists, school counselors for children ages 5-12?

- eliminate Special Ed teachers at elementary schools. If you go with my plan of separate schools for language learning and perhaps students with complicated and multiple issues needing IEP, the sped teachers can go to these center schools.

- school uniform policy. Eliminates hysteria every school year to provide clothes for poor kids. Clothing drive! Donate!

- end weekend feeding programs. We are our own worst enemies. Stop placating and rewarding neglectful parents. Kids coming to school hungry? Why? It is not FCPS responsibility to feed your child(ren). If you as a parent can't make it through the weekend without school provided breakfast and lunch, you've got problems. See a social worker.

Stop the ridiculous spending on technology. Now the school psychologists are getting iPads. They already have laptops. The amount of money wasted on technology is incredible.

There is a culture of "spend it on something, or they won't fund us next year." So you have to think of SOMETHING to spend the money on. We are constantly getting new computers even though there is nothing wrong with the ones we have.

Someone should take a video camera around the school buildings and around the Sprague Center and see how much tech stuff sits around, unused.

Start staffing the special education centers appropriately, so that more students can be served in public school. When the programs are understaffed, the kids with a lot of needs have to be placed in private school, which is very costly and is paid for with school funds from FCPS. It would be cheaper to add another teacher to meet the needs of students, rather than pay private school tuition and transportation to private schools.

Parents of special education students often don't mobilize to advocate for their students.

Disallow multi-family homes. I know there are rules already for this, but enforcement is lagging.

FCPS cannot effectively keep up with the new enrollees and the cost to school them.
Though landlords pay property taxes on homes or apartments which are rented out.
The problem with some situations is overcrowding .. more families with kids in a home or apartment than is allowed. The enforcement is this seems to be lacking.

This problem results in more kids to going to school with less accompanying tax dollars to educate those kids.
Unfortunately, this is common with immigrant families, of both legal and illegal status.

Find a way to enforce the residency requirements. I spoke with a high school teacher who teaches in FFX County who told he knows of parents who drive their kids in from MD to go to school in FFX. They use the address of a friend of relative to register in FFX county and are driven in and picked up everyday!

There should be a more effective way of enforcing this.

any party or tshirt at our school comes from our social club dues FCPS does not buy us thirts or parties

1) Eliminate consultants (e.g., Jensen, Flippen, Brach, Buck Institute).

2) Eliminate conferences + travel.

3) 10% surcharge on activities (e.g., football). Let them pay for the overhead they consume.

4) Top to bottom review of textbooks. Many "older" books are still quite valid.

5) For two years, do "rank and yank" of ALL employees. This means everyone in the bottom 10% gets fired. It gets rid of the incompetent employees, and fosters healthy competition.

Make a list of all the people that worked at FCPS school X in 1975 or 1980 with their position and duties and salary on a scale of highest to lowest. Then make a list of all that work there today with the same items .

Look hard at the new list and compare and ask, Why do we really need these extra people?

In some cases yes they are necessary, and some of the old jobs are gone , or really not needed today. Don't try to tell me they all are needed.

You can fool me once and you have already done that.

It would be really interesting to see this comparison done with several schools.

1975 2015 Needed Yes or No
Principal Principal Yes
Teacher Teacher Yes
Gobblely Goopster NO
AKA Teacher Coach
Instruction Specialist
Many Other Names

"Gobblely Goopster NO"

I've been looking for an opening as a Gobblely Goopster. Please don't tell me they have eliminated that job!!!!!

Gatehouse is full of the positions,and they pay very well 80-100k up.

Gobblely Goopster: Positions you can not figure out exactly what and why they exist other then to perpetuate the education profession.

Anybody seen a list of all Gatehouse positions and why they exist, but don't try to fool us twice it wont work.

Shred all the procurement cards, make everybody pay for stuff using their own money, and then beg to be reimbursed. We would save millions. Not only would all of the parties be curtailed, it would force somebody to take a look at what actually is going on. It would also make people get receipts.

It has been said before:

"Bureaucrats with credit cards = monkeys with hand grenades"

Take the grenades away from the Gatehouse apes.

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Town-s-Free-Spending-Good-Ol-Boys-Exposed-by-2923769.php

How about Fairfax County starts enforcing out of state registered vehicles to register and start paying car tax..... If you live in Virginia your car needs to be registered here - of course the one exemption is miliary. Maryland is across the bridge and there is no reason why they need to be registering thier cars there while living here and using our school system and librties.

http://www.woodburybulletin.com/news/crime-and-courts/3757106-update-harper-charged-felony-theft

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/colleges/nku-news/jennifer-hilvert-another-nku-staff-member-fired-for-embezzling-thousands-of-dollars-in-school-funds

http://www.na-businesspress.com/JLAE/KappWeb.pdf

http://notebook.lausd.net/pls/ptl/docs/PAGE/CA_LAUSD/FLDR_ORGANIZATIONS/COMMITTEE_MAIN/ABT_HOME/ABT_AGENDA/ITEM%206%20%20PROCUREMENT%20CARD%20FRAUD.PDF
This one says no gifts of clothing with school logos to staff.

The Los Angeles school district (#4) has a number of prohibited items on it that are very common within FCPS. It also features an automatic decline. That is good for controlling monkeys with hand grenades. That disarms the grenade. They can't use the cards for-

official airline travel, meals, or gasoline
Conference fees
hotel payments (if you want that Jacuzzi pay for it yourself)
car rental
meals, caterers, restaurants (we could save a fortune on this alone)
food, beverages, bottled water (this too)
rental of non-district facilities (no more offsites)
taxis, trains, etc.
cell phone purchases or monthly usage fees.
gifts, donations, or contributions to individuals or organizations
uniforms or shirts with school logos as a gift for teachers
any imprinted item (generic pencils and pens work just fine)

This would take millions off the pcards. It is actually a big step away from why the pcards were created in the first place. There are just too many problems when you give people plastic. It is TOO convenient. LA figured that out. By making it more difficult to obtain funds for these things, you force people to analyze the purchase more closely.

Once the money is spent, it is very hard to get it back. So, don't spend it in the first place and don't give people plastic unless you have to.

FCPS Zoo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It has been said before:
>
> "Bureaucrats with credit cards = monkeys with hand
> grenades"
>
> Take the grenades away from the Gatehouse apes.

Careful with that grenade, Karen.
Attachments:

Dallas (#3, above) did away with the pcard program after just 7 years due to the scandals and problems. They were spending a huge amount of time monitoring the mess and trying to fix the problems. It's not like that is free.

This bureaucrat and monkey and credit card/grenade thing is just hilarious.
The idea of all these Admins eating bananas, swinging from a tree, and playing with grenades is too much.

I LOVE that "eliminate instructional coaches" ranks high on the list. Those positions are the biggest waste in all of Fairfax County. They are as effective as the guy who sits in the in-school suspension office taking naps. The job consists of endless talking at endless meetings, creating spreadsheets, and dreaming up more administrative paperwork that supposedly helps students learn. The fact is, they do NOTHING to help students learn.

zookeeper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Los Angeles school district (#4) has a number
> of prohibited items on it that are very common
> within FCPS. It also features an automatic
> decline. That is good for controlling monkeys with
> hand grenades. That disarms the grenade. They
> can't use the cards for-
>
> official airline travel, meals, or gasoline
> Conference fees
> hotel payments (if you want that Jacuzzi pay for
> it yourself)
> car rental
> meals, caterers, restaurants (we could save a
> fortune on this alone)
> food, beverages, bottled water (this too)
> rental of non-district facilities (no more
> offsites)
> taxis, trains, etc.
> cell phone purchases or monthly usage fees.
> gifts, donations, or contributions to individuals
> or organizations
> uniforms or shirts with school logos as a gift for
> teachers
> any imprinted item (generic pencils and pens work
> just fine)
>
> This would take millions off the pcards. It is
> actually a big step away from why the pcards were
> created in the first place. There are just too
> many problems when you give people plastic. It is
> TOO convenient. LA figured that out. By making it
> more difficult to obtain funds for these things,
> you force people to analyze the purchase more
> closely.
>
> Once the money is spent, it is very hard to get it
> back. So, don't spend it in the first place and
> don't give people plastic unless you have to.

This sounds like a winner. Put some automatic controls on these.

http://www.nbc29.com/story/26815843/wina-radio-cville-registrar-lost-credit-card-privileges-twice

http://www.nbc29.com/story/26556249/2-charged-in-cville-cellphone-controversy

All of the schools I teach at his year (traveling itinerant teacher) are upgrading their phone systems....a new digital phone in every classroom (mind you, they just upgraded phones 3-4 years ago). Let's see, say every phone is $200, maybe 100 phones per school, 200 schools + all the administrative offices?

Now we're talking real money on something that is really not needed.

Phones Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> All of the schools I teach at his year (traveling
> itinerant teacher) are upgrading their phone
> systems....a new digital phone in every classroom
> (mind you, they just upgraded phones 3-4 years
> ago). Let's see, say every phone is $200, maybe
> 100 phones per school, 200 schools + all the
> administrative offices?
>
> Now we're talking real money on something that is
> really not needed.


Millions of dollars. Wonder if they also upgraded the personal cell phones, too. Good point.

For real, what do the instructional coaches do at each school level (elem, middle, high). I only have one friend that works at a school with one, and that person seems to just go to meetings and does help in a classroom on occasion. I am interested in what they actually do with their days.

How FCPS can save money:

1) 10% payroll reduction. Let them figure out how to do it. Cut positions, cut pay, some mix of the two. What exactly, for example, does Angela Atwater do? If she were to be removed, what difference would it make? FCPS could make a form letter saying that an issue was closed. If employees don't like it, too bad, there are plenty of applicants for the jobs that would open up.

2) No more consultants. Period. If FCPS thinks it needs expertise it does not have, it needs to be approved by the school board, who must hold a public session on this so-called need. In other words, no more sole source contracts for the likes of Jensen Education.

3) No more training from places like the Buck Institute. Teachers should come to FCPS qualified to do their job.

4) No more travel. Why on earth did Jay Pearson have to go to Denmark?

5) Impose a 10 surcharge on booster-funded activities.

1-4 save money. 5 may bring in some money.

If McElveen gets his way and people start getting $9-10,000 tax bills, there will be a revolt. Let's prevent that from happening.

"5) Impose a 10 surcharge on booster-funded activities."

What exactly do you mean by this?

Your friend is right. Coaches spend the day in meetings with a once or twice a year visit to a classroom.

The coach at my school creates databases of students with low test scores, then meets with teachers to tell them what they already know without her help: these kids struggle in school. Then she creates forms for the teachers to fill out every time they do something to help a kid learn. Each year it's a new form because the previous form did nothing to improve the struggling students' scores. Then every now and then the coach holds a training session, throws around the word "best practice" with a few quotes from a "research" and creates another form for teachers to fill in to show that they tried the "best practice." And the struggling students' scores remain low.

The instructional coach at my school has had zero impact on school improvement. In fact, since the SOLs have implemented more rigorous standards and testing, student achievement has gone down, and yet this coach keeps her job because somebody somewhere thinks that her so-called leadership is necessary and effective. By her own statistical measures, it is not. Everything she leads is a failure. Meanwhile, teachers are drained of their energy and time to actually help the targeted kids because they are held hostage in meetings, trainings, and paperwork.

I cannot speak to the coaches at other schools, but I imagine it looks the same everywhere.

"5) Impose a 10 surcharge on booster-funded activities."

Suppose the band boosters bring in $100. $10 of that goes to the schools. Even though the boosters are bringing in money, band still consumes some school resources. This approach, makes those who are benefiting, the band families, cover some of this.

Stay away from special ed teachers, IAs, and services because problems there can quickly lead to lawsuits. How about stop bussing to AAP centers. There are not that many kids who can't be taught in their base school so stop bussing kids. There just aren't!

Ed, the Explainer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "5) Impose a 10 surcharge on booster-funded
> activities."
>
> Suppose the band boosters bring in $100. $10 of
> that goes to the schools. Even though the boosters
> are bringing in money, band still consumes some
> school resources. This approach, makes those who
> are benefiting, the band families, cover some of
> this.


Almost all of the money Boosters fundraise goes to the school already to help with things. Band is a class, so certain things have to be funded with appropriated funds. State law. Just like textbooks have to be provided no charge. Band members are also charged user and activity fees to cover consumables and optional activities. They are presented "at cost" as per state law.

Chorus, orchestra, and guitar are the same.

Boosters raise money to send kids on a band trip. 10% of that goes to the school.

Band, sports, you name it, all divert money from the school. The cost of the insurance needed because of football should also be looked into, it exceeds that of all the other sports put together.

Picky Pete Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Boosters raise money to send kids on a band trip.
> 10% of that goes to the school.
>
> Band, sports, you name it, all divert money from
> the school. The cost of the insurance needed
> because of football should also be looked into, it
> exceeds that of all the other sports put together.


I agree that money raised should generally be spent on the programs and the kids should pay for their own optional trips.

I think sports gobble up huge wads of cash that could be better spent on academics.

Music classes are CLASSES. I believe there is a state requirement for fine and performing arts in the curriculum. I don't think there is a baseball requirement, football, etc.

Cut AAP. save on busing and extra administrative costs and training. That will streamline the allotment of students per teacher.

Cut wasteful administration, cut busing, and hire competent staff.

********************* Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Picky Pete Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Boosters raise money to send kids on a band
> trip.
> > 10% of that goes to the school.
> >
> > Band, sports, you name it, all divert money
> from
> > the school. The cost of the insurance needed
> > because of football should also be looked into,
> it
> > exceeds that of all the other sports put
> together.
>
>
> I agree that money raised should generally be
> spent on the programs and the kids should pay for
> their own optional trips.
>
> I think sports gobble up huge wads of cash that
> could be better spent on academics.
>
> Music classes are CLASSES. I believe there is a
> state requirement for fine and performing arts in
> the curriculum. I don't think there is a baseball
> requirement, football, etc.

I doubt there is a state requirement for band trips to the Rose Bowl. If the band kids want to get money together for it, fine. The school gets 10%. These trips are NOT the same as the music classes.