Read all about it at www.RedAppleMom.wordpress.com

http://redapplemom.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/strauss-headshot1.jpg

In a vote of 5 FOR and 7 AGAINST – parental notification FAILED to pass at Thursday night’s Fairfax County School Board meeting.

Blame Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. School Board member Janie Strauss did.

In an effort to give herself some air cover for her NO vote, Strauss cited Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia saying, “Justice Scalia is careful to look at the words in the law.”

That’s fine. However, the School Board doesn’t pass laws. It passes policies. So, it’s interesting that a liberal Democrat like Janie Strauss would cite a conservative Supreme Court Justice as justification for her NO vote on a “policy.”

Strauss said she was “troubled” by the wording in the parental notification amendment and said she wouldn’t support it. She said she didn’t like that the amendment said parents should be notified “prior to questioning.”

Of course, if Strauss was so troubled by the amendment’s language, she could have made a motion to offer alternative wording in the amendment. But she didn’t. Instead, she stood in solidarity with Superintendent Dale and his staff and voted NO – against the wishes of parents and students.

That’s right. Janie Strauss –School Board member running for re-election in McLean, Great Falls and Herndon – voted against the parents she claims to represent. She voted NO on parental notification.

As a result, FCPS officials don’t have to call you before your child is questioned about a discipline violation or pressured to sign a confession. In fact, you may not know your child has been interrogated until hours after the questioning has taken place and after your child may have already signed a confession – without any counsel from you.

But Strauss doesn’t want voters to blame her for failure of the parental notification amendment. Oh no, no. Point the finger at how Justice Scalia reads legal text instead.

Let’s be clear. Janie Strauss should be held accountable for her NO vote on parental notification. Election Day – November 8th is your chance to end her too-long career on the School Board.

At-Large member Ilyrong Moon should also share some of the blame for the amendment’s failure because he sponsored it. You’d think he would have taken the time to be sure the issue was crystal clear for his colleagues to ensure passage of this critical amendment. Unlike Strauss, Moon did not blame Justice Scalia – but he did blame FCPS staff. Unbelievably, Moon had FCPS staff write the amendment for him.

Isn’t that a bit like letting the fox guard the hen house?

Dale and FCPS staff absolutely do not want parental notification. So why did Moon have FCPS staff craft the amendment when he should have done it himself. Can’t he write his own amendments? He’s a lawyer for Pete’s sake. What a waste of an At-Large School Board position. It’s just another reason why Moon doesn’t deserve re-election either.

We need School Board members who are going to seriously advocate for the parents and students they claim to represent. Janie Strauss and Ilyrong Moon don’t. Show them the exit door this November.

School Board members who voted NO on parental notification:

Janie Strauss – Dranesville District (*running for re-election)

Kathy Smith – Sully District (*running for re-election)

Liz Bradsher – Springfield District (not seeking re-election)

Jim Raney, At-Large (not seeking re-election)

Brad Center, Lee District (not seeking re-election)

Stu Gibson, Hunter Mill District (not seeking re-election)

Tessie Wilson, Braddock District (not seeking re-election)

Related Articles:

Fairfax County Public Board Docs – Action Taken By FCPS School Board (June 9, 2011)

FCPS School Board Proposed Amendments (June 9, 2011)

Fairfax Scales Back Discipline Policy (The Washington Post, June 10, 2011)

School Board Votes to Make Discipline Process More Flexible, Supportive (The Patch, June 10, 2011)

Parents & Community Rally Before School Board Decision (The Patch, June 9, 2011)

Disciplinary Policy Changes Coming to Fairfax County Schools (WUSA-Channel 9, June 9, 2011)

Fairfax School Board Takes Up Zero-Tolerance Policy Reform (WJLA-Channel 7, June 9, 2011)

School Board Eagle Eye Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As a result, FCPS officials don’t have to call
> you before your child is questioned about a
> discipline violation or pressured to sign a
> confession. In fact, you may not know your child
> has been interrogated until hours after the
> questioning has taken place and after your child
> may have already signed a confession – without
> any counsel from you.

This is called bullying, and the school administrators can coerce a child to falsely confess to anything they think happened, without themselves being witnesses. That confession becomes fodder for the imminent FCPS disciplinary hearing, often accompanied with a forced recommendation for expulsion/suspension from the principal.

It is a cowardly policy on the part of FCPS to purposely avoid gaining the attention of the parents whenever there is a disciplinary incident involving the child.

These are Gestapo tactics at their finest, and FCPS should, I repeat, should be deeply ashamed of this.

The only way to break this tactic is deprive the administration of any benefit they could get from interrogation without parents present.

Counsel your children to STFU if you're not present, for anything, even if they are a victim or a bystander. I'm talking total STFU including denials. Only the parent can truly represent the child's interests. The administrators' priority is to cover their own asses and get school back in session. The victim's rights are secondary and I feel the worst for the wrongly accused.

You can always break silence and give your testimony or your side of the story later. It is difficult, if not impossible, to refute previous statements. If your child is the victim and it goes up against a bonehead CYA move on the administration's part, you reliably know exactly what had been communicated and when - which ultimately makes everyone responsible for their actions.

That said, I wish we could count on the parents to set the kids straight when they do break the rules. I can't and shouldn't trust school administration to do it for me.

>
> This is called bullying, and the school
> administrators can coerce a child to falsely
> confess to anything they think happened, without
> themselves being witnesses. That confession
> becomes fodder for the imminent FCPS disciplinary
> hearing, often accompanied with a forced
> recommendation for expulsion/suspension from the
> principal.
>
> It is a cowardly policy on the part of FCPS to
> purposely avoid gaining the attention of the
> parents whenever there is a disciplinary incident
> involving the child.
>
> These are Gestapo tactics at their finest, and
> FCPS should, I repeat, should be deeply ashamed of
> this.


My wife teaches 5th grade. She has a student who constantly harasses kids on the bus, swears, and hits and hasn't even been suspended. There was another student who hit her this year. Nothing was done. Graffiti the bathroom? "We'll talk to the child". Why be so strict in the upper grades and so lenient in the lower?

wnrsm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The only way to break this tactic is deprive the
> administration of any benefit they could get from
> interrogation without parents present.
>
> Counsel your children to STFU if you're not
> present, for anything, even if they are a victim
> or a bystander. I'm talking total STFU including
> denials. Only the parent can truly represent the
> child's interests. The administrators' priority
> is to cover their own asses and get school back in
> session. The victim's rights are secondary and I
> feel the worst for the wrongly accused.
>
> You can always break silence and give your
> testimony or your side of the story later. It is
> difficult, if not impossible, to refute previous
> statements. If your child is the victim and it
> goes up against a bonehead CYA move on the
> administration's part, you reliably know exactly
> what had been communicated and when - which
> ultimately makes everyone responsible for their
> actions.
>
> That said, I wish we could count on the parents to
> set the kids straight when they do break the
> rules. I can't and shouldn't trust school
> administration to do it for me.


Exactly, this is the only way to go. Be the parent, let the teachers do their job, and who needs the rest of them - it's a frickin' game to them all.

Fire him

I think that if your kid is in trouble, there is a reason. Maybe the review process is flawed, but that is not what was up for a vote.

And really, "Gestapo"? Are we really going to use words like that when referring to a school security or principal? Maybe a little less of teh History channel for you, Berdhuis.

Concur! Tell your MF kids to keep their mouths shut and never rat on their friends. Highly suggested for adults too.

wnrsm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Counsel your children to STFU if you're not
> present, for anything, even if they are a victim
> or a bystander. I'm talking total STFU including
> denials. Only the parent can truly represent the
> child's interests.

nip it earlier Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > This is called bullying, and the school
> > administrators can coerce a child to falsely
> > confess to anything they think happened,
> without
> > themselves being witnesses. That confession
> > becomes fodder for the imminent FCPS
> disciplinary
> > hearing, often accompanied with a forced
> > recommendation for expulsion/suspension from
> the
> > principal.
> >
> > It is a cowardly policy on the part of FCPS to
> > purposely avoid gaining the attention of the
> > parents whenever there is a disciplinary
> incident
> > involving the child.
> >
> > These are Gestapo tactics at their finest, and
> > FCPS should, I repeat, should be deeply ashamed
> of
> > this.
>
>
> My wife teaches 5th grade. She has a student who
> constantly harasses kids on the bus, swears, and
> hits and hasn't even been suspended. There was
> another student who hit her this year. Nothing was
> done. Graffiti the bathroom? "We'll talk to the
> child". Why be so strict in the upper grades and
> so lenient in the lower?

Not sure which school you go to, but in my kids ES, there was a child disciplined for 'looking' at a teacher the wrong way. The child had a 'defiant' look - did not say or do anything - but dared to make eye contact with a teacher. Sounds like something out of Cool Hand Luke, but that's the way the ES's are run.

Pffft Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think that if your kid is in trouble, there is a
> reason. Maybe the review process is flawed, but
> that is not what was up for a vote.
>
> And really, "Gestapo"? Are we really going to use
> words like that when referring to a school
> security or principal? Maybe a little less of teh
> History channel for you, Berdhuis.

If you read carefully, I was refering to FCPS policy, not the principal or security - YOU made that up. I even acknowledge that the principals' hands are tied as well, as they are forced to make a recommendation that they may not agree with.

Maybe a little more reading for you, Pffft.

I have posted this before, but my son wrote a "confession" and since it was not what the VP wanted to hear/read, he tore it up.

The school admins need to be given more discretion in how they handle discipline. Police and prosecutors are given pretty wide discretion in who they arrest/prosecute, and abuses of discretion are the exception, not the norm. Whether school administrators are able to handle that discretion, that remains to be seen. But if they can't, then the issue is not the discretion they are given, it's the people in those jobs.

Parents are also part of the problem. I've had neighbors that I thought were pretty level headed people ready to go to the mattresses over petty stuff with the schools. Parents need to be realistic about their own kids - whether that's in the behavior they are capable of, or achievement in school, or whatever. Not every child gets in AAP, or on the varsity team. And they need to know that just because Billy shoved Johnny on the playground, Billy doesn't need to charged with assault. This hypertechnical view of the rights of students by parents is part of the problem. Sometimes your kid is going to compete and NOT get the trophy. Of course, when you get a 60+ page manual on your kids rights, you might start thinking otherwise.

The Red Apple Mom (Lorenze) is a media consultant who runs the campaign for Jane Strauss' opponent, Louise Epstein. That tidbit should probably have been front and center from the original poster if she was interested in Full Disclosure. I wondered why the OP decided to target just Strauss in subject line.

What a dishonest way to try and sway voters, by writing an opinion piece on an opponent that is totally bias, publishing it as a mother who is concerned about the schools and then regurgitating it back as fact onto FFU.

Very "Swift Boat" of you.

I absolutely loved how Strauss drooled over Justice Scalia in the last school board meeting. She referenced his brilliant conservative philosophy in regard to interpreting laws.

Newsflash, dumbo Janie: Scalia was the LONE dissent in his opinion of admitting women to VMI.

Don't get me started on his views on abortion rights and homosexuals.

Nice to see a DEMOCRAT tooting the horn of probably the most conservative judge this country has ever seen.

Maybe gays and women who are pro-choice in Dranesville should ask Janie about her opinions on these issues????????

Janie blames the economy on why Hispanics drop out of school....



Graduation rate declines in Fairfax County

By: Leah Fabel 10/21/09 3:00 AM
Examiner Staff Writer

.The graduation rate for Hispanic students in Northern Virginia remained far below that of other students, despite pockets of improvement, according to numbers released Tuesday by the state's department of education.

In Fairfax, the state's largest district, 73 percent of Hispanic students graduated with the class of 2009, down from 74 percent in 2008. About 95 percent of their white peers earned a diploma.

In Alexandria, 65 percent of Hispanic students reached the academic milestone, compared to 87 percent of white students. Even so, that's up from 58 percent for the class of 2008. In Arlington, the rate jumped to 69 percent from 64 percent, while 96 percent of white students graduated.

The dropout rate of Hispanic students topped 20 percent for the class of 2009 in all areas but Loudoun County, with the majority quitting school by their junior year.

Overall graduation rates in the Virginia suburbs improved last year in all but Fairfax County, where it fell slightly to about 90 percent for the more than 13,000 students who entered the class of 2009. In 2008, about 91 percent of students graduated.


Who's earning a diploma and who's not "One question I'd like to ask is what does the economy have to do with this -- how many kids are having to work to help support their families?" said Fairfax school board member Jane Strauss.

Even so, Fairfax ranked locally second only to Loudoun. About 94 percent of Loudoun's students made it across the stage with a diploma in 2009, up a fraction of a percentage from last year.

Arlington and Prince William counties both saw about 84 percent of eligible students graduate in four years, and in Alexandria, about 78 percent of students reached the milestone. For each of the school districts, that was about a one-point gain from the previous year.

Statewide, about 83 percent of the students in the class of 2009 graduated in four years. Students are allowed to pursue graduation until they reach 21 years old.

First-year Arlington Superintendent Pat Murphy, formerly a central office administrator in Fairfax, said that "while there are many areas that are positive, there are still particular groups for which we need to focus efforts."

The class of 2009 marked Virginia's second year using a new and more accurate formula for calculating graduation rate, making the rates incomparable with those prior to 2008.

lfabel@washingtonexaminer.com

Janie supported the $130,000,00 purchase of another office building for staff during the economic collapse even though kids use over 700 trailers for classrooms and there is a 1,200,000,000 backlog in school construction.

Why would you vote for someone who puts administrators' needs before our kids?


BREAKING NEWS: Supervisors just say no to Gatehouse

02/23/09 4:35 PM EST
It took the Fairfax Board of Supervisors about five minutes to drive a stake into the cold marble heart of the Gatehouse II project, rejecting the School Board’s cockamamie decision to spend $130 million (with interest) for another administrative building in Merrifield.

Chairman Sharon Bulova said the expense couldn’t be justified, considering the fact that County Executive Anthony Griffin’s proposed $3.3 billion budget contains an almost 4 percent decrease in spending and the county still faces a $650 million shortfall.

A School Board press release says FCPS will not pursue the acquisition “at this time” – but repeats the same baloney about how buying a commercial building that is decreasing in value every day will somehow “reduce overhead costs and redirect them to the schools.”

“We understand that the volatility of the current economic climate presents very serious challenges to our community and the fiscal uncertainties continue to mount,” said School Board chairman Dan Storck. “However, this was a creative solution that would have significantly reduced our administrative costs and enabled us to serve children better.”

Months ago, FairfaxCAPS posted a detailed financial analysis of this outrageous misuse of school funds on its website (www.FairfaxCAPS.org). Storck and FCPS Supt. Jack Dale must think that the citizens of Fairfax County are brain dead if they believe the public thinks that buying a building for more than it’s worth is going to save them money – especially after the widely touted “savings” for Gatehouse I never materialized.

Scott Chronister, President of FairfaxCAPS, easily refuted Dale’s argument that Gatehouse II would not impact other school construction or renovation projects by pointing out that the Economic Development Authority bonds FCPS was going to use to buy Gatehouse II have traditionally been used to finance school construction.

“Using bond funding to renovate a second administrative building with a floor-to-ceiling granite lobby, a state-of-the-art fitness center, and an on-site cafeteria with outdoor seating instead of building and renovating schools is the very definition of a negative impact. This is a game of semantics to cover up misplaced priorities,” Chronister said.

Amen.

In the middle of what economists are calling a once-in-a-century economic free fall, when taxpayers are watching jobs, home equity and retirement funds literally disappearing before their eyes,
Dale and the bobbleheads on the School Board want to spend another $130 million on overpaid school administrators instead of kids?

On a marble palace for paper-pushing adults while thousands of children have to learn in 900 flimsy trailers that cannot be secured, which one veteran teacher told me were nothing more than “chicken coops”?

I have just one question for the supervisors: Why did it take you five minutes?

I see the Lorenze marketing machine is hard at work. If you post something negative about Epstein, three long posts come along in a short time and cover it right up.

This is called "Astroturfing".

Feel free to post something positive about Strauss.................tick tock....tick...tock........

We will be waiting.

good luck Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Feel free to post something positive about
> Strauss.................tick
> tock....tick...tock........
>
> We will be waiting.


Let me try -

Janie made sure the Langley expansion got built so none of the scions of Great Falls parents had to go to South Lakes?

Oh wait, maybe that's not positive...

It makes perfect sense for taxpayers to foot the bill on transportation so kids who live in HERNDON and RESTON can drive 17 miles so they can attend Langley.

Makes perfect sense.

Oh, and do discuss that "little" construction problem at Langley. Woops....that cost us a few million to correct didn't it?

Nice work, Tistadt!

I keep hearing from various FCPS officials that they don't practice zero tolerance and yet.....Janie has a different perspective....

Did Zero Tolerance Rules Push Fairfax Teen To Edge?
By Marc Fisher, The Washington Post - Monday, April 20 2009
Tags: Breaking News,DRUG WAR,prohibition.
Teen facing expulsion from school for marijuana possession commits suicide



State law requires drug cases to be handled at the central hearing office, says Fairfax School Board member Jane Strauss. "The zero-tolerance structure is a response to the choices voters have made and to the huge outcry for dealing with drugs on school grounds. The tighter expectations used to be in the private schools. But starting in the early 1980s, there were much tougher rules in the public schools. Now, the toughest rules are in public schools, while there's more give in the private schools."

The goal, Strauss says, "is to save souls, to help kids get through adolescence." In Josh's case, which Strauss would not discuss, his parents say the counseling programs he was assigned to were helpful. But Strauss concedes that "I cannot say there are the very best therapeutic situations available for all children" in the system. "We try, but there are unfortunate tragic situations."



When did the voters get to decide on zero tolerance, Janie?

Was that on the ballot?

How many more stupid comments have you made during your terms?

Dale Points to State Zero Tolerance Policies, Stubans Recount 'Inhumane' Discipline Process
Senate kills bill requiring school staff to let parents know when student faces suspension.

By Whitney Rhodes | | February 22, 2011


Parents at last week's McLean PTSA meeting came to the consensus that the process is putting kids at risk. Dranesville supervisor Jane Strauss denied the existence of a zero tolerance policy in Fairfax schools and echoed Dale's former assertions that every infraction is treated on a case-by-case basis



Someone help poor Janie......she is so confused........

I See What You Did There Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I see the Lorenze marketing machine is hard at
> work. If you post something negative about
> Epstein, three long posts come along in a short
> time and cover it right up.
>
> This is called "Astroturfing".

Please tell me "I see What you did"....is not being posted by Liz Bradsher......

Tuesday June 26, 2001

New school site won't affect high school zonesGreat Falls students will still attend Langley High

Children from Great Falls who attend the proposed new elementary school will attend Langley High School, no matter where the new school is built, according to school officials.
Marcia McAllister

"There is no reason to take anybody out of Langley High School," said Jane Strauss, the Dranesville District school board member.

At a press conference two weeks ago led by Jeff Grieco who heads the Concerned Citizens group, several members of that group said busing children out of Great Falls would result in drops in property values, a factor that many real estate agents usually tie to high school attendance zones.

High school attendance zones won't change, according to Strauss.



School officials, including Strauss, also said rumors that Langley would soon be overcrowded are a bit off the mark.

She said the school, as some residents have said, has lost some capacity in recent years because of demands for space for special education and technology programs.

However, she said, Langley will be renovated in eight to ten years and new space will be added.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Does anyone have a calendar handy???

In 2001 Janie said Langley would be renovated in 8-10 years.

Isn't that now?

Anyone see any construction equipment outside the school???

Oh, that'r right, now I remember, Janie voted to buy a brand new office building for administration in 2003 at a cost of $100 million and then voted to build South County HS for $80 million and South County MS for $50 million.

Where the hell did all that bond money go?

Janie Strauss, Dranesville School Board
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Office sought: School Board member, Dranesville Representative

18. What are the advantages and disadvantages of public-private partnerships as they relate to Fairfax County schools?
The South County High School will be built with out using bond funds. Energy Savings for Kids enables us to do some upgrades in our older schools and pay for it out of saved utility costs instead of the operating budget. We hope to build 72 elementary classrooms and consolidate central office workers through the sale and/or trade of older properties. Other partnerships with business have brought our students mentors and support for local projects.


BIG FAT LIAR!!!!!!!!!!!

SOCO High School was built using an EDA Bond. Check the Fairfax County Financial reports, Janie.

Why do you lie to the taxpayers????

14. If you had an extra $1 million to spend on the school system any way you would like, how would you spend it?
$1 million - I would offer all day kindergarten to more needy children. Our evaluations are showing that more time in school and focused instruction for your youngest children goes a long way toward improving reading achievement. Closing the achievement gap in the earliest grades is far better and more effective than trying to play catch-up when the children are older.


An extra $1,000,000?????

You were given $2 billion every year for the last 10 and you couldn't fund full day K.

So it was a HUGE priority for you in 2003 and we MIGHT see it happen in 2013 if we are lucky.

Isn't Janie in charge of the budget?

Some math whiz she is.

10. Is there "waste" in the school budget? If so, where and how much? If you can't pinpoint precisely, in what specific area would you begin looking?
Every year, we must focus on what the classrooms really need and make that our priority. In the last 10 years we have driven down our overhead and nonschool based costs and have driven more money into schools and classrooms. With numerous audits over the years by internal and external groups, while there tends to be no "low hanging fruit" because we are a well managed and efficient system, we have taken advantage of new ways of approaching things ñ such as Clusters instead of Area offices public/private partnerships for capital projects, patenting and selling IT projects, reorganizing and downsizing the management structure, etc.


She reduced administrative, non-school based staff????!!!!!???

WTF?????

FCPS has 19 people just in the public relations department. They employ two people just to monitor blogs.

Barbara Hunter, the head spinmeister, makes three times what a teacher makes!!!!

Is Strauss delusional?

9. If reducing class size is a priority, how would you re-allocate the budget to pay for this change?
The FY2004 budget was a good example of trying to lower class size and raise pay. However, what gave us the opening in the first place is that the state did not cut funding for k-12 and the Board of Supervisors came through with the funds we had hoped for. But in the end we did not fund a number of smaller initiatives for individual schools; we help back on technology, buses, maintenance, new initiatives, additional pay increase for other employees and a host of other things. Also departments did not get any increases at all and, for the most part, had to eat any normal costs related to inflation or market place fluctuations.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Well, at least Janie delivered on this priority...smaller class sizes. Yep, McLean has some of the smallest class sizes in their elementary schools. I think the number is 35, right? I guess the other schools must have 40 kids in their classes.

THanks Janie!

Your priorities are our priorities!

McLean Budget Talk Centers on Schools
Residents are invited to weigh in on county budget.

By Mike DiCicco
Wednesday, March 17, 2010


With the county preparing to enter another year of budget cuts, McLean resident Nancy Trainer wanted to know if the Board of Supervisors was pushing for the right to open up new sources of revenue.

Not all of the 35 people or so in attendance at last week’s meeting were pushing for tax increases, though. Arthur Purves, president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance, said the size of the county’s non-school employees’ benefits had risen from about 20 percent of their salaries in 2000 to about 40 percent at present. He wondered how the county could ask people without pensions of their own to pay for county pensions.

School Board member Janie Strauss (Dranesville) said her board members did consider the expense of benefits. However, she said, not only did they want to provide a living for employees, but "We also live in a community where citizens themselves have very high expectations" of public servants.



Did you get that?

Janie thinks that we have high expectations for public workers so we need to keep paying more and more taxes so they can get raises every year and have nice fat pensions and pay nothing for their health benefits.

I want to retire at 55...where do I sign up for this awesome taxpayer funded plan?

Um,school and local government employees have not received a raise, bonus or a cost of living adjustment in three years, It is not lucrative to work for Fairfax County, believe me.

I am not sure why you would be against funding someone's 401k. You don't want to retire someday? Your employer pays half usually, all of a sudden you aren't buying into the system?

I won't bore you with the details of how virtually all state pensions are nearly bankrupt due to the generosity of stupid politicians.

Feel free to visit Pew Research and you can see for yourself the trillions of underfunding that exists.

Even The Commonwealth of Virginia, a low tax state and having a fsically conservative governor is having a difficult time keeping up with the promises made on the taxpayer's back.

retiring at 55 is absurd. Don't believe me, watch Greece default next week on their debt and get kicked out of the Euro. their country is bankrupt, kaput, done. I wouldn't plan any visits there anytime soon, they will experience rioting in the street, even worse than what we have seen thus far.

Local governments, including Fairfax, are spending money they don't have. Rather than cut their budget, which menas layoff people, they have kicked the can down the road, and with the governor's blessing has brilliantly decided not to fund their pension for the next two years. They think this saves them money and they can spend this $200 million on employee salaries, benefits and lavish pension plans. The bad part about this idea is that we (the taxpayer) have to pay back this $200 million WITH INTEREST over the next 10 years. So, on top of our existing budget problems, rising health care costs, tack on an extra $35 million over the next 10 years.

I am SO sorry to hear about you not getting a raise. Feel free to go to Cali or FLA or NY or Detroit or Chicago or Nevada or Arizona and try to demand the salary you think you deserve.

I am not demanding a salary increase, I am pointing out how wrong and out-of-touch the previous posters assertion "...so they can get raises every year and have nice fat pensions and pay nothing for their health benefits".

I have to pay plenty for my health benefits. and I have not recieved a raise in three years. As far as a fat pension, I don't think that the $334 a month I would get now is considered a fat pension.

I don't know where you get your facts but you shouldn't really be commenting upon something you know little to nothing about. While you are entitled to your own opinion, you are not entitled to your own facts.

I have to pay plenty for my health benefits


Can you tell us what kind of coverage you have and what you pay out of pocket?

Ok, this should be fun, let's dissect Janie's latest rant:

Let's count the number of lies and see if we can get to say, 10,ok?


Letter: Fair and Better Disciplinary Process
Letters to the Editor

Sunday, June 12, 2011


To the Editor:

The suicides of two students who were involved in the student disciplinary process were terrible tragedies. As a school system and as a community, we must do all we can to help prevent depression and the horrible loss of a child.


STOP: Who said Josh Anderson and Nick Stuban were clinically depressed? More like they were put thru the FCPS discipline grinder, humiliated, alienated from their peers and psychologically beaten to a pul by a hateful, inhumane system. (LIE #1)


I wholeheartedly support the changes that are being made to the disciplinary process and the SR&R, (the student rights and responsibilities regulation).

STOP: There were two changes that were recommended that you vehemently opposed-mirana rights (might want to read about today's Supreme Court decision, Janie) and parental notification. (LIE #2)

While certain infractions, such as drugs, weapons, assaults and gang activity, must be referred beyond the school because of their seriousness, improvements must — and will — be made in how these situations are handled.

STOP: What the hell have you been doing the last decade while these abuses persisted? Honestly, we expel kids who take birth control and allergy meds and YOU DID NOTHING. What happens to a 7 year old who brings a swiss army knife to school from his boyscout jamboree? (LIE #3)

The disciplinary process will be shortened and recorded. More academic, social and emotional supports will also be given to students and families from the start of the process.

STOP: Shortened? Do you mean kids will miss 25 days of school instead of 50? Do tell us about these recordings. You refuse to give them to parents. Most school districts offer video recordings and hand them to parents AT NO CHARGE. Not Fairfax. (LIE #4)

Parents have been concerned that students are moved out of their base school and into another regular school too often. On June 9, the School Board unanimously adopted language to ensure that disciplinary hearing officers and schools first consider discipline options such as Saturday School, detention, community service or the loss of certain privileges. There should be no default or automatic punishment for any offense. The punishment should be determined on a case-by-case basis. The purpose of the punishment is to get the student’s behavior back on track, not to punish for the sake of punishment.

STOP: Was this your idea? Or did the upsoming election help you see the light? FCPS wasted nearly ONE MILLION DOLLARS each year on these senseless transfers. Where were you? Aren't you the budget chair? (LIE #5)

We have also made another sensible change in how to handle students’ possession of their own prescription medication. As long as there is no evidence of distribution or abuse, principals can resolve the situation quickly without referring the student to the hearings office. Students have always been able to take their medications at school, but the medications are supposed to be kept in the clinic under the supervision of an adult.

STOP: DUUUHHHHH. Gee, thanks Janie, you mean an allegra tablet is now being treated differently than heroin? Ask Hayley Russell-the 8th grader who missed two months of school over her allergy meds and was banished to another school how grateful she is with your infinite wisdom. (LIE #6)

Parents would like to see greater use of restorative justice programs. Such a program is currently being piloted at five Fairfax County high schools and can be expanded. All middle and high school administrators will be trained in restorative justice practices.

STOP: Being piloted? Really? Where is the data? When did you start last week? I bet these principals don't even know what restorative justice is and neither do you by the way. (LIE #7)

The best way to discourage misbehavior is to teach and celebrate good behavior. All FCPS schools must have positive character building programs. They use either Responsive Classroom or Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS).

STOP: Are you kidding? You defunded every PBS program FCPS had the last 3 years. You obliterated the time out room program. Show us the data that PBS exists in the high schools. (LIE #8)

The good news is that student behavior is improving. Since 2005-06, there has been an 80 percent decline in students recommended for expulsion and a 69 percent decline in students recommended for a long-term suspension. Total disciplinary actions have declined by 20 percent. We should remind ourselves that 99 percent of our students do not get into serious trouble. Of the 1 percent of students who do, the vast majority continue their education in FCPS or county programs.

STOP: You really suck at math, Janie. In 2005/06 949 kids were recommended for expulsion and in 2009/10 there were 636. That would be a 33% reduction, not 69%. The question everyone wants to know is out of 6000 cases brought before the hearings office, how many kids were found not guilty? I'll answer....ZERO, ZIPPO, The Big Goose Egg. (LIE #9)

Schools have always been required to notify parents when a student misbehaves and may be suspended. We are now emphasizing the need to reach parents as quickly as possible.

STOP: Quickly as possible? Define quickly? There was a case recently where the parent was called ONE WEEK after the kid was questioned. ONE WEEK. The AP at the school said she was really busy. The kid is now facing an expulsion btw. (LIE #10)

Some parents are uncomfortable with an administrator questioning students without first notifying and seeking permission from a parent. But in order to protect the safety of all students, principals must be able to immediately investigate incidents of misbehavior. Current law permits teachers and administrators to question students before parental notification. Parents clearly need to be notified as quickly as possible. But if the requirement for notification is too inflexible, administrators cannot get to the bottom of a potentially dangerous or disruptive situation. High school principals say that when they are investigating an incident, especially one involving multiple students, they need to figure out what has happened by the end of the school day. If they are delayed, it may be extremely difficult to resolve the problem in the best interest of the school community. A student has the right to remain silent when being questioned. But forbidding an administrator from questioning a student without parental permission threatens another equally important student right — to a safe and orderly school environment.

STOP: You might want to read today's Supreme Court ruling on questioning KIDS, Janie. JDB V North Carolina. I don't think you guys will be terrorizing the little tikes anymore. Maybe you guys could introduce water boarding instead? (LIE #11)

What we ultimately are trying to achieve is a balance — between the rights, education and welfare of those who have misbehaved and the safety of others. We want to make sure that consequences fit the infraction and help students be successful in school — and in life. Our mission is to educate all students to become contributing members of their community.

STOP: In oder to educate kids, Janie THEY HAVE TO BE IN SCHOOL. 7000 suspensions, I mean really, in just one year???? You really don't have a clue, do you? (LIE #12)

Jane K Strauss

School Board Member

Dranesville District

How old is this woman anyway? Shouldn't School Board members be able to relate to the parents? She looks really old. And from what I'm reading here, it definitely confirms what I'm hearing about her being out of touch.

Janie cares about kids Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ok, this should be fun, let's dissect Janie's
> latest rant:
>
> Let's count the number of lies and see if we can
> get to say, 10,ok?
>
>
> Letter: Fair and Better Disciplinary Process
> Letters to the Editor
>
> Sunday, June 12, 2011
>
>
> To the Editor:
>
> The suicides of two students who were involved in
> the student disciplinary process were terrible
> tragedies. As a school system and as a community,
> we must do all we can to help prevent depression
> and the horrible loss of a child.
>
>
> STOP: Who said Josh Anderson and Nick Stuban were
> clinically depressed? More like they were put thru
> the FCPS discipline grinder, humiliated, alienated
> from their peers and psychologically beaten to a
> pul by a hateful, inhumane system. (LIE #1)
>
>
> I wholeheartedly support the changes that are
> being made to the disciplinary process and the
> SR&R, (the student rights and responsibilities
> regulation).
>
> STOP: There were two changes that were recommended
> that you vehemently opposed-mirana rights (might
> want to read about today's Supreme Court decision,
> Janie) and parental notification. (LIE #2)
>
> While certain infractions, such as drugs,
> weapons, assaults and gang activity, must be
> referred beyond the school because of their
> seriousness, improvements must — and will — be
> made in how these situations are handled.
>
> STOP: What the hell have you been doing the last
> decade while these abuses persisted? Honestly, we
> expel kids who take birth control and allergy meds
> and YOU DID NOTHING. What happens to a 7 year old
> who brings a swiss army knife to school from his
> boyscout jamboree? (LIE #3)
>
> The disciplinary process will be shortened and
> recorded. More academic, social and emotional
> supports will also be given to students and
> families from the start of the process.
>
> STOP: Shortened? Do you mean kids will miss 25
> days of school instead of 50? Do tell us about
> these recordings. You refuse to give them to
> parents. Most school districts offer video
> recordings and hand them to parents AT NO CHARGE.
> Not Fairfax. (LIE #4)
>
> Parents have been concerned that students are
> moved out of their base school and into another
> regular school too often. On June 9, the School
> Board unanimously adopted language to ensure that
> disciplinary hearing officers and schools first
> consider discipline options such as Saturday
> School, detention, community service or the loss
> of certain privileges. There should be no default
> or automatic punishment for any offense. The
> punishment should be determined on a case-by-case
> basis. The purpose of the punishment is to get the
> student’s behavior back on track, not to punish
> for the sake of punishment.
>
> STOP: Was this your idea? Or did the upsoming
> election help you see the light? FCPS wasted
> nearly ONE MILLION DOLLARS each year on these
> senseless transfers. Where were you? Aren't you
> the budget chair? (LIE #5)
>
> We have also made another sensible change in how
> to handle students’ possession of their own
> prescription medication. As long as there is no
> evidence of distribution or abuse, principals can
> resolve the situation quickly without referring
> the student to the hearings office. Students have
> always been able to take their medications at
> school, but the medications are supposed to be
> kept in the clinic under the supervision of an
> adult.
>
> STOP: DUUUHHHHH. Gee, thanks Janie, you mean an
> allegra tablet is now being treated differently
> than heroin? Ask Hayley Russell-the 8th grader who
> missed two months of school over her allergy meds
> and was banished to another school how grateful
> she is with your infinite wisdom. (LIE #6)
>
> Parents would like to see greater use of
> restorative justice programs. Such a program is
> currently being piloted at five Fairfax County
> high schools and can be expanded. All middle and
> high school administrators will be trained in
> restorative justice practices.
>
> STOP: Being piloted? Really? Where is the data?
> When did you start last week? I bet these
> principals don't even know what restorative
> justice is and neither do you by the way. (LIE
> #7)
>
> The best way to discourage misbehavior is to teach
> and celebrate good behavior. All FCPS schools must
> have positive character building programs. They
> use either Responsive Classroom or Positive
> Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS).
>
> STOP: Are you kidding? You defunded every PBS
> program FCPS had the last 3 years. You
> obliterated the time out room program. Show us the
> data that PBS exists in the high schools. (LIE
> #8)
>
> The good news is that student behavior is
> improving. Since 2005-06, there has been an 80
> percent decline in students recommended for
> expulsion and a 69 percent decline in students
> recommended for a long-term suspension. Total
> disciplinary actions have declined by 20 percent.
> We should remind ourselves that 99 percent of our
> students do not get into serious trouble. Of the 1
> percent of students who do, the vast majority
> continue their education in FCPS or county
> programs.
>
> STOP: You really suck at math, Janie. In 2005/06
> 949 kids were recommended for expulsion and in
> 2009/10 there were 636. That would be a 33%
> reduction, not 69%. The question everyone wants to
> know is out of 6000 cases brought before the
> hearings office, how many kids were found not
> guilty? I'll answer....ZERO, ZIPPO, The Big Goose
> Egg. (LIE #9)
>
> Schools have always been required to notify
> parents when a student misbehaves and may be
> suspended. We are now emphasizing the need to
> reach parents as quickly as possible.
>
> STOP: Quickly as possible? Define quickly? There
> was a case recently where the parent was called
> ONE WEEK after the kid was questioned. ONE WEEK.
> The AP at the school said she was really busy. The
> kid is now facing an expulsion btw. (LIE #10)
>
> Some parents are uncomfortable with an
> administrator questioning students without first
> notifying and seeking permission from a parent.
> But in order to protect the safety of all
> students, principals must be able to immediately
> investigate incidents of misbehavior. Current law
> permits teachers and administrators to question
> students before parental notification. Parents
> clearly need to be notified as quickly as
> possible. But if the requirement for notification
> is too inflexible, administrators cannot get to
> the bottom of a potentially dangerous or
> disruptive situation. High school principals say
> that when they are investigating an incident,
> especially one involving multiple students, they
> need to figure out what has happened by the end of
> the school day. If they are delayed, it may be
> extremely difficult to resolve the problem in the
> best interest of the school community. A student
> has the right to remain silent when being
> questioned. But forbidding an administrator from
> questioning a student without parental permission
> threatens another equally important student right
> — to a safe and orderly school environment.
>
> STOP: You might want to read today's Supreme Court
> ruling on questioning KIDS, Janie. JDB V North
> Carolina. I don't think you guys will be
> terrorizing the little tikes anymore. Maybe you
> guys could introduce water boarding instead? (LIE
> #11)
>
> What we ultimately are trying to achieve is a
> balance — between the rights, education and
> welfare of those who have misbehaved and the
> safety of others. We want to make sure that
> consequences fit the infraction and help students
> be successful in school — and in life. Our
> mission is to educate all students to become
> contributing members of their community.
>
> STOP: In oder to educate kids, Janie THEY HAVE TO
> BE IN SCHOOL. 7000 suspensions, I mean really, in
> just one year???? You really don't have a clue, do
> you? (LIE #12)
>
> Jane K Strauss
>
> School Board Member
>
> Dranesville District

Don't be too harsh on Janie. She just signed the pile of fibs that Barbara Hunter wrote for her to sign without checking the veracity of the assertions herself.

This appears to be a problem across the board, not just with this issue.

>
> Don't be too harsh on Janie. She just signed the
> pile of fibs that Barbara Hunter wrote for her to
> sign without checking the veracity of the
> assertions herself.

APorIBMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This appears to be a problem across the board, not
> just with this issue.
>
> >
> > Don't be too harsh on Janie. She just signed
> the
> > pile of fibs that Barbara Hunter wrote for her
> to
> > sign without checking the veracity of the
> > assertions herself.

+1000
Not enough emphasis here. Maybe the Wikipedia guy needs to tie the threads and stories together to show the obvious. Who can compete with FCPS spin staff? It is rather large and funded nicely.

I really don't care who wrote the propoganda for Janie-she attached her name to it.

That shows serious lack of integrity in my book. I would never sign my name to something without a fact check.

Shame on her. She has been around in politics too long to be so reckless.

Time for her to check out.

Let's try to keep this in perspective: This is a smear campaign, where Janie Strauss can't really defend herself from an anonymous poster who obviously has quite a bone to pick (probably for idealistic/political reasons).

My guess is this is the same screed by Catherine Lorenze (red apple mom)who is running (ruining) Strauss's opponents campaign. Why not just come out and post as yourself, Ms. Lorenze? Why hide behind a handful of anonymous posting names?

Because that is how you roll, I guess, real professional.

Cary should track the IP of some of these posters and I would bet a pretty nickel that most of them have come from the same IP, which is Lorenze. I could be wrong, but I am confident that I am not. I wouldn't bother to post if I wasn't.

I have not been very impressed with what I have heard from the Epstein camp, All she is running on is "I'm against her", but not much more. What would she do? What is her platform? What is her agenda? What is her background? Education? Experience? Come on, Catherine, let's hear some stuff about Epstein - less about Strauss. You can't win an election by just bashing your opponent.

Give Me a Break Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Let's try to keep this in perspective: This is a
> smear campaign, where Janie Strauss can't really
> defend herself from an anonymous poster who
> obviously has quite a bone to pick (probably for
> idealistic/political reasons).
>
> My guess is this is the same screed by Catherine
> Lorenze (red apple mom)who is running (ruining)
> Strauss's opponents campaign. Why not just come
> out and post as yourself, Ms. Lorenze? Why hide
> behind a handful of anonymous posting names?
>
> Because that is how you roll, I guess, real
> professional.
>
> Cary should track the IP of some of these posters
> and I would bet a pretty nickel that most of them
> have come from the same IP, which is Lorenze. I
> could be wrong, but I am confident that I am not.
> I wouldn't bother to post if I wasn't.
>
> I have not been very impressed with what I have
> heard from the Epstein camp, All she is running on
> is "I'm against her", but not much more. What
> would she do? What is her platform? What is her
> agenda? What is her background? Education?
> Experience? Come on, Catherine, let's hear some
> stuff about Epstein - less about Strauss. You
> can't win an election by just bashing your
> opponent.

She's a public official and therefore subject to criticism in this and any other forum. If you don't like it, why don't you go back to Russia! But before you do, why don't you join us in casting a vote of "No Confidence" for this school board. They've managed to piss just about everyone off in their constituency. Somewhere along the line, the school board forgot that they were elected to represent the people, not go off and make decisions that were politically motivated.

Now that being said, you may now have the soapbox back.

when people scream about "anonymous posters" yet don't post their own real name.

Double standard much?

No big deal - someone is just pointing out that, on this and other message boards, it's hard to assess whether five posts come from five posters, or one poster with an agenda.

As for Janie, she's neither the best nor the worst School Board member in recent history. She has the advantage of incumbency; most Fairfax voters would re-elect a ham sandwich to the School Board if it was a sitting member (how else do you think Stu Gibson kept getting returned to office). If Louise Epstein wants to unseat Janie, her supporters will have to do more than disparage Strauss on an anonymous message board.

I don't trust Jack Dale or anyone from the FCPS to protect our kids from harm. I wish I could move or send my kids to private school.

Counting down the years till I can move from Nova.

FCPS Politics Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> She's a public official and therefore subject to
> criticism in this and any other forum. If you
> don't like it, why don't you go back to Russia!
> But before you do, why don't you join us in
> casting a vote of "No Confidence" for this school
> board. They've managed to piss just about everyone
> off in their constituency. Somewhere along the
> line, the school board forgot that they were
> elected to represent the people, not go off and
> make decisions that were politically motivated.
>
> Now that being said, you may now have the soapbox
> back

I'm no fan of Strauss, but if you think all this Strauss-bashing is going to help Epstein, you are wrong. Just leaves me (and I think most) with the impression that Epstein and her supporters will take to an anonymous board to put up post after post. How adult. We don't need more knuckleheads on the SB - we need adults who can compromise and hopefully do what's right for the schools. Having one of your surrogates post all this crap on here does not bring Strauss down - it brings you down.

There have been lots of negative statements made about Strauss.

There has been criticism toward Epstein camp for Strauss bashing.

Now, what is missing in this discussion?

How about SOMEONE, ANYONE, posting something positive about Strauss.

Odd, that nobody has done that yet.

I don't trust our SB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't trust Jack Dale or anyone from the FCPS to
> protect our kids from harm. I wish I could move or
> send my kids to private school.
>
> Counting down the years till I can move from Nova.

Cut out the flat screen, cable, and BMer, and you might find the $ to pay for private school. 'Wishing' doesn't make it happen - priorities do.

easy enough Wrote:
>
> Cut out the flat screen, cable, and BMer, and you
> might find the $ to pay for private school.
> 'Wishing' doesn't make it happen - priorities do.

You must be with the county, dying to get rid of the students while you keep 53% of the revenues to do as you wish.
Don't be such an idiot. You are so outnumbered on this issue it's pathetic.

Re: Janie Strauss Needs to go
Posted by: its funny ()
Date: June 21, 2011 08:37AM
when people scream about "anonymous posters" yet don't post their own real name.
Double standard much?

No screaming. I kept all my text as no caps. My comment isn't about using your real name, its about where this information is coming from so that its validated as someone who is actually a voter with an opinion, not a frustrated business woman from Ashburn (Not a Fairfax County resident) that is bashing someone who is running for an office but can't do it themselves.

I am sure Cary could trace the posters logged IP and determine the origin. Wouldn't that be hilarious, to find that most of the negative traffic on this posting is from one IP and that one IP is not even in Fairfax County?

Yeah, it is funny. I'm sure your real name is "its funny".

What is a BMer?

mmoore Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> easy enough Wrote:
> >
> > Cut out the flat screen, cable, and BMer, and
> you
> > might find the $ to pay for private school.
> > 'Wishing' doesn't make it happen - priorities
> do.
>
> You must be with the county, dying to get rid of
> the students while you keep 53% of the revenues to
> do as you wish.
> Don't be such an idiot. You are so outnumbered on
> this issue it's pathetic

I don't think much of FCPS - not defending them in the least. And I'm not with the county - far from it.

I know exactly how much private schools cost - everywhere from around 6.5K/yr at Catholic HS's to close to 20K or more at Madiera and Potomac. If you dislike FCPS, there are literally dozens of options available, all with a price. Not everyone would be able to afford Potomac for sure, but many could afford a Catholic HS if they cut back some.

I'm not bought in to the idea that private is better, as the earlier poster suggests. Just trading one entrenched bureaucracy for another, one with perhaps less oversight that FCPS and a line going out the door of fresh applicants if you don't like it. But if you do buy that private is necessarily better, it's not that hard to do. Just prioritize your kids educational costs over whatever else you are spending on (vacations, clothes, cars, etc) and your problem is solved.

It looks like Janie Strauss is once again misleading parents, this time about high school graduation requirements.

Janie supports central staff's decision to require FCPS students to take 4 credits of social studies/history, on top of the new state-mandated credit for personal finance/econ. Instead of admitting that FCPS chose to require 4 instead of 3 social studies/history credits, she's claiming that these are all state-required.

This FCPS decision - which was made about a dozen years ago and never explained to the public - reduces the ability of FCPS high school students to take electives just as much as the state's decision to require the personal finance course.

APorIBMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It looks like Janie Strauss is once again
> misleading parents, this time about high school
> graduation requirements.
>
> Janie supports central staff's decision to require
> FCPS students to take 4 credits of social
> studies/history, on top of the new state-mandated
> credit for personal finance/econ. Instead of
> admitting that FCPS chose to require 4 instead of
> 3 social studies/history credits, she's claiming
> that these are all state-required.
>
> This FCPS decision - which was made about a dozen
> years ago and never explained to the public -
> reduces the ability of FCPS high school students
> to take electives just as much as the state's
> decision to require the personal finance course.

Nonsense, Janie Strauss is a wonderful person and I'm so proud to have her in our area.

JANE K. STRAUSS
Dranesville District
http://www.fcps.edu/schlbd/members.htm#strauss

Active in education for over 30 years. Former elementary and preschool teacher. M.A.T. from Harvard Graduate School of Education and B.A. in history from George Washington University. Past president of the Franklin Sherman PTA and the Fairfax County Council of PTAs and past chair of the council’s education and budget committees. Served on numerous education and youth affairs committees including the FCPS Career and Technical Preparation Task Force, the Division Planning Committee, the Citizens Bond Committee, and the Fairfax Framework for Student Success. Mother of four FCPS graduates. Board service June 1991 to 1993, 1996 to present. Board vice chairman 2000 and Board chairman 2001.

Meet Fairfax County School Board member Jane Strauss.
http://www.fcps.edu/DIT/streaming/is_meetstrauss.asx

Janie's memory is gone. She forgets recent events for which she was physically present.

She doesn't do her homework and relies on Jack to get her through meetings.

She doesn't have the physical stamina to knock on the doors to keep her seat.

Her vote against parental notification is going to hurt her and John Foust.

She should have retired this year.

Thomas More Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Janie's memory is gone. She forgets recent events
> for which she was physically present.
>
> She doesn't do her homework and relies on Jack to
> get her through meetings.
>
> She doesn't have the physical stamina to knock on
> the doors to keep her seat.
>
> Her vote against parental notification is going to
> hurt her and John Foust.
>
> She should have retired this year.

Aren't you supposed to be finding a replacement for Stu Gibson? Janie isn't your representative. I doubt that anyone in Dranesville really cares what you think about her.

Concerned Parents (or perhaps concerned FCPS employees?),

FCPS PR materials have nothing to do with whether Janie Strauss has been misleading constituents on this or any other issue.

APorIBMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Concerned Parents (or perhaps concerned FCPS
> employees?),
>
> FCPS PR materials have nothing to do with whether
> Janie Strauss has been misleading constituents on
> this or any other issue.

Go shove it whore!

now that sounds like something a "concerned parent" would say

LoLz

Counterpoint Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Aren't you supposed to be finding a replacement for Stu Gibson?<

Hey, Rip Van Winkle, Gibson announced that he wouldn't run for re-election in October 2010!

That's only what? 8 months ago!

I checked that off my "to do" list quite a while ago.

> Janie isn't your representative. I doubt that anyone in Dranesville really cares what you think about her.<

So guess who's next?

Well, really, it's a jump ball between Janie and Kathy. Rubber stampers both, giving a blank check for everything that Dale and his cronies proposed and oppose.

Those two have got to go.

Gordon Blvd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> now that sounds like something a "concerned
> parent" would say
>
> LoLz

Tks Gordon! I for one am tired of having my good tax dollars pay to teach beaners how to speak English and cheat the system. I was shocked to hear the figures on the number of illegal aliens who have children in the Fairfax County School system milking up all the benefits, while we the tax payer get stuck with the bill.

Janie Strauss lacks judgment! She is a long time board member of Country Day School, McLean, VA and she allowed for the exploitation of preschool children. Strauss condoned allowing the renovation company workers to dress up in costumes during Halloween 2010 and interact with the children (parent participation at the school has been limited in recent years by the head of school, who Strauss picked!). Really, construction workers dressed up and interacted with the kids---does this sound like good judgment? Would you want the laborers on the school grounds interacting with your children? Is this better than allowing the parents to engage their own children?

The same renovation company sent treat bags home with each child--the bags bore the name of the renovation company and contained the company's brochures...the preschool children were used to ferry advertising materials home to parents. What did Strauss do when parents complained--nothing. Further, Strauss, knowing that the same renovation company performed work for other CDS Board Members, gave the renovation company a contract to do work for the school (Could this be pay back for giving the Board Members a great deal on their own home renovations?). The owner of the renovation company was in the parking lot directing traffic on the first day of school--Strauss clearly doesn't understand that the owner of the renovation company should not be immersed in the daily workings of the school...guess she doesn't mind padding his pockets and letting him get a little closer to the kids. More proof that Strauss didn't listen to parent complaints about strangers being allowed to be around the children at CDS!

Do we really need this kind of irresponsible, unethical behavior in our public schools?

Louise Epstein has squandered the opportunity to mount a serious challenge to Janie Strauss by running a very negative campaign by proxy. It totally undercuts the notion that she's a smart reformer to act like one more amateur hack championed by Catherine Lorenze.

Janie takes care of Langley and McLean, and that's probably enough to get her re-elected, even if parents in Clifton or Oak Hill don't like her. Epstein will wake up one morning in November and realize that she might have had a shot if she'd actually tried to run a positive race.

Notice the 9:37 post (probably buy JS or her henchman) did not mention anything about Janie taking care of Herndon. Go figure. She thinks if she keeps Langley 99% white, she's got those votes nailed.

Janie is old news, as she frequently tells the board. "Back in MY day ...!" Her "it didn't work then so it won't work now" attitude is atavistic and holding the entire school system hostage to her version of "can't do" ancient history.

Louise understands the school budget backwards and forwards. She knows that the superintendent and staff work for the BOARD and the board works for the PUBLIC. She cares deeply about putting kids and teachers first, putting more teachers in the classroom, putting a stop to squandering money where it isn't being used in the classroom, and making the budget and its process totally transparent and available for meaningful input by voters. She is one of the smartest people I've ever had the privilege of meeting.

And guess what. I'm a Yaller Dawg Democrat and I will be voting for Louise. Some old dawgs just gotta get put out of their tricks, and even my great rainbow of a party needs a new color to jazz it up now and then.

I have met both Janie Stauss and Louise Epstein and I can honestly say that you'd be hard pressed to find two more unpleasant people if you tried.

Having said that, at least Strauss has a record of trying to do something even if she's inept.

I'll take inept and outvoted over ambitious and untested as the latter will likely cost me more.

To Louise Inepstein...Please explain your statement "Janie takes care of Langley and McLean, and that's probably enough to get her re-elected, even if parents in Clifton or Oak Hill don't like her."


Maybe I am not as political as you sound...... where do parents in Clifton or Oak Hill come in the equation?

All of the school board members have a responsibility to ALL of our students! not just to kids in their own districts. I have watched the SB in action for years and I think Janie is one of the most evil of them all. She had the audacity to keep telling parents at a meeting in MY HOME that the "school board can do whatever it want, little girl" so suck it up! wow, my elected official talking to me like that!!!! I have also watched Louise Epstein for years - she helped get us Fairgrade, several changes to disciplinary policy, and she also help squash Gatehouse II. If we didn't have parents like Louise WHERE WOULD WE BE today? well, let me see. We would have $130 million less for things like full day kindergarten, teacher salary and benefit increases, most importantly, renovations -- remember, the EDA bonds to be used for Gatehouse would DIRECTLY compete with school renovations. Janie didn't get that until it was pointed out BY PARENTS!!!! enough said.

Yes, as the previous poster notes, ALL of the school board members are de facto at-large members when it comes to their votes on the board. For example, they ALL vote on ALL issues, which means that the Lee District board member's vote,for example,affects YOU in Providence or whichever other district in which you live. The Clifton ES community was affected by the vote of all the board members who voted to close the school (BTW, that vote was taken without proper legal notice).

Just asking? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To Louise Inepstein...Please explain your
> statement "Janie takes care of Langley and McLean,
> and that's probably enough to get her re-elected,
> even if parents in Clifton or Oak Hill don't like
> her."
>
>
> Maybe I am not as political as you sound......
> where do parents in Clifton or Oak Hill come in
> the equation?

The School Board includes both representatives for specific districts and at-large representatives. Janie is the Dranesville representative.

The Dranesville district includes McLean, Great Falls and Herndon. The reality has been that folks in McLean and Great Falls tend to call the shots for that district, just as people in Reston tend to call the shots for the Hunter Mill district, even though it includes Vienna. John Foust, the Dranesville supervisor, lives in McLean. Both Janie and Louise live in McLean.

A lot of people in Clifton and Oak Hill dislike Janie because she was on the School Board when it decided to close down Clifton ES and redistrict students in Oak Hill to South Lakes. But people in McLean generally don't know, or care, about this. All that most of them know is that Janie is the incumbent and that she shows up at lots of events and takes care of Langley and McLean.

Among those who follow FCPS matters, Epstein was known as an involved parent who had a very good understanding of the FCPS budget, cared about issues like Fairgrade, and was fiercely protective of TJHSST. People thought that she'd mount a serious challenge to Janie. But, instead, her campaign has consisted largely of personal attacks on Strauss, with little effort to let people know what she actually supports.

Maybe that's because it's expensive to run for any local office, so she's relied on advice from Catherine Lorenze. Lorenze is another parent who generally cares about the right issues, and is associated with a number of "reform" candidates for the School Board (both Democratic and Republican) but has the most amateur approach one could possibly imagine to advising "her" candidates. It consists of issuing periodic "press releases" and writing letters to local newspapers that talk about how "out of touch" Strauss is, without giving people any idea what Epstein supports. It also includes similarly negative anonymous posts on a number of internet forums.

I just don't think it's a good strategy if she's trying to unseat an incumbent. Most people zone out when they read one more canned attack on an opponent.

Let's be Civil Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, as the previous poster notes, ALL of the
> school board members are de facto at-large members
> when it comes to their votes on the board. For
> example, they ALL vote on ALL issues, which means
> that the Lee District board member's vote,for
> example,affects YOU in Providence or whichever
> other district in which you live. The Clifton ES
> community was affected by the vote of all the
> board members who voted to close the school (BTW,
> that vote was taken without proper legal notice).

Very true, but the argument that each School Board member has an obligation to all parents and students in the county is often made to suit a particular member's agenda. It's one of the main arguments that Liz Bradsher made to support closing Clifton ES, although it clearly was opposed by many of her Springfield constituents, who pleaded with her to represent their interests.

Janie's smarter than Liz. She doesn't do things that obviously screw folks in Dranesville, and then tell them it's for the greater good.

Let's be Civil Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, as the previous poster notes, ALL of the
> school board members are de facto at-large members
> when it comes to their votes on the board.

Given the structure of the board, it's set up for logrolling by the district members - you scratch my back in my district, I'll scratch yours in yours. The at-large members don't have enough votes to stop them. That's why Janie can protect McLean and Langley, why Stu gets what he wants in Hunter Mill, ...

And, given the districts, it's set up for the more populous sections of each district to get what they want against the wishes of the rest of the district. Reston vs Oak Hill, Langley/McLean vs Herndon, Springfield vs Clifton, ...

Louise Inepstein wrote: "...she's relied on advice from Catherine Lorenze. Lorenze is another parent who generally cares about the right issues, and is associated with a number of "reform" candidates for the School Board (both Democratic and Republican) but has the most amateur approach one could possibly imagine to advising "her" candidates. It consists of issuing periodic "press releases" and writing letters to local newspapers that talk about how "out of touch" Strauss is, without giving people any idea what Epstein supports. It also includes similarly negative anonymous posts on a number of internet forums. "

Nailed it.

If you want to know what mean girls grow up to be, look no further. Louise Epstein's campaign manager is about as mean as they come. She was kicked out of her own PTA - How fucked up is that?

She could write a book on how not to run a campaign; going negative, blathering on without regard to issues and not having an actual platform.

WestfieldDad and the next poster got it.

At this point, Epstein is running on the same platform as Lorenze's other candidates, using the same playbook. Might win an at-large seat, but not the Dranesville incumbent.

Her only Dranesville-specific comments seem to be that she'll make sure Langley gets renovated, and that it's unfair that class sizes in Dranesville tend to be bigger than those in other districts where there are more special needs students. That's pretty thin beer. Janie already got Langley an addition, and she'll make sure it gets renovated on schedule as well (it's not like West Springfield, which Bradsher neglected too long). The issue with class sizes is buried in Epstein's materials, and it's not clear what she'd propose to do. Class sizes will always be smaller in the areas that have more schools with a lot of low-income kids and kids learning English, at least until Federal law changes.

She has a bit of time left to get people to pay attention to her, but not much.

I disagree.


FCPS should have the chance to talk to the kids before contacting the parents. I'm all for parent involvement, but most parents think their kids can "do no wrong" and are easily manipulated by their children.

Lorenze is poison and so are her gang of deceitful candidates, someone should start a blog on her, perhaps her husband might?

She was kicked out of her own PTA, then she tried another school...feel sorry for them. Why would anyone talk to her? She is considered the Queen of Nasty.

Same platform for all her candidates, same lies.

Lorenze enjoys writing lies and demeaning people, this includes teachers. She, like those she supports (Reed, Schultz, Epstein...), can't get along with others so they attack people who seem to genuinely care.

Louise inepstein ----

The former Springfield District SB Member dropped the ball on West Springfield, not Bradsher. Bradsher was able to get the queue reviewed. This helped Langley and West Springfield and placed them on the list. If you are going to write, at least get it right.

The Grange Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Louise inepstein ----
>
> The former Springfield District SB Member dropped
> the ball on West Springfield, not Bradsher.
> Bradsher was able to get the queue reviewed. This
> helped Langley and West Springfield and placed
> them on the list. If you are going to write, at
> least get it right.


Nice try, but everyone knows Liz dropped the ball on West Springfield, too. Lorenze's entire slate of candidates are trying to position themselves as her exact opposite.

I don't have a problem with that, since Liz was so obviously a poor School Board member, but it's not helpful for Lorenze to try and so obviously take credit for their every word, particularly when they are endorsed by different parties. She ought to be trying to help them differentiate themselves from their opponents, and from her. Instead, she wants to be perceived as a local power broker, which diminishes her candidates.

you sound like Janie's $39,000 campaign consultant. first time ever she is being challenged. It is about time the parents of this county wake up...

I appreciate the comments that include facts and figures that can be confirmed. While I'll be the first to admit that it's more fun to read the ad hominem attacks, they don't help to address the problem: the growing consensus, whether you are a D an I or a R is that the majority of the current board members have been rubber stampers for the superintendent. The SB members are overwhelmed with "information" from the administration and need at least as much of their OWN staff as the Board of Supervisors has (remember, FCPS gets 52% of the county tax dollars). Not a good thing when the superintendent and staff, despite what they say have the best interests of the bureaucracy in mind. One example: the Dept of Communications and Community Outreach (created by the current superintendent, Jack Dale) is a sad misuse of tax dollars. Read the press releases and the communications and it is all about spin and how perfect FCPS is. While we do have a good school system, it's not as perfect as the DOCCO presents it. It would be better if the employee work hours and $$ that are invested in this too-large dept were going directly to the students and teachers (and not to so much administration). Attend a school board meeting or work session and you'll see how many staff members there are. Put those people to work for the school board, please.

FCParent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> you sound like Janie's $39,000 campaign
> consultant. first time ever she is being
> challenged. It is about time the parents of this
> county wake up...

I didn't know Janie had a campaign consultant, much less how much he or she is being paid. But maybe that's because he or she doesn't put a bunch of amateur press releases that suggest he/she scripts Janie's every word, which is what Lorenze is doing for Louise Epstein and her other candidates.

Louise Inepstein ---

Wrong about Bradsher, she has been working with a group called SOAR since elected, something to do with West Springfield's renovation, they contacted us at Langley, apparently Bradsher told them to do so to help bring about changes to the renovation list which was done and has resulted in the the current list.

Somewhat agree with "Let's be Civil" but things are always heated when there is not enough money. A recession/depression hits budgets hard. The School Board did what they could to keep the system working, certainly other decisions could have been made. Too much goes to what they call schools of high risk -- the pendulum must track back to those schools and districts that have been making due.

The Grange Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Louise Inepstein ---
>
> Wrong about Bradsher, she has been working with a
> group called SOAR since elected, something to do
> with West Springfield's renovation, they contacted
> us at Langley, apparently Bradsher told them to do
> so to help bring about changes to the renovation
> list which was done and has resulted in the the
> current list.
>

SOAR wasn't in existence when Bradsher was elected, and she still made a hash of things in her district because her top priority was getting South County Middle built, not getting West Springfield renovated.

Seriously, if her constituency thought she'd done well by them, she would have run again. Neither party had any interest in endorsing her, so she exited stage left.

Whatever else you think about Janie, she hasn't has a problem getting endorsed by at least one party. As someone noted, she didn't even have a challenger last time around.

I wouldn't call Lorenze an "amateur" - she ran a campaign for a US Senator ..why don't you focus on the issue at hand - Jane Strauss is not good for our kids and the taxpayers of FC and she needs to go. Anyone could do a better job than Strauss...

If each was a school principal I'd rather my kids go to one under Epstein. Strauss is good for protecting special programs and I don't mean special ed. Strauss votes for things that don't benefit her constituents financially [or FCPS as one school division].

Why? To trade votes for boundaries? I found this blog and one clown says Clifton should have had a special tax district-that concept should be applied to Silverbrook -Bradsher's main hood. Odd how space appeared at various places when Annandale had a change.

FCPS is a large school division and Strauss does crap for her constituents except for a fw in extra programs and the neighborhoods she keeps in Langley. Anyone else benefit from her work? How does she vote on county-wide issues? Most don't know.

Sherman and Longfellow both just got renovated, among other things. Langley is slated for renovation and no quid pro quo to close another of Janie's schools to make that happen.

Not sure there's that much difference in stated priorities of two candidates except that Epstein's snarkier.

www.janiestrauss.com

Read the Endorsements Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sherman and Longfellow both just got renovated,
> among other things. Langley is slated for
> renovation and no quid pro quo to close another of
> Janie's schools to make that happen.
>
> Not sure there's that much difference in stated
> priorities of two candidates except that Epstein's
> snarkier.
>
> www.janiestrauss.com

And those renovations would not have happened without Strauss? BS

Maybe they would have.

On the other hand, Sherman is about the same size as Clifton. It's been renovated and is open. Clifton is now closed, thanks to Liz Bradsher.

Having someone who knows how things work can be an advantage.

Read the Endorsements Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Maybe they would have.
>
> On the other hand, Sherman is about the same size
> as Clifton. It's been renovated and is open.
> Clifton is now closed, thanks to Liz Bradsher.
>
> Having someone who knows how things work can be an
> advantage.

Other board members like Strauss should have grown some ba11s and voted against closing Clifton. They all had mouths and votes. Bradsher should have been sputtering on that dais. Once Tisdadt had that water report it was a different ballgame. Large amounts of money spent to move those kids. I read Strauss's website. She can be warm and friendly and the Cappies are a good thing. But what are listed as achievements include lots of items that simply doing business as a school division.

Others reek of new and wonderful when the reality is she has been in a position to rectify much junk for 20 plus years.

When the teachers oppose the democrat, you know something's happening!

FEA also endorse Lolita Marchenck Smoak (R) and Steve Stuban (I).

FEA did not endorse Smith!

http://notlarrysabato.typepad.com/

D.M. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Janie Strauss lacks judgment! She is a long time
> board member of Country Day School, McLean, VA and
> she allowed for the exploitation of preschool
> children. Strauss condoned allowing the
> renovation company workers to dress up in costumes
> during Halloween 2010 and interact with the
> children (parent participation at the school has
> been limited in recent years by the head of
> school, who Strauss picked!). Really,
> construction workers dressed up and interacted
> with the kids---does this sound like good
> judgment? Would you want the laborers on the
> school grounds interacting with your children? Is
> this better than allowing the parents to engage
> their own children?
>
> The same renovation company sent treat bags home
> with each child--the bags bore the name of the
> renovation company and contained the company's
> brochures...the preschool children were used to
> ferry advertising materials home to parents. What
> did Strauss do when parents complained--nothing.
> Further, Strauss, knowing that the same renovation
> company performed work for other CDS Board
> Members, gave the renovation company a contract to
> do work for the school (Could this be pay back for
> giving the Board Members a great deal on their own
> home renovations?). The owner of the renovation
> company was in the parking lot directing traffic
> on the first day of school--Strauss clearly
> doesn't understand that the owner of the
> renovation company should not be immersed in the
> daily workings of the school...guess she doesn't
> mind padding his pockets and letting him get a
> little closer to the kids. More proof that
> Strauss didn't listen to parent complaints about
> strangers being allowed to be around the children
> at CDS!
>
> Do we really need this kind of irresponsible,
> unethical behavior in our public schools?

Wow. This is appalling. I would have a huge problem with all of this. So many conflicts of interest, but surely Janie Strauss benefits from it in so many ways.

How's Janie Strauss troublesome son doing these days? Was it drugs, or just general apathy/loserhood?

I mean, really, do we need to stoop to this level?

Strauss needs to defend her record-period.

1. She blindly supports Dale on all his harebrained ideas. The guy is a disaster-the SB should NEVER have approved his contract thru 2012. Janie supported him.

2. Strauss voted fpr Gatehouse II which would have taken $130 million AWAY from the renovations-if The BOS hadn't stepped in, it would have been approved and Langley's renovation would have been pushed back. Her support of GH II would have HURT Langley's renovation.

3. Strauss ignores Herndon and noone there should vote for her.

4. The class size in McLean and Langley is unacceptable. Strauss has let it happen and this alone is a reason to fire her.

5. The math and science curriculum is terrible and been going downhill for years. What has Janie done about this? NOTHING.

If Dranesville wants someone who will improve STEM, lower class size and bring transaparency to the budget process and FIRE Dale, then they should vote for Epstein.

Inept hardly describes a woman who is a Harvard Law graduate and has worked very hard to see her kids succeed both at TJ and on to MIT, CalTech and Rice.

Your suggestion that she lacks competency is absurd.

Me no understand this.

issues not attacks please Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I mean, really, do we need to stoop to this
> level?
>
> Strauss needs to defend her record-period.
>
> 1. She blindly supports Dale on all his
> harebrained ideas. The guy is a disaster-the SB
> should NEVER have approved his contract thru 2012.
> Janie supported him.
>
> 2. Strauss voted fpr Gatehouse II which would
> have taken $130 million AWAY from the
> renovations-if The BOS hadn't stepped in, it would
> have been approved and Langley's renovation would
> have been pushed back. Her support of GH II would
> have HURT Langley's renovation.
>
> 3. Strauss ignores Herndon and noone there should
> vote for her.
>
> 4. The class size in McLean and Langley is
> unacceptable. Strauss has let it happen and this
> alone is a reason to fire her.
>
> 5. The math and science curriculum is terrible
> and been going downhill for years. What has Janie
> done about this? NOTHING.
>
> If Dranesville wants someone who will improve
> STEM, lower class size and bring transaparency to
> the budget process and FIRE Dale, then they should
> vote for Epstein.
>
> Inept hardly describes a woman who is a Harvard
> Law graduate and has worked very hard to see her
> kids succeed both at TJ and on to MIT, CalTech and
> Rice.
>
Interesting post with good questions. Where does Louise Epstein stand on these issues?

Stated differently, why would a wealthy Harvard-trained lawyer who lives in McLean, with a husband who's a partner in a law firm and two daughters who attended TJ, care much about people in Herndon whose kids don't attend TJ?

To the extent life stories are relevant, Janie Strauss would seem to have far more empathy for special needs kids and others who haven't been raised by a Tiger Mom.

Would love some real answers about Epstein's positions that don't appear to have been written by a campaign manager who will take credit for their content as soon as they are released.

I'd also like to know what issues are important to the two candidates, and how they would pay for what they support.

From reading this thread, all I can tell is that (1) everything Janie takes credit for would have happened anyway, (2) Janie and Louise now claim to support the same initiatives, like reducing class sizes and the size of the FCPS bureaucracy, and (3) a lot of people don't like Catherine Lorenze, but she managed to get on the good side of the FEA.

Do they debate each other at some point?

Curious, But Confused Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'd also like to know what issues are important to
> the two candidates, and how they would pay for
> what they support.
>
> From reading this thread, all I can tell is that
> (1) everything Janie takes credit for would have
> happened anyway, (2) Janie and Louise now claim to
> support the same initiatives, like reducing class
> sizes and the size of the FCPS bureaucracy, and
> (3) a lot of people don't like Catherine Lorenze,
> but she managed to get on the good side of the
> FEA.
>
> Do they debate each other at some point?


just curious, or bi-curious? either way, met know.

Yes, you could argue that Epstein comes from a bubble of TJ and elite universities.

At the same time she understands how to push kids...ALL KIDS.

She is digusted by the dumbed down curriculum. Her record with FAIRGRADE and Restore Honors shows that she understands what is going on--particularly with math and science.

Just look at what Dale and this existing (Strauss) School Board has done to make it appear that the kids are doing great-

The disgusting abuse and overuse of VGLA-where jids are given an alternative assessment that has a 100% pass rate. So the kids---- who are SPED and ESL--don't tae the SOL and get an easy pass and SB members like Janie say "Look how great these kids are doing! We have eliminated the achievement gap".

My goodness, the like of Strauss will tear their rotator cuffs patting themselves on the back. It is all a lie. AND IT HURTS THE KIDS..not helps them.

The school looks like they are doing great because the kids no longer take the SOL-so the scores go up.

What SB member who genuinely cares about these kids would allow this to happen over the last 5 years?

Janie-would love to hear an explanation.

Louise would never allow Dale to play these games. She would demand that kids be evaluated honestly so we actually know how they are doing and what kind of supports they need.

Look no further then Hutchison Elem School:

3rd grade science pass rates for FRM students: 78%
5th grade science pass rates for FRM students: 44%

AND only 60% of FRM students even TOOK the science the SOL. The school requested a special waiver for 4 out of 10 high pverty students...why????

Because they knew they couldn't pass it? What is the point of that, Janie? To hide the truth from the public and the parents???

Don't parents WANT to know if there kid isn't doing well so they can get extra help?

Louise would not tolerate these games and she wouldn't lie to the public about eliminating the achievement gaps.

Fortunately the VA GA put an end to the overuse of VGLA and now schools like Hutchison are paying the piper.

In the period 2007-09, when they were having 23% of their students use VGLA instead of the SOL their scores shot up:

SPED pass rates went up 38 PERCENTAGE POINTS
ESL pass rates went up 36 PERCENTAGE POINTS

If this school was in Atlants or DC, with that kind of impossible statistical improvement in a short period of time, they would have been under investigation for cheating.

Now that VGLA is being phased out,look at the freefall at this school:

LEP Reading pass rate:

2008-09 92%
2010-11 77%

What happened, Janie????

Looks like that phantom closing of the achievement gap never existed-did it?

But you knew that all the time, didn't you?

Shame on you.

Oh, and how much did all these shenanigans cost the taxpayers?

Hutchison is a Title 1 schools due to its high FRM population.

Title 1 schools, if they do not make AYP, have to offer two things to their students:

1. Supplemental Educational Services (SES) or tutoring, and

2. School Choice-they get to transfer to a neighboring school that did make AYP and transportation is provided.

This is FEDERAL LAW.

But because FCPS played games and steered kids away from the SOLs to the VGLA so they could artificially inflate their pass rates, the school was able to make AYP in 2008-10.

If they didn't cheat with the test scores, then these kids, who desperately needed extra help were denied it.

Now someone please attempt to defend Janie Strauss on this topic. She sat on her hands and let this happen.

As a matter of fact, when asked by a reporter in 2009 what she thought about the high dropout rate for Latinos, this was her response:

"One question I'd like to ask is what does the economy have to do with this -- how many kids are having to work to help support their families?" said Fairfax school board member Jane Strauss.

Yep, that was Janie's answer to the problem.

Please do not suggest again that Janie has done anything to help these kids. Her record speaks for itself.

Janie vs Epstein Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, you could argue that Epstein comes from a
> bubble of TJ and elite universities.
>
> At the same time she understands how to push
> kids...ALL KIDS.
>

What facts support this assertion? The only kids she appears to have pushed were her own.

Interesting statistics on Hutchinson, but are you saying that Epstein would be even more focused on SOLs than current School Board members and administrators? If anything, most parents think standardized tests get too much attention already in our schools.

And, if we have to start paying to bus kids in high-FRL areas all over the county because their base schools didn't make AYP, won't that leave even less money to reduce class sizes and hire teachers who will be available to teach three levels of courses to students? Is Epstein going to us her own substantial wealth to find the money for all this?

Finally, still no answer as to whether, or when, Epstein will speak for herself rather than rely on others to speak for her.

It's like "change we can believe in" all over again.

Epstein's bio says she's the budget chair of the McLean HS PTA. Doesn't this mean she has a kid at McLean, not TJ?

Not that I want to let the facts get in the way here or anything, but thought I'd check anyway.

Louise Epstein's web page identifies her as the current head of the budget committee for the McLean HS PTSA. Interestingly, the McLean HS PTSA does not appear to be aware of this, since she's not listed as an officer or committee chair on its web site.

Her daughters, by the way, have all graduated from FCPS, so she's in the same situation as Janie Strauss (with no kids currently in FCPS).

One would think that, with an experienced "professional" like Catherine Lorenze at the helm, these types of glaring inaccuracies would not go uncorrected.