Comments on Our Loudoun Schools: 2010 Begins, and feels crowded

Profe, more of you disaffected teachers need to st...

2010-01-15T23:03:28.329-05:00

Profe, more of you disaffected teachers need to start sending these types of problems to the Supervisors. Your School Board apparently likes things just the way they are, seeing that they just extended Hatrick's contract for four more years. Give the Sups some real ammunition to starighten things out.

Anonymous who is up in arms about the 1% cola shou...

2010-01-15T18:56:12.346-05:00

Anonymous who is up in arms about the 1% cola should be more upset about the millions spent to employ mostly foreigners ( who go back home after 3 years) to teach FLES and SAMs. Those teachers do not even have to grade papers or write lessons.

I easily spend close to that whopping 1% of my salary on school materials each year.

Profe

I used to be a fan of Hatrick but not anymore. Cut...

2010-01-15T18:43:30.110-05:00

I used to be a fan of Hatrick but not anymore. Cutting teacher positions before central office jobs makes no sense to me. I've been teaching for 12 years in Loudoun and I can tell you that I don't need anyone up there to teach children.

Profe

I urge you and your Board members to look closely ...

2010-01-15T10:50:35.099-05:00

I urge you and your Board members to look closely at proposed budget. I for one am tired of the teacher salary comparisons Hatrick makes. It does not tell the whole story. Teachers do a great job at LCPS, but to say they are being short changed relative to the likes of Fairfax County is purposefully misleading.

For example, LCPS pays 9%, yes 9% of the teachers salary per year for

Anon at 11:13: The problems with having students e...

2010-01-12T18:53:16.261-05:00

Anon at 11:13:
The problems with having students eat in the classroom are many. By law, teachers receive a duty free lunch. Since there is no teacher to monitor the students eating in the classroom, who will do this? Hire more people? Ask for volunteers? What do you do when a student has a spill--and in elementary school there are plenty of these. Purchase a bucket and mop for each

I think adding on to existing schools where it mak...

2010-01-11T11:13:36.700-05:00

I think adding on to existing schools where it makes sense is the way to go. At my kids' elementary school, a few more classrooms would make a big difference. Class sizes are already 26-28 kids and there isn't physical room enough to add more kids per class. But an addition with even just a few more rooms would help stave off an otherwise unavoidable boundary redrawing (which would impact

"It's going to take some innovation to ge...

2010-01-10T18:37:25.984-05:00

"It's going to take some innovation to get through it, ways to increase the number of classrooms without building new schools..."

Roll in the trailers. Build some modular additions. It ain't rocket science! The School Board got themselves into this mess by building undersized schools and demanding too much money be spent on operations - which the BOS gladly agreed

Congratulations on your election to Chairman!

2010-01-08T16:39:46.085-05:00

Congratulations on your election to Chairman!

John, you are to be commended for having this blog...

2010-01-08T12:44:23.214-05:00

John, you are to be commended for having this blog as a forum to hear from constituents and employees, and for taking the slings and arrows of folks like me.

That said, can you reconsider your vote to extend Hatrick for four more years, and maybe try to wrk a deal for Jack Dale or someone like him?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/07/

John, I too congratulate you on your chairmanship....

2010-01-07T10:39:36.329-05:00

John, I too congratulate you on your chairmanship. I believe you will serve well in that role.

The challenges before the School Board and Supervisors are great and varied. It will take strong problem solving and tough decision making to resolve the CIP during these economic conditions. It will also take citizens taking the time to become informed about the current budget difficulties

Congratulations on your election as Board Chairman...

2010-01-06T18:19:13.382-05:00

Congratulations on your election as Board Chairman.

Congratulations. But too bad you voted to extend ...

2010-01-06T16:02:32.157-05:00

Congratulations. But too bad you voted to extend Hatrick's contract so soon. That must be so uplifting for all the rank and file facing layoffs and reductions. And what's with approving a contract before the salary has been decided on? Trouble trying to justify a raise?

Sorry to rain on your parade there a bit, but hopefully you will show more independence than the last

A little birdy told me that you are now Chair. Con...

2010-01-06T11:08:19.629-05:00

A little birdy told me that you are now Chair. Congratulations!

Online learning is a great idea (my dad is head of on-line learning at NYU-Poly), as is consolidation of sports fields (nearby schools sharing fields); adapting the school design to be multi-story; adding more multi-use rooms (some specialized classrooms are unused during parts of the day at schools I've seen); and a