This sort of piggy-backs the person who suggested that we are pushing our kids to be "too perfect." We are pushing them too hard, especially in Fairfax County. In my school, the IB degree is made to sound like the Holy Grail, but really, kids who don't do the IB degree will still go to college. Kids who don't over-burden themselves with 4 or 5 AP classes a year will still go to college. We are such a competitive group of parents, living in an overly-competitive environment, and pushing our kids to do way more than we ourselves ever did. My daughter's favorite truism: Sleep. Good grades. Social life. Pick 2 - welcome to high school.

Students of all ages need the opportunities to take academic and creative risks. When only the children who are getting straight A's are able to get into "the right college" then students are forced to aim for the "right answer" rather than the creative answer, or the risky answer. Prepare our children for the future? Then prepare them to handle the fact that systems are changing, and only those who can change and roll with it, will be successful in life, and will successfully take positions of leadership.
Include programs in schools that allow students to take creative academic risks, in ways that do not blot their permanent record with grades that hold them back. For example: start a writing course out with a pre-written essay that is C work. Hand the essay out, and have each kid edit it, with their grade not based on perfect grammar, but on trying something new and different. The kid who can take the average story, and turn it into something far from average, could get a good grade. Then the kids trade papers again, and are given some kind of real life situation, and must edit the story to fit the requirements of the new situation.

These are just examples. The point is, curriculum does not have to only be about cramming the kids full of information, and then grading them well, if they can prove they've heard it clearly, and can clearly regurgitate it. Creativity and insight can also be rewarded.

Health is critical to the learning process. Our high school start times are too early and place our students at risk and at a disadvantage to other students in Virginia. 71 of 95 districts have start times of 8 a.m. or later and provide a schedule that is in sync with student body clocks. Fairfax has our teens doing the equivalent of "shift work" for 4-6 years (some 7th and 8th grade start times also are too early). FCPS was making progress toward solving this long-standing problem and needs to get back to work. The science is clear. Students do sleep more when school start times align with their body clocks. Sleep is a vital necessity for growth, development, health, mental health and learning. Research shows other benefits as well: Depression and car accidents among teens are much lower with healthy bell schedules.

If the land under Oakton HS were sold to developers for rezoning as transit-oriented high density residences with a separate entrance to the Vienna Metro station and the relocated driving range acting as a buffer to the existing housing, I am sure the sale price would be high enough to have two new high schools built - a new Oakton HS on the grounds of the Oak Marr Golf Driving Range as well as a new High School located next to Rachel Carson MS. If the new HS were placed there, there would no longer be a need for 13 trailers at Oakton HS, 17 trailers at Westfields HS, Chantilly HS as well as Herndon HS. This new construction would position FCPS well for the next 50 years with the creative financing your website requested.

On a highway in morning/evening rush hour, the probability of encountering a vehicle larger than a school bus, weighing more than a fully loaded school bus, going faster than a school bus is greater on an interstate highway than a US route or local street.

As a mother with a Masters Degree in Applied Physics, I can assure you if a school bus with students not buckled into the seats were to collide with a fast-moving truck, the students would bounce around like ping-pong *****.

It would be safer to avoid interstates just to stay further away from bigger, faster vehicles.

It is worth the cost (time & money) for a longer drive avoiding an interstate.

SFCPS can decide to purchase a bus with seat belts (and make the kids buckle up) if FCPS really wants to use an interstate highway.

Let them earn whatever grade they deserve in K-12. They either have maturity and motivation or they don't. Hand holding them just delays their growth. They must want to acheive and do the work. For many kids this will only occur when they leave high school and can't make it in the world. That's why we have GED and community college! Let's eliminate all the things that are cluttering up our schools such as mandatory community service, AP and IB, and electives. School should be about learning the basics and learning should be fun. Get rid of the focus on testing and grades as the be-all, end all. The schools are trying to get 100% out of every student and turn them into college material when they may not be interested. Do what the successful nations do which is spend money and time on the best students. With the right motivation, most kids could become good students so some attempts at motivation are in order, but it shouldn't be the main goal of our school system to focus on students who are showing the least aptitude or motivation. One idea: How about a block system where two related subjects are taught per quarter? English/Composition, Math/Science, History/Government for example. This would allow for total concentration and time for in-depth instruction and projects.

Having recently transferring into FCPS, I was shocked at the huge class sizes in this district. Thirty students in one class is simply unacceptable. (My largest class in my previous school was twenty) In order to continue to boost student achievement and improve futures for our students, we should reduce the average class size by at least ten students. It has been scientifically proven that students learn more in classes with twenty or fewer students. In addition, with smaller class sizes, teachers can spend more time teaching instead of disciplining. Fairfax County Public Schools is a great school district... let's make it a better place to learn by reducing our class sizes as soon as possible.

Thank you,
An FCPS Student