Race relations are at the center of political discussions these days and that is no less true than in our little city of Falls Church, Virginia.  Signs stating  “Black Lives Matter”, “Love is Love”, and “Diversity is Caring”  have cropped up all over the city as people make visual statements about their views on these stirring issues of the day.  Divisions run deep as the community debates and considers a proposal, in public meetings and comments to the school board, to strip our high school of its name.  Community members feel strongly that it is inappropriate to have George Mason, a slave owner himself beRead More →

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The FCCPS School Board convened this past Tuesday, January 10, to reorganize as it does every January. Lawrence Webb was voted in as Chair.  All members present voted for Mr. Webb with the exception of John Lawrence, who abstained. He offered no explanation. Phil Reitinger was unanimously voted in as Vice Chair. They did not choose advisory committee liaisons as former-chair Justin Castillo suggested; it is the tradition that the Vice Chair weigh in on those choices and by waiting, the incoming vice-chair Phil Reitinger will be afforded the opportunity to do so. They moved on to the budget work for the upcoming year. The principals of ourRead More →

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SOL performance comparisons between FCCPS and other school districts have little to do with how well our teachers teach, how well our administrators administer, or how well our school board supervises the superintendent. The comparisons simply reflect what we already know: that the City of Falls Church is a very small municipality where the vast majority of its residents are at the upper end of the socioeconomic scale. The key to understanding this reality is simple and supported by countless studies conducted over the past 50 plus years – children who come from economically disadvantaged households generally perform poorer than classmates who do not. Accordingly,Read More →

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Student body demographic composition, especially with respect to economically disadvantaged students, is the single greatest driver of costs and student performance.  This should be noted when you look at the demographic data for Falls Church City Public Schools for the recent past school year.  This data is provided by FCCPS to the state each year.  Whatever comparisons are made need to take this critical factor into account. — http://bi.vita.virginia.gov/doe_bi/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=Main&subRptName=FallmembershipRead More →

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