Fluvanna County School Board Forum

hard to believe for me that we spend 62% of the counties total budget for education. don't know why the comment was made about growth. that is no surprise to any of us and we have had years and years and years to come up with a plan. we have never planned for potential growth, we have only tried to catch up with the growth already here. we waste too much money in the system, bottom line. and furthermore just because we spend bundles of money on educating our children doesn't mean they leave fchs with a good education. i hope the board members get their ducks in a row and do what has needed to be done for so long......accountability for all. whats up with running a buss back to school with one student because a parent is not at the bus stop? shouldn't the parent be charged for for the cost? i am sure its not cheap to fill a bus with gas.

forgot to add the question........do the bus drivers get paid extra for returning these students to school or for their time waiting for a parent to arrive or for driving around or doubling back for these students? seems to me we need to hold the parents accountable here too, it happens too often on my block. lots of money too.

No excuse for the waste in this school system Largest employer in the county, sorriest managed as well. Shouldn't worry about bringing one kid back to school when all the bus mechanics have a vehicle and gas provided.

i will be there wrote:

hard to believe for me that we spend 62% of the counties total budget for education. don't know why the comment was made about growth. that is no surprise to any of us and we have had years and years and years to come up with a plan. we have never planned for potential growth, we have only tried to catch up with the growth already here. we waste too much money in the system, bottom line. and furthermore just because we spend bundles of money on educating our children doesn't mean they leave fchs with a good education. i hope the board members get their ducks in a row and do what has needed to be done for so long......accountability for all. whats up with running a buss back to school with one student because a parent is not at the bus stop? shouldn't the parent be charged for for the cost? i am sure its not cheap to fill a bus with gas.

Yeah! Bundles of money! And what do we get for it? Oh yeah! Our kids consistently score above the state average on SOL tests in almost every grade. Our SAT scores are well above both the state and national average. I guess it must be because of all those bundles of money we are wasting... Oh yeah, our per student spending has been in the bottom 30% of Va. school systems for nearly 10 years running........ OK, but still, 62% of the county budget going toward the schools? Oh yeah, it used to be over 70%.... Still, I guess you could complain that the school system was negligent in not abandoning a kid unsupervised at the bus stop a parent failed to get to, couldn't you? Oh yeah, taking care of children is the opposite of negligence and the driver could have even saved the county a huge sum of money by avoiding a costly lawsuit if they had abandoned the child.....

Wouldn't it be wonderful if everything in government was as broken as the Fluvanna school system?

common sense wrote:

No excuse for the waste in this school system Largest employer in the county, sorriest managed as well. Shouldn't worry about bringing one kid back to school when all the bus mechanics have a vehicle and gas provided.

Yeah! Talk about waste and sorry management! You are absolutely right that they could have sent a bus mechanic and a car out to take the kid home. That driver should have just sat there collecting overtime until the mechanic drove a fuel efficent car out there to sit with the kid on overtime until the parent arrived, or driven the kid back to school. For the cost of paying two people overtime they could have easily saved the cost of 2, maybe 3 gallons of gas! What kind of idiots do they have running the Fluvanna schools when they won't spend $20 to save $7.50 in fuel costs?

No wonder the taxpayers of Fluvanna are outraged at this mismanagement! Thank goodness we finally have the Fluvanna Taxpayers Association to help us hold these public officials accountable that have helped keep our property taxes less than half of what our neighbors in Albemarele pay for a similar home!

Clearly these incumbents have some explaining to do! The sad part is that so many of their challengers are so busy shouting about accountabliity that they won't hear the leaders of Fluvanna explain how they have been providing it so well.

Thank you Cactus Joe for pointing out that Fluvanna's schools are actually run quite well, and doing an exceptional job on a very tight budget.

After listening to these challengers bash the school system I can only say that Philips and Johnson are solutions in search of a problem!

Somehow they see the fact that Fluvanna is outscoring the majority of the schools in Virginia with far less resources as poor management, to be fixed by tightening budgets and holding people accountable. In any private company doing what Fluvanna's schools do, accountability would take the form of bonuses, and well deserved ones!

I hope Fluvanna wakes up and re-elects Vivian Leach and R.J. Searcy, the two incumbents who deserve their fair share of the credit for the strides Fluvanna schools have made during their tenure.

Ok then there is a serious problem here in the state when we spend more per student in the public schools than it costs for private school education?
We are not in the bottom 30% either and you might want to do your homework on test scores. I mean seriously, you must have gone to school there if you think it is OK for the superintendent to make more than the Governor. And by the way 2-3 gallons wouldn't hardly get that bus around JEfferson drive one lap.
Seriously, the second most expensive high school in the state and that doesn't include the furniture. You should run for supervisor, better yet just sit and wait for your check to hit the mailbox every month.

Cactus Joe wrote:

<quoted text>
Yeah! Bundles of money! And what do we get for it? Oh yeah! Our kids consistently score above the state average on SOL tests in almost every grade. Our SAT scores are well above both the state and national average. I guess it must be because of all those bundles of money we are wasting... Oh yeah, our per student spending has been in the bottom 30% of Va. school systems for nearly 10 years running........ OK, but still, 62% of the county budget going toward the schools? Oh yeah, it used to be over 70%.... Still, I guess you could complain that the school system was negligent in not abandoning a kid unsupervised at the bus stop a parent failed to get to, couldn't you? Oh yeah, taking care of children is the opposite of negligence and the driver could have even saved the county a huge sum of money by avoiding a costly lawsuit if they had abandoned the child.....
Wouldn't it be wonderful if everything in government was as broken as the Fluvanna school system?

are you sure you got all of your facts straight? all 3 elementary schools did not make ayp. check for yourself www.doe.virginia.gov . check the 5 schools individually. do you feel with these figures you are getting a bang for you tax buck? i don't. as for the comment concerning accountability for parents. maybe the school system should be making some calls to social services for child neglect. transporting these students are costing us all lots of money. and by the way while we are on the subject of accountability incidents that happen in albermarle are well reported in the media. fluvanna somehow gets things brushed aside and the public never hears about it. if you would keep your mouth shut unless you have your facts straight and your eyes and ears open you may learn something. our children would benefit from it with a better education at a less cost to the taxpayers.

Cactus Joe wrote:

<quoted text>
Yeah! Bundles of money! And what do we get for it? Oh yeah! Our kids consistently score above the state average on SOL tests in almost every grade. Our SAT scores are well above both the state and national average. I guess it must be because of all those bundles of money we are wasting... Oh yeah, our per student spending has been in the bottom 30% of Va. school systems for nearly 10 years running........ OK, but still, 62% of the county budget going toward the schools? Oh yeah, it used to be over 70%.... Still, I guess you could complain that the school system was negligent in not abandoning a kid unsupervised at the bus stop a parent failed to get to, couldn't you? Oh yeah, taking care of children is the opposite of negligence and the driver could have even saved the county a huge sum of money by avoiding a costly lawsuit if they had abandoned the child.....
Wouldn't it be wonderful if everything in government was as broken as the Fluvanna school system?

You are and idiot and so is everybody else in fluvana, especialy the dum kids comin out of those sorry schools! The schools are the worst in the entire state. I should know, I just moved here and I am apaled by the outragus taxes and cost of that mega school! In California, where they know how to run schools, they teach effecently with 40 kids in most classes. If the sorry teachers in Fluvanna cant handle that, fire them and hire someone compitant. You can run the schools with half the teachers and give us the tax break we deserve!

Thanks Steve,
Cactus Joe is probably one of our inept supervisors who purposefully spin theissues to avoid the real facts.

Laura wrote:
Ha! In Fluvanna, they want to replace the school board because a bus diver DIDN'T leave a kid alone at a bus stop and brought them back to school!

the above is a comment that came in response to the story of a 5 yr. old in northern va who was put off at a wrong bus stop. the child should have stayed in after school.
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your quote is not true. no one wants to replace the school board because a bus driver DIDN'T leave a kid alone at a bus stop and brought them back to school. have you lost your mind stating this?

all the tax payers who care about where their money is being spent are saying is that a parent should pay the cost of the drivers time, the gas cost and the cost for afterschool care if they do not want their children dismissed off the bus without their presence and they are nowhere to be found. my friends bus driver automatically returns children after his last drop off when parents are not present to get their children. it is not fair to other children who are still on the bus or parents waiting at other stops for busses who are sitting and waiting for parents to arrive at their leisure. the drivers should continue with their routes and at the end return the children to school at the parents expense. from what my neighbor told me the school have to call parents every afternoon asking where they are. i feel sorry for these children.

Steve wrote:

<quoted text>
You are and idiot and so is everybody else in fluvana, especialy the dum kids comin out of those sorry schools! The schools are the worst in the entire state. I should know, I just moved here and I am apaled by the outragus taxes and cost of that mega school! In California, where they know how to run schools, they teach effecently with 40 kids in most classes. If the sorry teachers in Fluvanna cant handle that, fire them and hire someone compitant. You can run the schools with half the teachers and give us the tax break we deserve!

Steve is a patriot who understands the deep mismanagement of Fluvanna schools. For the high taxes we are paying, we deserve more than pathtic test scores! The time has come for real change, and responsiveness to the taxpayers rather then the overpaid fatcats in our school system. Lets vote to replace Searcy and the aptly named Leach in November!

Fluvanna schools are great if you dont mind paying the highest taxes in Virginia for schools that turn out nothing but morons. If you check, you will find that Fluvanna's scores are the 3rd worst in the state, despite having the highest paid teachers.

Lets vote to send the Pelosi/Searcy/Leach team back to whatever money grubbing liberal sewer they crawled out of and take back our schools before they destroy the lives of any more of our children! Vote for Doug Johnson and Brian Phillips for experienced educational leadership!

Fluvanna Conservative wrote:

Fluvanna schools are great if you dont mind paying the highest taxes in Virginia for schools that turn out nothing but morons. If you check, you will find that Fluvanna's scores are the 3rd worst in the state, despite having the highest paid teachers.
Lets vote to send the Pelosi/Searcy/Leach team back to whatever money grubbing liberal sewer they crawled out of and take back our schools before they destroy the lives of any more of our children! Vote for Doug Johnson and Brian Phillips for experienced educational leadership!

That's why I live in Charlottesville! Fluvanna's taxes were already too high and I heard they tripled to pay for that new high school with the olympic pool and the tennis complex. I hope you run those pirates out of office!

get real wrote:

Laura wrote:
Ha! In Fluvanna, they want to replace the school board because a bus diver DIDN'T leave a kid alone at a bus stop and brought them back to school!
the above is a comment that came in response to the story of a 5 yr. old in northern va who was put off at a wrong bus stop. the child should have stayed in after school.
----------
your quote is not true. no one wants to replace the school board because a bus driver DIDN'T leave a kid alone at a bus stop and brought them back to school. have you lost your mind stating this?
all the tax payers who care about where their money is being spent are saying is that a parent should pay the cost of the drivers time, the gas cost and the cost for afterschool care if they do not want their children dismissed off the bus without their presence and they are nowhere to be found. my friends bus driver automatically returns children after his last drop off when parents are not present to get their children. it is not fair to other children who are still on the bus or parents waiting at other stops for busses who are sitting and waiting for parents to arrive at their leisure. the drivers should continue with their routes and at the end return the children to school at the parents expense. from what my neighbor told me the school have to call parents every afternoon asking where they are. i feel sorry for these children.

So you want to replace your board because a parent isn't made to pay for not being at a bus stop? SPOT THE LOONEY!

The Larch wrote:

<quoted text>
So you want to replace your board because a parent isn't made to pay for not being at a bus stop? SPOT THE LOONEY!

didn't say replace the school board for that reason......don't misquote me.

Ummmm. Actually, our schools are really good, except they are way too overcrowded. They are finally building a new school, but the 2 guys running to replace school board members were both against it.

Our teachers really care, and Dr. Smith seems like he always shows up at stuff to support us too.

Oh yeah, and Steve, before you call us "dum" kids, maybe you should learn to spell before you start telling people how to run schools. Our SATs were better than the state or national average too, so I dont know how we are such bad students.

I hope a new school board will do something about the excessive homework these lazy teachers force on our poor children. Why should I have to teach my kids? Isn't that what we pay these people for? Sometimes they have a half hour of homework because the teachers just dont want to teach.

Student wrote:

Ummmm. Actually, our schools are really good, except they are way too overcrowded. They are finally building a new school, but the 2 guys running to replace school board members were both against it.
Our teachers really care, and Dr. Smith seems like he always shows up at stuff to support us too.

What would a kid know? Probably brainwashed by the greed of the teachers.