PARENT & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA

Randomly observed by smf

Fairfax County is neither inside nor outside the D.C. Beltway – it is a beltloop!

Fairfax County surrounds Washington D.C.* and Arlington, VA** – where Arne Duncan actually sends his kids to public school (though to a non-Title One school …so the U.S. Dept of Ed, NCLB and Race to Wherever are kept safely at bay).

That said Fairfax County Public Schools – activists from within whom 4LAKids regularly shares activism – is doing a bit of the old community outreach in a non-scientific poll of the school community. (Democracy is not a Science! Whether Political Science is a science is open to debate – Harvard awards a Masters of Arts in Poli Sci, MIT a Masters of Science

Take a look and see how they do it in FCPS:

Preparing our Children for the Future Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Dale invites employees, parents, and citizens to participate in an important conversation throughout the school year 2011-12. Please share your thoughts and ideas on this question: What is the most important thing Fairfax County Public Schools should do to move it forward to prepare our children for the future? http://fcps.uservoice.com/forums/126831-preparing-our-children-for-the-future Please share your idea by entering it into the box below. After submitting your idea, click the “Search” button. You’ll be able to assign your idea to a category and weight its value by placing votes. You can also vote and comment on existing ideas. Thank you for your participation! Please keep your comments limited to the forum topic. GO TO FCPS SURVEY

It’s probably cheating to actually take the poll (2653 miles isn’t close enough) – but the question becomes: “Why can’t we do this in LAUSD?” And the answer probably becomes: “Thank you, your time is up!”

Of course, if you’re Bill Gates or Eli Broad your time is never up. As Ronald Reagan said to George H.W. Bush: “I paid for this microphone!”

* - said by some to be the worst public school system in the nation.

** - said by Forbes in 2007 to be the best public school system in the nation.

*** - actually he borrowed the quote from the Spencer Tracy movie "State Of The Union."