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I though Fairfax County was supposed to be a pretty good school system.

I'm surprised that only 30 percent of households send their children to its schools.

One way to get around the whole thing is to write a note to the district telling them your child doesn't participate in any survey unless you see it. If they tell you to come down to the school and see it, tell them to mail it to you and that you are not obligated to go down to the school. Then tell them again that your child does not participate in any survey that you haven't seen first.

I'm surprised that only 30 percent of households send their children to its schools.

That's because the majority of households do not have school aged children. Here are some stats from the proposed school budget for next year:

Population 1,000,000

Households 358,149

Percent of families with incomes over $100,000 49.5%

High School Graduates 92.0%

Persons speaking a language other than English at home 30.7%

Households with computers with internet access (2000) 79.0%

Persons without health insurance (2000) 8.2%

"Fairfax County Demographics Fairfax County comprises 407 square miles of suburban countryside, just southwest of the nation’s capital... with a population of one million, making Fairfax County larger than the population of seven states. Nearly twenty-nine percent of the population is under 20 years of age, while 18 percent is 55 years of age or older. Fairfax County ranks number one in the nation in the percentage of workers in executive, administrative, and managerial positions, with over 56.2 percent of all residents over 25 having at least a four-year college degree. Fairfax County is one of the most affluent counties in the nation, with a median household income of $84,700, and a median family income of $99,100 in 2001. ... In 2000, 64.4 percent of the population was white (non-Hispanic).... Asians are the second largest segment of the population, comprising 13.0 percent of the population, followed by Hispanics at 11.0 percent, blacks (non-Hispanic) at 8.4 percent, and others at 3.2 percent. Of the total Fairfax County population in 1998, over 30 percent of those over the age of five speak a language other than English at home. This diversity is mirrored in the Fairfax County Public Schools where over 100 native languages are represented among the students enrolled."

One way to get around the whole thing is to write a note to the district telling them your child doesn't participate in any survey unless you see it. If they tell you to come down to the school and see it, tell them to mail it to you and that you are not obligated to go down to the school. Then tell them again that your child does not participate in any survey that you haven't seen first.

That's one option. Frankly, I like the earlier suggestion of having students name elected Democrat officials as their sex partners. Leave the printed questions blank, then write in the margins that ... ah, the mind wanders.