Roberto Clemente Middle School. Present, past, prospective parents, please provide perspective.

Anonymous
Past and Present parents -

How does this program compare to the SMACS program in TP and the Humanities program at Eastern? Even though it is supposed to be the same across the 3 magnet MS, there seems to be other things that are being impacted - because of the whole school MYP being implemented in RC.

I like the fact that they may start foreign language earlier because of MYP. However there was no conversation about how much extra time would the students require to fulfill the MYP requirement in addition to magnet and MCPS requirements. If no additional time is being allocated then what has been cut from the magnet program to accommodate this change?

Could Health be taken over the summer? Is the school administration committed to support the magnet program and the magnet students?
Anonymous
Yes, Health can be taken over the summer.
Anonymous
If I were you, I would ask the Roberto Clemente program coordinator these questions. He's the one who knows the answers. Plus I doubt that there are many parents with experience of the magnet at Roberto Clemente who also have experience with the magnet at Takoma Park and/or the magnet at Eastern.

Anonymous
RCMS magnet was pretty good for our D (current senior). I thought it prepped her well for magnet program at high school level. Can't really compare with TP/Eastern bc I don't know those two programs well enough. As for the admin support, the current P (Ms. Barkeley (sp?)) came in when D was starting 8th grade. I remember the new principal tried to make changes to magnet that a lot of students and teachers didn't like. I think she was trying to mainstream magnet programs with regular kids... We were glad to get out. I don't know how things changed after that. But for the magnet, D really enjoyed it - rigor, friends, teachers...etc. It was a hard but excellent for kids who can handle.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:RCMS magnet was pretty good for our D (current senior). I thought it prepped her well for magnet program at high school level. Can't really compare with TP/Eastern bc I don't know those two programs well enough. As for the admin support, the current P (Ms. Barkeley (sp?)) came in when D was starting 8th grade. I remember the new principal tried to make changes to magnet that a lot of students and teachers didn't like. I think she was trying to mainstream magnet programs with regular kids... We were glad to get out. I don't know how things changed after that. But for the magnet, D really enjoyed it - rigor, friends, teachers...etc. It was a hard but excellent for kids who can handle.


You are not the only parent who has expressed this statement, and that is concerning me. I am very glad to hear that your DD was well prepared for the Magnet HS. I have heard from others that RCMS is the weakest link in the HGC, Magnet MS, Magnet HS chain. I do not know if that sentiment is stemming from how people feel about the Principal or even 2.0 rather than the program itself?

I can dismiss an indifferent school administration as long as the academic integrity and rigor of the magnet program remains intact and teachers and students are inspired. Can some current parents share their experiences?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:RCMS magnet was pretty good for our D (current senior). I thought it prepped her well for magnet program at high school level. Can't really compare with TP/Eastern bc I don't know those two programs well enough. As for the admin support, the current P (Ms. Barkeley (sp?)) came in when D was starting 8th grade. I remember the new principal tried to make changes to magnet that a lot of students and teachers didn't like. I think she was trying to mainstream magnet programs with regular kids... We were glad to get out. I don't know how things changed after that. But for the magnet, D really enjoyed it - rigor, friends, teachers...etc. It was a hard but excellent for kids who can handle.


You are not the only parent who has expressed this statement, and that is concerning me. I am very glad to hear that your DD was well prepared for the Magnet HS. I have heard from others that RCMS is the weakest link in the HGC, Magnet MS, Magnet HS chain. I do not know if that sentiment is stemming from how people feel about the Principal or even 2.0 rather than the program itself?

I can dismiss an indifferent school administration as long as the academic integrity and rigor of the magnet program remains intact and teachers and students are inspired. Can some current parents share their experiences?


Or it might be how some people feel about the non-magnet students at Roberto Clemente Middle School. I know people who did not let their children apply to the magnet program because they thought that the non-magnet students were too dangerous. I did not share this opinion.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:RCMS magnet was pretty good for our D (current senior). I thought it prepped her well for magnet program at high school level. Can't really compare with TP/Eastern bc I don't know those two programs well enough. As for the admin support, the current P (Ms. Barkeley (sp?)) came in when D was starting 8th grade. I remember the new principal tried to make changes to magnet that a lot of students and teachers didn't like. I think she was trying to mainstream magnet programs with regular kids... We were glad to get out. I don't know how things changed after that. But for the magnet, D really enjoyed it - rigor, friends, teachers...etc. It was a hard but excellent for kids who can handle.


You are not the only parent who has expressed this statement, and that is concerning me. I am very glad to hear that your DD was well prepared for the Magnet HS. I have heard from others that RCMS is the weakest link in the HGC, Magnet MS, Magnet HS chain. I do not know if that sentiment is stemming from how people feel about the Principal or even 2.0 rather than the program itself?

I can dismiss an indifferent school administration as long as the academic integrity and rigor of the magnet program remains intact and teachers and students are inspired. Can some current parents share their experiences?


Or it might be how some people feel about the non-magnet students at Roberto Clemente Middle School . I know people who did not let their children apply to the magnet program because they thought that the non-magnet students were too dangerous. I did not share this opinion.


7:31 here - As far as I know, D and her friends never had an issue with non program kids. I don't know how much has changed since then but those two groups of kids were not in the same classes most of time. It's exactly the same way at high school level.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:RCMS magnet was pretty good for our D (current senior). I thought it prepped her well for magnet program at high school level. Can't really compare with TP/Eastern bc I don't know those two programs well enough. As for the admin support, the current P (Ms. Barkeley (sp?)) came in when D was starting 8th grade. I remember the new principal tried to make changes to magnet that a lot of students and teachers didn't like. I think she was trying to mainstream magnet programs with regular kids... We were glad to get out. I don't know how things changed after that. But for the magnet, D really enjoyed it - rigor, friends, teachers...etc. It was a hard but excellent for kids who can handle.


You are not the only parent who has expressed this statement, and that is concerning me. I am very glad to hear that your DD was well prepared for the Magnet HS. I have heard from others that RCMS is the weakest link in the HGC, Magnet MS, Magnet HS chain. I do not know if that sentiment is stemming from how people feel about the Principal or even 2.0 rather than the program itself?

I can dismiss an indifferent school administration as long as the academic integrity and rigor of the magnet program remains intact and teachers and students are inspired. Can some current parents share their experiences?


PP here - I think indifferent admin (or hands-off) is exactly what you need to have for magnets. See PHS and RM examples - Ms. Bradshaw and Ms. Hoover run the programs with very little oversight from the main office. The problem with RCMS was (again my reference is 3 years old at this point) the new P was too "hands-on" getting into magnet businesses that she really didn't know much about. You know, it's like new boss coming in and saying "this is the way we are going to do it from now on." Some students, teachers, and parents also thought there's some resentment towards magnet programs based on make-up of magnet vs regular kids.

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

Or it might be how some people feel about the non-magnet students at Roberto Clemente Middle School . I know people who did not let their children apply to the magnet program because they thought that the non-magnet students were too dangerous. I did not share this opinion.


7:31 here - As far as I know, D and her friends never had an issue with non program kids. I don't know how much has changed since then but those two groups of kids were not in the same classes most of time. It's exactly the same way at high school level.


Right -- I think it's a parental preconception, rather than reality.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

Or it might be how some people feel about the non-magnet students at Roberto Clemente Middle School . I know people who did not let their children apply to the magnet program because they thought that the non-magnet students were too dangerous. I did not share this opinion.


7:31 here - As far as I know, D and her friends never had an issue with non program kids. I don't know how much has changed since then but those two groups of kids were not in the same classes most of time. It's exactly the same way at high school level.


Right -- I think it's a parental preconception, rather than reality.


I actually think it is a very good thing that Magnet kids get to interact with non-Magnet kids. It takes them out from the "bubble" and allows them the normal interaction of the real world.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

Or it might be how some people feel about the non-magnet students at Roberto Clemente Middle School . I know people who did not let their children apply to the magnet program because they thought that the non-magnet students were too dangerous. I did not share this opinion.


7:31 here - As far as I know, D and her friends never had an issue with non program kids. I don't know how much has changed since then but those two groups of kids were not in the same classes most of time. It's exactly the same way at high school level.


Right -- I think it's a parental preconception, rather than reality.


I actually think it is a very good thing that Magnet kids get to interact with non-Magnet kids. It takes them out from the "bubble" and allows them the normal interaction of the real world.


Yes I agree. That's the reason I like MoCo's magnet set-up better than whole school magnet concept like TJ FCPS.
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