7/24 BOE meeting thread

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I am assuming the new STEM program will get nothing like the current SMCS with all the electives and functions and research projects? Will it just be more like the academy style system with a few extra classes?

Aren't there like 15 different math and science classes at Blair? It's not really necessary to have that many in every school, or even at Blair, is it? Which are the ones that are really important?

My DC who is Blair alum took every single math and physics electives, plus quite a few computer science, and some chemistry and biology electives. I'm sure there are students who did vice versa. (These electives are not all offered every semester or every year. Some are offered one semester per year. Some are offered every other year etc.) But the point is, they are almost all valuable.

You are lucky. We have no science ap classes, no math after bc and one engineering class and only a few cs classes. If they are all valuable shouldn’t all our kids get them too?

What MCPS high school offers no science AP classes? I call BS.

I have read complaints about Einstein's science offerings here on DCUM. No personal exp

Here are Einstein's course offerings, with its multiple science offerings included: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ahQmKa3acSRnJPnTI4UnQ23eQj5GXYUFaBQio0PtgfI/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.rxptk27zv005

DP. Are thise held every year, or only when enough students sign up/qualify? If the latter, how often is that in recent years?

The non ib in every year. Not sure about the ib. The ib don’t start till 11th so ap for 9-10 at a minimum. Two science teachers left last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The earlier PP doesn't like the IB science courses that Einstein has, and posts about it incessantly.

In are different. Some are two periods. Why not offer both?

If you don't like IB, don't go to an IB school. It would be nuts to expect schools to offer a full sale of both IB and AP classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The earlier PP doesn't like the IB science courses that Einstein has, and posts about it incessantly.

In are different. Some are two periods. Why not offer both?

If you don't like IB, don't go to an IB school. It would be nuts to expect schools to offer a full sale of both IB and AP classes.

Ok, so if the school is ib and that’s the assigned school what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The earlier PP doesn't like the IB science courses that Einstein has, and posts about it incessantly.

In are different. Some are two periods. Why not offer both?

If you don't like IB, don't go to an IB school. It would be nuts to expect schools to offer a full sale of both IB and AP classes.

Exactly. Einstein used to attempt this in science, but it didn't work because there wasn't a cohort large enough to hold both classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The earlier PP doesn't like the IB science courses that Einstein has, and posts about it incessantly.

In are different. Some are two periods. Why not offer both?

If you don't like IB, don't go to an IB school. It would be nuts to expect schools to offer a full sale of both IB and AP classes.

Ok, so if the school is ib and that’s the assigned school what?

There's a zillion programs you can apply to at other schools now and there will be even more once these new regional programs are added.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I have a child who would be the inaugural class of this change, and the change looks reasonable to me.

Change is hard, but there have long been more kids capable of doing magnet-level work than spots available. Creating new, diverse, regions and expanding magnet offerings is a common-sense solution.

Those are nice sentiments, but your post doesn’t address the actual logistical challenges presented by this plan. You call the plan reasonable; please explain how it is even feasible, let alone reasonable.

Do you have any children who have already participated in one of the existing high school magnet programs? I have a senior who has experienced a CES and magnets for middle school and high school. I’m surprised that anyone whose child will be in high school during this transition would support it. Significant and widespread changes will not roll out smoothly. There will be disparities in the implementation between regions.

I'm the PP and I do have a child in one of the existing programs, after participating in a CES and MS magnet. Those experiences revealed how many talented kids are being missed by the current scarcity.

You asked about feasibility, as though no one has ever thought about this question before. This is not an insurmountable issue. It's just a matter of sequencing.

They've already drawn up the regions, and determined the 5 magnets for each region. Now they need to assign the programs to the schools. If we take the southernmost region, I'd assume Blair keeps STEM, Northwood gets medical, Einstein takes performing arts, B-CC has IB/Humanities, and Whitman takes leadership/public service. This more or less tracks with their existing programs.

Curricula already exist for most of those programs, so all they need to do is create the course sequence for performing/fine arts, building off VAC and probably CAP sequencing.

There is already an online system to apply to the magnets. So they just need to program the application to let the kids rank/select the programs that interest them, and to consider them only for those in their region.

Finally, transportation. That's sticky, but again not insurmountable. Right now, MCPS runs magnet busses all over the county, and across the DCC. Multiple busses for the Poolesville program go 20+ miles. The longest bus ride in the new regions would be about 10 miles. It's a logistical challenge, but not a particularly hard one.

10-20 mile bus rides are absurd. And, what happens with after school activities for kids who have no transportation outside the school bus. How about providing the same opportunities at all schools.

That would make the special kids less special and we couldn’t possibly have that. Enough resources for everyone who qualifies? How scandalous!

I have no qualms about admitting more students to special programs, but I don’t think substantially increasing the number of special programs and decreasing catchment areas is going to result in the same experience that today’s magnet students are having. It’s going to give more students something moderately better than what they currently have, while taking away the thing that is most valuable to the highest performing of the high performers: an exceptional cohort. Given the issues with staffing, can MCPS even deliver enough qualified teachers who are willing to take on these classes?

So, I don't actually think it is the job of a public education system to offer classes that only 10/200,000 kids per year take. Yes, the top .1% of kids might lose access to "an exceptional cohort" but thousands of kids are going to benefit.

In public education, the goal cannot be to absolutely maximize the experience of a tiny handful of kids. It has to be serving the largest number of learners possible with available resources.

6% of high school students in MCPS were enrolled in special programs this past year. Should we increase it to 10%? 15%? 20?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The earlier PP doesn't like the IB science courses that Einstein has, and posts about it incessantly.

In are different. Some are two periods. Why not offer both?

If you don't like IB, don't go to an IB school. It would be nuts to expect schools to offer a full sale of both IB and AP classes.

Ok, so if the school is ib and that’s the assigned school what?

There's a zillion programs you can apply to at other schools now and there will be even more once these new regional programs are added.

We need them now not a few years and there are not a zillion programs. And, for some of us, transportation is an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The earlier PP doesn't like the IB science courses that Einstein has, and posts about it incessantly.

In are different. Some are two periods. Why not offer both?

If you don't like IB, don't go to an IB school. It would be nuts to expect schools to offer a full sale of both IB and AP classes.

Exactly. Einstein used to attempt this in science, but it didn't work because there wasn't a cohort large enough to hold both classes.

There is a cohort and there would be a bigger one if they offered more classes as kids would stay at Einstein.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The earlier PP doesn't like the IB science courses that Einstein has, and posts about it incessantly.

In are different. Some are two periods. Why not offer both?

If you don't like IB, don't go to an IB school. It would be nuts to expect schools to offer a full sale of both IB and AP classes.

Exactly. Einstein used to attempt this in science, but it didn't work because there wasn't a cohort large enough to hold both classes.

There is a cohort and there would be a bigger one if they offered more classes as kids would stay at Einstein.

Wrong. They did offer the classes. Not enough people took them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The earlier PP doesn't like the IB science courses that Einstein has, and posts about it incessantly.

In are different. Some are two periods. Why not offer both?

If you don't like IB, don't go to an IB school. It would be nuts to expect schools to offer a full sale of both IB and AP classes.

Ok, so if the school is ib and that’s the assigned school what?

There's a zillion programs you can apply to at other schools now and there will be even more once these new regional programs are added.

And that should be evaluated as part of this process and streamlined down to a base set of programs across regions that can be resourced and continuously monitored and evaluated.

We can’t have every program and every class that a parent/kid wants. Decisions have to be made on how to be service students, offer options and prepare for the future.

Change happens, change is here.l, and honestly it’s long overdue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am assuming the new STEM program will get nothing like the current SMCS with all the electives and functions and research projects? Will it just be more like the academy style system with a few extra classes?

Aren't there like 15 different math and science classes at Blair? It's not really necessary to have that many in every school, or even at Blair, is it? Which are the ones that are really important?

Blair SMACS has 40 STEM electives (almost all are 1-semester classes) and Blair CAP+general has a similar number of humanities electives.
This is not counting the core basic required classes.
Blair also offers standard AP science classes for all, but the SMACS program discourages taking those.

Realistically, the regional model can't possibly support that level of diversity of courses, and would have to collapse many related courses into single courses that are more generic (more like AP Bio) or make arbitrary choices as to which electives to keep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The earlier PP doesn't like the IB science courses that Einstein has, and posts about it incessantly.

In are different. Some are two periods. Why not offer both?

If you don't like IB, don't go to an IB school. It would be nuts to expect schools to offer a full sale of both IB and AP classes.

Ok, so if the school is ib and that’s the assigned school what?

There's a zillion programs you can apply to at other schools now and there will be even more once these new regional programs are added.

We need them now not a few years and there are not a zillion programs. And, for some of us, transportation is an issue.

Online AP courses are available now and don't require transportation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The earlier PP doesn't like the IB science courses that Einstein has, and posts about it incessantly.

In are different. Some are two periods. Why not offer both?

If you don't like IB, don't go to an IB school. It would be nuts to expect schools to offer a full sale of both IB and AP classes.

Ok, so if the school is ib and that’s the assigned school what?

There's a zillion programs you can apply to at other schools now and there will be even more once these new regional programs are added.

And that should be evaluated as part of this process and streamlined down to a base set of programs across regions that can be resourced and continuously monitored and evaluated.

We can’t have every program and every class that a parent/kid wants. Decisions have to be made on how to be service students, offer options and prepare for the future.

Change happens, change is here.l, and honestly it’s long overdue.

If 2025 in USA has taught us anything, it's that any change is good change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why, why, why can't we just work on 26 strong high schools that all offer a variety of leveled work? Why can't all students just go to their zoned school? What if we used all of this money from their "Research," buses, program procurement etc, to add more teachers to the county and reduce the size of classes? Why does everyone need a program?

Because in this county, like everywhere else, the rich hoard the good stuff. If you are a kid who goes to predominantly poor school and you want to take advanced physics or be in a stellar symphony, you just can’t, because there aren’t enough other kids like you at your school. Specialized programs help those kids.

It's not hoarding, it's cohorting. It doesn't cost to more to provide a higher level class at a school that has a cohort ready to enroll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:is the BOE meeting today? Hope someone asks them about the BCC payout debacle.

Please explain