Blair Magnet Teachers

[Anonymous]

I have some regrets with not encouraging older DS to consider Blair when he was accepted years ago. He opted to stay at his local school and has been shocked at how bad some of the teachers are and the counselor not very helpful either. To be fair, he has also had some phenomenal teachers, but the bad ones in the upper level has been horrendous and a killjoy to kids who had initially loved the subject but have lost interest after enduring the classes.

Our second child now has a chance to attend Blair. We have heard many great things about the program, but wondering about the teacher quality at Blair? Can parents chime on on what their kids have experienced? We are not talking about neutral teachers, but outright bad ones who are absent often or don't really care to teach the students or provide little feedback. Are there usually multiple teachers for each subject, or is the program small enough such that there is only one teacher for each subject?

TIA

[Anonymous]

It depends on the subject. For example, more than one teacher teaches precalc, but only one teacher teaches functions. I wouldn't say all the magnet teachers are perfect but the bar is fairly high.

[Anonymous]

Overall, the Blair teachers (magnet & non magnet) have been pretty great. The sheer number of classes your kid can take is pretty impressive too. We are in magnet, more than 1 child, and we have found the English & Social Studies teacher very good too!!! Losing Principal Johnson however, will be a big loss!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Overall, the Blair teachers (magnet & non magnet) have been pretty great. The sheer number of classes your kid can take is pretty impressive too. We are in magnet, more than 1 child, and we have found the English & Social Studies teacher very good too!!! Losing Principal Johnson however, will be a big loss!

I just read this and it's ashamed. Hope teachers don't leave consequently due to this loss.

[Anonymous]

You'll find great teachers and some really bad ones just like at any school. If you search there are a lot of complaints in recent years. Those teachers are still teaching.

[Anonymous]

There's usually only one teacher for a specific subject for the semester.

[Anonymous]

Parent of a Blair freshman here. So far the teachers have been exceptional in and out of magnet (but especially in) with a single important exception. But the rumor is that she’s quitting, so this shouldn’t be an issue next year.

[Anonymous]

Shortage of qualified teachers in STEM or niche subjects. Unfor, that means the teachers that you may have read about on here are around.

[Anonymous]

My magnet senior hasn’t had a bad magnet teacher. He’s had one really really terrible 12th grade English teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the subject. For example, more than one teacher teaches precalc, but only one teacher teaches functions. I wouldn't say all the magnet teachers are perfect but the bar is fairly high.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Overall, the Blair teachers (magnet & non magnet) have been pretty great. The sheer number of classes your kid can take is pretty impressive too. We are in magnet, more than 1 child, and we have found the English & Social Studies teacher very good too!!! Losing Principal Johnson however, will be a big loss!

I just read this and it's ashamed. Hope teachers don't leave consequently due to this loss.

Replacing Renay Johnson will be challenging. And if the school district screws this up (which could happen, with the McKnight situation), then good teachers may well choose elsewhere to teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Blair freshman here. So far the teachers have been exceptional in and out of magnet (but especially in) with a single important exception. But the rumor is that she’s quitting, so this shouldn’t be an issue next year.

Plenty of students like her and think she's fine. I think it's mostly your child and a few other kids who are struggling and blaming the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Blair freshman here. So far the teachers have been exceptional in and out of magnet (but especially in) with a single important exception. But the rumor is that she’s quitting, so this shouldn’t be an issue next year.

Plenty of students like her and think she's fine. I think it's mostly your child and a few other kids who are struggling and blaming the teacher.

My child isn’t struggling and ultimately got a high A in her class both marking periods. But this was despite having to teach herself at times with confusing or absent teaching, tests which included content never covered in class, grades calculated incorrectly, giving one grade and recording another in Canvas, refusing to answer questions or offer feedback… I could go on. Very disorganized. Record numbers of complaints, disliked universally by the students. But she’s leaving so she’ll be another school’s problem - good news for rising 9th graders.

Also, you knew exactly which teacher this referred to didn’t you? That speaks volumes.

[Anonymous]

In K-12, the average STEM teacher quality is not as good the average literacy teachers. It's purely determined by the job market. CS job easily pays 5X - 10X more than a public school teacher's salary. Blair STEM teachers are the top ones you can possibly think of compared to their peers. Still, knowledge is pretty outdated for subjects like computer science. However, these teachers are used to deal with smart kids with attitudes, and the majority of them are pretty open and welcome student challenges or student decision to take a non-standard path. I think this trait is more important than being knowledgable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Blair freshman here. So far the teachers have been exceptional in and out of magnet (but especially in) with a single important exception. But the rumor is that she’s quitting, so this shouldn’t be an issue next year.

Plenty of students like her and think she's fine. I think it's mostly your child and a few other kids who are struggling and blaming the teacher.

My child isn’t struggling and ultimately got a high A in her class both marking periods. But this was despite having to teach herself at times with confusing or absent teaching, tests which included content never covered in class, grades calculated incorrectly, giving one grade and recording another in Canvas, refusing to answer questions or offer feedback… I could go on. Very disorganized. Record numbers of complaints, disliked universally by the students. But she’s leaving so she’ll be another school’s problem - good news for rising 9th graders.

Also, you knew exactly which teacher this referred to didn’t you? That speaks volumes.

It's not universal if a lot of students think she's fine. Sounds like this is a you and your DD problem.