Blair SMCS non-school day options

[Anonymous]

Parent of an incoming student, trying to figure out what schedules might look like across 4 years.

Someone referenced their kid having taken summer school to gain space for orchestra during the school day. What classes would one take for that purpose? Are there other options that free up time during the day?

[Anonymous]

Not Blair parent but take Health A/B over the summer (which is very common among high performing peers) . Friend at RMIB kid also took their art over the summer to open up space.

[Anonymous]

PP- sorry I just read your message again, fine art over the summer wouldn’t help for room for orchestra.

[Anonymous]

In addition to Health, some kids also take the tech requirement over the summer. My (non-SMCS) kid decided to take AP Computer Science Principles during the school year. (AP CSP isn’t offered over the summer.) My kid is fairly decent at math and science and did well in the class; but honestly, for a SMCS kid, it wouldn’t be worth wasting a course slot on AP CSP. It’s pretty intro-level computer science, just presented in a college-level format. Unless there’s a magnet class that ticks that tech credit box, better to get it out of the way with one of the summer options.

Unfortunately, PE isn’t an option for summer. And generally the summer core classes are for credit recovery only (retakes).

[Anonymous]

SMCS kids get tons of "tech" credits under the magnet program (I assume), so that's not an issue. Seems like health is the only real option for summer (?), if orchestra is priority and will therefore meet the arts requirement.

[Anonymous]

There are tons of magnet kids taking orchestra for 4 years. I'm not sure how they fit in in their schedule but maybe they do PE in later years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are tons of magnet kids taking orchestra for 4 years. I'm not sure how they fit in in their schedule but maybe they do PE in later years.

I asked a magnet kid about that at the open house. They did health in the summer and saved PE for senior year.

[Anonymous]

There is already a 9th period to the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SMCS kids get tons of "tech" credits under the magnet program (I assume), so that's not an issue. Seems like health is the only real option for summer (?), if orchestra is priority and will therefore meet the arts requirement.

But do the magnet classes actually count for the state tech credit? My understanding was that there were a very limited number of courses that do.

[Anonymous]

I guess I don’t know for sure but that would be insane if they didn’t. They’re taking a bunch of compsci and engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SMCS kids get tons of "tech" credits under the magnet program (I assume), so that's not an issue. Seems like health is the only real option for summer (?), if orchestra is priority and will therefore meet the arts requirement.

But do the magnet classes actually count for the state tech credit? My understanding was that there were a very limited number of courses that do.

Yes, in 10th grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of an incoming student, trying to figure out what schedules might look like across 4 years.

Someone referenced their kid having taken summer school to gain space for orchestra during the school day. What classes would one take for that purpose? Are there other options that free up time during the day?

Usually the students get health out of the way in summer.

But one should be able to take orchestra even without doing any summer classes. SMCS has one extra period, and science is accelerated so that in the junior and senior years students can take a lot of electives.

[Anonymous]

Just remember they still have to do 4.5 “magnet” electives in order to graduate with the magnet certificate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SMCS kids get tons of "tech" credits under the magnet program (I assume), so that's not an issue. Seems like health is the only real option for summer (?), if orchestra is priority and will therefore meet the arts requirement.

But do the magnet classes actually count for the state tech credit? My understanding was that there were a very limited number of courses that do.

Tech credit is built into the SMCS program. There is a required course students take in the fourth and fifth semesters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just remember they still have to do 4.5 “magnet” electives in order to graduate with the magnet certificate.

That should not be a problem. Out of that 4.5, at least 1.5 will be from the math courses after Analysis 1 A/B. (Since the state requires everyone to take math all four years, even students not interested in math will have to take one credit every year. In the SMCS program, any math elective after Analysis 1B counts towards the 4.5 credits required for the magnet certificate.)

To get the other 3 credits you need 6 semester length magnet electives. In the junior year, you have space for 4 electives each semester, and in the senior year, there will be space for 5 electives in the first semester and 6 electives in the second semester.