How is Richard Montgomery if you're not in IB?

[Anonymous]

^^This means (if it's true) that more teachers want to work at a W school (which of course does not include Wheaton) than at RM. It does not mean that the teachers at the W schools are better teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^This means (if it's true) that more teachers want to work at a W school (which of course does not include Wheaton) than at RM. It does not mean that the teachers at the W schools are better teachers.

What it means is that the W schools generally get first pick when they have an opening. They have so many applicants that they interview the best and choose the best. Non-W schools frequently hire teachers whom the W schools didn't select.

[Anonymous]

I don't believe any RM teachers are exclusive to IB or non-IB classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^This means (if it's true) that more teachers want to work at a W school (which of course does not include Wheaton) than at RM. It does not mean that the teachers at the W schools are better teachers.

What it means is that the W schools generally get first pick when they have an opening. They have so many applicants that they interview the best and choose the best. Non-W schools frequently hire teachers whom the W schools didn't select.

That makes no sense. Of course they get first pick when they have an opening -- they're the ones with the opening. Or are you saying that their first-choice candidate generally agrees to come work for them? Whereas at the other schools, their first-choice candidate turns them down, and they have to go with their second (or lower) choice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No. Most teachers dread the parents at Whitman. The best teachers will choose RM over Whitman.

Some teachers like the challenges presented by teaching in a lower SES school (not necessarily RM but perhaps Wheaton or JFK). Others prefer teaching in the W's and dealing with more "involved" parents. The best teachers thrive in either environment.

There are a LOT more experienced master teachers, those who are the "best" teachers, who line up to fill vacancies at the W's than line up to fill vacancies at other MCPS high schools. I see it every year.

But RM has involved parents with out being total bitches. So involved and cooperative trumps involved involved and demanding.

Nice try, but wrong. If there's an opening at a W school and an opening at RM (non-IB) in the same department, I guarantee that the W school will receive many more applications for an open season transfer than RM. A LOT more. Incidently, very few parents at the W schools are "total bitches." Most are extremely pleasant and very helpful. I deal with them almost every day.

Its hard to see what bitches you are inside the bubble. Not true about W getting more applications. You just made that up. The hiring in MoCo is dire. Every job (that is not in a high need subject like calculus) get a ton of applicants.

[Anonymous]

Has this become a W vs. RM discussion? Those who believe that RM is better than W are ether idiot or delusional. There is probably not one relevant category in which RM is better than W. Yes, most MoCo teachers will line up for a position at W -- I know teachers and that is the case. as a matter of fact, most would chose any W school over RM (WJ and RM might be a toss up). It is almost like saying that Brown is comparable to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Sure Brown is a top ranked school but all else being equal, most students and professors would take H, Y or P over Brown. That is just the reality. I would put RMIB as one of the top five schools in the county in terms of prestige and student body but it would fall behind Blair Magnet, Whitman, Churchill and Wootton. W/O the IB, RM falls out of the top 5 and probably out of the top 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has this become a W vs. RM discussion? Those who believe that RM is better than W are ether idiot or delusional. There is probably not one relevant category in which RM is better than W. Yes, most MoCo teachers will line up for a position at W -- I know teachers and that is the case. as a matter of fact, most would chose any W school over RM (WJ and RM might be a toss up). It is almost like saying that Brown is comparable to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Sure Brown is a top ranked school but all else being equal, most students and professors would take H, Y or P over Brown. That is just the reality. I would put RMIB as one of the top five schools in the county in terms of prestige and student body but it would fall behind Blair Magnet, Whitman, Churchill and Wootton. W/O the IB, RM falls out of the top 5 and probably out of the top 10.

You need to pop your bubble, the oxygen levels are low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has this become a W vs. RM discussion? Those who believe that RM is better than W are ether idiot or delusional. There is probably not one relevant category in which RM is better than W. Yes, most MoCo teachers will line up for a position at W -- I know teachers and that is the case. as a matter of fact, most would chose any W school over RM (WJ and RM might be a toss up). It is almost like saying that Brown is comparable to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Sure Brown is a top ranked school but all else being equal, most students and professors would take H, Y or P over Brown. That is just the reality. I would put RMIB as one of the top five schools in the county in terms of prestige and student body but it would fall behind Blair Magnet, Whitman, Churchill and Wootton. W/O the IB, RM falls out of the top 5 and probably out of the top 10.

OK, PP, you're right. The W schools are the best! Everybody knows this! And people who purport to disagree are only doing so to make up for the guilt of knowing that their children will fail at life because they (bad parents that they are) didn't choose to give their children the best!

Or, alternatively -- yeesh. My kids are going to go to a high school that is not only non-W, but has a higher FARMS rate is higher than RM. Will they get a good education there? Yes, I expect that they will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has this become a W vs. RM discussion? Those who believe that RM is better than W are ether idiot or delusional. There is probably not one relevant category in which RM is better than W. Yes, most MoCo teachers will line up for a position at W -- I know teachers and that is the case. as a matter of fact, most would chose any W school over RM (WJ and RM might be a toss up). It is almost like saying that Brown is comparable to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Sure Brown is a top ranked school but all else being equal, most students and professors would take H, Y or P over Brown. That is just the reality. I would put RMIB as one of the top five schools in the county in terms of prestige and student body but it would fall behind Blair Magnet, Whitman, Churchill and Wootton. W/O the IB, RM falls out of the top 5 and probably out of the top 10.

OK, PP, you're right. The W schools are the best! Everybody knows this! And people who purport to disagree are only doing so to make up for the guilt of knowing that their children will fail at life because they (bad parents that they are) didn't choose to give their children the best!

Or, alternatively -- yeesh. My kids are going to go to a high school that is not only non-W, but has a higher FARMS rate is higher than RM. Will they get a good education there? Yes, I expect that they will.

Stop! How will she justify her life if your kid is successful? Poor W parents, they have to be better.... And tell everybody they are.

They are going to so disappointed when their grand kids don't go to a W school. They may have to pay for private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has this become a W vs. RM discussion? Those who believe that RM is better than W are ether idiot or delusional. There is probably not one relevant category in which RM is better than W. Yes, most MoCo teachers will line up for a position at W -- I know teachers and that is the case. as a matter of fact, most would chose any W school over RM (WJ and RM might be a toss up). It is almost like saying that Brown is comparable to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Sure Brown is a top ranked school but all else being equal, most students and professors would take H, Y or P over Brown. That is just the reality. I would put RMIB as one of the top five schools in the county in terms of prestige and student body but it would fall behind Blair Magnet, Whitman, Churchill and Wootton. W/O the IB, RM falls out of the top 5 and probably out of the top 10.

Oy..your loser kid did not make it to RMIB? Is that it?

Go swallow some xanax and service your man - do not deviate from this norm - please!!

[Anonymous]

You asses. People from the worst MoCo schools can make it to the top schools anywhere in the world. I attended a non-W school and kids from my school, myself included, went to top national universities, liberal arts school, and service academies. Get over your insecurities. If we were in NYC where it really matters if you don't make it into the top magnets such as Stuy, Brooklyn Tech, or Bronx Science, then you have a point. But this is MoCo where the top kid in the worst school is prepared for Harvard.

The point of the board is where does RM stand w/o the IB and the reality is that it is below Whitman. You can argue all day about the wealth at Whitman and how that impacts the scores but the reality is that Whitman has always had a strong academic culture. If the school I attended as a kid has 20% if the student body that were academically focused then Whitman had 60%. My guess is that if you remove the IB from RM, then 30% of the remaining students are academically focused whereas Whitman is still 60-70%. Check to see where kids applied and were accepted. RM w/o IB would be hard pressed to do as well as any of the W schools or Blair Magnet. That does not mean that RM is not a good a school. It is, as I have stated before, but it is not Whitman and Whitman is not Blair and Blair is not Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Jefferson is not Sidwell Friends. To me it does not matter because I would rather my kid go to the worst school here in the DC suburbs than study at 95% of the school systems in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You asses. People from the worst MoCo schools can make it to the top schools anywhere in the world. I attended a non-W school and kids from my school, myself included, went to top national universities, liberal arts school, and service academies. Get over your insecurities. If we were in NYC where it really matters if you don't make it into the top magnets such as Stuy, Brooklyn Tech, or Bronx Science, then you have a point. But this is MoCo where the top kid in the worst school is prepared for Harvard.

The point of the board is where does RM stand w/o the IB and the reality is that it is below Whitman. You can argue all day about the wealth at Whitman and how that impacts the scores but the reality is that Whitman has always had a strong academic culture. If the school I attended as a kid has 20% if the student body that were academically focused then Whitman had 60%. My guess is that if you remove the IB from RM, then 30% of the remaining students are academically focused whereas Whitman is still 60-70%. Check to see where kids applied and were accepted. RM w/o IB would be hard pressed to do as well as any of the W schools or Blair Magnet. That does not mean that RM is not a good a school. It is, as I have stated before, but it is not Whitman and Whitman is not Blair and Blair is not Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Jefferson is not Sidwell Friends. To me it does not matter because I would rather my kid go to the worst school here in the DC suburbs than study at 95% of the school systems in the US.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What it means is that the W schools generally get first pick when they have an opening. They have so many applicants that they interview the best and choose the best. Non-W schools frequently hire teachers whom the W schools didn't select.

That makes no sense. Of course they get first pick when they have an opening -- they're the ones with the opening. Or are you saying that their first-choice candidate generally agrees to come work for them? Whereas at the other schools, their first-choice candidate turns them down, and they have to go with their second (or lower) choice?

You're correct, I worded my comment awkwardly. The first choice candidate at the W's almost always accepts the offer from the W's, even if they have offers from non-W schools. Non-W schools often lose their first-choice candidate to a W.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Its hard to see what bitches you are inside the bubble. Not true about W getting more applications. You just made that up. The hiring in MoCo is dire. Every job (that is not in a high need subject like calculus) get a ton of applicants.

I was referring to the transfer season (the time when teachers VOLUNTARILY switch schools), and if you read my original post correctly the first time you'd see that word (transfer) in there.

That aside, you don't know what you're writing about when it comes to how MCPS hires. Sure MCPS gets many applications for every teaching opening. Central personnel gives a small percentage of them the go-ahead to interview at schools with an opening. This go-ahead is NOT a job offer.

Teacher openings are posted on a secure website that only current MCPS employees can access. The openings are publicly published only after all involuntary transfers have found a new school. Schools with an opening interview internal transfer candidates first. If they don't like any of these candidates, they then hope that all involuntary transfers find a placement. If that happens, schools that still have openings get to choose whom they hire from those who received the go-ahead from central office.

When there's an opening at a W, they get a ton more applications for each opening they have than a non-W receives both during the transfer season and after all involuntaries have been placed. I spent many years interviewing candidates for openings at a W. We always had many more requests for interviews than time allowed at the annual MCPS transfer job fair. Other schools had numerous interview openings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Its hard to see what bitches you are inside the bubble. Not true about W getting more applications. You just made that up. The hiring in MoCo is dire. Every job (that is not in a high need subject like calculus) get a ton of applicants.

I was referring to the transfer season (the time when teachers VOLUNTARILY switch schools), and if you read my original post correctly the first time you'd see that word (transfer) in there.

That aside, you don't know what you're writing about when it comes to how MCPS hires. Sure MCPS gets many applications for every teaching opening. Central personnel gives a small percentage of them the go-ahead to interview at schools with an opening. This go-ahead is NOT a job offer.

Teacher openings are posted on a secure website that only current MCPS employees can access. The openings are publicly published only after all involuntary transfers have found a new school. Schools with an opening interview internal transfer candidates first. If they don't like any of these candidates, they then hope that all involuntary transfers find a placement. If that happens, schools that still have openings get to choose whom they hire from those who received the go-ahead from central office.

When there's an opening at a W, they get a ton more applications for each opening they have than a non-W receives both during the transfer season and after all involuntaries have been placed. I spent many years interviewing candidates for openings at a W. We always had many more requests for interviews than time allowed at the annual MCPS transfer job fair. Other schools had numerous interview openings.

I know how it works and I still call bullshit on teachers liking Whitman over RM. I would say many would prefer BCC, WJ and Wootton but Whitman has so many social issue teacher do not care to work there. Also many prefer the upper county schools Damascus/Clarksburg/Poolesville because teachers can actually afford to live close to their job. Parents in those schools are involved but not overly so. They also have a great community feel over Whitman.