TPMS is killing the arts, the magnet program, and the autism program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok so Loiderman, Parkland, and until this change, Takoma Park middle school students take 8 classes including 3 electives, and the rest of MCPS middle school students take 7 classes including 2 electives. Is that correct? If so, how is this equitable?

No it’s not correct. At least one other school does too. Schools can set their own schedules and do. They just need to consult with the school community.

[Anonymous]

What seems to be missing from this discussion is that this change impacts the entire TPMS community, not just the magnet. A strong magnet program benefits everyone. Removing magnet kids from the music offerings, for example (which will happen) will make the band and orchestras much less robust. The magnet is about one third of the school and probably a higher proportion of band and orchestra. The music program has always been particularly strong,but no more. The other arts electives will also be impacted and likely cut.

As a TPMS parent I’m really sad about the implications of this change for the school and its future and even more for the broken relationship between the administration and most of the school community who feel gaslit and lied to. I loved that school and am very disappointed that the current administration are so inept and unable to navigate a change like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised MCPS would gut TPMS. I thought it was considered one of the golden schools in the system? But the rest of the stuff you described in terms of lack of transparency, disregarding community input, etc. is very much textbook MCPS.

I just didn't think they'd do that to Takoma Park!

Takoma isn’t a golden school, it’s only good by DCC standards. The magnet was put there because it was one of the first middle schools in MoCo to get an influx of poor minorities due to maple Ave and they incentivized an influx of kids to stabilize things

Say that without crying.

Crying with laughter? Ah yes the poorly ranked middle school that has to bus in smart kids and cut out the poorest parts of TP to get it mid rankings. Clearly the jewel of the county Guess it’s better than it’s sister school eastern so you have that going for it.

The envy is strong with this one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the situation at eastern and kids still go to the magnet there. Until more recently they had zero electives in 6th grade and kids somehow survived and thrived.

Regarding foreign language, I think it is the norm to encourage kids to start in 6th, however at eastern the vast majority (I’d guess 95%+) didn’t start until 7th at the earliest. If the configuration changes I expect their guidance on when to start foreign language may change also.

At the end of the day the magnet is voluntary so there is no obligation to do it if it doesn’t meet your needs.

Yes, this. Eastern magnet students have always had only one elective option. Also, band isn't an elective, it's an after-school club and there is no orchestra. But I don't hear anyone whining about this. Magnets are a choice program; no is forcing that kid who supposedly rides a bus for 3 hours per day to attend TPMS.

The after school band at Eastern is a class not a club and my student gets graded. There is now also a jazz band club option one morning per week before school (SSIMS does this too). I like the option for the after school band and there are activity buses that provide transportation. Seems like a good solution for kids who want to be in band but don’t have room in their schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok so Loiderman, Parkland, and until this change, Takoma Park middle school students take 8 classes including 3 electives, and the rest of MCPS middle school students take 7 classes including 2 electives. Is that correct? If so, how is this equitable?

No it’s not correct. At least one other school does too. Schools can set their own schedules and do. They just need to consult with the school community.

They don't need to. You get a home school where teachers fulfill their contractual duties. Anything further is a want but not a right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the situation at eastern and kids still go to the magnet there. Until more recently they had zero electives in 6th grade and kids somehow survived and thrived.

Regarding foreign language, I think it is the norm to encourage kids to start in 6th, however at eastern the vast majority (I’d guess 95%+) didn’t start until 7th at the earliest. If the configuration changes I expect their guidance on when to start foreign language may change also.

At the end of the day the magnet is voluntary so there is no obligation to do it if it doesn’t meet your needs.

Yes, this. Eastern magnet students have always had only one elective option. Also, band isn't an elective, it's an after-school club and there is no orchestra. But I don't hear anyone whining about this. Magnets are a choice program; no is forcing that kid who supposedly rides a bus for 3 hours per day to attend TPMS.

The after school band at Eastern is a class not a club and my student gets graded. There is now also a jazz band club option one morning per week before school (SSIMS does this too). I like the option for the after school band and there are activity buses that provide transportation. Seems like a good solution for kids who want to be in band but don’t have room in their schedule.

I bet the teachers get paid extra too since it’s after school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok so Loiderman, Parkland, and until this change, Takoma Park middle school students take 8 classes including 3 electives, and the rest of MCPS middle school students take 7 classes including 2 electives. Is that correct? If so, how is this equitable?

Parkland, Loiederman, and Argyle form the Middle School Magnet consortium which was created with a grant in 2005-06 to save the worst performing middle school in the county from state takeover. They run an 8 period block with teachers teaching 5/8 period and an embedded professional development period in addition to team and planning in the teacher day. After the grant ended, MCPS didn’t continue extra staffing, so there are some large class sizes to balance staffing. (Equivalent teaching hours to other MS would be 5.5/8 classes.)

The MSMC was one of the few programs that the Choice Study highlighted as successful and effective. I always thought it was a shame that MCPS didn’t expand it, but it does cost more and a lot of people don’t like the block structure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok so Loiderman, Parkland, and until this change, Takoma Park middle school students take 8 classes including 3 electives, and the rest of MCPS middle school students take 7 classes including 2 electives. Is that correct? If so, how is this equitable?

Parkland, Loiederman, and Argyle form the Middle School Magnet consortium which was created with a grant in 2005-06 to save the worst performing middle school in the county from state takeover. They run an 8 period block with teachers teaching 5/8 period and an embedded professional development period in addition to team and planning in the teacher day. After the grant ended, MCPS didn’t continue extra staffing, so there are some large class sizes to balance staffing. (Equivalent teaching hours to other MS would be 5.5/8 classes.)

The MSMC was one of the few programs that the Choice Study highlighted as successful and effective. I always thought it was a shame that MCPS didn’t expand it, but it does cost more and a lot of people don’t like the block structure.

Kids and parents alike love the block schedule at TPMS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school has resolutely failed in communication, lied to parents repeatedly and ignored any feedback, presented flawed data, collected biased surveys and just gone ahead and done what they want to anyway. The principal does not support the magnet and has done her best to drive away some of the best teaching staff. Now she plans to sit back and watch while the arts programming is decimated by this change and magnet students flee back to their home schools.

In other words, kids are supposed to be there for exceptional opportunities in STEM, but will leave over music —which is incredibly easy to supplement at home and most kids who are serious about music take outside lessons anyway. Sure, Jan.

Yes. Because they can still do advanced math at their local school and the science curriculum is basically the same. Nothing really all that advanced. And computer science isn’t much to write home about. What they really gain by going there is being in class with other smart kids and not the usual mcps dum dum population. But, without the extra perks, that isn’t enough for a lot of parents to justify upending the family further.

What do you mean the science curriculum is the same? It is a science magnet.

And the magnet math is definitely more rigorous than home school advanced math. It has extensions that go beyond the base curriculum.

- Parent whose kid never got off the magnet waitlist but who would have loved a spot.

Different poster but the science curriculum used to be different for magnet but a couple of years ago that changed and it’s essentially the same now with perhaps a little more depth if they can cover the required content quickly enough to get to other stuff. There used to be a fantastic forensic science module in 7th, for example, that got dropped.

[Anonymous]

If TPMS parents really want to stick to block scheduling, they should push to see if it can be scheduled like the MSMC where teachers are still teaching just 5 periods. But class sizes will be larger than they currently are. That is probably the only way to save it. Casting aspersions on teachers is not going to be productive. They have a right to teach 5 courses like everywhere else in the county.

But I will say that for my kid, who has ADHD and needs movement breaks, a block schedule would not work. She needs shorter classes and the movement between classes to stay on task. There may be some students who benefit from the switch.

And for those whose kids are into music and arts, I feel for you! That’s part of why a home school has been good for my kid, who takes a language and band. But you can definitely get some of this outside of school. There are lots of studios that offer art. And there are some great orchestras/bands (that are actually more rigorous than you will find on a middle school) — MCYO, PVYO, DCYOP. I would start looking at those for next year if you have the means.

And I will say that it sounds like the principal did not handle this well at all. The poor communication and deception are in my experience par for the course with MCPS, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the situation at eastern and kids still go to the magnet there. Until more recently they had zero electives in 6th grade and kids somehow survived and thrived.

Regarding foreign language, I think it is the norm to encourage kids to start in 6th, however at eastern the vast majority (I’d guess 95%+) didn’t start until 7th at the earliest. If the configuration changes I expect their guidance on when to start foreign language may change also.

At the end of the day the magnet is voluntary so there is no obligation to do it if it doesn’t meet your needs.

Yes, this. Eastern magnet students have always had only one elective option. Also, band isn't an elective, it's an after-school club and there is no orchestra. But I don't hear anyone whining about this. Magnets are a choice program; no is forcing that kid who supposedly rides a bus for 3 hours per day to attend TPMS.

The after school band at Eastern is a class not a club and my student gets graded. There is now also a jazz band club option one morning per week before school (SSIMS does this too). I like the option for the after school band and there are activity buses that provide transportation. Seems like a good solution for kids who want to be in band but don’t have room in their schedule.

I bet the teachers get paid extra too since it’s after school.

I run an after school activity. When I take the stipend and divide it by the number of hours, it comes out to about $7 an hour.

I pay more than twice that for my own kid’s childcare so I can stay after and work with others’ children.

So I actually pay to stay after and run a club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the situation at eastern and kids still go to the magnet there. Until more recently they had zero electives in 6th grade and kids somehow survived and thrived.

Regarding foreign language, I think it is the norm to encourage kids to start in 6th, however at eastern the vast majority (I’d guess 95%+) didn’t start until 7th at the earliest. If the configuration changes I expect their guidance on when to start foreign language may change also.

At the end of the day the magnet is voluntary so there is no obligation to do it if it doesn’t meet your needs.

Yes, this. Eastern magnet students have always had only one elective option. Also, band isn't an elective, it's an after-school club and there is no orchestra. But I don't hear anyone whining about this. Magnets are a choice program; no is forcing that kid who supposedly rides a bus for 3 hours per day to attend TPMS.

The after school band at Eastern is a class not a club and my student gets graded. There is now also a jazz band club option one morning per week before school (SSIMS does this too). I like the option for the after school band and there are activity buses that provide transportation. Seems like a good solution for kids who want to be in band but don’t have room in their schedule.

I bet the teachers get paid extra too since it’s after school.

I run an after school activity. When I take the stipend and divide it by the number of hours, it comes out to about $7 an hour.

I pay more than twice that for my own kid’s childcare so I can stay after and work with others’ children.

So I actually pay to stay after and run a club.

Assumed it was a specific stipend since students get credit. I know the after school clubs don’t pay a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the situation at eastern and kids still go to the magnet there. Until more recently they had zero electives in 6th grade and kids somehow survived and thrived.

Regarding foreign language, I think it is the norm to encourage kids to start in 6th, however at eastern the vast majority (I’d guess 95%+) didn’t start until 7th at the earliest. If the configuration changes I expect their guidance on when to start foreign language may change also.

At the end of the day the magnet is voluntary so there is no obligation to do it if it doesn’t meet your needs.

Yes, this. Eastern magnet students have always had only one elective option. Also, band isn't an elective, it's an after-school club and there is no orchestra. But I don't hear anyone whining about this. Magnets are a choice program; no is forcing that kid who supposedly rides a bus for 3 hours per day to attend TPMS.

The after school band at Eastern is a class not a club and my student gets graded. There is now also a jazz band club option one morning per week before school (SSIMS does this too). I like the option for the after school band and there are activity buses that provide transportation. Seems like a good solution for kids who want to be in band but don’t have room in their schedule.

I bet the teachers get paid extra too since it’s after school.

I run an after school activity. When I take the stipend and divide it by the number of hours, it comes out to about $7 an hour.

I pay more than twice that for my own kid’s childcare so I can stay after and work with others’ children.

So I actually pay to stay after and run a club.

Assumed it was a specific stipend since students get credit. I know the after school clubs don’t pay a lot.

Point is: it’s not enough. Supplemental pay isn’t a ton, and then there’s the issue of burnout. Teaching a regular day is stressful enough, so extending it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised MCPS would gut TPMS. I thought it was considered one of the golden schools in the system? But the rest of the stuff you described in terms of lack of transparency, disregarding community input, etc. is very much textbook MCPS.

I just didn't think they'd do that to Takoma Park!

The teachers voted to go from teaching 6 classes to 5. They voted to keep class size at current level. Said a few more per class was absolutely not doable.

Translates to one less elective for everyone. And for any special program student, magnet or otherwise, means they only have one. Most of the magnet students were pushed in to taking a language as an elective and so now must choose between an actual elective and language. The majority will choose language. The school openly acknowledges that the number of electives teachers will decrease- the majority of which are music and art teachers. The majority of magnet kids (1/3 of the school) had their “2nd elective” in the arts- many in band/orchestra.

As for the autism program and other programs where kids need enrichments, they will loose those enrichments or have zero electives.


The administration “promises” to review “mitigation strategies” at some point. Fat chance.

They’re right. It isn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the situation at eastern and kids still go to the magnet there. Until more recently they had zero electives in 6th grade and kids somehow survived and thrived.

Regarding foreign language, I think it is the norm to encourage kids to start in 6th, however at eastern the vast majority (I’d guess 95%+) didn’t start until 7th at the earliest. If the configuration changes I expect their guidance on when to start foreign language may change also.

At the end of the day the magnet is voluntary so there is no obligation to do it if it doesn’t meet your needs.

Yes, this. Eastern magnet students have always had only one elective option. Also, band isn't an elective, it's an after-school club and there is no orchestra. But I don't hear anyone whining about this. Magnets are a choice program; no is forcing that kid who supposedly rides a bus for 3 hours per day to attend TPMS.

The after school band at Eastern is a class not a club and my student gets graded. There is now also a jazz band club option one morning per week before school (SSIMS does this too). I like the option for the after school band and there are activity buses that provide transportation. Seems like a good solution for kids who want to be in band but don’t have room in their schedule.

I bet the teachers get paid extra too since it’s after school.

I run an after school activity. When I take the stipend and divide it by the number of hours, it comes out to about $7 an hour.

I pay more than twice that for my own kid’s childcare so I can stay after and work with others’ children.

So I actually pay to stay after and run a club.

This is the travesty and why schools are losing clubs. Parents pay $15+/hr each for private clubs, but we can’t muster a decent wage for teachers running clubs that are as big as classes. Rich parents, give big to teachers running clubs at your school, or donate to an under resources school club leader.

Club leaders, you are angels, and I hope your soul isn’t burned by the selfish greedy people around.