Takoma park magnet worth it?

[Anonymous]

My kids are older now - youngest is in college, but both went to TPMS from Rockville. For them, I think they’d say it was worth it.

I told them, when they were deciding, to consider the bus ride as a daily part of the schedule. One child usually did homework or rested on the bus. The other made friends on the bus and used that time to hang out and socialize.

The STEM classes tended to be outstanding. (There was a problem with one teacher, but they’re no longer there). The foreign language and orchestra programs were also fantastic.

If your kid is excited about learning, TPMS will feed that interest and surround them with similarly motivated kids. Pre-COVID, they used to schedule Outdoor Ed early in the year to encourage the kids getting to know each other. Obviously, that may have changed with everything else. However, they’ve always recognized that the kids are all strangers and given them opportunities to bond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's possible it was 1800... I heard 900 but that might have been just for TPMS.

Depends on what it was based on. If you took all the scores of all the kids and the county and ranked them and pulled the top 900 I'm not sure they'd get the diversity they were seeking.
If reweight things dramatically by geography as a proxy for race and weight other life factors really high you might have a different mix.
A lottery with the top 900 is very different from taking the top 100 applicants.

Definitely, but much better than 4,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's possible it was 1800... I heard 900 but that might have been just for TPMS.

That makes perfect sense. This year is a bit different but the material seems the same and there are plenty of very bright kids.

[Anonymous]

Curriculum and teacher wise, imperative if your kid is STEM-oriented. HIGH and Spanish classes are also good. English class is so lame. My son's writing was way better when he was at CES.
Traffic-wise, nightmare. Eastern and Blair are at a much better locations for commuters. Cohort-wise, if your home school is Robert Frost, Pyle or Hoover, I'd suggest not go. The current lottery-based 6th grader is way much weaker than the current 7th and 8th graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any feedback from parents of kids who didn’t live close in? We have to make a decision and my kid doesn’t know anyone going.

NO.

[Anonymous]

We decided not to go with the lottery it didn’t seem worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We decided not to go with the lottery it didn’t seem worth it.

I don't know anyone in our HS cluster who is going. It's one of the ones mentioned above. There are at least a few dozen really strong students who will be at the home school just from one elementary. No point in going across town especially since the probability of having the same caliber of student there is low given the lottery.

[Anonymous]

If you live outside of Silver Spring, you may be too far away to participate in extracurriculars, evening activities, parent-teacher conferences, etc. By the time your kid gets home (possibly an hour or hour-half depending on traffic, each way) they'll be exhausted.

You have to remember that the Magnets were placed in Silver Spring and Poolesville because it discourages enrollment. Aside from catering to in-boundary, it's hell for kids in mid-county.

If you don't like that, I'd recommend voting out the current board of education so they can fire McKnight and get it fixed. Even if you vote, know it's an uphill battle since you can vote for board members not representing your own district. This means that Silver Spring voters rule the roost since they outnumber other districts in terms of voter population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you live outside of Silver Spring, you may be too far away to participate in extracurriculars, evening activities, parent-teacher conferences, etc. By the time your kid gets home (possibly an hour or hour-half depending on traffic, each way) they'll be exhausted.

You have to remember that the Magnets were placed in Silver Spring and Poolesville because it discourages enrollment. Aside from catering to in-boundary, it's hell for kids in mid-county.

If you don't like that, I'd recommend voting out the current board of education so they can fire McKnight and get it fixed. Even if you vote, know it's an uphill battle since you can vote for board members not representing your own district. This means that Silver Spring voters rule the roost since they outnumber other districts in terms of voter population.

That's not true. They were placed in Takoma and Poolesville because those areas had the highest concentration of highly gifted students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you live outside of Silver Spring, you may be too far away to participate in extracurriculars, evening activities, parent-teacher conferences, etc. By the time your kid gets home (possibly an hour or hour-half depending on traffic, each way) they'll be exhausted.

You have to remember that the Magnets were placed in Silver Spring and Poolesville because it discourages enrollment. Aside from catering to in-boundary, it's hell for kids in mid-county.

If you don't like that, I'd recommend voting out the current board of education so they can fire McKnight and get it fixed. Even if you vote, know it's an uphill battle since you can vote for board members not representing your own district. This means that Silver Spring voters rule the roost since they outnumber other districts in terms of voter population.

That's not true. They were placed in Takoma and Poolesville because those areas had the highest concentration of highly gifted students.

Sorry, but that is just not true. Read the Metis report if you want to know the history.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it's true either. But just wanted to chime in that the cohort is one thing, but the curriculum is another. "Magnet" math and science, and three full years of computer science. You're not going to get that at your home school. BUT, obviously that still needs to be weighed against commute, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it's true either. But just wanted to chime in that the cohort is one thing, but the curriculum is another. "Magnet" math and science, and three full years of computer science. You're not going to get that at your home school. BUT, obviously that still needs to be weighed against commute, etc.

Sure, there are a few less high flyers but there are still plenty of them. Your kid will be with a better cohort at TPMS than any school despite the lottery and the curriculum seems the same to me. I had an older child go through it a few years ago and one in this year's class.

[Anonymous]

I thought the school was overrated, tbh. The boosters are really annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you live outside of Silver Spring, you may be too far away to participate in extracurriculars, evening activities, parent-teacher conferences, etc. By the time your kid gets home (possibly an hour or hour-half depending on traffic, each way) they'll be exhausted.

You have to remember that the Magnets were placed in Silver Spring and Poolesville because it discourages enrollment. Aside from catering to in-boundary, it's hell for kids in mid-county.

If you don't like that, I'd recommend voting out the current board of education so they can fire McKnight and get it fixed. Even if you vote, know it's an uphill battle since you can vote for board members not representing your own district. This means that Silver Spring voters rule the roost since they outnumber other districts in terms of voter population.

That's not true. They were placed in Takoma and Poolesville because those areas had the highest concentration of highly gifted students.

Sorry, but that is just not true. Read the Metis report if you want to know the history.

+1 Both PPs are wrong. This is not unknowable information. Newspapers existed when the program was placed at TPMS and the stated rationale was to ensure that the school remained integrated during a period of white flight from Silver Spring/Takoma Park. It "pulled" white and Asian kids into the school, but also made the school more attractive to families who might be tempted to leave in the 1980s.

It worked, the school stayed integrated and Takoma Park remains a highly desired place to live. Yay!

I do want to pull out the PP's comment that Silver Spring "rules the roost" because of voter population. Yes, that's how democracy works. Unicorporated Silver Spring is about 30% of the county by sheer size and about 60% of the county by population. If other districts want more voters, they can build dense housing in their communities as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you live outside of Silver Spring, you may be too far away to participate in extracurriculars, evening activities, parent-teacher conferences, etc. By the time your kid gets home (possibly an hour or hour-half depending on traffic, each way) they'll be exhausted.

You have to remember that the Magnets were placed in Silver Spring and Poolesville because it discourages enrollment. Aside from catering to in-boundary, it's hell for kids in mid-county.

If you don't like that, I'd recommend voting out the current board of education so they can fire McKnight and get it fixed. Even if you vote, know it's an uphill battle since you can vote for board members not representing your own district. This means that Silver Spring voters rule the roost since they outnumber other districts in terms of voter population.

That's not true. They were placed in Takoma and Poolesville because those areas had the highest concentration of highly gifted students.

Sorry, but that is just not true. Read the Metis report if you want to know the history.

+1 Both PPs are wrong. This is not unknowable information. Newspapers existed when the program was placed at TPMS and the stated rationale was to ensure that the school remained integrated during a period of white flight from Silver Spring/Takoma Park. It "pulled" white and Asian kids into the school, but also made the school more attractive to families who might be tempted to leave in the 1980s.

It worked, the school stayed integrated and Takoma Park remains a highly desired place to live. Yay!

I do want to pull out the PP's comment that Silver Spring "rules the roost" because of voter population. Yes, that's how democracy works. Unicorporated Silver Spring is about 30% of the county by sheer size and about 60% of the county by population. If other districts want more voters, they can build dense housing in their communities as well.

Was this back in the day when Georgetown was a ghetto? LOL Newsflash but the world has changed much over the past 30+ years.