What did the board say about the Regional model and the DCC for upcoming school year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing changes next year, or for kids who are already at their DCC/NEC high schools next year. The DCC goes away for all entering classes in fall 2027 and beyond, kids go to their assigned school unless they leave for a specific program.

There are no DCC middle schools, not sure what you're talking about there.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/school-info/downcounty/feeders/

I was asking what happens to current 7th graders who go to one of these middle schools. We are out of consortium and my kid goes to one of these.

You need to be more specific. That is a list of all middle schools that happen to currently feed to one of the 5 DCC schools but otherwise they have nothing in common. Moving forward they will feed into one of the 5 schools individually.

When you say out of consortium do you mean that your kid goes to one of the MSMC schools (Argyle, Parkland, or Loiderman)? If so, say that or else people will be confused.

Either way, if you have a 7th grader, nothing is happening until they are in 9th so any changes to the MSMC (none have been announced) would not effect them anyway, right? By then they will be back in their home high school (unless they want to apply to a regional program in their home region), whatever that is

Currently, out of boundary MSMC middle school students are allowed to attend high school at DCC cluster schools if they prefer instead of going back to home high school. For example, they could apply to the CAP program at Blair or the VACA program at Einstein instead of going back to home school or just go in the lottery for attending any DCC high school as a "regular" (non speciality program) student even if their home school is not in the DCC catchment area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TL;DR - current 7th graders are not affected for MS. They are affected for HS.

Current DCC 7th graders will not go through the DCC choice process in fall of 8th grade but will go through whatever process is set up for the new regional choice programs.

If you are currently at Eastern/Takoma or MSMC and your home address is in a different program Region than the current MS, I would expect your child will have to apply to programs in their home region but I have not heard that exact scenario addressed by MCPS yet

The bolded is why all current 7th graders and beyond are f*cked

I have a current 7th grader and I think this is hyperbole. Yes, next year will likely be a little chaotic, but there are plenty of excellent high schools in MCPS.

The folks I've seen most up in arms about this are (white) folks who bought a house in a school zone with the explicit plan of trying to lottery out. Yes, if your entire plan for HS was predicated on not sending your child to school with their neighbors, you might feel f*cked, but that's a feeling not reality. Your neighbors are fine, and their children are fine, and it will be fine.

You probably also think it’s fine that not all high schools in MCPS offer the same classes, extracurriculars, and opportunities. I’d genuinely be happy to send my math-loving kid to our neighborhood school if it had the same higher-level math options as the one five miles away.
That’s what makes this argument so frustrating. It keeps getting framed like we don’t want our kids going to school with their neighbors (with that not-so-subtle implication), when really we’re just trying to make the best decision for our kid based on what’s actually offered.

If every high school truly had comparable academic opportunities, this wouldn’t even be a conversation.

+1 the value of the DCC is the choice. DCC schools need that because they don't offer the variety of courses that schools like Whitman and DCC do. This happens because DCC schools serve a population that has much, much higher needs (EML and FARMS) but receives no significant funding to address the educational needs associated with poverty.

Taylor and the BOE are weaponizing equity and anti-racism discourse while at the same time creating two new highly segregated rich schools (WJ and QO). It's pretty disgusting. No wonder the only families that want to engage with MCPS on these issues are wacky. Who else would want to argue with people in power that pull this BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TL;DR - current 7th graders are not affected for MS. They are affected for HS.

Current DCC 7th graders will not go through the DCC choice process in fall of 8th grade but will go through whatever process is set up for the new regional choice programs.

If you are currently at Eastern/Takoma or MSMC and your home address is in a different program Region than the current MS, I would expect your child will have to apply to programs in their home region but I have not heard that exact scenario addressed by MCPS yet

Op. This was also what I was wondering about - when 7th grader kid applies to magnet in Fall, will it be just to our home school cluster schools or also the high school that the MS eventually gets zoned to. I wish they will be more clear.

And anyone knows which cluster Magruder is in? I don't see it in any of the maps. Originally it was in Region 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing changes next year, or for kids who are already at their DCC/NEC high schools next year. The DCC goes away for all entering classes in fall 2027 and beyond, kids go to their assigned school unless they leave for a specific program.

There are no DCC middle schools, not sure what you're talking about there.

They likely mean the MSMC. For those of us in bounds for the 8 Elem schools that feed the 3 MSMC MS, it’s confusing. I’ve lived here over 12 years and only a year ago realized that the entire DCC doesn’t have the same access to the MSMC

Op. Yes you're right. I have a kid in the MSMC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing changes next year, or for kids who are already at their DCC/NEC high schools next year. The DCC goes away for all entering classes in fall 2027 and beyond, kids go to their assigned school unless they leave for a specific program.

There are no DCC middle schools, not sure what you're talking about there.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/school-info/downcounty/feeders/

I was asking what happens to current 7th graders who go to one of these middle schools. We are out of consortium and my kid goes to one of these.

You need to be more specific. That is a list of all middle schools that happen to currently feed to one of the 5 DCC schools but otherwise they have nothing in common. Moving forward they will feed into one of the 5 schools individually.

When you say out of consortium do you mean that your kid goes to one of the MSMC schools (Argyle, Parkland, or Loiderman)? If so, say that or else people will be confused.

Either way, if you have a 7th grader, nothing is happening until they are in 9th so any changes to the MSMC (none have been announced) would not effect them anyway, right? By then they will be back in their home high school (unless they want to apply to a regional program in their home region), whatever that is

Currently, out of boundary MSMC middle school students are allowed to attend high school at DCC cluster schools if they prefer instead of going back to home high school. For example, they could apply to the CAP program at Blair or the VACA program at Einstein instead of going back to home school or just go in the lottery for attending any DCC high school as a "regular" (non speciality program) student even if their home school is not in the DCC catchment area.

And also the Wheaton Engineering program is currently accessible for the out of consortium MSMC students.

[Anonymous]

I love how MCPS staff have responded to their anti racist training by deciding being anti racist means being able to dismiss community input on the basis of a person's whitness, continue to avoid genuine outreach and engagement BIPOC communities (like when they announced the regional model is equitable because the two guys that get MCPS funding and run the Black and Brown Coalition were convinced to support it... I wonder how ..), and quietly rig a boundary process to ingrain racial segregation even further.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TL;DR - current 7th graders are not affected for MS. They are affected for HS.

Current DCC 7th graders will not go through the DCC choice process in fall of 8th grade but will go through whatever process is set up for the new regional choice programs.

If you are currently at Eastern/Takoma or MSMC and your home address is in a different program Region than the current MS, I would expect your child will have to apply to programs in their home region but I have not heard that exact scenario addressed by MCPS yet

The bolded is why all current 7th graders and beyond are f*cked

I have a current 7th grader and I think this is hyperbole. Yes, next year will likely be a little chaotic, but there are plenty of excellent high schools in MCPS.

The folks I've seen most up in arms about this are (white) folks who bought a house in a school zone with the explicit plan of trying to lottery out. Yes, if your entire plan for HS was predicated on not sending your child to school with their neighbors, you might feel f*cked, but that's a feeling not reality. Your neighbors are fine, and their children are fine, and it will be fine.

You probably also think it’s fine that not all high schools in MCPS offer the same classes, extracurriculars, and opportunities. I’d genuinely be happy to send my math-loving kid to our neighborhood school if it had the same higher-level math options as the one five miles away.
That’s what makes this argument so frustrating. It keeps getting framed like we don’t want our kids going to school with their neighbors (with that not-so-subtle implication), when really we’re just trying to make the best decision for our kid based on what’s actually offered.

If every high school truly had comparable academic opportunities, this wouldn’t even be a conversation.

+1 the value of the DCC is the choice. DCC schools need that because they don't offer the variety of courses that schools like Whitman and DCC do. This happens because DCC schools serve a population that has much, much higher needs (EML and FARMS) but receives no significant funding to address the educational needs associated with poverty.

Taylor and the BOE are weaponizing equity and anti-racism discourse while at the same time creating two new highly segregated rich schools (WJ and QO). It's pretty disgusting. No wonder the only families that want to engage with MCPS on these issues are wacky. Who else would want to argue with people in power that pull this BS.

This...

...and the rest, unless there is a reveal yet to come that both would provide for that differential funding to address need associated with poverty/language limitation and would ensure that non-magnet courses offered at any MCPS school are equivalently offered at all MCPS schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how MCPS staff have responded to their anti racist training by deciding being anti racist means being able to dismiss community input on the basis of a person's whitness, continue to avoid genuine outreach and engagement BIPOC communities (like when they announced the regional model is equitable because the two guys that get MCPS funding and run the Black and Brown Coalition were convinced to support it... I wonder how ..), and quietly rig a boundary process to ingrain racial segregation even further.

I agree. On the upcounty side they quietly created a Region 5 magnet with 3 High FARMS schools in it. Crown was earlier supposed to be a part of Region 5. Now that Wootton moved there, it goes to Region 4 (unless they change that) and they took away new labs and a new school from the poor side of Gaithersburg. Unfortunately majority of the parents in these schools try to stay under the radar due to immigration policies and they are not speaking up.

And Damascus which should have been in Region 5, and has a largely low FARMS population, even if they are so far away, are zoned to Region 6 with access to the Poolesville program, the NorthWest Ulysses program, Clarksburg P-Tech program, while QO which is closest to Poolesville is zoned to Region 5.

Money talks.

If MCPS was being fair, they would make sure Wootton is in Region 5, move Damascus to Region 5, move QO to Region 6 and Magruder to Region 4 to balance it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how MCPS staff have responded to their anti racist training by deciding being anti racist means being able to dismiss community input on the basis of a person's whitness, continue to avoid genuine outreach and engagement BIPOC communities (like when they announced the regional model is equitable because the two guys that get MCPS funding and run the Black and Brown Coalition were convinced to support it... I wonder how ..), and quietly rig a boundary process to ingrain racial segregation even further.

I agree. On the upcounty side they quietly created a Region 5 magnet with 3 High FARMS schools in it. Crown was earlier supposed to be a part of Region 5. Now that Wootton moved there, it goes to Region 4 (unless they change that) and they took away new labs and a new school from the poor side of Gaithersburg. Unfortunately majority of the parents in these schools try to stay under the radar due to immigration policies and they are not speaking up.

And Damascus which should have been in Region 5, and has a largely low FARMS population, even if they are so far away, are zoned to Region 6 with access to the Poolesville program, the NorthWest Ulysses program, Clarksburg P-Tech program, while QO which is closest to Poolesville is zoned to Region 5.

Money talks.

If MCPS was being fair, they would make sure Wootton is in Region 5, move Damascus to Region 5, move QO to Region 6 and Magruder to Region 4 to balance it out.

+1 before modified H, FARMS rate in region 5 (where QO is) was over 10 points higher than 4 and 6. Reducing QO’s FARMS rate so region 5’s FARMS rate is more equitable with its neighboring regions was the least they could do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how MCPS staff have responded to their anti racist training by deciding being anti racist means being able to dismiss community input on the basis of a person's whitness, continue to avoid genuine outreach and engagement BIPOC communities (like when they announced the regional model is equitable because the two guys that get MCPS funding and run the Black and Brown Coalition were convinced to support it... I wonder how ..), and quietly rig a boundary process to ingrain racial segregation even further.

I agree. On the upcounty side they quietly created a Region 5 magnet with 3 High FARMS schools in it. Crown was earlier supposed to be a part of Region 5. Now that Wootton moved there, it goes to Region 4 (unless they change that) and they took away new labs and a new school from the poor side of Gaithersburg. Unfortunately majority of the parents in these schools try to stay under the radar due to immigration policies and they are not speaking up.

And Damascus which should have been in Region 5, and has a largely low FARMS population, even if they are so far away, are zoned to Region 6 with access to the Poolesville program, the NorthWest Ulysses program, Clarksburg P-Tech program, while QO which is closest to Poolesville is zoned to Region 5.

Money talks.

If MCPS was being fair, they would make sure Wootton is in Region 5, move Damascus to Region 5, move QO to Region 6 and Magruder to Region 4 to balance it out.

+1 before modified H, FARMS rate in region 5 (where QO is) was over 10 points higher than 4 and 6. Reducing QO’s FARMS rate so region 5’s FARMS rate is more equitable with its neighboring regions was the least they could do.

Now they conveniently get to say Region 5 is still good the way it is because QO has less FARMS. But all the other 3 schools are High FARMS - never mind they took away Crown from Gaithersburg families and put Wootton there.

They really need to do something about Region 5. I don't see any strong cohorts for that region.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TL;DR - current 7th graders are not affected for MS. They are affected for HS.

Current DCC 7th graders will not go through the DCC choice process in fall of 8th grade but will go through whatever process is set up for the new regional choice programs.

If you are currently at Eastern/Takoma or MSMC and your home address is in a different program Region than the current MS, I would expect your child will have to apply to programs in their home region but I have not heard that exact scenario addressed by MCPS yet

The bolded is why all current 7th graders and beyond are f*cked

Why not wait to see what transpires before talking like this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TL;DR - current 7th graders are not affected for MS. They are affected for HS.

Current DCC 7th graders will not go through the DCC choice process in fall of 8th grade but will go through whatever process is set up for the new regional choice programs.

If you are currently at Eastern/Takoma or MSMC and your home address is in a different program Region than the current MS, I would expect your child will have to apply to programs in their home region but I have not heard that exact scenario addressed by MCPS yet

The bolded is why all current 7th graders and beyond are f*cked

Why not wait to see what transpires before talking like this?

DP

I don't have a 7th grader but I completely understand the disappointment of families that do. They have spent years looking forward to and preparing to apply to existing programs, and that is all changing without much certainty that there will even be resources or staff to support these programs.

[Anonymous]

So as far as we can figure, out of zone kids starting next year at Loiederman/parkland/argyle are most likely fine to attend without changes for their middle school experience and they revert back to their home high school / region for nineth? Is this other people’s take so far?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how MCPS staff have responded to their anti racist training by deciding being anti racist means being able to dismiss community input on the basis of a person's whitness, continue to avoid genuine outreach and engagement BIPOC communities (like when they announced the regional model is equitable because the two guys that get MCPS funding and run the Black and Brown Coalition were convinced to support it... I wonder how ..), and quietly rig a boundary process to ingrain racial segregation even further.

I agree. On the upcounty side they quietly created a Region 5 magnet with 3 High FARMS schools in it. Crown was earlier supposed to be a part of Region 5. Now that Wootton moved there, it goes to Region 4 (unless they change that) and they took away new labs and a new school from the poor side of Gaithersburg. Unfortunately majority of the parents in these schools try to stay under the radar due to immigration policies and they are not speaking up.

And Damascus which should have been in Region 5, and has a largely low FARMS population, even if they are so far away, are zoned to Region 6 with access to the Poolesville program, the NorthWest Ulysses program, Clarksburg P-Tech program, while QO which is closest to Poolesville is zoned to Region 5.

Money talks.

If MCPS was being fair, they would make sure Wootton is in Region 5, move Damascus to Region 5, move QO to Region 6 and Magruder to Region 4 to balance it out.

+1 before modified H, FARMS rate in region 5 (where QO is) was over 10 points higher than 4 and 6. Reducing QO’s FARMS rate so region 5’s FARMS rate is more equitable with its neighboring regions was the least they could do.

Now they conveniently get to say Region 5 is still good the way it is because QO has less FARMS. But all the other 3 schools are High FARMS - never mind they took away Crown from Gaithersburg families and put Wootton there.

They really need to do something about Region 5. I don't see any strong cohorts for that region.

Then they need to entirely rework regions 4 5 and 6 so every HS has an equal distribution of FARMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So as far as we can figure, out of zone kids starting next year at Loiederman/parkland/argyle are most likely fine to attend without changes for their middle school experience and they revert back to their home high school / region for nineth? Is this other people’s take so far?

Yes, that’s been a consistent message from mcps.