Tell me about Poolesville magnet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Poolesville is an excellent school. Downcounty elitists will say it’s not as good as Blair, but they’re wrong; both schools are great.

Poolesville outranks Blair and is the top school in the state of the MD.

MCPS doesn't really promote it in any PR way and the principal isn't a showboat like the one at Blair so you hear less about it which is fine.

Blair barely cracks the top ten in the county in most rankings.

[Anonymous]

The magnet programs are about half of the student body. The school is about 1,200 students(most MCPS high schools are around 2,000) so it is relatively small. The magnet program students tend to be separate from the local kids called ISP students(the program for the local kids), though many of the local students are in a magnet program which allows much mixing. It is a great school especially if your child is a top student. But, many local students don't do well at the school since they are at the bottom of many of their classes which is a similar problem some people have with sending their kids to competitive schools like Wootton. The environment at the school is pretty competitive but is still positive. It is a top ranked school too.

[Anonymous]

There are 4 houses or programs. One is non-magnet called ISP or Independent Study Program and is open to the local poolesville students. The curriculum offered is very similar to what is being offered to HS students all over MCPS.

Three of these programs are test-in magnet programs. Two of the magnet programs (Science, Math, Comp. Sci or SMACS and Humanities) are for upcounty students and are sister programs to Blair HS SMACS and Humanities programs which are for downcounty student. The third magnet program is Global Ecology and open to all students in the county who have to apply through a rigorous test in application process.

In short, 3/4 of the school is magnet and students have come to these programs primarily from outside of Poolesville. For most of these students a significant part of the school day goes in the commute. Still the magnet programs are worth it and because the school is 3/4 magnet kids the environment is very focussed on academic. A lot of "other" issues that is prevelant in other MCPS schools is thankfully absent because most of the kids are there to study.

It has terrible school buildings and infrastructure. It looks worse than a school in a third world country. It is the pride of MCPS though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The magnet programs are about half of the student body. The school is about 1,200 students(most MCPS high schools are around 2,000) so it is relatively small. The magnet program students tend to be separate from the local kids called ISP students(the program for the local kids), though many of the local students are in a magnet program which allows much mixing. It is a great school especially if your child is a top student. But, many local students don't do well at the school since they are at the bottom of many of their classes which is a similar problem some people have with sending their kids to competitive schools like Wootton. The environment at the school is pretty competitive but is still positive. It is a top ranked school too.

Yes. A lot of families with highly gifted students move to Poolesville because they are then assured of a place in the school and are not subject to the MCPS attempts to choose race over merit. In recent years many Asian and White families have moved there from other parts of the county to avoid falling victim to the misguided attempts of MCPS to put race above merit. for magnet admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The magnet programs are about half of the student body. The school is about 1,200 students(most MCPS high schools are around 2,000) so it is relatively small. The magnet program students tend to be separate from the local kids called ISP students(the program for the local kids), though many of the local students are in a magnet program which allows much mixing. It is a great school especially if your child is a top student. But, many local students don't do well at the school since they are at the bottom of many of their classes which is a similar problem some people have with sending their kids to competitive schools like Wootton. The environment at the school is pretty competitive but is still positive. It is a top ranked school too.

Yes. A lot of families with highly gifted students move to Poolesville because they are then assured of a place in the school and are not subject to the MCPS attempts to choose race over merit. In recent years many Asian and White families have moved there from other parts of the county to avoid falling victim to the misguided attempts of MCPS to put race above merit. for magnet admissions.

Race has always been confused with merit in this country. Now that brown is seen in a positive light all of a sudden you have a problem with it? Don’t worry white kids still have most of the legs up in life.

[Anonymous]

My DD is at PHS in one of the magnet programs and loves it.
I agree with 07/20/2018 00:08.

I would add it's a stressful schedule and I would not recommend kids applying with very long commutes ie live in boundary for Blair and apply to PHS Global.

[Anonymous]

I hope that parents understand that there are no busses beyond upper county to Poolesville.
Even if student is from Rockville, parents have to drive 15-20 minutes to nearest bus stop at 6:30 in the morning every single day.
I cannot imagine child from Silver Springs or Takoma to go to Poolesville. It would be insane commitment with very little benefit.
No matter how good Ecology program is, it is not Juilliard in terms of name recognition or education outcome (comparing to music school in NY that people get to from all over on weekends and drive 5-6 hours... But that school has international recognition.)
There is no much advantage to graduate from Poolesville vs. other HS schools.
I do not believe that there are students who live further than in Rockville who attend Poolesville.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope that parents understand that there are no busses beyond upper county to Poolesville.
Even if student is from Rockville, parents have to drive 15-20 minutes to nearest bus stop at 6:30 in the morning every single day.
I cannot imagine child from Silver Springs or Takoma to go to Poolesville. It would be insane commitment with very little benefit.
No matter how good Ecology program is, it is not Juilliard in terms of name recognition or education outcome (comparing to music school in NY that people get to from all over on weekends and drive 5-6 hours... But that school has international recognition.)
There is no much advantage to graduate from Poolesville vs. other HS schools.
I do not believe that there are students who live further than in Rockville who attend Poolesville.

Someone is bitter ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope that parents understand that there are no busses beyond upper county to Poolesville.
Even if student is from Rockville, parents have to drive 15-20 minutes to nearest bus stop at 6:30 in the morning every single day.
I cannot imagine child from Silver Springs or Takoma to go to Poolesville. It would be insane commitment with very little benefit.
No matter how good Ecology program is, it is not Juilliard in terms of name recognition or education outcome (comparing to music school in NY that people get to from all over on weekends and drive 5-6 hours... But that school has international recognition.)
There is no much advantage to graduate from Poolesville vs. other HS schools.
I do not believe that there are students who live further than in Rockville who attend Poolesville.

Someone is bitter ...

I think you have a problem... I have two kids in Poolesville magnets... Why would I be bitter? I am realistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope that parents understand that there are no busses beyond upper county to Poolesville.
Even if student is from Rockville, parents have to drive 15-20 minutes to nearest bus stop at 6:30 in the morning every single day.
I cannot imagine child from Silver Springs or Takoma to go to Poolesville. It would be insane commitment with very little benefit.
No matter how good Ecology program is, it is not Juilliard in terms of name recognition or education outcome (comparing to music school in NY that people get to from all over on weekends and drive 5-6 hours... But that school has international recognition.)
There is no much advantage to graduate from Poolesville vs. other HS schools.
I do not believe that there are students who live further than in Rockville who attend Poolesville.

Someone is bitter ...

I think you have a problem... I have two kids in Poolesville magnets... Why would I be bitter? I am realistic.

So you’re in the school and still think it’s mediocre?

[Anonymous]

Sometimes I feel like nothing is good enough for you people. Poolesville is an excellent school and we have someone saying there’s little benefit to it over other schools.

I don’t like MCPS, but reading some of your posts, I get why they get frustrated with parents. If Poolesville didn’t exist, you’d complain about lack of challenge. It does exist and you’re saying it provides little benefit. What the heck are you looking for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes I feel like nothing is good enough for you people. Poolesville is an excellent school and we have someone saying there’s little benefit to it over other schools.

I don’t like MCPS, but reading some of your posts, I get why they get frustrated with parents. If Poolesville didn’t exist, you’d complain about lack of challenge. It does exist and you’re saying it provides little benefit. What the heck are you looking for?

Agh! I did not say that Poolesville is bad. It is great school and my kids are happy there.
But first I meant that there is no much advantage to drive to it from Silver Springs...
Second, in reality there is no much advantage on paper from graduating one school vs. another if people are looking at it as advancement to get to top colleges. Most kids even after magnets got to UMD CP.

Advantage of Poolesville to me:
1. small school
2. great extra curricular
3. good kids
4. some good teachers (sorry not all as everywhere)
5. opportunity for kids to find their tribe
6. good number of advanced classes

Disadvantage (big one!) - long commute. Is commute worth it?
I would say it depends of particular kids.

By the way, everyone has right to their opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes I feel like nothing is good enough for you people. Poolesville is an excellent school and we have someone saying there’s little benefit to it over other schools.

I don’t like MCPS, but reading some of your posts, I get why they get frustrated with parents. If Poolesville didn’t exist, you’d complain about lack of challenge. It does exist and you’re saying it provides little benefit. What the heck are you looking for?

Agh! I did not say that Poolesville is bad. It is great school and my kids are happy there.
But first I meant that there is no much advantage to drive to it from Silver Springs...
Second, in reality there is no much advantage on paper from graduating one school vs. another if people are looking at it as advancement to get to top colleges. Most kids even after magnets got to UMD CP.

Advantage of Poolesville to me:
1. small school
2. great extra curricular
3. good kids
4. some good teachers (sorry not all as everywhere)
5. opportunity for kids to find their tribe
6. good number of advanced classes

Disadvantage (big one!) - long commute. Is commute worth it?
I would say it depends of particular kids.

By the way, everyone has right to their opinion.

Ok, I just really disagree that there’s little advantage to one school over another. For one, I’m not surprised kids go from magnets to UMD because UMD is a great school with excellent STEM programs. I haven’t seen Poolesville’s college matriculation, but the matriculation from Blair’s magnet programs is far and away better than the non-magnet MCPS high schools. While nothing guarantees someone admission to a given school, colleges are familiar with the top high schools (including Poolesville) and excelling there is a good signal to colleges that a kid will likely succeed in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yes. A lot of families with highly gifted students move to Poolesville because they are then assured of a place in the school and are not subject to the MCPS attempts to choose race over merit. In recent years many Asian and White families have moved there from other parts of the county to avoid falling victim to the misguided attempts of MCPS to put race above merit. for magnet admissions.

It is illegal for MCPS to use race as a factor in admissions, and there is no evidence that MCPS uses race as a factor in admissions - notwithstanding repeated assertions on DCUM.

As for many Asian and white families moving to Poolesville, well, let's see for 2017-2018:

Poolesville ES: 66-90 students per grade, Asian 7.6%, white 77.6%, black 5.8%, Hispanic 12.5%, multiple 7.6%, ESOL 6.7%, FARMs 11.8%, SPED 8.0%
Monocacy ES: 16-29 students per grade, Asian <5.0%, white 72.6%, black <5.0%, Hispanic 14.4%, multiple 6.8%, ESOL 6.8%, FARMs 17.8%, SPED 11.0%
John Poole MS: 116-138 students per grade, Asian 7.2%, white 71.7%, black 5.6%, Hispanic 11.7%, ESOL <5.0%, FARMS 10.4%, SPED 10.4%

And for 2007-2008:

Poolesville ES: 50-77 students per grade, Asian 2.7%, white 79.3%, black 6.2%, Hispanic 11.1%, ESOL 3.7%, FARMs 13.8%, SPED 9.6%
Monocacy ES: 26-40 students per grade, Asian 4.4%, white 79.9%, black 6.4%, Hispanic 7.4%, ESOL 4.4%, FARMs 13.7%, SPED 12.3%
John Poole MS: 119-137 students per grade, Asian 1.3%, white 85.3%, black 7.5%, Hispanic 5.4%, ESOL 0.8%, FARMS 8.8%, SPED 10.3%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yes. A lot of families with highly gifted students move to Poolesville because they are then assured of a place in the school and are not subject to the MCPS attempts to choose race over merit. In recent years many Asian and White families have moved there from other parts of the county to avoid falling victim to the misguided attempts of MCPS to put race above merit. for magnet admissions.

It is illegal for MCPS to use race as a factor in admissions, and there is no evidence that MCPS uses race as a factor in admissions - notwithstanding repeated assertions on DCUM.

As for many Asian and white families moving to Poolesville, well, let's see for 2017-2018:

Poolesville ES: 66-90 students per grade, Asian 7.6%, white 77.6%, black 5.8%, Hispanic 12.5%, multiple 7.6%, ESOL 6.7%, FARMs 11.8%, SPED 8.0%
Monocacy ES: 16-29 students per grade, Asian <5.0%, white 72.6%, black <5.0%, Hispanic 14.4%, multiple 6.8%, ESOL 6.8%, FARMs 17.8%, SPED 11.0%
John Poole MS: 116-138 students per grade, Asian 7.2%, white 71.7%, black 5.6%, Hispanic 11.7%, ESOL <5.0%, FARMS 10.4%, SPED 10.4%

And for 2007-2008:

Poolesville ES: 50-77 students per grade, Asian 2.7%, white 79.3%, black 6.2%, Hispanic 11.1%, ESOL 3.7%, FARMs 13.8%, SPED 9.6%
Monocacy ES: 26-40 students per grade, Asian 4.4%, white 79.9%, black 6.4%, Hispanic 7.4%, ESOL 4.4%, FARMs 13.7%, SPED 12.3%
John Poole MS: 119-137 students per grade, Asian 1.3%, white 85.3%, black 7.5%, Hispanic 5.4%, ESOL 0.8%, FARMS 8.8%, SPED 10.3%

Yes Asian went up 5% in the town's elementary school and nearly 6% in the middle school. That's a lot.