MCPS planning very limited regional program transportation (HS pickups only)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This may not be a surprise to those who have been following this, but MCPS staff had previously been evasive about what exactly the transportation plan for regional programs will be.

But today they confirmed to the 'design team" (i.e. the advisory group who they don't actually listen to) that the current plan is that buses to the regional programs will pick students up from their local high school, meaning that students will not be able to attend regional programs unless they can drive or be driven to their local high school to catch the school bus from there (or they are lucky enough to live close enough to walk or have a workable public transit route to their high school.)

This is deeply inequitable and will leave many students behind. But I guess at this point they're so sure it'll pass that they don't mind letting it slip that regional programs are only going to be for better-off families who can manage DIY transportation. (And my understanding is that they and Taylor have implied to Board members that there will be reasonable access to transportation.to help get their support-- they probably figure it is too last minute for any of them to change their mind on it now.)

I’ve been following this all along. When Farmland wanted to whine about building utilization I encouraged them to instead rally around fixing the transportation issues. Unless MCPS changes the start times for HS based on the programs offered (like CES being housed in the latest start ES) it’s completely inequitable. But Farmland doesn’t care because they can drive their kids around or hire drivers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This may not be a surprise to those who have been following this, but MCPS staff had previously been evasive about what exactly the transportation plan for regional programs will be.

But today they confirmed to the 'design team" (i.e. the advisory group who they don't actually listen to) that the current plan is that buses to the regional programs will pick students up from their local high school, meaning that students will not be able to attend regional programs unless they can drive or be driven to their local high school to catch the school bus from there (or they are lucky enough to live close enough to walk or have a workable public transit route to their high school.)

This is deeply inequitable and will leave many students behind. But I guess at this point they're so sure it'll pass that they don't mind letting it slip that regional programs are only going to be for better-off families who can manage DIY transportation. (And my understanding is that they and Taylor have implied to Board members that there will be reasonable access to transportation.to help get their support-- they probably figure it is too last minute for any of them to change their mind on it now.)

I’ve been following this all along. When Farmland wanted to whine about building utilization I encouraged them to instead rally around fixing the transportation issues. Unless MCPS changes the start times for HS based on the programs offered (like CES being housed in the latest start ES) it’s completely inequitable. But Farmland doesn’t care because they can drive their kids around or hire drivers

CES are not all housed in late start elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I'm just confused how this will work:

Lets assume High School A currently has 2,000 kids.
Let's just assume for sake of argument they would all want to stay at High School A. Now let's assume that 400 kids from other schools apply to be in the regional program at High School A.

What happens? Are 400 kids from High School A moved to other schools, even though their home school is their first pick? Is there a priority for staying in your neighborhood school?

I'm trying to figure out if this is like the NYC model, where kids have to apply for basically any school and most kids are not at all guaranteed to go to the school closest to their home. Everyone seems to hate that system.

Or is it more like the current magnet system, where you always have a spot at your home school but there's an option to apply for a program at another school if you want.

No, it's basically like the current magnet system. You are assigned to your home school unless you apply for and accept a spot at a different school. So in your scenario, if everyone from school A stays at school A and they also host programs with a capacity of 400, the school would just be overcapacity or they might choose to shrink that program or move it to another school to address the capacity issues.

This is exactly why they predict Einstein will be at 155% capacity due to the popularity of the programs that will be offered at that school. Silvestre specifically asked Taylor about this at the work session on Tuesday, 3/3

Einstein needs the numbers as if they lose staff there is no way to make Einstein work as academics are limited. Kids from w schools and bcc are not going to choose Einstein if they want strong academics. Theater and fine arts, maybe.