10/16 Board of Ed meeting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you all catch the transportation slide? This confirmed the dcum rumor that students would need their own transportation to their home high school (earlier than the regular neighborhood bus) and then would ride to the program high school from there. That is actually worse than the current not-awesome magnet bus transportation set up. Only families who can accommodate this can consider these programs.

They should assume the kids that participate in the programs will be disproportionately wealthy compared with those that don't.

I would really prefer no programs to this mess. Just strengthen local schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you all catch the transportation slide? This confirmed the dcum rumor that students would need their own transportation to their home high school (earlier than the regular neighborhood bus) and then would ride to the program high school from there. That is actually worse than the current not-awesome magnet bus transportation set up. Only families who can accommodate this can consider these programs.

Then they really need to set criteria-based programs in high-FARM HSs.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MCPS's goal is to stop fighting for seats for magnet programs, it can just add programs. It does not need to enact a regional model.

Or, they can have advanced and equal course offerings at all schools.

Equality is not equitable.

They are not either.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I can't believe they are literally naming their upcoming engagement as "information sessions" yet pretending they collect feedback at them, and the board seems to be buying it.

I'm very disappointed to the board reaction today. BOE doesn't know how to express criticism at all, or they truly love this model whole heartedly. I like county council meeting much better.

Yeah. Laura Stewart and the SMOB were the only ones I noticed showing any backbone, and not vene that much from them.

I don't know how Julie Yang and Karla Silvestre hope to build county council campaigns out of being door mats for MCPS staff, but it looks like what they are attempting to do.

I hope MCPS staff and families vote against them.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What are the program groupings for region 1?

Brand new and not up online yet. The changes I remember is that they are sending the criteria-based humanities program from BCC (bad) to Whitman (much worse), and that they are letting Einstein keep only the music part of the performing arts magnet (theater and dance at Northwood.)

Einstein also has medical science and healthcare

Einstein has no advanced science and math classes so what does this look like.

9th and 10th grade - honors bio and honors chem, cohorted
11th and 12 grade science are IB Bio and IB Physics
And a "Biomedical" sequence

Math is Algebra 1 in 9th grade, Algebra 2 in 10th, and then for 11th and 12th it says "secondary math pathway"

So, they aren’t adding any5ing. Algebra in 9th is the slowest path.

Yes, this is also my observation. This "special biomedical science program" is subpar than what a normal HS can offer to a high-achiever. For a student who would like to become a doctor, they'd better stay in local HS, take AP classes, and their resume would look better than those go through this program.

I'm curious - is IB Bio and IB Physics less advanced than the AP versions?

Depends on who you ask but no, nor is in math. This will not help kids trying to get into medical school.

Correct. IB courses are generally less advanced than AP versions, but IB does have HL courses which are deeper.

A teacher who testified today noted that IB lets kids take the exam in their first language. AP exams don’t have that option. So in high ELL schools, IB has a benefit.

Then they need to hold sections of each class in different languages. There has to be a good demand in Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you all catch the transportation slide? This confirmed the dcum rumor that students would need their own transportation to their home high school (earlier than the regular neighborhood bus) and then would ride to the program high school from there. That is actually worse than the current not-awesome magnet bus transportation set up. Only families who can accommodate this can consider these programs.

Did it? I was looking for details about that and didn't see anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you all catch the transportation slide? This confirmed the dcum rumor that students would need their own transportation to their home high school (earlier than the regular neighborhood bus) and then would ride to the program high school from there. That is actually worse than the current not-awesome magnet bus transportation set up. Only families who can accommodate this can consider these programs.

That’s what I thought and not all schools are easily or safely accessible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you all catch the transportation slide? This confirmed the dcum rumor that students would need their own transportation to their home high school (earlier than the regular neighborhood bus) and then would ride to the program high school from there. That is actually worse than the current not-awesome magnet bus transportation set up. Only families who can accommodate this can consider these programs.

Then they really need to set criteria-based programs in high-FARM HSs.

They are thinking like consultants. They see that of the 400+ students in the current Blair SMCS program, only 37 are from Blair compared with 105 from Wootton and 77 from Churchill. In their minds, this is a supply and demand problem. It could not possibly be a result of their own failures.

They also haven't noticed that not too many kids from Whitman go to Blair. Why is this? Could it possibly be because Whitman already offers everything the kids there need and maybe they don't need any special programs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whoa, they're considering making Crown a holding school rather than redo boundaries right now.

We need a holding school. Wooton is in terrible shape and we have no holding schools now for middle or high schools. Damascus HS is being rebuilt, but evidently that school is on sufficient acreage to build a new facility on the current property as school continues at the old Damascus HS.

Crown was built on a developer timeline -- either build a school on the required "donation" of land from developers within 10 years, or lose the property back to developers. So MCPS built. But, overcrowding in nearby high schools isn't significant enough yet to require that Crown open immediately as its own HS. Using the property as a holding school makes a lot of sense.

Agree completely. Is there any reason why they wouldn’t do this? It seems like the obvious choice, it’s what the county actually needs.

It sounds like they are not sure if they're allowed to, based on the use of state aid. In which case maybe they could move kids into Crown permanently and use a different school as the holding school instead?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the program groupings for region 1?

Brand new and not up online yet. The changes I remember is that they are sending the criteria-based humanities program from BCC (bad) to Whitman (much worse), and that they are letting Einstein keep only the music part of the performing arts magnet (theater and dance at Northwood.)

Einstein also has medical science and healthcare

Einstein has no advanced science and math classes so what does this look like.

9th and 10th grade - honors bio and honors chem, cohorted
11th and 12 grade science are IB Bio and IB Physics
And a "Biomedical" sequence

Math is Algebra 1 in 9th grade, Algebra 2 in 10th, and then for 11th and 12th it says "secondary math pathway"

So, they aren’t adding any5ing. Algebra in 9th is the slowest path.

Yes, this is also my observation. This "special biomedical science program" is subpar than what a normal HS can offer to a high-achiever. For a student who would like to become a doctor, they'd better stay in local HS, take AP classes, and their resume would look better than those go through this program.

So why should taxpayers give millions more than we already pay for these underwhelming and inequitable programs?

We should focus on strengthening our core subjects, especially in K–8, which is where the inequity starts, as Maloo and I think Stewart pointed out. If we need to spend more taxpayer money, spend it on fixing the actual source of the inequity.

The only way to raise test scores is to put a heavier emphasis on elementary school and make sure every child who can is reading, writing, and doing math on grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MCPS's goal is to stop fighting for seats for magnet programs, it can just add programs. It does not need to enact a regional model.

Or, they can have advanced and equal course offerings at all schools.

Equality is not equitable.

What is the context for your comment? Maybe it’s not serious. I think having advanced and equal course offerings at all schools would be both equal and equitable. More importantly, we could dispense with either word and call it fair.

I am entirely serious. Let's take a look at regional IB programs (NOT Richard Montgomery), beginning on testing results starting at Table D3.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2025/240206_2024_APIB_Exam%20Enroll%20Part%20and%20Perf.pdf

Compare BCC results and for example, Springbrook results. Equal IB programs, but not equal results. Now I ask you to reflect on why that occurs.

BCC has a foundation that spends close to a quarter of a million dollars a year on academic support for students.

Put that kind of money into Watkins Mill and see what happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Humanity is now moved to Whitman!

Where was it? Or scheduled to be before they moved it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MCPS's goal is to stop fighting for seats for magnet programs, it can just add programs. It does not need to enact a regional model.

Or, they can have advanced and equal course offerings at all schools.

Equality is not equitable.

What is the context for your comment? Maybe it’s not serious. I think having advanced and equal course offerings at all schools would be both equal and equitable. More importantly, we could dispense with either word and call it fair.

I am entirely serious. Let's take a look at regional IB programs (NOT Richard Montgomery), beginning on testing results starting at Table D3.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2025/240206_2024_APIB_Exam%20Enroll%20Part%20and%20Perf.pdf

Compare BCC results and for example, Springbrook results. Equal IB programs, but not equal results. Now I ask you to reflect on why that occurs.

BCC has a foundation that spends close to a quarter of a million dollars a year on academic support for students.

Put that kind of money into Watkins Mill and see what happens.

Where does the foundation get the money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you all catch the transportation slide? This confirmed the dcum rumor that students would need their own transportation to their home high school (earlier than the regular neighborhood bus) and then would ride to the program high school from there. That is actually worse than the current not-awesome magnet bus transportation set up. Only families who can accommodate this can consider these programs.

Then they really need to set criteria-based programs in high-FARM HSs.

They are thinking like consultants. They see that of the 400+ students in the current Blair SMCS program, only 37 are from Blair compared with 105 from Wootton and 77 from Churchill. In their minds, this is a supply and demand problem. It could not possibly be a result of their own failures.

They also haven't noticed that not too many kids from Whitman go to Blair. Why is this? Could it possibly be because Whitman already offers everything the kids there need and maybe they don't need any special programs?

Yes, this makes sense. And this is the consequence when the consultant company doesn’t actually consult the user side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MCPS's goal is to stop fighting for seats for magnet programs, it can just add programs. It does not need to enact a regional model.

Or, they can have advanced and equal course offerings at all schools.

Equality is not equitable.

What is the context for your comment? Maybe it’s not serious. I think having advanced and equal course offerings at all schools would be both equal and equitable. More importantly, we could dispense with either word and call it fair.

I am entirely serious. Let's take a look at regional IB programs (NOT Richard Montgomery), beginning on testing results starting at Table D3.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2025/240206_2024_APIB_Exam%20Enroll%20Part%20and%20Perf.pdf

Compare BCC results and for example, Springbrook results. Equal IB programs, but not equal results. Now I ask you to reflect on why that occurs.

BCC has a foundation that spends close to a quarter of a million dollars a year on academic support for students.

Put that kind of money into Watkins Mill and see what happens.

Where does the foundation get the money?

Wow, how are they allowed to bring in and pay extra staff and other things? https://www.bccedfoundation.org/impact