Takoma Park MS Magnet - 25 inbound seats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I would say the same thing to do that I would say to the PP who believes the TPMS in-bounds spots should be reserved for Black and Latinx kids - to do it that way would be illegal. I don't know how else to explain it except that there is settled case law that using race in admissions for this type of program is illegal, but using geography is perfectly legitimate.

Whoa there is no case law that says it is legal to use geography as a proxy for race in admissions. In fact, the voter suppression cases are about exactly that principle.

What is legal is establishing additional weighting for disadvantaged students.

Home school assignment (i.e., geography) is a terrible proxy for race. It's a very good proxy for home school assignment, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It is the natural conclusion to a lifetimes “Thad needs enrichment so get him out of those classes with brown errr I mean avg test takers”. They angle so vigorously because the thought of being stuck with the local kids terrifies them. The 25 seats is a hope that classroom isolation can last all the way through high school. That is enough for many to move that far east for the discount

But this makes the problem worse. By pulling out the slightly above average kids and throwing them into the in boundary magnet spots, the general ed classes at TPMS do become filled with kids that can only work at an average pace. This makes the parents even more desperate to get into the magnet because they don't want their kid left behind.

This is simply not true, though I love how you'd like to categorize in-boundary kids as merely "above avg" (I guess you reserve "gifted" for out of boundary. So ridiculous. Equally ridiculous is the notion that local students not in the program are merely "average." I know many MANY bright, even gifted, students at regular TPMS. I know kids who came from HGC/CES in reg TPMS, kids who have gone from reg TPMS to Blair SMACS and Blair CAP. Seriously smart kids. Did not get into (or possibly did not apply to) TPMS magnet. It happens (and clearly it happens to a lot of the sour grapes parents here thinking that the in boundary kids are somehow taking spots from their kids -- they are freeing up spots, not taking them). All kids at TPMS have classes with the general student body for most subjects. If students want to isolate themselves, they can, but there is integration and many students mix. I think maybe the new cohort admission might even enhance this. My kids are in the old system, and the kids who don't integrate are often ones that attend w/ a group of friends from another district. If the system is more focused on outliers, it might result in more integration. Just me musing here. I'm not convinced that the outliers route is the way to go.

[Anonymous]

After reading the last 10+ pages of this thread, I can't help but feel it's a shame that in boundary kids don't take seats away from Cold Spring kids because their parents are the most conceited jerks imaginable. Seriously, we need even more seats for in-boundary kids who families actually contribute to the community, and just as many for Blair SMCS too. It makes perfect sense. The Cold Spring kids will be fine without a magnet because they'll get a lot of enrichment outside of school regardless.

[Anonymous]

Just to continue...the Takoma Park community does not understand what "gifted" actually means. They say that "everyone is gifted." Even the principal says this. Yes everyone has gifts, but not everyone has the "special needs" that highly gifted student have. I wish that people would take the time to truly understand these needs and not try to claw their way to gifted programs. It just leaves everyone confused and where does that leave our actual highly+ gifted students in MCPS? So many go elsewhere. There is an entire listserv dedicated to gifted homeschoolers in our area. They just dropped out of the system. Some come back to TPMS or Blair (or other magnets) as they get older. The CES are a joke for students who excel in math. I wish people would learn what giftedness actually is (does not equate with high achievement necessarily). If they want high achiever programs they should advocate for that instead and keep gifted magnets available for truly gifted students wherever they might live in MoCo.

I think this is very true. Its really strange that a gifted magnet with so few seats and so many kids across the county would waste 1/3 of them on kids that really shouldn't be in it. I do think that the growing class sizes, changing demographics, lack of tracking and other accelerated programs in ES and MS have made parents with smart but not gifted students more desperate to get in and devestated when they do not. One of DC's good friends is switching to private because he didn't get into the CES program. They may come back is he gets into one if the MS or HS magnet but many people in TP go private if they can't be in the special program. None of these kids are gifted but they are smart and capable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Just to continue...the Takoma Park community does not understand what "gifted" actually means. They say that "everyone is gifted." Even the principal says this. Yes everyone has gifts, but not everyone has the "special needs" that highly gifted student have. I wish that people would take the time to truly understand these needs and not try to claw their way to gifted programs. It just leaves everyone confused and where does that leave our actual highly+ gifted students in MCPS? So many go elsewhere. There is an entire listserv dedicated to gifted homeschoolers in our area. They just dropped out of the system. Some come back to TPMS or Blair (or other magnets) as they get older. The CES are a joke for students who excel in math. I wish people would learn what giftedness actually is (does not equate with high achievement necessarily). If they want high achiever programs they should advocate for that instead and keep gifted magnets available for truly gifted students wherever they might live in MoCo.

I think this is very true. Its really strange that a gifted magnet with so few seats and so many kids across the county would waste 1/3 of them on kids that really shouldn't be in it. I do think that the growing class sizes, changing demographics, lack of tracking and other accelerated programs in ES and MS have made parents with smart but not gifted students more desperate to get in and devestated when they do not. One of DC's good friends is switching to private because he didn't get into the CES program. They may come back is he gets into one if the MS or HS magnet but many people in TP go private if they can't be in the special program. None of these kids are gifted but they are smart and capable.

but nobody cares what you think

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Just to continue...the Takoma Park community does not understand what "gifted" actually means. They say that "everyone is gifted." Even the principal says this. Yes everyone has gifts, but not everyone has the "special needs" that highly gifted student have. I wish that people would take the time to truly understand these needs and not try to claw their way to gifted programs. It just leaves everyone confused and where does that leave our actual highly+ gifted students in MCPS? So many go elsewhere. There is an entire listserv dedicated to gifted homeschoolers in our area. They just dropped out of the system. Some come back to TPMS or Blair (or other magnets) as they get older. The CES are a joke for students who excel in math. I wish people would learn what giftedness actually is (does not equate with high achievement necessarily). If they want high achiever programs they should advocate for that instead and keep gifted magnets available for truly gifted students wherever they might live in MoCo.

I think this is very true. Its really strange that a gifted magnet with so few seats and so many kids across the county would waste 1/3 of them on kids that really shouldn't be in it. I do think that the growing class sizes, changing demographics, lack of tracking and other accelerated programs in ES and MS have made parents with smart but not gifted students more desperate to get in and devestated when they do not. One of DC's good friends is switching to private because he didn't get into the CES program. They may come back is he gets into one if the MS or HS magnet but many people in TP go private if they can't be in the special program. None of these kids are gifted but they are smart and capable.

So untrue and ridiculous. Very very few people in TP send their kids to private, even if they do not get into an application program and many are very smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Just to continue...the Takoma Park community does not understand what "gifted" actually means. They say that "everyone is gifted." Even the principal says this. Yes everyone has gifts, but not everyone has the "special needs" that highly gifted student have. I wish that people would take the time to truly understand these needs and not try to claw their way to gifted programs. It just leaves everyone confused and where does that leave our actual highly+ gifted students in MCPS? So many go elsewhere. There is an entire listserv dedicated to gifted homeschoolers in our area. They just dropped out of the system. Some come back to TPMS or Blair (or other magnets) as they get older. The CES are a joke for students who excel in math. I wish people would learn what giftedness actually is (does not equate with high achievement necessarily). If they want high achiever programs they should advocate for that instead and keep gifted magnets available for truly gifted students wherever they might live in MoCo.

I think this is very true. Its really strange that a gifted magnet with so few seats and so many kids across the county would waste 1/3 of them on kids that really shouldn't be in it. I do think that the growing class sizes, changing demographics, lack of tracking and other accelerated programs in ES and MS have made parents with smart but not gifted students more desperate to get in and devestated when they do not. One of DC's good friends is switching to private because he didn't get into the CES program. They may come back is he gets into one if the MS or HS magnet but many people in TP go private if they can't be in the special program. None of these kids are gifted but they are smart and capable.

This really is very ignorant, somewhat incoherant and frankly reeks of desperation on your part. What 1/3 don't deserve to be in the magnet? What makes you think you know whether any kid is gifted or not (in any geographical region)? You clearly know nothing of the TP area -- people don't act "desperate" to get into the magnet -- many of the parents are more hippy types (sorry for the label TPers) who are concerned about too much work and want to make sure their kids are outside playing. A few send kids to Montessori or Siena, but that is for educational philosophy more than anything else. Many TP students are top students and get into multiple HS magnets (mine and friends all did -- 5 out of 5 acceptances), including *gasp* students who didn't get into the in-boundary TPMS magnet. In at Blair SMACS. There is no in boundary for the HS magnets, so if they are nothing special, how are they gaming this? They're not. They're gifted kids who work hard, just like kids in any other part of the county. Why do you feel the need to denigrate children you clearly don't know? So nasty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After reading the last 10+ pages of this thread, I can't help but feel it's a shame that in boundary kids don't take seats away from Cold Spring kids because their parents are the most conceited jerks imaginable. Seriously, we need even more seats for in-boundary kids who families actually contribute to the community, and just as many for Blair SMCS too. It makes perfect sense. The Cold Spring kids will be fine without a magnet because they'll get a lot of enrichment outside of school regardless.

Yes, please. I think this would also be good for Eastern. TPMS seems to integrate much better than Eastern. I also agree about Blair. And, I think it's fine that RM has theirs -- they didn't affect my kid applying & getting accepted from out of boundary.

[Anonymous]

Apparently the situation is: TPMS gets the 25 seats because they are hosting the magnet program and it does not take away seats from students from other home-schools (because logistically these 25 students can be considered still using local resources).


As for the question of whether they "deserve" to be in the program, let's put it this way: There are many more kids that "deserve" to get in the program but can't due to the limited seats. So do locals at TPMS get more seats than from other MS? probably yes. That only means that in TPMS, a larger number of "deserved" kids get it. And of course they do not fall behind in the program. There are simply too many "deserved" kids being left out elsewhere.

Of course, it does not suggest, on the other hand, that TPMS kids do better than out-bound kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apparently the situation is: TPMS gets the 25 seats because they are hosting the magnet program and it does not take away seats from students from other home-schools (because logistically these 25 students can be considered still using local resources).


As for the question of whether they "deserve" to be in the program, let's put it this way: There are many more kids that "deserve" to get in the program but can't due to the limited seats. So do locals at TPMS get more seats than from other MS? probably yes. That only means that in TPMS, a larger number of "deserved" kids get it. And of course they do not fall behind in the program. There are simply too many "deserved" kids being left out elsewhere.

Of course, it does not suggest, on the other hand, that TPMS kids do better than out-bound kids.

It sounds like parents who prioritize education simply choose to buy into the TKPK school pyramid.

[Anonymous]

If you think that TPMS kids are so smart why not let them compete with the rest of the county?

Oh wait..they aren't as smart so can only get in using the inbound seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you think that TPMS kids are so smart why not let them compete with the rest of the county?

Oh wait..they aren't as smart so can only get in using the inbound seats.

This would be a good argument against those who claim TPMS kids are smarter than out-bound kids.

Unfortunately not many people are claiming that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If you think that TPMS kids are so smart why not let them compete with the rest of the county?

Oh wait..they aren't as smart so can only get in using the inbound seats.


This would be a good argument against those who claim TPMS kids are smarter than out-bound kids.

Unfortunately not many people are claiming that.

True

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you think that TPMS kids are so smart why not let them compete with the rest of the county?

Oh wait..they aren't as smart so can only get in using the inbound seats.

Perhaps, actual smart people don't leave this up to chance.

[Anonymous]

What would make far more sense would be to get rid of the inbound seats for TP and just run an enriched course for those inbound TP kids that are smart but not smart enough to get into the magnet.

With the federal discrimination investigation, I don't see how MCPS can continue giving white kids in TP preferential access to a magnet.