When is the plan for new HS programs coming out?
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Anonymous
There are kids at all schools capable but not all kids are taking advanced classes as the schools don’t offer them. They try to force the kids to Mc. Of course pre one BOE member works there and her job is liaison to MCPS so huge conflict of interest. |
Anonymous
That makes no sense. Einstein is close to Wheaton, Woodward, Blair. |
Anonymous
I saw the document before it was taken down and this matches it. BUT don’t forget this could change. Unlikely but possible. And also, don’t forget that many of us do not know what our zoned option even is yet. Depending on how the boundary study shakes out I’d be in different regions. In the document it said that some programs would be criteria based and others interest based, as they are now. There was no mention of a lottery and the poster who assumed that could not have based it on anything. I am not positive but I think something in the document referred to sorting out admissions criteria and process. Obviously they will need to figure that out, and will it be done by each individual program as it is now, or centrally? I personally think they are potentially overestimating how many students want to enter a special program for high school. I think the allure of some of the top programs right now is cohort and established excellence, not the narrow focus or specialty itself. I agree with the PP who said lumping this together with the boundary study is muddying a lot of details. I’m concerned they are going to scale up a lot of these programs in places where they will either be over or under subscribed because people haven’t sorted whether their zoned option suits their needs. It’s also hard to know as an 8th grader what high school courses or pathways you will want or need and very little help is given to families to plan this out at all. |
Anonymous
While many students are interested in attending established programs like Blair SMAC, Poolesville SMAC, or RM IB due to their strong reputations and academic rigor, that doesn’t mean they would be equally eager to enroll in a brand-new SMAC or IB program in a different region. New programs come with uncertainty and unproven track records, which pose significant risks for students making important educational decisions. Instead of expanding opportunities, this approach may actually limit these students’ chances to attend the established programs they aspire to , effectively taking away options rather than creating them. |
Anonymous
That's part of the point. Telling them to go to MC to access coursework available elsewhere in situ would not be providing that rough/reasonable equivalence of educational experience. |
Anonymous
Where did you see this clarification? I watched the May 22 BOE meeting all the way through, didn't hear a single word about this point. I didn't watch the June 10th meeting but this was not on the meeting agenda. Did they actually discuss about the special programs on June 10th meeting? If you could possibly find the link and point out which timestamp, it would be super informative! |
Anonymous
And Northwood (closer than Blair). And WJ is a half mile farther than Woodward. But it can't be about the proximity of just one school, and it would be better to look at the proximity of the catchments instead of the proximity of the school buildings, themselves, planning for transportation, etc. They have to cobble together groups of 4-5 schools across the whole system, so instead of saying school A really belongs with much closer schools B/C/D, we'd need to paint a whole picture of how all the groupings would shake out with that change. That would have to consider capacity and probably diversity priorities in addition to proximity, presuming continuity would be somewhat built in. |
Anonymous
DP. I don't have a timestamp for you, but i recall seeing or hearing that, either in the verbal presentation or in the slide deck (I'd start with the deck). |
Anonymous
This is a very good point. My child ended up sort of specializing in high school by choosing electives centered around their interest. The interest is so strong they want to continue in college. But neither child nor us would have picked that in grade 8. What helped was a solid all around high school with lots of elective choices and room to explore and then specialize later. |
Anonymous
If they didn't do them together, it would undermine the effectiveness of any planned boundary change. They definitely need to ensure program capacity capable of meeting the expected need of the student population in each region. That likely is among the reasons they have to ensure some economic diversity in each region. I think that plays to an improper narrative regarding the relationship of economic status to student ability, but correcting that may take a much longer time, filtering through communities over the whole of a student's educational experience and only ever approaching rectification in a best-we-can-do-given-resourcing/logistics/edge-case-difficulty manner. |
Anonymous
Indeed. It would be a disservice to implement this without robust and equivalent programs across the regions. |
Anonymous
Which school are you talking about? Einstein has AP Bio, AP Chem, APES, AP Phys, AP Calc BC, AP Stats, AP Lang, AP Lit, AP Gov, AP USH, AP World…. That seems like advanced classes to me. No multivariable that is true but saying a school doesn’t offer advanced classes when it offers all these plus IB is not true. Do you mean a different school? |
Anonymous
There is no ap bio or chem. There is no multi variable or linear algebra. There are zero science ap. Two science teachers left this year. |
Anonymous
Which school? |
Anonymous
That would be a personal choice of that student then. They can attend the new program or don’t. Having the special programs is not guaranteed when going to public school. Not expanding programs because some students are afraid of change and this denying other students the possibility of opportunity doesn’t make sense. |