7/24 BOE meeting thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has Blair's magnet and RM's IB program been cancelled or reduced to students in their respective new regions?

Both are gone as full county magnets. Instead, each region will have anIB program.

Blair Magnet was not countywide.

If you're going to keep posting that Blair SMCS is not a full county program, you need to say that it covers about 2/3 of the county, where Poolesville SMCS covers the rest. In leaving that bit out, you leave the incorrect impression that its being "regional" is the same as the way it would be regional with the new plan, when the draw, instead, would be from about a quarter of the present population.

That may be a good thing, as long as the program doesn't get watered down as a result and as long as the new STEM magnets replicate the depth and breadth of the Blair SMCS program.

How about you should have said that in your post? How about you not leaving that bit out instead of stating it's a full county magnet? Why saying it is a full county magnet when it's not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why, why, why can't we just work on 26 strong high schools that all offer a variety of leveled work? Why can't all students just go to their zoned school? What if we used all of this money from their "Research," buses, program procurement etc, to add more teachers to the county and reduce the size of classes? Why does everyone need a program?

+1

Have all students attend their zoned schools and just focus on making them all strong. Utilize virtual education and dual enrollment if needed to add rigor and equality. Stop wasting money.

Great. Except the virtual/dual enrollment bit, which is a huge equity issue, offering a diminished experience and/or additional burdens.

If you want local-only schools, vote to provide enough differential funding to allow all of the same classes to be available at each local school whenever there is a student who qualifies for them. You might have to pay more in taxes, of course, or be willing not to have certain classes offered at any school if the funding can't be found to resource them at every school.

Do you think that even with these regional programs, there are going to be seats for everyone who wants each program? This is going to create more disparity between schools, not less.

Who knows? They have no way of knowing demand. The kids who have historically applied to countrywide programs might not be interested in a brand new untested regional program. The kids who haven’t considered countywide programs due to geography might be more interested if offerings are closer to home or in their home school. Some people may use programs as a way to boomerang back to a school that got changed in the boundary study. I’m just not sure that many kids want to leave their home high schools and friends unless programs are very attractive and offer them something they can’t access at their zoned school. I think they are overestimating demand tbh.

At least in our part of the county (current DCC) I would imagine interest will remain strong because people are very accustomed to not all going to the same high school as neighbors. I’m guessing this is going to vary from cluster to cluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has Blair's magnet and RM's IB program been cancelled or reduced to students in their respective new regions?

Both are gone as full county magnets. Instead, each region will have anIB program.

Blair Magnet was not countywide.

If you're going to keep posting that Blair SMCS is not a full county program, you need to say that it covers about 2/3 of the county, where Poolesville SMCS covers the rest. In leaving that bit out, you leave the incorrect impression that its being "regional" is the same as the way it would be regional with the new plan, when the draw, instead, would be from about a quarter of the present population.

That may be a good thing, as long as the program doesn't get watered down as a result and as long as the new STEM magnets replicate the depth and breadth of the Blair SMCS program.

How about you should have said that in your post? How about you not leaving that bit out instead of stating it's a full county magnet? Why saying it is a full county magnet when it's not?

+1. Blair has no full county programs. Stop claiming that they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These students complaining about the new grading program sound so ridiculous. Saying they wouldn't have chosen classes if they knew there was going to be rigor? Ridiculous! MCPS better not go back on the policies in place!

No, they’re saying they chose rigorous classes under the old grading policy, but will now be taking these classes under a different, new policy. The new policy is designed to curtail grade inflation, meaning some students will end up with lower grades and GPAs. Had they known in advance that this policy was coming, they could have strategized whether to prioritize higher grades with lower rigor or lower grades with higher rigor in individual classes when planning their schedules.

When this new grading policy was originally proposed, the idea was to have it apply to students who had not yet started high school, and to grandfather in current high students under the policy that has been in place. It’s hardly ridiculous for students to complain about the implementation of a policy change that may help MCPS in the long run, but will hurt these students in the short term — shortly before they apply to college in a far, far more competitive environment than the people creating these policies (or the posters on this board) faced when they applied to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These students complaining about the new grading program sound so ridiculous. Saying they wouldn't have chosen classes if they knew there was going to be rigor? Ridiculous! MCPS better not go back on the policies in place!

No, they’re saying they chose rigorous classes under the old grading policy, but will now be taking these classes under a different, new policy. The new policy is designed to curtail grade inflation, meaning some students will end up with lower grades and GPAs. Had they known in advance that this policy was coming, they could have strategized whether to prioritize higher grades with lower rigor or lower grades with higher rigor in individual classes when planning their schedules.

When this new grading policy was originally proposed, the idea was to have it apply to students who had not yet started high school, and to grandfather in current high students under the policy that has been in place. It’s hardly ridiculous for students to complain about the implementation of a policy change that may help MCPS in the long run, but will hurt these students in the short term — shortly before they apply to college in a far, far more competitive environment than the people creating these policies (or the posters on this board) faced when they applied to college.

I'm proud of the students for stating their case before the BOE. I feel like MCPS did a huge flip-flop at the last minute on grandfathering between policy proposal and policy final version without any input from parents or students. Ripping off the band-aid will hurt some students.

[Anonymous]

What happens to Kennedy’s LTI program, which is a signature program for the school but was not listed as one of the leadership programs under the new regional model in the presentation?

Also, they addressed that the countywide IB program will be eliminated but what about the local ones at Einstein, BCC and Rockville?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why, why, why can't we just work on 26 strong high schools that all offer a variety of leveled work? Why can't all students just go to their zoned school? What if we used all of this money from their "Research," buses, program procurement etc, to add more teachers to the county and reduce the size of classes? Why does everyone need a program?

+1

Have all students attend their zoned schools and just focus on making them all strong. Utilize virtual education and dual enrollment if needed to add rigor and equality. Stop wasting money.

Great. Except the virtual/dual enrollment bit, which is a huge equity issue, offering a diminished experience and/or additional burdens.

If you want local-only schools, vote to provide enough differential funding to allow all of the same classes to be available at each local school whenever there is a student who qualifies for them. You might have to pay more in taxes, of course, or be willing not to have certain classes offered at any school if the funding can't be found to resource them at every school.

Virtual makes it accessible. Dual enrollment is not due to transportation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happens to Kennedy’s LTI program, which is a signature program for the school but was not listed as one of the leadership programs under the new regional model in the presentation?

Also, they addressed that the countywide IB program will be eliminated but what about the local ones at Einstein, BCC and Rockville?

Look at how many graduate is from these schools! Very few.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Five regional programs proposed:

Medical Science and Healthcare
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
International Baccalaureate, Humanities and Languages
Leadership and Public Service, Education
Visual & Performing Arts, Design, and Communication

Plus at every school: Business, Finance and Entrepreneurial and Financial Literacy

This is silly and budding kids all over town for their choice is not equitable. If you bus long distances after school transportation is a huge issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Five regional programs proposed:

Medical Science and Healthcare
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
International Baccalaureate, Humanities and Languages
Leadership and Public Service, Education
Visual & Performing Arts, Design, and Communication

Plus at every school: Business, Finance and Entrepreneurial and Financial Literacy

This is silly and budding kids all over town for their choice is not equitable. If you bus long distances after school transportation is a huge issue.

The only people being bussed would be opting to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Five regional programs proposed:

Medical Science and Healthcare
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
International Baccalaureate, Humanities and Languages
Leadership and Public Service, Education
Visual & Performing Arts, Design, and Communication

Plus at every school: Business, Finance and Entrepreneurial and Financial Literacy

This is silly and budding kids all over town for their choice is not equitable. If you bus long distances after school transportation is a huge issue.

The only people being bussed would be opting to do so.

Many families don’t have cars or easy transportation cross county. There is no easy way by public transportation to get to Whitman from DCC without a car which means these kids continue to go without classes they need if all schools don’t have advanced classes. I don’t know about you but we could not make it work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Five regional programs proposed:

Medical Science and Healthcare
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
International Baccalaureate, Humanities and Languages
Leadership and Public Service, Education
Visual & Performing Arts, Design, and Communication

Plus at every school: Business, Finance and Entrepreneurial and Financial Literacy

This is silly and budding kids all over town for their choice is not equitable. If you bus long distances after school transportation is a huge issue.

The only people being bussed would be opting to do so.

Many families don’t have cars or easy transportation cross county. There is no easy way by public transportation to get to Whitman from DCC without a car which means these kids continue to go without classes they need if all schools don’t have advanced classes. I don’t know about you but we could not make it work.

If you don't want to go to a regional program, then you just go to your assigned school.

[Anonymous]

I am assuming the new STEM program will get nothing like the current SMCS with all the electives and functions and research projects? Will it just be more like the academy style system with a few extra classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am assuming the new STEM program will get nothing like the current SMCS with all the electives and functions and research projects? Will it just be more like the academy style system with a few extra classes?

Taylor suggested today that the Blair magnet program would remain at Blair, but it would just serve the one region.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Five regional programs proposed:

Medical Science and Healthcare
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
International Baccalaureate, Humanities and Languages
Leadership and Public Service, Education
Visual & Performing Arts, Design, and Communication

Plus at every school: Business, Finance and Entrepreneurial and Financial Literacy

This is silly and budding kids all over town for their choice is not equitable. If you bus long distances after school transportation is a huge issue.

The only people being bussed would be opting to do so.

Many families don’t have cars or easy transportation cross county. There is no easy way by public transportation to get to Whitman from DCC without a car which means these kids continue to go without classes they need if all schools don’t have advanced classes. I don’t know about you but we could not make it work.

If you don't want to go to a regional program, then you just go to your assigned school.

We do and its an issue as our school doesn't have a lot of STEM, which puts our kids at a huge disadvantage