Will the Board of Education say no to the regional programs initiative as currently conceived?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boom: "Black and Brown Coalition declares support for proposed MCPS regional program model"

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/11/11/black-brown-coaliiton-proposed-regional-programs/

Unbelievable. There are so many Black parents who have raised concerns about the regional program so painting opposition as being White-led is not factual.

Just look at the Kennedy session where many Black parents stood up and expressed their concerns.

The county NAACP has made some weird recommendations over the years. They initially supported the MVA and then midcourse said it was bad, while some members had kids in it and closing it impacted minority and special needs students the most. Makes you wonder why all the support for MCPS and the BOE when it goes against the families they should be advocating for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boom: "Black and Brown Coalition declares support for proposed MCPS regional program model"

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/11/11/black-brown-coaliiton-proposed-regional-programs/

I'm not familiar with this group. Are they known to be Central Office-aligned, or have they historically been willing to criticize them and hence this is likely a genuine expression of their community's perspectives?

Byron Johns is heavily involved in the NAACP. I’m surprised they’d support it given it’s going to hurt the kids they are advocating for the most.

Yeah, I'm trying to follow the reasoning. I guess they see the status as a few elite programs where White and Asian students are more likely to be admitted and able to attend? So, in theory, more programs could mean more access for a larger and more diverse set of students.

However, I don't how e.g. Humanities magnets at Whitman and Churchill with no transportation for out-of-boundary students get you to that goal.

[Anonymous]

Amazing how the coalition can give their support with only one NAACP meeting to discuss the regional model with members seriously questioning MCPS. Taylor knows how to get what he wants. Mostly black women as the face of this rushed initiative.

Now if anybody white or Asian is critical of the program study we can be labelled as racist.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone seen the actual statement? The article says "The group said the district should move forward with implementing its proposed regional plan and prioritize traditionally disadvantaged areas before adding programs elsewhere" but that is not at all what this proposal is doing so I'm really confused...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amazing how the coalition can give their support with only one NAACP meeting to discuss the regional model with members seriously questioning MCPS. Taylor knows how to get what he wants. Mostly black women as the face of this rushed initiative.

Now if anybody white or Asian is critical of the program study we can be labelled as racist.

It's not just White and Asian people who are upset but now that will be the narrative. Oh well. I hope the Black and Brown Coalition at least got some assurances that they will fix the model before they implement it because it completely sucks right now and MCPS has not offered any meaningful improvements so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone seen the actual statement? The article says "The group said the district should move forward with implementing its proposed regional plan and prioritize traditionally disadvantaged areas before adding programs elsewhere" but that is not at all what this proposal is doing so I'm really confused...

+1

Seems like a lot of deals are being made behind the scenes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boom: "Black and Brown Coalition declares support for proposed MCPS regional program model"

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/11/11/black-brown-coaliiton-proposed-regional-programs/

I'm not familiar with this group. Are they known to be Central Office-aligned, or have they historically been willing to criticize them and hence this is likely a genuine expression of their community's perspectives?

Yes, they are. Byron protested Dr. McKnight's ouster and he has been a fan boy for Dr. Taylor since his arrival.

And no, Byron has not been willing to criticize Taylor and MCPS in public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boom: "Black and Brown Coalition declares support for proposed MCPS regional program model"

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/11/11/black-brown-coaliiton-proposed-regional-programs/

I'm not familiar with this group. Are they known to be Central Office-aligned, or have they historically been willing to criticize them and hence this is likely a genuine expression of their community's perspectives?

Byron Johns is heavily involved in the NAACP. I’m surprised they’d support it given it’s going to hurt the kids they are advocating for the most.

The NAACP cares more about the adults in MCPS (principals and other admin) than the students and parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boom: "Black and Brown Coalition declares support for proposed MCPS regional program model"

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/11/11/black-brown-coaliiton-proposed-regional-programs/

Unbelievable. There are so many Black parents who have raised concerns about the regional program so painting opposition as being White-led is not factual.

Just look at the Kennedy session where many Black parents stood up and expressed their concerns.

The county NAACP has made some weird recommendations over the years. They initially supported the MVA and then midcourse said it was bad, while some members had kids in it and closing it impacted minority and special needs students the most. Makes you wonder why all the support for MCPS and the BOE when it goes against the families they should be advocating for.

This shift is because the NAACP PC is CO-aligned. So when CO and the BOE made it clear they'd be dissolving the MVA, the NAACP had to shift their stance to align with their overlords at MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amazing how the coalition can give their support with only one NAACP meeting to discuss the regional model with members seriously questioning MCPS. Taylor knows how to get what he wants. Mostly black women as the face of this rushed initiative.

Now if anybody white or Asian is critical of the program study we can be labelled as racist.

Bingo. Byron and the Black and Brown Coalition put out this statement to give Taylor cover in the face of unsupportive and negative statements for Taylor's model from MCCPTA and MCEA. Taylor called in a favor. Disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amazing how the coalition can give their support with only one NAACP meeting to discuss the regional model with members seriously questioning MCPS. Taylor knows how to get what he wants. Mostly black women as the face of this rushed initiative.

Now if anybody white or Asian is critical of the program study we can be labelled as racist.

It's not just White and Asian people who are upset but now that will be the narrative. Oh well. I hope the Black and Brown Coalition at least got some assurances that they will fix the model before they implement it because it completely sucks right now and MCPS has not offered any meaningful improvements so far.

They did not. Byron gets to keep his seat at the table and continue to be spoon-fed by Essie and Taylor, which is what he cares about most.

[Anonymous]

You can be ok with the idea of creating regional programs, and yet think the planning and implementation is a s**tshow.

[Anonymous]

“The fact that there are deserts … there are kids in parts of the county who are eligible and deserving that don’t get into these specialty programs, and a large segment of them are Black and brown kids — this has been known for decades,” Johns said. “So when you say, ‘Oh, we’re rushing this,’ this is the same crap that PTAs and the unions have said back when [former superintendent Jerry Weast] was around talking about red zone, green zone. … Never is too fast for them.”
The proposed regions model would worsen inequity:
https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/08/29/opinion-mcps-needs-to-build-stronger-foundation-before-expanding-regional-programs/

To solve the problem of specialty program deserts, it would make more sense to add programs to those deserts.

Advocating for extending the timeline by a year is not disingenuous. It is a concrete timeline extension to enable active community engagement.

To rush to break up current communities (parents, teachers, students) like DCC, which is a high-URM area, without regard to the communities' input unconscionable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone seen the actual statement? The article says "The group said the district should move forward with implementing its proposed regional plan and prioritize traditionally disadvantaged areas before adding programs elsewhere" but that is not at all what this proposal is doing so I'm really confused...

I 100% support the idea of prioritizing traditionally disadvantaged areas before adding programs elsewhere, and the fact that this plan doesn't currently do that is a huge reason why I think they need to slow it down and rework it to do so. Is this a misquote by the reporter or something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amazing how the coalition can give their support with only one NAACP meeting to discuss the regional model with members seriously questioning MCPS. Taylor knows how to get what he wants. Mostly black women as the face of this rushed initiative.

Now if anybody white or Asian is critical of the program study we can be labelled as racist.

NAACP was doing this stuff with the MVA, too. It may be the BOE or central office staff vs. Taylor. It was very strange over a few million they cut the MVA, early education, a trade program and other stuff without any evidence the programs were failing or families were not happy. Something else is going on.