Specialty program spreadsheets

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
There are two under enrolled MS 2-3 miles from Kenmoor (Everett Just, Gholson). Kenmoor's boundary area is pretty small compared to other MS in the district and they are surrounded by other MS in fairly close proximity. Some of the kids probably live closer to Gholson or Just than Kenmoor.

So the more politically acceptable option would be to start a TAG middle school program at Gholson. If it is underenrolled, there's room there for a cohort of students, and the busses are running there anyhow. So all TAG identified kids who are zoned for Gholson Middle School (like the kids in Cheverly) would now be sent to the TAG middle school program at Gholson.

If the TAG coordinator and staff would be willing to move to Gholson, Everett Just etc that would be completely fine with me. If everyone who is TAG identified in bounds for Gholson goes there, kids who are currently going to Kenmoor would have to move with the program. Or if they would expand the offerings at Walker Mill. Anything would be an improvement over what is on offer right now. I went with Kenmoor only because they have the staff and infrastructure in place and seem to have a staff that is willing to consider expansion in private conversations.
I think that we forget that staffing these programs isn't particularly easy. If you have a program in place it is easier to expand on it than it is to start from scratch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: If everyone who is TAG identified in bounds for Gholson goes there, kids who are currently going to Kenmoor would have to move with the program. Or if they would expand the offerings at Walker Mill. Anything would be an improvement over what is on offer right now. I went with Kenmoor only because they have the staff and infrastructure in place and seem to have a staff that is willing to consider expansion in private conversations.
I think that we forget that staffing these programs isn't particularly easy. If you have a program in place it is easier to expand on it than it is to start from scratch.

I should clarify, not all kids at Kenmoor would go there, just those who live in bounds for Gholson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, that would be really unpopular. Move local kids further away so kids who live further from the school can come there....?

Also, although I am zoned for Gholson, Kenmoor is significantly closer to me and Gholson is closer to some of the kids zoned for Kenmoor. The student body of a school doesn't always incorporate "local kids", they incorporate the kids that are inside boundary drawn by PGCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
There are two under enrolled MS 2-3 miles from Kenmoor (Everett Just, Gholson). Kenmoor's boundary area is pretty small compared to other MS in the district and they are surrounded by other MS in fairly close proximity. Some of the kids probably live closer to Gholson or Just than Kenmoor.

So the more politically acceptable option would be to start a TAG middle school program at Gholson. If it is underenrolled, there's room there for a cohort of students, and the busses are running there anyhow. So all TAG identified kids who are zoned for Gholson Middle School (like the kids in Cheverly) would now be sent to the TAG middle school program at Gholson.

If the TAG coordinator and staff would be willing to move to Gholson, Everett Just etc that would be completely fine with me. If everyone who is TAG identified in bounds for Gholson goes there, kids who are currently going to Kenmoor would have to move with the program. Or if they would expand the offerings at Walker Mill. Anything would be an improvement over what is on offer right now. I went with Kenmoor only because they have the staff and infrastructure in place and seem to have a staff that is willing to consider expansion in private conversations.
I think that we forget that staffing these programs isn't particularly easy. If you have a program in place it is easier to expand on it than it is to start from scratch.

I don't think Gholson is *that* under enrolled, that it has space not only for 3x150= 450 current TAG students, grades 6-8 PLUS another 90 (one more class per grade level), 180 (2 more classes) or whatever.

I agree it would be better to keep a program in place and build on it. The problem is there isn't room at the current place to expand. Starting a new program in addition elsewhere sounds great on paper, but just look at the current Science and Tech magnet programs -- Roosevelt is highly regarded, the other two honestly not so much.

Starting an "all TAG" middle school (like Glen Arden Woods and Heather Hills for elementary) would have a better chance of being successful.

[Anonymous]

Several years ago when the elementary TAG program expanded to include more seats (and HH and GWES became all-TAG) did middle school TAG seats expand as well? If not, that could be a reason why it is nearly impossible to get a spot at a middle school TAG program through the lottery now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Several years ago when the elementary TAG program expanded to include more seats (and HH and GWES became all-TAG) did middle school TAG seats expand as well? If not, that could be a reason why it is nearly impossible to get a spot at a middle school TAG program through the lottery now.

Yes. There were additional seats (if not an
Entire program added to Greenbelt MS). If the county created another TAG only school, I think they open themselves up to potential lawsuits.

[Anonymous]

That's right, I forgot about Greenbelt MS TAG program.

Why lawsuits? Have there been any lawsuits over the TAG-only schools at elementary school?

There's a state mandate to provide *some* form of TAG services to TAG identified students, but nothing more than that -- no legal requirement of location, type, cohort, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's right, I forgot about Greenbelt MS TAG program.

Why lawsuits? Have there been any lawsuits over the TAG-only schools at elementary school?

There's a state mandate to provide *some* form of TAG services to TAG identified students, but nothing more than that -- no legal requirement of location, type, cohort, etc.

No, but by the county's own research the TAG centers always come back well underrepresented in terms of numbers of minorities compared to the general population. You really think taking a school that's doing well like Kenmoor, closing it off, and busing all the kids, likely less wealthy and more likely to be Hispanic and Afican American compared to the general population, to a school that's struggling and poor performing isn't grounds for a lawsuit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's right, I forgot about Greenbelt MS TAG program.

Why lawsuits? Have there been any lawsuits over the TAG-only schools at elementary school?

There's a state mandate to provide *some* form of TAG services to TAG identified students, but nothing more than that -- no legal requirement of location, type, cohort, etc.

No, but by the county's own research the TAG centers always come back well underrepresented in terms of numbers of minorities compared to the general population. You really think taking a school that's doing well like Kenmoor, closing it off, and busing all the kids, likely less wealthy and more likely to be Hispanic and Afican American compared to the general population, to a school that's struggling and poor performing isn't grounds for a lawsuit?

From my personal experience with TAG center schools, there have been very very few white students in any of them, almost always fewer than 5 % of the class or grade ) so I have a hard time beliving that minorities are "well underrepresented" compared to the general population. Maybe the super TAG centers are an exception.

I also can't see grounds for a lawsuit in shifting programs around. Parents could protest, but as long as you are moving programs and not targeting individual students (like saying "Let's move all the AA kids here....) I don't think there's much of a case. School districts have always had the latitude to move programs around to different schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's right, I forgot about Greenbelt MS TAG program.

Why lawsuits? Have there been any lawsuits over the TAG-only schools at elementary school?

There's a state mandate to provide *some* form of TAG services to TAG identified students, but nothing more than that -- no legal requirement of location, type, cohort, etc.

No, but by the county's own research the TAG centers always come back well underrepresented in terms of numbers of minorities compared to the general population. You really think taking a school that's doing well like Kenmoor, closing it off, and busing all the kids, likely less wealthy and more likely to be Hispanic and Afican American compared to the general population, to a school that's struggling and poor performing isn't grounds for a lawsuit?

I wonder if adding more TAG MS slots would actually increase the proportion of AA and Hispanic children in the program. In my observations the white TAG kids are more likely to enter the TAG ES lottery and leave local schools at 2nd grade. The kids that are left behind are pretty much excluded from the TAG MS due to lack of seats. Families of lower SES, especially those whose first language isn't english, may not understand about TAG continuity system when their kid is in 2nd grade. If it is even on their radar, they may assume that they could choose to leave their kids at the local school and then send them at MS level.

There are multiple MS TAG magnets, Kenmoor, Greenbelt, Walker Mill are three I am familiar with. All have long wait lists.

Basically the current system isn't enough. It isn't serving the needs of the county kids and if it could be expanded it should be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm wondering if the reason there was no movement is that kids that live within the boundary for a TAG middle school don't need to do the lottery to get space into the TAG program. Maybe because they get automatic entry to the TAG middle schools, the specialty office can't offer any additional spaces to lottery families because they need to save space and see how many of the neighborhood kids register before going through the waitlist.

TAG identified kids who live in bounds for the TAG MS Magnet still need to apply for the lottery to get a slot if they are not getting continuity to MS through attending a TAG magnet ES. i.e. you can live inbounds at Kenmoor and may not be able to attend the TAG stream even if you are TAG identified.


So I got some information from someone in PGCPS TAG program.

This year, the kids with continuity from the TAG ES centers fill all the seats at Kenmoor (120).
IF a seat opens up, TAG identified kids who live in bounds at Kenmoor get first consideration.
Then the spots go to the lottery.

If you live in bounds for Greenbelt, I would call the TAG coordinator and ask.