Recommend your public HS in Montgomery or Howard County - Looking for solid academics AND diversity

[Anonymous]

Atholton - but careful with HoCo redistricting -I'd look in bounds for walking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
The problem in MOCO is that the area is economically segregated. At Blair the poor kids are AA and hispanic, the MC/UMC kids are white, the magnet kids are asian American and white. There are very few AA students in the magnet programs. The kids stay within their SES and academic cohort groups. You might as well be at Churchill or Whitman. The same is true at non-magnet schools like QO. The poor kids are AA and almost all the wealthy kids are white or Asian Americans.

UMC AA parents find themselves being in a very small minority in all MCPS schools and many decide to go private as well. PG attracts many more UMC and MC AA families but the schools outside of the TAG programs are a problem so many people do private school.


Not true. The magnet programs are <500 students out of 3,200+. There are ~1200 White or Asian students.


why "not true"?

the PP never stated that there were few white students outside of the magnet programs...

+1 There also are two magnet programs SMAC and Blair CAP. SMAC is mostly Asian American students and some white students, CAP is mostly white students and some asian students. There are white students that are not in either magnet but they are clustering in the honors classes. Its a bad optic.

It is a real issue for educated, UMC AA families. From an education and economic standpoint they are more aligned to the white families but the white families fundamentally do not understand the experience of being AA. For the kids, they are caught between being friends with a cohort that matches their educational goals and economic experience but doesn't look like them or understand their experience racially or a cohort that doesn't match their educational goals and looks like them and understands their experience racially but not economically.

[Anonymous]

I don't have a kid at Blair, but I live 5 minutes from there, and the neighborhoods throughout the area are very diverse, in terms of race/ethnicity as well as income level. My kids have grown up there with classmates and friends of many backgrounds. While it is true that most of the FARMS-eligible families are not white, there are many, many POC who are middle or upper-middle class in Silver Spring/Takoma Park.

[Anonymous]

BCC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to PPs for the Blair HS recommendation! I would not have known as the Greater School rating is a 5 out of 10
I like the racial distribution a lot but this school is big, no?

I'm not the PP, but Blair is enormous and the size can mask a lot of good things happening there. I don't have kids at Blair, but I am in-bounds. All of the Blair kids I know (and it's all of the high school aged kids in the neighborhood over the last decade) are successful, well-adjusted, socially conscious and engaged, and go on to great colleges and universities.

If the GS score scares you, I get it, but I would put it on your list of schools to get to know a bit better and go beyond the score. Click around the website, look at student government and other initiatives and note the critical mass of high-performing kids of color. It's a pretty special place.

It sounds like any HS in MCPS which has the diversity the OP needs, would work fine?

+1 The highest "ranked" schools are all going to lack the diversity OP is looking for. Of the highly ranked schools, B-CC is the most diverse. If commute isn't a problem (and maybe it isn't based on OP looking in either HCPS or MCPS), then Quince Orchard is a great suggestion. But if she doesn't have $1m+ for B-CC and needs a decent commute to DC, TPMS to Blair is a strong option.

The houses by Rosemary Hills and Rick Creek Forrest do not cost $1M+ and are inbounds for BCC. Also there are lots of apartments that are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair HS in MontCo

+1, and look at the areas feeding to Takoma Park Middle School in particular. Living there will give you a greater chance of entry into magnet/enriched programs in the future. And they're also just great, diverse schools.

Not true they got rid of the 25 slots, also if they really want diverse they should go to eastern. The middle that took all the kids Takoma middle drew out to avoid to perfect their snow flakes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
The problem in MOCO is that the area is economically segregated. At Blair the poor kids are AA and hispanic, the MC/UMC kids are white, the magnet kids are asian American and white. There are very few AA students in the magnet programs. The kids stay within their SES and academic cohort groups. You might as well be at Churchill or Whitman. The same is true at non-magnet schools like QO. The poor kids are AA and almost all the wealthy kids are white or Asian Americans.

UMC AA parents find themselves being in a very small minority in all MCPS schools and many decide to go private as well. PG attracts many more UMC and MC AA families but the schools outside of the TAG programs are a problem so many people do private school.


Not true. The magnet programs are <500 students out of 3,200+. There are ~1200 White or Asian students.


why "not true"?

the PP never stated that there were few white students outside of the magnet programs...

+1 There also are two magnet programs SMAC and Blair CAP. SMAC is mostly Asian American students and some white students, CAP is mostly white students and some asian students. There are white students that are not in either magnet but they are clustering in the honors classes. Its a bad optic.

It is a real issue for educated, UMC AA families. From an education and economic standpoint they are more aligned to the white families but the white families fundamentally do not understand the experience of being AA. For the kids, they are caught between being friends with a cohort that matches their educational goals and economic experience but doesn't look like them or understand their experience racially or a cohort that doesn't match their educational goals and looks like them and understands their experience racially but not economically.

There would be on a few hundred white kids if not for the magnet. That isn’t that many for a school of 3200.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair HS in MontCo

+1, and look at the areas feeding to Takoma Park Middle School in particular. Living there will give you a greater chance of entry into magnet/enriched programs in the future. And they're also just great, diverse schools.

Not true they got rid of the 25 slots, also if they really want diverse they should go to eastern. The middle that took all the kids Takoma middle drew out to avoid to perfect their snow flakes

No, they didn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair HS in MontCo

Ditto

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair HS in MontCo

+1, and look at the areas feeding to Takoma Park Middle School in particular. Living there will give you a greater chance of entry into magnet/enriched programs in the future. And they're also just great, diverse schools.

Not true they got rid of the 25 slots, also if they really want diverse they should go to eastern. The middle that took all the kids Takoma middle drew out to avoid to perfect their snow flakes

1. They did not get rid of the 25 in-bounds slots

2. TPMS boundaries have been stable for a long time. They never sent any kids to Eastern.

3. TMPS is 32% Black, 30% white, 17% Asian, and 15% Hispanic. That's not exactly a snowstorm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville is another one that is pretty perfect across the board in the diversity percentages.

+1
Strong AP and IB program (magnet in 9th and 10th grade, then the DP is open to qualified home school students in 11th). Huge amount of clubs & sports - something for every kid. Rockville is on the Red line - good public transportation hub.

[Anonymous]

Clarksburg!

[Anonymous]

I think you would be very happy in Columbia (Howard County).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville is another one that is pretty perfect across the board in the diversity percentages.

+1 And it has the IB program.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04201.pdf

24.7 Asian
17.5 Black
23.4 Hispanic
29.5 White
19.5 FARMS

But parts of RM will eventually get rezoned to Crown HS as well parts of QO and probably NWHS. Don't know how old OP's kids are but Crown HS will probably be diverse too, and they will also probably put a special program there, not to mention it will be brand spankin' new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville is another one that is pretty perfect across the board in the diversity percentages.

+1 And it has the IB program.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04201.pdf

24.7 Asian
17.5 Black
23.4 Hispanic
29.5 White
19.5 FARMS

But parts of RM will eventually get rezoned to Crown HS as well parts of QO and probably NWHS. Don't know how old OP's kids are but Crown HS will probably be diverse too, and they will also probably put a special program there, not to mention it will be brand spankin' new.

Also, I think NWHS has great diversity, too.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04246.pdf

20% Asian
26.3 Black
20.5 Hispanic
28 White
22.5 FARMs

That's as close to 25% in each category as you are going to get in MCPS.

QO is majority white:
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04125.pdf

13.6 Asian
15.1 Black
26.6 Hispanic
40 white
21.3 FARMs