Please be aware of what is about to go away:

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

I agree. Whoever is running this for MCPS is absolutely doing so in bad faith.

That would be the superintendent. Short on key details, like the impossible logistics of school transportation, and long on unrealistic and faulty vision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

Blair takes 60-80 kids per year in a flawed process of only looking at only a single data point of MAP-M. Having more programs more accessible to more kids, closer to their home schools is not a bad thing and will help mitigate the flawed selection process currently in place for SMCS.

You don't even know enough to know the cohort size of the magnet program. Stop with your nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

Blair takes 60-80 kids per year in a flawed process of only looking at only a single data point of MAP-M. Having more programs more accessible to more kids, closer to their home schools is not a bad thing and will help mitigate the flawed selection process currently in place for SMCS.

I think people can have different opinions on the merit of the changes and still agree that the process has been terrible and it's not okay to make massive changes like this in a top-down way without getting input either from either parents/students about what they actually want and how they feel about potential changes, or from teachers and staff actually working in existing programs about what they do and what it would take to expand and duplicate programs well. But they didn't do either of those things, just had staff come up with a plan and now are rolling it out to people and presenting it as a done deal. And then they'll probably make a couple tiny tweaks and tell the Board it's them being responsive to feedback and the Board will somehow believe them.

For folks who had attended the webminars, please keep on emailing BOE and MCPS or do testimonies about how you observe the fact that the communication is one-way. Don’t let them easily slew away.

Here is what will happen:

1) MCPS will continue to lie and not listen to the community.

2) MCPS will attempt to implement this highly flawed plan.

3) The implementation will collapse because school transportation will be a fail.

4) The superintendent will be fired - oh wait, he will have quit right before the implementation stage to take a job at a university somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain this to a person new to MoCo schools? I can’t seem to find relevant information, and didn’t know what was / what will be…

This FAQ page contains most information in a targeted way. The program layout is under Question #16:
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/academic-programs-analysis/faqs/

DP. Thanks for linked to these, as I had missed them. I found this interesting:

What happens to existing local signature and academy programs?
These pathways may continue if they reflect student interest and impact by way of enrollment, completion and student outcomes.

Does this mean that central office is going to be providing oversight over local programs to decide whether they can remain? For example, if a local IBDP doesn't have many kids who actually get the diploma, or students who pass the exam, central office might say that they can't offer the program? More broadly, with respect to all local programming, will central office be setting criteria to determine what local programs may remain in place?

The local programs will not be allotted program coordinator staff support, so they will be weakened.

[Anonymous]

Here's an attempt to get some answers on the issues from a council member:

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/10/03/fani-gonzalez-raises-concerns-about-mcps-region-model/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's an attempt to get some answers on the issues from a council member:

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/10/03/fani-gonzalez-raises-concerns-about-mcps-region-model/

Applause to this action! When BOE doesn’t do its duty, it’s great to elevate it to the county council level as they control the budget. Well done!👍

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's an attempt to get some answers on the issues from a council member:

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/10/03/fani-gonzalez-raises-concerns-about-mcps-region-model/

FanTASTIC!

[Anonymous]

The county council education committee meeting is Thursday afternoon. Tune in here:

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

Blair takes 60-80 kids per year in a flawed process of only looking at only a single data point of MAP-M. Having more programs more accessible to more kids, closer to their home schools is not a bad thing and will help mitigate the flawed selection process currently in place for SMCS.

I think people can have different opinions on the merit of the changes and still agree that the process has been terrible and it's not okay to make massive changes like this in a top-down way without getting input either from either parents/students about what they actually want and how they feel about potential changes, or from teachers and staff actually working in existing programs about what they do and what it would take to expand and duplicate programs well. But they didn't do either of those things, just had staff come up with a plan and now are rolling it out to people and presenting it as a done deal. And then they'll probably make a couple tiny tweaks and tell the Board it's them being responsive to feedback and the Board will somehow believe them.

Bingo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's an attempt to get some answers on the issues from a council member:

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/10/03/fani-gonzalez-raises-concerns-about-mcps-region-model/

Applause to this action! When BOE doesn’t do its duty, it’s great to elevate it to the county council level as they control the budget. Well done!👍

Crocodile tears.

If only she had applied these thoughts about openness with, responsiveness to and concern for represented stakeholders to her own position, we might have better than the Thrive 2050 farce, the Attainable Housing Strategies morass, the More Housing N.O.W. and University Boulevard debacles, the seemingly limitless abatement initiatives to line developers' pockets, the undermining, direct and indirect, of school funding, the...well, you get the picture.

Fine example of a politician

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

Blair takes 60-80 kids per year in a flawed process of only looking at only a single data point of MAP-M. Having more programs more accessible to more kids, closer to their home schools is not a bad thing and will help mitigate the flawed selection process currently in place for SMCS.

You don't even know enough to know the cohort size of the magnet program. Stop with your nonsense.

Its around 100 students, but they may be referring to students already going to blair.

[Anonymous]

The transportation will sink this disastrous plan. How many more busses, and bus drivers, would be needed to make it happen? Not to mention snarling traffic on already clogged roads

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

Blair takes 60-80 kids per year in a flawed process of only looking at only a single data point of MAP-M. Having more programs more accessible to more kids, closer to their home schools is not a bad thing and will help mitigate the flawed selection process currently in place for SMCS.

You don't even know enough to know the cohort size of the magnet program. Stop with your nonsense.

And you don’t know enough to refute the many issues behind the current selection process that provides a disproportionate amount of resources to a bunch of kids based on a MAP test that doesn’t test for cognitive ability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

Blair takes 60-80 kids per year in a flawed process of only looking at only a single data point of MAP-M. Having more programs more accessible to more kids, closer to their home schools is not a bad thing and will help mitigate the flawed selection process currently in place for SMCS.

I think people can have different opinions on the merit of the changes and still agree that the process has been terrible and it's not okay to make massive changes like this in a top-down way without getting input either from either parents/students about what they actually want and how they feel about potential changes, or from teachers and staff actually working in existing programs about what they do and what it would take to expand and duplicate programs well. But they didn't do either of those things, just had staff come up with a plan and now are rolling it out to people and presenting it as a done deal. And then they'll probably make a couple tiny tweaks and tell the Board it's them being responsive to feedback and the Board will somehow believe them.

For folks who had attended the webminars, please keep on emailing BOE and MCPS or do testimonies about how you observe the fact that the communication is one-way. Don’t let them easily slew away.

Here is what will happen:

1) MCPS will continue to lie and not listen to the community.

2) MCPS will attempt to implement this highly flawed plan.

3) The implementation will collapse because school transportation will be a fail.

4) The superintendent will be fired - oh wait, he will have quit right before the implementation stage to take a job at a university somewhere.

Thought you might like this <groan>
It's the "Why This Matters" link, which was at the bottom of the update about swapping two schools in the regions.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/119YHHxXb8nJF5kZdacrdzi0Dw-CcvjLE/view

If BOE is taking "final action" (whatever that means) in Dec, making substantive changes like which schools are in which regions is a glaring red flag.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/news/mcps-news/2025/10/programs-analysis-update/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

Blair takes 60-80 kids per year in a flawed process of only looking at only a single data point of MAP-M. Having more programs more accessible to more kids, closer to their home schools is not a bad thing and will help mitigate the flawed selection process currently in place for SMCS.

I think people can have different opinions on the merit of the changes and still agree that the process has been terrible and it's not okay to make massive changes like this in a top-down way without getting input either from either parents/students about what they actually want and how they feel about potential changes, or from teachers and staff actually working in existing programs about what they do and what it would take to expand and duplicate programs well. But they didn't do either of those things, just had staff come up with a plan and now are rolling it out to people and presenting it as a done deal. And then they'll probably make a couple tiny tweaks and tell the Board it's them being responsive to feedback and the Board will somehow believe them.

For folks who had attended the webminars, please keep on emailing BOE and MCPS or do testimonies about how you observe the fact that the communication is one-way. Don’t let them easily slew away.

Here is what will happen:

1) MCPS will continue to lie and not listen to the community.

2) MCPS will attempt to implement this highly flawed plan.

3) The implementation will collapse because school transportation will be a fail.

4) The superintendent will be fired - oh wait, he will have quit right before the implementation stage to take a job at a university somewhere.

Thought you might like this <groan>
It's the "Why This Matters" link, which was at the bottom of the update about swapping two schools in the regions.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/119YHHxXb8nJF5kZdacrdzi0Dw-CcvjLE/view

If BOE is taking "final action" (whatever that means) in Dec, making substantive changes like which schools are in which regions is a glaring red flag.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/news/mcps-news/2025/10/programs-analysis-update/

OMG this is such BS. They say their commitments include "We will hold listening sessions in multiple regions and virtually
to hear directly from students, staff, and families" and "
We will make decisions guided by equity, excellence, and community voice" but the process to date has looked nothing like that and they're more-or-leas out of time to do that by December even if they wanted to. Are they just writing it like that so that people who aren't paying attention (like the Board of Ed, apparently) will believe it's true when it isn't?