When is the plan for new HS programs coming out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So does BOE actually care about public sentiment? Bc it seems from DCUM that they vociferously oppose public and want to do the exact opposit

I’m sure it’s tricky. I remember seeing a slide about responses to the boundary study, and I noted that a much larger share of responses had come from W clusters. The DCC was much less represented. While I am sure the BOE is interested in feedback, I’m sure they note that not all perspectives are equally represented.

As a DCC family, I know they don’t care about us so why bother. They will make their decisions and we will make our decisions accordingly. Worst case for us is we do a private virtual school or go private which we may anyway as we have no choice as one of my kids is struggling to get all the graduation requirements in due to lack of offerings.

All high schools offer classes for graduation. This doesn’t make sense

No, they don't. If your child starts Algebra in 6th they don't have enough math and are missing a year (assuming one year is AP stats).

Look our friend has a math genius kid who is doing grade 11 and 12 math at MC virtual. His parents aren’t saying WJ doesn’t care about him or kids graduating. There are so many summer and evening classes at MC. You need to stop whining that no one cares and do more problem solving.

Evening classes only work if your kids are in no sports or extracurricular activities. So, that's not an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you with super special bright children, good for you. But this is public school and it cannot cater to the needs of a tiny minority.

I don’t understand why this kind of narrative continues to prevail. Whether it’s countywide or regional magnet programs, they only serve a small minority of students. Take TJ in Fairfax, for example — it’s the same case. So why can’t MCPS offer the same level of opportunity that Fairfax County does? Are we just inferior to our neighbors?

It’s about resources. There are limited resources.

Yeah in MoCo we pay higher taxes but have fewer resources. Maybe they should look at all the wasteful spending MCPS does. So if Blair/poolsville/RM no longer exist as countywide programs, more people will be fleeing away from this crappy place. It’s asinine and shortsighted to kill these long time established flagship programs at Moco while Fairfax keeps to be proud of its well-known TJ.

If parents are really going to flee because they can't bear to have their top 1% kid in class with a lowly top 5% kid, or because they might have to take one math class virtually their senior year, then good riddance, honestly. They can go to the private schools they crave and their families can afford, and meanwhile 6 times more kids who would benefit from strong programming will get it (including top 1% kids who used to not be able to go to countywide programs due to logistics.)

All kids benefit from strong programming and given their budget, there is no reason why they cannot provide it. Why should the W schools get it and not the DCC schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you with super special bright children, good for you. But this is public school and it cannot cater to the needs of a tiny minority.

I don’t understand why this kind of narrative continues to prevail. Whether it’s countywide or regional magnet programs, they only serve a small minority of students. Take TJ in Fairfax, for example — it’s the same case. So why can’t MCPS offer the same level of opportunity that Fairfax County does? Are we just inferior to our neighbors?

It’s about resources. There are limited resources.

Yeah in MoCo we pay higher taxes but have fewer resources. Maybe they should look at all the wasteful spending MCPS does. So if Blair/poolsville/RM no longer exist as countywide programs, more people will be fleeing away from this crappy place. It’s asinine and shortsighted to kill these long time established flagship programs at Moco while Fairfax keeps to be proud of its well-known TJ.

If parents are really going to flee because they can't bear to have their top 1% kid in class with a lowly top 5% kid, or because they might have to take one math class virtually their senior year, then good riddance, honestly. They can go to the private schools they crave and their families can afford, and meanwhile 6 times more kids who would benefit from strong programming will get it (including top 1% kids who used to not be able to go to countywide programs due to logistics.)

Why you assume these families can afford private？ Fairfax county is not all that expensive to move to.

Because they think all DCC famiiies are under them even though our incomes are the same, if not higher and our housing prices are equal or more.

If that’s true then they can go private or find private tutors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you with super special bright children, good for you. But this is public school and it cannot cater to the needs of a tiny minority.

I don’t understand why this kind of narrative continues to prevail. Whether it’s countywide or regional magnet programs, they only serve a small minority of students. Take TJ in Fairfax, for example — it’s the same case. So why can’t MCPS offer the same level of opportunity that Fairfax County does? Are we just inferior to our neighbors?

It’s about resources. There are limited resources.

Yeah in MoCo we pay higher taxes but have fewer resources. Maybe they should look at all the wasteful spending MCPS does. So if Blair/poolsville/RM no longer exist as countywide programs, more people will be fleeing away from this crappy place. It’s asinine and shortsighted to kill these long time established flagship programs at Moco while Fairfax keeps to be proud of its well-known TJ.

If parents are really going to flee because they can't bear to have their top 1% kid in class with a lowly top 5% kid, or because they might have to take one math class virtually their senior year, then good riddance, honestly. They can go to the private schools they crave and their families can afford, and meanwhile 6 times more kids who would benefit from strong programming will get it (including top 1% kids who used to not be able to go to countywide programs due to logistics.)

All kids benefit from strong programming and given their budget, there is no reason why they cannot provide it. Why should the W schools get it and not the DCC schools?

Is this Bitter Einstein Parent again? Please don't project your issues with IB onto every DCC family.

If you genuinely think there is a difference in available programs, beyond being dissatisfied with IB Higher Level math, then put together a chart and testify in front of the BoE. Take all of this energy and get together with other DCC parents or the MCCPTA to figure out what classes are available where, because I don't think the results are going to be what you think they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As far as I can tell no one is talking about scrapping the Blair magnet. Presumably the only change *might* be that it is now a regional not a countywide program, correct?

I am curious, although I don't pretend to have any idea what the answer is, what percentage of current magnet students at Blair come outside the proposed region. I understand the entire county is eligible, but I'm also sure there must be parts of the county where few students would consider making the commute.

Folks have gone through in the past and done an "analysis" of the magnet directory. Consistently, most kids come from within the DCC. At one point I think the other "most sending schools" were WJ and Wootton. But if we assume 100 kids per grade, I have no doubt that you can find 100 capable kids in each grade across Blair, Einstein, Northwood, B-CC, and Whitman.

Or across WJ, Churchill, Woodward, and Wheaton.

I don't even think there would be a drop in rigor/level of preparation.

There are about 900 students who apply, lets throw in a 100 more who may not have due to location/curriculum. So, lets say out of those maybe 200 are not qualified. They easily could do one school with just a magnet program with 500 students per year.

Having a 500-kids-per-year program seems like the worst of all possible worlds. Transportation would still be difficult/impossible for many families, there'd be lots of faraway kids who do attend but struggle to participate in extracurriculars and feel part of the school community, but then things would be way easier for families who happen to live nearby which would be unfair. But then you'd still deal with the "watering down" where parents are freaking out about the impact of having kids attend who are a little lower than the top 1% of the county (I don't get the issues but clearly some parents think it's problematic.) If you're going to increase the number of kids (which I think you should!), you should at least spread them out among schools to make the programs more accessible to more families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As far as I can tell no one is talking about scrapping the Blair magnet. Presumably the only change *might* be that it is now a regional not a countywide program, correct?

I am curious, although I don't pretend to have any idea what the answer is, what percentage of current magnet students at Blair come outside the proposed region. I understand the entire county is eligible, but I'm also sure there must be parts of the county where few students would consider making the commute.

Folks have gone through in the past and done an "analysis" of the magnet directory. Consistently, most kids come from within the DCC. At one point I think the other "most sending schools" were WJ and Wootton. But if we assume 100 kids per grade, I have no doubt that you can find 100 capable kids in each grade across Blair, Einstein, Northwood, B-CC, and Whitman.

Or across WJ, Churchill, Woodward, and Wheaton.

I don't even think there would be a drop in rigor/level of preparation.

There are about 900 students who apply, lets throw in a 100 more who may not have due to location/curriculum. So, lets say out of those maybe 200 are not qualified. They easily could do one school with just a magnet program with 500 students per year.

Having a 500-kids-per-year program seems like the worst of all possible worlds. Transportation would still be difficult/impossible for many families, there'd be lots of faraway kids who do attend but struggle to participate in extracurriculars and feel part of the school community, but then things would be way easier for families who happen to live nearby which would be unfair. But then you'd still deal with the "watering down" where parents are freaking out about the impact of having kids attend who are a little lower than the top 1% of the county (I don't get the issues but clearly some parents think it's problematic.) If you're going to increase the number of kids (which I think you should!), you should at least spread them out among schools to make the programs more accessible to more families.

You’re describing TJ in Fairfax county which is very successful and a top high school in US

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As far as I can tell no one is talking about scrapping the Blair magnet. Presumably the only change *might* be that it is now a regional not a countywide program, correct?

I am curious, although I don't pretend to have any idea what the answer is, what percentage of current magnet students at Blair come outside the proposed region. I understand the entire county is eligible, but I'm also sure there must be parts of the county where few students would consider making the commute.

Folks have gone through in the past and done an "analysis" of the magnet directory. Consistently, most kids come from within the DCC. At one point I think the other "most sending schools" were WJ and Wootton. But if we assume 100 kids per grade, I have no doubt that you can find 100 capable kids in each grade across Blair, Einstein, Northwood, B-CC, and Whitman.

Or across WJ, Churchill, Woodward, and Wheaton.

I don't even think there would be a drop in rigor/level of preparation.

There are about 900 students who apply, lets throw in a 100 more who may not have due to location/curriculum. So, lets say out of those maybe 200 are not qualified. They easily could do one school with just a magnet program with 500 students per year.

Having a 500-kids-per-year program seems like the worst of all possible worlds. Transportation would still be difficult/impossible for many families, there'd be lots of faraway kids who do attend but struggle to participate in extracurriculars and feel part of the school community, but then things would be way easier for families who happen to live nearby which would be unfair. But then you'd still deal with the "watering down" where parents are freaking out about the impact of having kids attend who are a little lower than the top 1% of the county (I don't get the issues but clearly some parents think it's problematic.) If you're going to increase the number of kids (which I think you should!), you should at least spread them out among schools to make the programs more accessible to more families.

You’re describing TJ in Fairfax county which is very successful and a top high school in US

This is not on the table. There is no space for a dedicated magnet HS. Look at all the drama over getting Woodward built.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As far as I can tell no one is talking about scrapping the Blair magnet. Presumably the only change *might* be that it is now a regional not a countywide program, correct?

I am curious, although I don't pretend to have any idea what the answer is, what percentage of current magnet students at Blair come outside the proposed region. I understand the entire county is eligible, but I'm also sure there must be parts of the county where few students would consider making the commute.

Folks have gone through in the past and done an "analysis" of the magnet directory. Consistently, most kids come from within the DCC. At one point I think the other "most sending schools" were WJ and Wootton. But if we assume 100 kids per grade, I have no doubt that you can find 100 capable kids in each grade across Blair, Einstein, Northwood, B-CC, and Whitman.

Or across WJ, Churchill, Woodward, and Wheaton.

I don't even think there would be a drop in rigor/level of preparation.

There are about 900 students who apply, lets throw in a 100 more who may not have due to location/curriculum. So, lets say out of those maybe 200 are not qualified. They easily could do one school with just a magnet program with 500 students per year.

Having a 500-kids-per-year program seems like the worst of all possible worlds. Transportation would still be difficult/impossible for many families, there'd be lots of faraway kids who do attend but struggle to participate in extracurriculars and feel part of the school community, but then things would be way easier for families who happen to live nearby which would be unfair. But then you'd still deal with the "watering down" where parents are freaking out about the impact of having kids attend who are a little lower than the top 1% of the county (I don't get the issues but clearly some parents think it's problematic.) If you're going to increase the number of kids (which I think you should!), you should at least spread them out among schools to make the programs more accessible to more families.

You’re describing TJ in Fairfax county which is very successful and a top high school in US

Well if that's true, either Fairfax kids are way smarter than MoCo kids, or the parents here who think that there aren't possibly 500 kids per year to support rigorous regional magnets in MCPS are full of crap...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So does BOE actually care about public sentiment? Bc it seems from DCUM that they vociferously oppose public and want to do the exact opposit

I’m sure it’s tricky. I remember seeing a slide about responses to the boundary study, and I noted that a much larger share of responses had come from W clusters. The DCC was much less represented. While I am sure the BOE is interested in feedback, I’m sure they note that not all perspectives are equally represented.

As a DCC family, I know they don’t care about us so why bother. They will make their decisions and we will make our decisions accordingly. Worst case for us is we do a private virtual school or go private which we may anyway as we have no choice as one of my kids is struggling to get all the graduation requirements in due to lack of offerings.

All high schools offer classes for graduation. This doesn’t make sense

No, they don't. If your child starts Algebra in 6th they don't have enough math and are missing a year (assuming one year is AP stats).

Look our friend has a math genius kid who is doing grade 11 and 12 math at MC virtual. His parents aren’t saying WJ doesn’t care about him or kids graduating. There are so many summer and evening classes at MC. You need to stop whining that no one cares and do more problem solving.

Evening classes only work if your kids are in no sports or extracurricular activities. So, that's not an option.

There are asynchronous options. Look for DL WEB options. And short summer semesters. Lots of kids do extracurriculars and figure this out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As far as I can tell no one is talking about scrapping the Blair magnet. Presumably the only change *might* be that it is now a regional not a countywide program, correct?

I am curious, although I don't pretend to have any idea what the answer is, what percentage of current magnet students at Blair come outside the proposed region. I understand the entire county is eligible, but I'm also sure there must be parts of the county where few students would consider making the commute.

Folks have gone through in the past and done an "analysis" of the magnet directory. Consistently, most kids come from within the DCC. At one point I think the other "most sending schools" were WJ and Wootton. But if we assume 100 kids per grade, I have no doubt that you can find 100 capable kids in each grade across Blair, Einstein, Northwood, B-CC, and Whitman.

Or across WJ, Churchill, Woodward, and Wheaton.

I don't even think there would be a drop in rigor/level of preparation.

There are about 900 students who apply, lets throw in a 100 more who may not have due to location/curriculum. So, lets say out of those maybe 200 are not qualified. They easily could do one school with just a magnet program with 500 students per year.

Having a 500-kids-per-year program seems like the worst of all possible worlds. Transportation would still be difficult/impossible for many families, there'd be lots of faraway kids who do attend but struggle to participate in extracurriculars and feel part of the school community, but then things would be way easier for families who happen to live nearby which would be unfair. But then you'd still deal with the "watering down" where parents are freaking out about the impact of having kids attend who are a little lower than the top 1% of the county (I don't get the issues but clearly some parents think it's problematic.) If you're going to increase the number of kids (which I think you should!), you should at least spread them out among schools to make the programs more accessible to more families.

You’re describing TJ in Fairfax county which is very successful and a top high school in US

Well if that's true, either Fairfax kids are way smarter than MoCo kids, or the parents here who think that there aren't possibly 500 kids per year to support rigorous regional magnets in MCPS are full of crap...

Six small regional programs can’t match the impact of one unified school. With 500 students per grade in one place, you get more clubs, advanced classes, and shared resources. Splitting into groups of 80 waters everything down. Collective strength beats fragmentation.

[Anonymous]

slide links please?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As far as I can tell no one is talking about scrapping the Blair magnet. Presumably the only change *might* be that it is now a regional not a countywide program, correct?

I am curious, although I don't pretend to have any idea what the answer is, what percentage of current magnet students at Blair come outside the proposed region. I understand the entire county is eligible, but I'm also sure there must be parts of the county where few students would consider making the commute.

Folks have gone through in the past and done an "analysis" of the magnet directory. Consistently, most kids come from within the DCC. At one point I think the other "most sending schools" were WJ and Wootton. But if we assume 100 kids per grade, I have no doubt that you can find 100 capable kids in each grade across Blair, Einstein, Northwood, B-CC, and Whitman.

Or across WJ, Churchill, Woodward, and Wheaton.

I don't even think there would be a drop in rigor/level of preparation.

There are about 900 students who apply, lets throw in a 100 more who may not have due to location/curriculum. So, lets say out of those maybe 200 are not qualified. They easily could do one school with just a magnet program with 500 students per year.

Having a 500-kids-per-year program seems like the worst of all possible worlds. Transportation would still be difficult/impossible for many families, there'd be lots of faraway kids who do attend but struggle to participate in extracurriculars and feel part of the school community, but then things would be way easier for families who happen to live nearby which would be unfair. But then you'd still deal with the "watering down" where parents are freaking out about the impact of having kids attend who are a little lower than the top 1% of the county (I don't get the issues but clearly some parents think it's problematic.) If you're going to increase the number of kids (which I think you should!), you should at least spread them out among schools to make the programs more accessible to more families.

You’re describing TJ in Fairfax county which is very successful and a top high school in US

Well if that's true, either Fairfax kids are way smarter than MoCo kids, or the parents here who think that there aren't possibly 500 kids per year to support rigorous regional magnets in MCPS are full of crap...

Six small regional programs can’t match the impact of one unified school. With 500 students per grade in one place, you get more clubs, advanced classes, and shared resources. Splitting into groups of 80 waters everything down. Collective strength beats fragmentation.

You are assuming there are only 500 kids per grade in the entire district capable of doing the work. That's absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As far as I can tell no one is talking about scrapping the Blair magnet. Presumably the only change *might* be that it is now a regional not a countywide program, correct?

I am curious, although I don't pretend to have any idea what the answer is, what percentage of current magnet students at Blair come outside the proposed region. I understand the entire county is eligible, but I'm also sure there must be parts of the county where few students would consider making the commute.

Folks have gone through in the past and done an "analysis" of the magnet directory. Consistently, most kids come from within the DCC. At one point I think the other "most sending schools" were WJ and Wootton. But if we assume 100 kids per grade, I have no doubt that you can find 100 capable kids in each grade across Blair, Einstein, Northwood, B-CC, and Whitman.

Or across WJ, Churchill, Woodward, and Wheaton.

I don't even think there would be a drop in rigor/level of preparation.

There are about 900 students who apply, lets throw in a 100 more who may not have due to location/curriculum. So, lets say out of those maybe 200 are not qualified. They easily could do one school with just a magnet program with 500 students per year.

Having a 500-kids-per-year program seems like the worst of all possible worlds. Transportation would still be difficult/impossible for many families, there'd be lots of faraway kids who do attend but struggle to participate in extracurriculars and feel part of the school community, but then things would be way easier for families who happen to live nearby which would be unfair. But then you'd still deal with the "watering down" where parents are freaking out about the impact of having kids attend who are a little lower than the top 1% of the county (I don't get the issues but clearly some parents think it's problematic.) If you're going to increase the number of kids (which I think you should!), you should at least spread them out among schools to make the programs more accessible to more families.

You’re describing TJ in Fairfax county which is very successful and a top high school in US

Well if that's true, either Fairfax kids are way smarter than MoCo kids, or the parents here who think that there aren't possibly 500 kids per year to support rigorous regional magnets in MCPS are full of crap...

Six small regional programs can’t match the impact of one unified school. With 500 students per grade in one place, you get more clubs, advanced classes, and shared resources. Splitting into groups of 80 waters everything down. Collective strength beats fragmentation.

You are assuming there are only 500 kids per grade in the entire district capable of doing the work. That's absurd.

What does that mean? Right now it’s only 160 kids allowed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So does BOE actually care about public sentiment? Bc it seems from DCUM that they vociferously oppose public and want to do the exact opposit

I’m sure it’s tricky. I remember seeing a slide about responses to the boundary study, and I noted that a much larger share of responses had come from W clusters. The DCC was much less represented. While I am sure the BOE is interested in feedback, I’m sure they note that not all perspectives are equally represented.

As a DCC family, I know they don’t care about us so why bother. They will make their decisions and we will make our decisions accordingly. Worst case for us is we do a private virtual school or go private which we may anyway as we have no choice as one of my kids is struggling to get all the graduation requirements in due to lack of offerings.

All high schools offer classes for graduation. This doesn’t make sense

No, they don't. If your child starts Algebra in 6th they don't have enough math and are missing a year (assuming one year is AP stats).

Look our friend has a math genius kid who is doing grade 11 and 12 math at MC virtual. His parents aren’t saying WJ doesn’t care about him or kids graduating. There are so many summer and evening classes at MC. You need to stop whining that no one cares and do more problem solving.

Evening classes only work if your kids are in no sports or extracurricular activities. So, that's not an option.

The entitlement is breathtaking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you with super special bright children, good for you. But this is public school and it cannot cater to the needs of a tiny minority.

I don’t understand why this kind of narrative continues to prevail. Whether it’s countywide or regional magnet programs, they only serve a small minority of students. Take TJ in Fairfax, for example — it’s the same case. So why can’t MCPS offer the same level of opportunity that Fairfax County does? Are we just inferior to our neighbors?

A small minority and one select minority are very different things. For example, a small minority of kids are in compacted math because they need acceleration and can be grouped together and provided services along a continuum all across the county. Some of these same student need even more acceleration and challenge that the district can't setup in every school because of resources, so magnets are provided. That is different than 1 Kid that would be taking Pre-Cal in 8th grade that might not even be in the same school as kids already taking Alg2. That 1 Kid needs parental support to take Pre-Cal at the HS first thing in the morning and then come back to MS for other classes.