Downcounty middle school magnet location

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What fascinates me is how much it incenses the TPSS crowd that Poolesville should get anything from the county. The same crowd that wants to “protect the Ag reserve” doesn’t want to give the residents there any public services. While most people who live in the Ag reserve want to be able to use it for more economic activity because news flash: small scale farming is just not profitable. Absolutely awful people who would complain about the county spending a measly amount of money to upgrade school facilities in Poolesville that haven’t seen a dollar from the county in 40 years.

I think you may be posting from an alternate reality. I live in SS and have never heard anything like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked into the elementary CES program and the magnet middle schools for the first time yesterday, and I was surprised that the downcounty middle schools are both located all the way in the southeast corner of the county. I live just about as far as you can get from them and still be assigned to them. I stopped reading more at that point because the commute would be way too long, but I'm curious as to why MCPS chose schools on the edge of the county rather than a more centralized location that could realistically accommodate the whole area it serves (like Wheaton or Kensington). Or is the goal NOT to accommodate the whole area? Is it meant to benefit the neighborhoods on that side of the county? I know there is a lot of disparity throughout the county, and I am not criticizing that resources need to be allocated accordingly.

Sorry if this is a dumb question - I just want to know more of the 'why' of these programs and not just what is posted on the MCPS website.

We refused to send our kid to Eastern for just this reason. They should take up the spare capacity at Westland by adding a magnet there and should have added a magnet at Tilden instead of the other programs they added there.

That's odd we selected our home to be close to these schools because we prioritize our kid's education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What fascinates me is how much it incenses the TPSS crowd that Poolesville should get anything from the county. The same crowd that wants to “protect the Ag reserve” doesn’t want to give the residents there any public services. While most people who live in the Ag reserve want to be able to use it for more economic activity because news flash: small scale farming is just not profitable. Absolutely awful people who would complain about the county spending a measly amount of money to upgrade school facilities in Poolesville that haven’t seen a dollar from the county in 40 years.

I think you may be posting from an alternate reality. I live in SS and have never heard anything like this.

+1. Who comprises "the TPSS crowd" and why do you claim they're "incensed" about Poolesville?

[Anonymous]

1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

Wealthy? Please. Heaven knows the apartment complexes in Rockville, Germantown, Grosvenor; or just Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village just scream out "wealth" to me.

We all know the down county magnet only catered only to the TPES home school area and no one else. Same went for Poolesville. No one in the center, northwest or southeast of the county can access either one easily. A child can easily spend an hour or hour and a half one way.

Want to claim "oh, just move"? I'd much rather change the voting rules so that district reps are only voted on by their own district voters to represent the interests of all children in Montgomery County. This is the board "elected" primarily by Silver Spring voters. That needs to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

Wealthy? Please. Heaven knows the apartment complexes in Rockville, Germantown, Grosvenor; or just Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village just scream out "wealth" to me.

We all know the down county magnet only catered only to the TPES home school area and no one else. Same went for Poolesville. No one in the center, northwest or southeast of the county can access either one easily. A child can easily spend an hour or hour and a half one way.

Want to claim "oh, just move"? I'd much rather change the voting rules so that district reps are only voted on by their own district voters to represent the interests of all children in Montgomery County. This is the board "elected" primarily by Silver Spring voters. That needs to change.

This comment illustrates so much that is wrong with the discourse on this board, and the way that people speak with "authority" on topics that they don't fully understand.

OP asked about the downcounty middle school magnets, which pull from a specific subset of HS clusters. So of course PP talks about a defunct ES program that only ever served 20 or so kids, and a HS program that isn't even part of the downcounty area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both Woodward and Crown are opening soon. If both were turned into magnet schools (serviceable for the entire county), it would reduce the numbers at Poolesville and Blair. That would free up tens of millions to renovate the schools that are crumbling or terribly overcrowded (Wootton, Gaithersburg, etc.)

Woodward is perfectly accessible from all directions of down county, and Crown is similarly accessible for mid and upcounty.

The question is why McKnight and Wolff don't want to do that? Wouldn't they want to save tens of millions in taxpayer money? What's the issue?

If you want to argue that there is some logical reason (aside from a conspiracy, of course), then now is the time to speak up!

Have you ever driven in the Woodward area during rush hour especially in the afternoon? It is one of the worst spots for gridlock. I'm talking 1 hour from one side of Bethesda to another. No way that would make a good location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

Wealthy? Please. Heaven knows the apartment complexes in Rockville, Germantown, Grosvenor; or just Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village just scream out "wealth" to me.

We all know the down county magnet only catered only to the TPES home school area and no one else. Same went for Poolesville. No one in the center, northwest or southeast of the county can access either one easily. A child can easily spend an hour or hour and a half one way.

Want to claim "oh, just move"? I'd much rather change the voting rules so that district reps are only voted on by their own district voters to represent the interests of all children in Montgomery County. This is the board "elected" primarily by Silver Spring voters. That needs to change.

Okay, so let's say you got rid of at-large council members and had ONLY members representing "wards" or "districts" within MoCo. Montgomery County has roughly 1 million residents. Currently, MCPS has 7 school board members. Let's take that up to 10 just for funsies. So now you have 10 school board members, each representing about 100,000 people. East county is STILL going to have more voting members than west county OR the ag reserve area just by virtue of population density.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What fascinates me is how much it incenses the TPSS crowd that Poolesville should get anything from the county. The same crowd that wants to “protect the Ag reserve” doesn’t want to give the residents there any public services. While most people who live in the Ag reserve want to be able to use it for more economic activity because news flash: small scale farming is just not profitable. Absolutely awful people who would complain about the county spending a measly amount of money to upgrade school facilities in Poolesville that haven’t seen a dollar from the county in 40 years.

Not in TP/SS, but PLEASE! Both Wootton and Damascus HSs are in just as bad shape as Poolesville, if not worse, and both have more students than Poolesville. But Poolesville whined the loudest, Wootton pissed off the Board of Education by saying Whitman got all the money and they didn't because they were the "miserable middle class" and Damascus is not organized at all.

Poolesville should have waited their turn just like everyone else.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thank you for all the replies! Even the arguments are interesting because it shows all sides of the debate. I guess it makes sense that the idea was to pull in students to a specific area (hence "magnet") vs. having a general G&T program where centralized locations would make more sense.

We are on the north side of RM, so the middle schools in SS aren't even in question. When people say that Crown may be an option when it opens, you mean for high school magnets, right? I haven't heard anything about a Crown middle school but I am far from staying on top of these things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thank you for all the replies! Even the arguments are interesting because it shows all sides of the debate. I guess it makes sense that the idea was to pull in students to a specific area (hence "magnet") vs. having a general G&T program where centralized locations would make more sense.

We are on the north side of RM, so the middle schools in SS aren't even in question. When people say that Crown may be an option when it opens, you mean for high school magnets, right? I haven't heard anything about a Crown middle school but I am far from staying on top of these things.

Crown is a new high school scheduled to open in 2026. There is no plan for it to house a magnet, and there is no plan for a middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thank you for all the replies! Even the arguments are interesting because it shows all sides of the debate. I guess it makes sense that the idea was to pull in students to a specific area (hence "magnet") vs. having a general G&T program where centralized locations would make more sense.

We are on the north side of RM, so the middle schools in SS aren't even in question. When people say that Crown may be an option when it opens, you mean for high school magnets, right? I haven't heard anything about a Crown middle school but I am far from staying on top of these things.

Crown is a new high school scheduled to open in 2026. There is no plan for it to house a magnet, and there is no plan for a middle school.

This is why the current magnet system is terribly unpopular. 1 - it caters to only a few, and 2 - because it's now a lottery, it's watered down. I'd recommend not voting for board incumbents this year and encouraging others to do so as well. It's the only way things will change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The primary magnet at TPES ended years ago.

OP, if your kid wants to do one of those magnets and gets in tons of kids ride the bus or drive in from upper River Road or wherever you live.

My kid attends (walks though) and it's an excellent program.

That said, the W middle schools are also excellent. If we lived over there we would likely not commute for the magnet.

That’s not true. They still offer it now, only it’s integrated and kids aren’t identified to be part of it. It’s essentially just the option of more advanced math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The primary magnet at TPES ended years ago.

OP, if your kid wants to do one of those magnets and gets in tons of kids ride the bus or drive in from upper River Road or wherever you live.

My kid attends (walks though) and it's an excellent program.

That said, the W middle schools are also excellent. If we lived over there we would likely not commute for the magnet.

Right. I don't know why PP tried to debunk the earlier post by talking about TPES, which isn't even a magnet anymore, instead of the OP's request to discuss the downcounty MS magnets.

How is it not a magnet anymore? Isn't it still a school with a focused/specialized curriculum?

Yes it is. PP is wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

Wealthy? Please. Heaven knows the apartment complexes in Rockville, Germantown, Grosvenor; or just Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village just scream out "wealth" to me.

We all know the down county magnet only catered only to the TPES home school area and no one else. Same went for Poolesville. No one in the center, northwest or southeast of the county can access either one easily. A child can easily spend an hour or hour and a half one way.

Want to claim "oh, just move"? I'd much rather change the voting rules so that district reps are only voted on by their own district voters to represent the interests of all children in Montgomery County. This is the board "elected" primarily by Silver Spring voters. That needs to change.

Okay, so let's say you got rid of at-large council members and had ONLY members representing "wards" or "districts" within MoCo. Montgomery County has roughly 1 million residents. Currently, MCPS has 7 school board members. Let's take that up to 10 just for funsies. So now you have 10 school board members, each representing about 100,000 people. East county is STILL going to have more voting members than west county OR the ag reserve area just by virtue of population density.

Democracy is so wrong! It should be based on taxes paid! That way we west county people could dominate! At least that's what we tell ourselves all the time so it must be true.