Eastern MS Magnet Program: Need Info

[Anonymous]

They gave some limited accommodations for our kid with ADHD, but were not able to provide any accommodations if it was a group project, which many projects are at Eastern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone for providing the expectations on Eastern for ADHD. Do they have 504 accommodations for those kids during the group discussion and writing period?

What do you mean? Can you elaborate? 504 accommodations are customized for the child. What do you think your child needs? Before the lottery there were very few kids with 504s, usually 1-2 per grade.

How do you know this? Were you an instructor in the program at that time?

I had a kid in the program at Eastern pre-lottery, and I couldn't tell you how many kids had 504s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone for providing the expectations on Eastern for ADHD. Do they have 504 accommodations for those kids during the group discussion and writing period?

Extra time, type, and notes. Not much else.

[Anonymous]

The nature of the group projects often allows kids to self-accommodate in the group.

My DC was at Eastern and had a 504. She had extensive accommodations - extra time, copy of class notes, flash pass to nurse, excusal from certain kinds of work due to medical issues, abbreviated day and workload at times.

Kids always divided work according to ability and interest - everyone picked what they liked and were good at and somehow it sorted itself out as groups were mostly self-selected (also cuz kids knew who lived nearby in order to get together on weekends for projects). My DC was not fast but she was an excellent researcher. Others were good at video editing which she could not really do. One’s weakness is another’s strength, and they match up accordingly.

I also had a DC at TPMS with an IEP. Not as much group work there.

Kids liked and did well at both schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The nature of the group projects often allows kids to self-accommodate in the group.

My DC was at Eastern and had a 504. She had extensive accommodations - extra time, copy of class notes, flash pass to nurse, excusal from certain kinds of work due to medical issues, abbreviated day and workload at times.

Kids always divided work according to ability and interest - everyone picked what they liked and were good at and somehow it sorted itself out as groups were mostly self-selected (also cuz kids knew who lived nearby in order to get together on weekends for projects). My DC was not fast but she was an excellent researcher. Others were good at video editing which she could not really do. One’s weakness is another’s strength, and they match up accordingly.

I also had a DC at TPMS with an IEP. Not as much group work there.

Kids liked and did well at both schools.

This is not typical at Eastern and probably represented an extraordinary situation, plus a lot of work on PP’s part to make happen.

While kids do self-accommodate within groups, there’s also groups that just exclude kids with accommodations. Or they will push those kids into a very limited role if the teacher picks the groups. Especially in seventh and eighth grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone for providing the expectations on Eastern for ADHD. Do they have 504 accommodations for those kids during the group discussion and writing period?

What do you mean? Can you elaborate? 504 accommodations are customized for the child. What do you think your child needs? Before the lottery there were very few kids with 504s, usually 1-2 per grade.

How do you know this? Were you an instructor in the program at that time?

I had a kid in the program at Eastern pre-lottery, and I couldn't tell you how many kids had 504s.

Not that PP, but the kids know who has accommodations. It’s not rocket science. If everyone else is told to hand notes in their interactive journal, but one or two kids in the class always take notes on their Chromebooks, it’s obvious. Not a big mental stretch to imagine that a parent asks their NT kid about chicken scratch notes and the kid says only Jack and Jane get to type.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The nature of the group projects often allows kids to self-accommodate in the group.

My DC was at Eastern and had a 504. She had extensive accommodations - extra time, copy of class notes, flash pass to nurse, excusal from certain kinds of work due to medical issues, abbreviated day and workload at times.

Kids always divided work according to ability and interest - everyone picked what they liked and were good at and somehow it sorted itself out as groups were mostly self-selected (also cuz kids knew who lived nearby in order to get together on weekends for projects). My DC was not fast but she was an excellent researcher. Others were good at video editing which she could not really do. One’s weakness is another’s strength, and they match up accordingly.

I also had a DC at TPMS with an IEP. Not as much group work there.

Kids liked and did well at both schools.

This is not typical at Eastern and probably represented an extraordinary situation, plus a lot of work on PP’s part to make happen.

While kids do self-accommodate within groups, there’s also groups that just exclude kids with accommodations. Or they will push those kids into a very limited role if the teacher picks the groups. Especially in seventh and eighth grade.

I want to remind you that by law magnet programs, like regular education, must honor any existing 504 or IEP plan and, if a 504 or IEP is requested for the first time while at Eastern, then the school has a legal obligation to hold meetings and make an individualized determination. The fact that a student is in a magnet program and/or has good grades is not sufficient to deny accommodations.

[Anonymous]

There are programs in MCPS that do and ones that do not. MCPS turns a blind eye. I hope the superintendent changes that. It's one of the biggest travesties in MCPS how they allow some of these programs to run over kids with SN.

[Anonymous]

The part we struggled with is if the program is an enrichment program but you’re spending hours commuting everyday. Is it really worth surrendering local friend time and the community aspects of your local school which is a strong one to start? Eliminating the commute timing for extra friend & Family time with extracurriculars would seem to build a stronger teen than a middle school resume. If the kids wasn’t horribly social or needing stem acceleration for math and whatnot then maybe it would make sense to seek out various magnets.

But if we are honest most people push normal good students into these for the “prestige” and it evolves into a nothing burger and the kid ends up going to a normal good student university which there are 1000 different ways to qualify for especially if there are resources in the family. If it truly about marking the kids more rounded then there is better uses of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The part we struggled with is if the program is an enrichment program but you’re spending hours commuting everyday. Is it really worth surrendering local friend time and the community aspects of your local school which is a strong one to start? Eliminating the commute timing for extra friend & Family time with extracurriculars would seem to build a stronger teen than a middle school resume. If the kids wasn’t horribly social or needing stem acceleration for math and whatnot then maybe it would make sense to seek out various magnets.

But if we are honest most people push normal good students into these for the “prestige” and it evolves into a nothing burger and the kid ends up going to a normal good student university which there are 1000 different ways to qualify for especially if there are resources in the family. If it truly about marking the kids more rounded then there is better uses of the time.

Also the PP's, multiple ones on this thread, about lack of support for neurodiverse kids....that was a huge turn off.