Can we fight to put more of the academic magnets in middle & high FARMS schools? (no humanities at Whitman, etc)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you are proposing is what the original/current magnet program is. Now they're moving to a regional program where each school would have a magnet. This likely weakens the county wide magnets but maybe increases accessibility give the commutes that were needed to go to a county wide magnet.

If they are going to go the magnet in every school then Humanities makes sense at Whitman because the school doesn't need a high profile magnet to attract strong students.

It’s too far from Einstein, Northwood and Blair. BCC and Whitman students will get it all to themselves. Same with the BCC IB program.

Totally wrong about B-CC. There are kid in the Einstein zone that could ride a bike to B-CC. Similarly via the beltway it is not more than 15 minutes between Blair and B-CC.

Yeah, but who wants to ride a bike 3-5 miles each way in the middle of winter? Especially if they need to bring a musical instrument or equipment for sports practice?

Conn Ave and East West high way is not very safe either and its all up hill.

Oh my lord. People, the point is that it is not that far away. If you could reasonably ride a bicycle (even if you don’t want to) it isn’t like it is at the far end of the universe like people are suggesting.

It is fine to not want it at BCC but objective BCC is one of the most accessible schools in the county when it comes to public transportation. It isn’t terribly far from the beltway. It is a few blocks from both the red and purple line. Lots of ride on and Metrobus lines go nearby because downtown Bethesda is a busy place with high density of housing, jobs, and stores.

Arguments that BCC is uniquely not accessible while other schools are just do not hold up.

For me the concern is not the transportation from our house since there are public buses that go to Bethesda. I'm not sure it will be so easy for other kids if there isn't bus service from close to their homes. But I can't speak to that personally. For me it is that it will take highly motivated and highly resourced kids from DCC schools and reduce the cohort of highly academically motivated students at their home schools.

Agree that we should end the consortiums and shouldn’t have these magnets at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The humanities program should be at Northwood but right now Northwood does not seem to be coming together to advocate for its future interests because the community is currently fragmented/dislocated/in exile at Woodward. Or because Northwood families are currently focused on trying to save SSIMS, which is in the same cluster. Does Northwood have an MCCPTA rep? It is also a shame that Northwood and Einstein have been put in an competition for the performing arts. Meanwhile the school that is already the best high school in the county gets the new criteria based humanities program.

Between the fact that Northwood boundaries are set to change significantly, that 11th and 12th graders will have graduated already, and that at least some fraction of current Northwood families are not within Northwood base area thanks to the DCC choice process (albeit probably less than usual due to he holding school), there's a fair number of Northwood families who will not be affected by this. (Plus I think you're right that they're distracted by SSIMS and holding school issues and the like.)

But you are right that the humanities program should absolutely be moved from Whitman to Northwood-- I think that is objectively the right choice here. And getting programs shouldn't be based on who's most effective at advocacy, for a multitude of reasons. If MCPS can't make the right choice on this on their own, we should all be advocating for changes like that, whether or not we're from Northwood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The humanities program should be at Northwood but right now Northwood does not seem to be coming together to advocate for its future interests because the community is currently fragmented/dislocated/in exile at Woodward. Or because Northwood families are currently focused on trying to save SSIMS, which is in the same cluster. Does Northwood have an MCCPTA rep? It is also a shame that Northwood and Einstein have been put in an competition for the performing arts. Meanwhile the school that is already the best high school in the county gets the new criteria based humanities program.

Between the fact that Northwood boundaries are set to change significantly, that 11th and 12th graders will have graduated already, and that at least some fraction of current Northwood families are not within Northwood base area thanks to the DCC choice process (albeit probably less than usual due to he holding school), there's a fair number of Northwood families who will not be affected by this. (Plus I think you're right that they're distracted by SSIMS and holding school issues and the like.)

But you are right that the humanities program should absolutely be moved from Whitman to Northwood-- I think that is objectively the right choice here. And getting programs shouldn't be based on who's most effective at advocacy, for a multitude of reasons. If MCPS can't make the right choice on this on their own, we should all be advocating for changes like that, whether or not we're from Northwood.

And what's the basis for Northwood getting the humanities program and not the perform arts program? Why are you seeing it as a competition between Northwood and Einstein instead of best use of resources and providing students access?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The humanities program should be at Northwood but right now Northwood does not seem to be coming together to advocate for its future interests because the community is currently fragmented/dislocated/in exile at Woodward. Or because Northwood families are currently focused on trying to save SSIMS, which is in the same cluster. Does Northwood have an MCCPTA rep? It is also a shame that Northwood and Einstein have been put in an competition for the performing arts. Meanwhile the school that is already the best high school in the county gets the new criteria based humanities program.

Between the fact that Northwood boundaries are set to change significantly, that 11th and 12th graders will have graduated already, and that at least some fraction of current Northwood families are not within Northwood base area thanks to the DCC choice process (albeit probably less than usual due to he holding school), there's a fair number of Northwood families who will not be affected by this. (Plus I think you're right that they're distracted by SSIMS and holding school issues and the like.)

But you are right that the humanities program should absolutely be moved from Whitman to Northwood-- I think that is objectively the right choice here. And getting programs shouldn't be based on who's most effective at advocacy, for a multitude of reasons. If MCPS can't make the right choice on this on their own, we should all be advocating for changes like that, whether or not we're from Northwood.

And what's the basis for Northwood getting the humanities program and not the perform arts program? Why are you seeing it as a competition between Northwood and Einstein instead of best use of resources and providing students access?

What would you suggest Northwood get?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you are proposing is what the original/current magnet program is. Now they're moving to a regional program where each school would have a magnet. This likely weakens the county wide magnets but maybe increases accessibility give the commutes that were needed to go to a county wide magnet.

If they are going to go the magnet in every school then Humanities makes sense at Whitman because the school doesn't need a high profile magnet to attract strong students.

It’s too far from Einstein, Northwood and Blair. BCC and Whitman students will get it all to themselves. Same with the BCC IB program.

Totally wrong about B-CC. There are kid in the Einstein zone that could ride a bike to B-CC. Similarly via the beltway it is not more than 15 minutes between Blair and B-CC.

Yeah, but who wants to ride a bike 3-5 miles each way in the middle of winter? Especially if they need to bring a musical instrument or equipment for sports practice?

Conn Ave and East West high way is not very safe either and its all up hill.

Oh my lord. People, the point is that it is not that far away. If you could reasonably ride a bicycle (even if you don’t want to) it isn’t like it is at the far end of the universe like people are suggesting.

It is fine to not want it at BCC but objective BCC is one of the most accessible schools in the county when it comes to public transportation. It isn’t terribly far from the beltway. It is a few blocks from both the red and purple line. Lots of ride on and Metrobus lines go nearby because downtown Bethesda is a busy place with high density of housing, jobs, and stores.

Arguments that BCC is uniquely not accessible while other schools are just do not hold up.

For me the concern is not the transportation from our house since there are public buses that go to Bethesda. I'm not sure it will be so easy for other kids if there isn't bus service from close to their homes. But I can't speak to that personally. For me it is that it will take highly motivated and highly resourced kids from DCC schools and reduce the cohort of highly academically motivated students at their home schools.

Agree that we should end the consortiums and shouldn’t have these magnets at all.

So, then how do you propose fixing the issue that was helped by the consortium of making classes accessible to students that aren't available at their home schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The humanities magnets are in the richest school in every region.

Seriously? I was giving them the benefit of the doubt that they just didn't think these issues through, but that's starting to make me wonder if maybe they're actually trying to favor the rich schools intentionally...

On the one hand, you have a bunch of people saying MCPS only caters to the rich.

OTH, you have a bunch of people who say that MCPS only cares about DEI to the detriment of all else.

Can't win.

Exactly this. Everyone complains that MCPS is too large, so they are trying to break it into 6 smaller districts and offering equal opportunities to everyone and parents are still upset.

Except there aren't equal opportunities as only a handful of kids can get into each of the other schools and not all schools have the same offerings. How many kids from Northwood/Einstein are going to go to Whitman? How many kids from Whitman would choose Einstein or Northwood? What happens to the remaining students who don't get in? Whitman is in an island of their own in terms of distance.

[Anonymous]

“Why should poor kids have nice things?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you are proposing is what the original/current magnet program is. Now they're moving to a regional program where each school would have a magnet. This likely weakens the county wide magnets but maybe increases accessibility give the commutes that were needed to go to a county wide magnet.

If they are going to go the magnet in every school then Humanities makes sense at Whitman because the school doesn't need a high profile magnet to attract strong students.

It’s too far from Einstein, Northwood and Blair. BCC and Whitman students will get it all to themselves. Same with the BCC IB program.

Totally wrong about B-CC. There are kid in the Einstein zone that could ride a bike to B-CC. Similarly via the beltway it is not more than 15 minutes between Blair and B-CC.

Yeah, but who wants to ride a bike 3-5 miles each way in the middle of winter? Especially if they need to bring a musical instrument or equipment for sports practice?

Conn Ave and East West high way is not very safe either and its all up hill.

Oh my lord. People, the point is that it is not that far away. If you could reasonably ride a bicycle (even if you don’t want to) it isn’t like it is at the far end of the universe like people are suggesting.

It is fine to not want it at BCC but objective BCC is one of the most accessible schools in the county when it comes to public transportation. It isn’t terribly far from the beltway. It is a few blocks from both the red and purple line. Lots of ride on and Metrobus lines go nearby because downtown Bethesda is a busy place with high density of housing, jobs, and stores.

Arguments that BCC is uniquely not accessible while other schools are just do not hold up.

For me the concern is not the transportation from our house since there are public buses that go to Bethesda. I'm not sure it will be so easy for other kids if there isn't bus service from close to their homes. But I can't speak to that personally. For me it is that it will take highly motivated and highly resourced kids from DCC schools and reduce the cohort of highly academically motivated students at their home schools.

Agree that we should end the consortiums and shouldn’t have these magnets at all.

So, then how do you propose fixing the issue that was helped by the consortium of making classes accessible to students that aren't available at their home schools?

More demand when kids don’t lottery out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The humanities program should be at Northwood but right now Northwood does not seem to be coming together to advocate for its future interests because the community is currently fragmented/dislocated/in exile at Woodward. Or because Northwood families are currently focused on trying to save SSIMS, which is in the same cluster. Does Northwood have an MCCPTA rep? It is also a shame that Northwood and Einstein have been put in an competition for the performing arts. Meanwhile the school that is already the best high school in the county gets the new criteria based humanities program.

Between the fact that Northwood boundaries are set to change significantly, that 11th and 12th graders will have graduated already, and that at least some fraction of current Northwood families are not within Northwood base area thanks to the DCC choice process (albeit probably less than usual due to he holding school), there's a fair number of Northwood families who will not be affected by this. (Plus I think you're right that they're distracted by SSIMS and holding school issues and the like.)

But you are right that the humanities program should absolutely be moved from Whitman to Northwood-- I think that is objectively the right choice here. And getting programs shouldn't be based on who's most effective at advocacy, for a multitude of reasons. If MCPS can't make the right choice on this on their own, we should all be advocating for changes like that, whether or not we're from Northwood.

And what's the basis for Northwood getting the humanities program and not the perform arts program? Why are you seeing it as a competition between Northwood and Einstein instead of best use of resources and providing students access?

What do you mean why am I seeing it as a competition between Northwood and Einstein?