Thursday Nov 20 BOE Discussion on Boundaries and Regional Program Model

[Anonymous]

This PPT stinks. So many slides about how they've consulted with people, and zero info about whether my kid who would be entitled to a bus to get to their home HS would be able to get a bus within walking distance to a regional program.

[Anonymous]

That AI image is so manipulative. I question the judgment of staff who thought it was appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Who else saw this? Pg 44.

Under Timeline, for "November" (now): Program Analysis Plan Finalized

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This PPT stinks. So many slides about how they've consulted with people, and zero info about whether my kid who would be entitled to a bus to get to their home HS would be able to get a bus within walking distance to a regional program.

You will have to get them to the home school and there will only be a handful of slots anyway.

[Anonymous]

The inclusion of AI-generated "art" in this presentation is downright nightmare fuel. It has no business being used or even considered and shows that MCPS is drinking from the kool-aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agroecology?

At which community engagement session did they hear “what this needs is 6 new programs about sustainable farming?”

I can’t tell because they only posted the video from one of them, but it wasn’t Kennedy.

When they heard people say "your program distribution is inequitable and is favoring richer schools, you should move some of the criteria-based programs from richer schools to middle and poorer schools."

Which of course to MCPS means "we can't possibly take anything away from rich schools, let's let schools like Whitman keep real magnets like humanities and make up a new sham criteria-based program for schools like Northwood even though there's not even enough demand for one program let alone 6."

They’d have to give more staff and they aren’t willing. None of these will be real criteria based. And, if they are, for Northwood and Einstein it means nothing without more staff and funding especially if they reduce the number of teachers due to the cut in students. How do you have an arts and theatre magnet without more teachers for more classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the ppt
Boundary Studies Program Analysis Update 251120 PPT.pdf https://share.google/M0lQdbx2jTMlewfP9

They seem to be frantically adding programs to address concerns. BCC now getting an interest based engineering program so they can siphon off more wealthy students from Einstein and Northwood, so awesome.

And, yet, they aren't giving many slots. Einstein familes (and now Northwood) have always been the forgotten school - no renovations, no advanced classes, few clubs...

I suspect they are doing it at Einstein as they aready have the classes so it looks like they are getting something new when they aren't. Einstein only has one engineering teacher who teaches a combine two classes in one in one class period class and that's it (great teacher but stretched thin as that's not fair to anyone). How MCPS thinks this is ok is beyond me!

Isn't Einstein getting a new criteria based Biotech program, a new interet based health care program, the criteria based visual arts for the region, the criteria based music for the region plus IB?

The biotech program will be a glorified lab tech training program.

https://marylandpublicschools.org/programs/documents/cte/standards/hhs_biotechnology-a.pdf

Umm what role do you think as HS student would qualify for beyond a glorified lab tech??? That alone doesn’t mean they can’t create a program that exposes kids to research, science and the opportunities to explore biotechnology.

I have my issues with how this is going but I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.

[Anonymous]

I am confused what the differences are "regional program pathway" & " local program pathway" columns. For Quince orchard school, it sounds like it is worse to them to lose humanities criteria program if crown HS becomes a holding school, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This document shows how out of touch they are—claiming to listen and fix problems while actually making things worse. DCC kids will lose access under the home-school model with limited slots, and it assumes parents can handle transportation. The partner images and their sizes are also telling.

Einstein and Northwood really got the worst of it.

want to understand

So the chance of a Einstein or Northwood zoned student getting into Blair, Wheaton, or Kennedy by consortia ranking/choice or applying to a magnet in the current DCC model is greater than the chance of a Einstein or Northwood zoned student getting into Blair, BCC, or Whitman by applying to a program.

That and more students will leave Einstein and Northwood to attend Blair, BCC, and Whitman than will leave Blair, BCC, and Whitman to attend Einstein and Northwood, which will have the effect of driving down enrollment in and eventually offering of advanced courses at Einstein and Northwood.

Is that the gist of how the regional model hurts Einstein and Northwood?

No ones going to Kennedy by choice. There are some great kids there but it’s not a desired school. You can either apply to the special programs or for the DCC there is a ranking so each kid gets to rank the order of the schools by preference. A lot of kids get into their first or second choice. Kids are more shuffled around which creates space at each school. So, the regional model kids are assigned to home schools and can apply to the programs but only a select few get in so the kids who don’t are left at their home schools, which does t always meet the academic needs. There is also more bussing from central points, like the elementary schools so it’s easier for transportation.

There are not enough math classes at some of the high schools which is an issue as a select few middle feeder schools allow algebra earlier. They also don’t have a lot of ap science, few to no engineering and very limited computer science. Very limited humanities too.

Neither Northwood or Einstein offer things like ap music theory or advanced music or theater classes and the current teachers are stretched thin doing everything so I don’t get what a music or theater magnet for either school would look like without more staff. The theater teach choir as well. The music teachers teach full five period or more classes, plus all the other extra things like marching band and other groups, so where does a magnet fit in if they don’t teach other classes like ap music or have more advanced music classes due to the lack of teachers. Kids spend 3-4 years in the same classes now. All the teachers are good but there is only so much they can take on and do it well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who else saw this? Pg 44.

Under Timeline, for "November" (now): Program Analysis Plan Finalized

That just means this is the final presentation before the superintendent's recommendation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am confused what the differences are "regional program pathway" & " local program pathway" columns. For Quince orchard school, it sounds like it is worse to them to lose humanities criteria program if crown HS becomes a holding school, right?

Local programs are the ones that already exist at the schools, and may possibly continue if they have interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am confused what the differences are "regional program pathway" & " local program pathway" columns. For Quince orchard school, it sounds like it is worse to them to lose humanities criteria program if crown HS becomes a holding school, right?

Local programs are only for home school students. Regional programs are open to others in the region.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This PPT stinks. So many slides about how they've consulted with people, and zero info about whether my kid who would be entitled to a bus to get to their home HS would be able to get a bus within walking distance to a regional program.

You will have to get them to the home school and there will only be a handful of slots anyway.

So the MCPS message on "equity" is unless a parent quits their job to chauffeur their kid 2x a day or pays hundreds of dollars a month to a taxi service, the kid is out of luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the ppt
Boundary Studies Program Analysis Update 251120 PPT.pdf https://share.google/M0lQdbx2jTMlewfP9

They seem to be frantically adding programs to address concerns. BCC now getting an interest based engineering program so they can siphon off more wealthy students from Einstein and Northwood, so awesome.

And, yet, they aren't giving many slots. Einstein familes (and now Northwood) have always been the forgotten school - no renovations, no advanced classes, few clubs...

I suspect they are doing it at Einstein as they aready have the classes so it looks like they are getting something new when they aren't. Einstein only has one engineering teacher who teaches a combine two classes in one in one class period class and that's it (great teacher but stretched thin as that's not fair to anyone). How MCPS thinks this is ok is beyond me!

Isn't Einstein getting a new criteria based Biotech program, a new interet based health care program, the criteria based visual arts for the region, the criteria based music for the region plus IB?

The biotech program will be a glorified lab tech training program.

https://marylandpublicschools.org/programs/documents/cte/standards/hhs_biotechnology-a.pdf

Umm what role do you think as HS student would qualify for beyond a glorified lab tech??? That alone doesn’t mean they can’t create a program that exposes kids to research, science and the opportunities to explore biotechnology.

I have my issues with how this is going but I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.

This looks bad when you use that document.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This PPT stinks. So many slides about how they've consulted with people, and zero info about whether my kid who would be entitled to a bus to get to their home HS would be able to get a bus within walking distance to a regional program.

You will have to get them to the home school and there will only be a handful of slots anyway.

So the MCPS message on "equity" is unless a parent quits their job to chauffeur their kid 2x a day or pays hundreds of dollars a month to a taxi service, the kid is out of luck.

And, ironically it’s the lower income schools whose families may have less resources who have to do the commute and driving. I looked at uber twice a day, and it was at least $50 a day to a very close by school.