Is the quality of the Blair Magnet Program going down?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live near Blair, and I've learned something in the years that my kids have been in MCPS schools (they are now both middle schoolers).

All of this talk about "better" schools and the lauding of the Poolesville environment is just veiled racism. Believe me, I talked that way myself without realizing where it came from. Nowt hat I see my kids thriving in schools with lots and lots of different people, I realize what I was thinkng and feeling behind all that blah blah blah about school environments.

If you make a decision to move somewhere because of the "environment" being better, ask yourself if it's really what you mean.

I'm glad for my kids, that they have friends of many different races and backgrounds.

You really need to get out more often. Do you even understand the schools that apply to Poolesville magnet are Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Magruder, Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley, or Watkins Mill.

We don't have to force diversity up here - our kids are in a diverse school environment since they were in pre-K.

I was responding to the pro-Poolesville posters' previous comments about school environment, 5% FARMS rate, and "take a look at the four corners Starbucks" or McDonald's or whatever. If you don't think there was a veiled reference to race in those comments, I think you are kidding yourself. Or perhaps it's race + socioeconomic status or some perceived fear of "urban" attitudes or who knows.

+1

[Anonymous]

Look, there are a lot stupid “stereotypes” of MCPS students– East County Kids are violent criminals, kids from BCC and the W’s are rich drug addicts and alcoholics and the North County kids are racist hicks. Frankly, its all BS.

The Blair Magnet program is fine as are the other programs there. IF your kid is fortunate enough to get in any MCPS Magnet (and that is NOT a lock), they had better be ready to compete. There are some bright and motivated kids in these schools of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds. And I can tell you from personal knowledge that the Magnet kids at Blair and RM are academic and intellectual heavyweights. If your kid ends up in the Blair Magnet program, he/she will be challenged and will be competing with some real superstars.

Now, if you do not like the location or size of the school, that's your right to make a decision based on that (although I think it is misguided). However, it is not credible to attack the academics in the Blair Magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry don;t have much info on Blair. We live in Gaithersburg. Many HS kids go to RMIB or Poolesville magnet.
From what I see in the private prep-magnet classes DD goes to, it is way more easier to get into Poolesville than RM magnet. If the kid is accepted into both programs, the 1st choice is always RM/Blair.
Scroll down and look at 2011-2012 Track Record.
http://cht1.endiva.net/AplusLearningINC/pub/LIT_14.asp

At least 2 kids in my community got above 2350 in SAT from RM. I believe Poolesville has a good magnet program too. But the kids we know simply not getting that kind of score from Poolesville. May be we just don't know the right kids.

Kids go to Poolesville are from different races and backgrounds too. Two of my neices (asian) attended Poolesville magnet, and were very happy. Well, they complained the prom ended early, and there was NO post-prom party. typical rural HS style. My SIL was very happy because one of the girls is the party type, and Poolesville kept her in check. They both attending UMD now.

Just want to point out that this cannot be true that anyone has a first choice Blair/ second choice Poolesville. There is no choice... If you live up county you can only go to Poolesville and if you live down county you can only go to Blair. This explains in someways the differences you see if the two schools.

You can however, choose RM versus Poolesville or RM versus Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live near Blair, and I've learned something in the years that my kids have been in MCPS schools (they are now both middle schoolers).

All of this talk about "better" schools and the lauding of the Poolesville environment is just veiled racism. Believe me, I talked that way myself without realizing where it came from. Nowt hat I see my kids thriving in schools with lots and lots of different people, I realize what I was thinkng and feeling behind all that blah blah blah about school environments.

If you make a decision to move somewhere because of the "environment" being better, ask yourself if it's really what you mean.

I'm glad for my kids, that they have friends of many different races and backgrounds.

You really need to get out more often. Do you even understand the schools that apply to Poolesville magnet are Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Magruder, Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley, or Watkins Mill.

We don't have to force diversity up here - our kids are in a diverse school environment since they were in pre-K.

Completely irrelevant point...

Just because diverse schools apply to the magnet does not make the magnet diverse. This is solely dependant on which kids actually get accepted.

The reason for the difference in the Poolesville and Blair is that the base population of Blair is diverse while the base population of Poolesville is not. Entering magnet kids are not flooding Poolesville with minorities....

[Anonymous]

Kudos the the poster who noted the thinly veiled racism. I also think that is what the Poolesville poster is stirring up here. Face the future, our kids who attend diverse schools with strong academics are just going to be better able to adapt and embrace our diverse multicultural beautiful future with all its benefits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live near Blair, and I've learned something in the years that my kids have been in MCPS schools (they are now both middle schoolers).

All of this talk about "better" schools and the lauding of the Poolesville environment is just veiled racism. Believe me, I talked that way myself without realizing where it came from. Nowt hat I see my kids thriving in schools with lots and lots of different people, I realize what I was thinkng and feeling behind all that blah blah blah about school environments.

If you make a decision to move somewhere because of the "environment" being better, ask yourself if it's really what you mean.

I'm glad for my kids, that they have friends of many different races and backgrounds.

You really need to get out more often. Do you even understand the schools that apply to Poolesville magnet are Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Magruder, Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley, or Watkins Mill.

We don't have to force diversity up here - our kids are in a diverse school environment since they were in pre-K.

Completely irrelevant point...

Just because diverse schools apply to the magnet does not make the magnet diverse. This is solely dependant on which kids actually get accepted.

The reason for the difference in the Poolesville and Blair is that the base population of Blair is diverse while the base population of Poolesville is not. Entering magnet kids are not flooding Poolesville with minorities....

Blair is not diverse. It has to create a magnet school so whites and asian will even consider going there.

Poolesville is not diverse - they have created a magnet program for diverse kids.

Poolesville magnet is more diverse than Blaire's magnet because Blaire's magnet is overpopulated with white and asians. The kids going to Poolesville don't need diversity because their lives are diverse. Whites in upper east MoCo don't need diversity because our neighborhoods and schools are diverse.

[Anonymous]

It is a sad that people on DCUM love to play the race card. The stats about APlus turoring is meaningless. The Poolesville cluster only accepts students into its math-science house if you live in their cluster. So the fact that ~66 got into Poolesville and ~13 got into Blair means nothing.

The two programs are very different and provide different learning environments. Just visit them and make a choice best for your family. Poolesville HS has a higher rating than Blair HS. That is a fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live near Blair, and I've learned something in the years that my kids have been in MCPS schools (they are now both middle schoolers).

All of this talk about "better" schools and the lauding of the Poolesville environment is just veiled racism. Believe me, I talked that way myself without realizing where it came from. Nowt hat I see my kids thriving in schools with lots and lots of different people, I realize what I was thinkng and feeling behind all that blah blah blah about school environments.

If you make a decision to move somewhere because of the "environment" being better, ask yourself if it's really what you mean.

I'm glad for my kids, that they have friends of many different races and backgrounds.

You really need to get out more often. Do you even understand the schools that apply to Poolesville magnet are Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Magruder, Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley, or Watkins Mill.

We don't have to force diversity up here - our kids are in a diverse school environment since they were in pre-K.

This is completely untrue. I live 1/2 mile from Blair and I can tell you, my neighborhood is full of white kids who go there. This part of Silver Spring is PLENTY diverse -- there's no majority. The only group that feels a little underrepresented to me here is Asian, but other than that, it's about 30/30/30. This is true at the ES level and MS level too (Forest KNolls and SSIMS) so it's not the magnets.

Completely irrelevant point...

Just because diverse schools apply to the magnet does not make the magnet diverse. This is solely dependant on which kids actually get accepted.

The reason for the difference in the Poolesville and Blair is that the base population of Blair is diverse while the base population of Poolesville is not. Entering magnet kids are not flooding Poolesville with minorities....

Blair is not diverse. It has to create a magnet school so whites and asian will even consider going there.

Poolesville is not diverse - they have created a magnet program for diverse kids.

Poolesville magnet is more diverse than Blaire's magnet because Blaire's magnet is overpopulated with white and asians. The kids going to Poolesville don't need diversity because their lives are diverse. Whites in upper east MoCo don't need diversity because our neighborhoods and schools are diverse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live near Blair, and I've learned something in the years that my kids have been in MCPS schools (they are now both middle schoolers).

All of this talk about "better" schools and the lauding of the Poolesville environment is just veiled racism. Believe me, I talked that way myself without realizing where it came from. Nowt hat I see my kids thriving in schools with lots and lots of different people, I realize what I was thinkng and feeling behind all that blah blah blah about school environments.

If you make a decision to move somewhere because of the "environment" being better, ask yourself if it's really what you mean.

I'm glad for my kids, that they have friends of many different races and backgrounds.

You really need to get out more often. Do you even understand the schools that apply to Poolesville magnet are Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Magruder, Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley, or Watkins Mill.

We don't have to force diversity up here - our kids are in a diverse school environment since they were in pre-K.

Completely irrelevant point...

Just because diverse schools apply to the magnet does not make the magnet diverse. This is solely dependant on which kids actually get accepted.

The reason for the difference in the Poolesville and Blair is that the base population of Blair is diverse while the base population of Poolesville is not. Entering magnet kids are not flooding Poolesville with minorities....

Blair is not diverse. It has to create a magnet school so whites and asian will even consider going there.

Poolesville is not diverse - they have created a magnet program for diverse kids.

Poolesville magnet is more diverse than Blaire's magnet because Blaire's magnet is overpopulated with white and asians. The kids going to Poolesville don't need diversity because their lives are diverse. Whites in upper east MoCo don't need diversity because our neighborhoods and schools are diverse.

Blair is as diverse as realistically possible... Its essentially 25% AS, 25% WH, 25% BL, 25% HS, and any suggesting that the 25% of the WH is in the magnet is ridiculous.

Poolesville on the other hand is 60% WH, 23% AS, 5% BL, 7% HS, if the magnet is making the school diverse and BL and HS is only 10% what is the base population consist of?

FYI, Norhtwood which is extremely close to Blair in Silver Spring with no magnet program is 20% WH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a sad that people on DCUM love to play the race card. The stats about APlus turoring is meaningless. The Poolesville cluster only accepts students into its math-science house if you live in their cluster. So the fact that ~66 got into Poolesville and ~13 got into Blair means nothing.

The two programs are very different and provide different learning environments. Just visit them and make a choice best for your family. Poolesville HS has a higher rating than Blair HS. That is a fact.

Sorry, this is just BS. What "rating" are you talking about? If you are referring to some website where anonymous people rate their schools, that is pretty meaningless.

[Anonymous]

You have a real beef with Blair apparently with no merit to your argument. You sound almost threatened by Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live near Blair, and I've learned something in the years that my kids have been in MCPS schools (they are now both middle schoolers).

All of this talk about "better" schools and the lauding of the Poolesville environment is just veiled racism. Believe me, I talked that way myself without realizing where it came from. Nowt hat I see my kids thriving in schools with lots and lots of different people, I realize what I was thinkng and feeling behind all that blah blah blah about school environments.

If you make a decision to move somewhere because of the "environment" being better, ask yourself if it's really what you mean.

I'm glad for my kids, that they have friends of many different races and backgrounds.

You really need to get out more often. Do you even understand the schools that apply to Poolesville magnet are Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Magruder, Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley, or Watkins Mill.

We don't have to force diversity up here - our kids are in a diverse school environment since they were in pre-K.

Completely irrelevant point...

Just because diverse schools apply to the magnet does not make the magnet diverse. This is solely dependant on which kids actually get accepted.

The reason for the difference in the Poolesville and Blair is that the base population of Blair is diverse while the base population of Poolesville is not. Entering magnet kids are not flooding Poolesville with minorities....

Blair is not diverse. It has to create a magnet school so whites and asian will even consider going there.

Poolesville is not diverse - they have created a magnet program for diverse kids.

Poolesville magnet is more diverse than Blaire's magnet because Blaire's magnet is overpopulated with white and asians. The kids going to Poolesville don't need diversity because their lives are diverse. Whites in upper east MoCo don't need diversity because our neighborhoods and schools are diverse.

Blair is as diverse as realistically possible... Its essentially 25% AS, 25% WH, 25% BL, 25% HS, and any suggesting that the 25% of the WH is in the magnet is ridiculous.

Poolesville on the other hand is 60% WH, 23% AS, 5% BL, 7% HS, if the magnet is making the school diverse and BL and HS is only 10% what is the base population consist of?

FYI, Norhtwood which is extremely close to Blair in Silver Spring with no magnet program is 20% WH.

Thanks for posting this! Very true.

We live in the neighborhood and my kid goes to the Eastern MS magnet. That program is really diverse -- I don't know stats but his friends in the program are mostly AA and latino, one kid whose family is from India and one who's Ethiopian. These kids all got in fair and swaure and are doing really difficult work.

It's one of the things I've come to appreciate a lot about Silver Spring. These kids value and appreciate each other -- they aren't color blind but they are connecting on levels that transcend their different backgrounds and at the same time they appreciate each others' differences. It is quite amazing and I didn't really expect for this to be such a positive part of the program and the schools over here, but it is. My son also socializes a lot with kids from school who aren't in the magnet. It's really great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a sad that people on DCUM love to play the race card. The stats about APlus turoring is meaningless. The Poolesville cluster only accepts students into its math-science house if you live in their cluster. So the fact that ~66 got into Poolesville and ~13 got into Blair means nothing.

The two programs are very different and provide different learning environments. Just visit them and make a choice best for your family. Poolesville HS has a higher rating than Blair HS. That is a fact.

They ARE different learning environments, but not every family believes that "higher rating" equals "better learning environment." Blair is a highly rated academic school and a kid in Blair's Magnet program is getting a first rate education regardless. But some of us believe that it is also important for our kids to be in a "learning environment" that better reflects the world we live in - meaning kids from different backgrounds with different interests. The fact that Blair has so many different programs in the building was a draw for us.

I do agree that each family must determine what is important to them and decide accordingly.

BTW, I am a former Blair Magnet parent. My 2 kids are both at highly rated schools in the NE.

[Anonymous]

I don't really believe in the ratings either but here it is...

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland/districts/montgomery-county-public-schools/poolesville-high-school-9143.

I also think these kids would have been extremely successful in their home school and taking all the highest performers in an area and putting them in one school is a little smoke and mirrors.

But it sells houses so ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live near Blair, and I've learned something in the years that my kids have been in MCPS schools (they are now both middle schoolers).

All of this talk about "better" schools and the lauding of the Poolesville environment is just veiled racism. Believe me, I talked that way myself without realizing where it came from. Nowt hat I see my kids thriving in schools with lots and lots of different people, I realize what I was thinkng and feeling behind all that blah blah blah about school environments.

If you make a decision to move somewhere because of the "environment" being better, ask yourself if it's really what you mean.

I'm glad for my kids, that they have friends of many different races and backgrounds.

You really need to get out more often. Do you even understand the schools that apply to Poolesville magnet are Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Magruder, Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley, or Watkins Mill.

We don't have to force diversity up here - our kids are in a diverse school environment since they were in pre-K.

Completely irrelevant point...

Just because diverse schools apply to the magnet does not make the magnet diverse. This is solely dependant on which kids actually get accepted.

The reason for the difference in the Poolesville and Blair is that the base population of Blair is diverse while the base population of Poolesville is not. Entering magnet kids are not flooding Poolesville with minorities....

Blair is not diverse. It has to create a magnet school so whites and asian will even consider going there.

Poolesville is not diverse - they have created a magnet program for diverse kids.

Poolesville magnet is more diverse than Blaire's magnet because Blaire's magnet is overpopulated with white and asians. The kids going to Poolesville don't need diversity because their lives are diverse. Whites in upper east MoCo don't need diversity because our neighborhoods and schools are diverse.

Blair is as diverse as realistically possible... Its essentially 25% AS, 25% WH, 25% BL, 25% HS, and any suggesting that the 25% of the WH is in the magnet is ridiculous.

Poolesville on the other hand is 60% WH, 23% AS, 5% BL, 7% HS, if the magnet is making the school diverse and BL and HS is only 10% what is the base population consist of?

FYI, Norhtwood which is extremely close to Blair in Silver Spring with no magnet program is 20% WH.

60% white is not diverse but 75% people of color is diverse. Oh Okay that makes sense. You can't have it both ways.

You don't own diversity down county. I don't know why you think you have cornered the market on diversity.