New Magnet IB High School

[Anonymous]

My source thinks it would be crazy to have a W consortium.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Inside sources tell me it will be in upcounty.

Seneca could be a good choice - considering it would have a new building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a rumor that the SMAC and / or the CAPS program would move from Blair to Kennedy. Since both are in the DCC I guess CAPS is fair game. This would be an automatic diversity equalizer for Kennedy which is the least diverse school in the DCC. It draws people up to a school with the lowest enrollment in the DCC. It might help shift the over selection of Blair. It looks like an easy win.

My guess is that they will move the CAPS program but wait on the SMAC program. There is a risk that parents from the west won't send their kids to Kennedy. If they lose the kids in the west who win all the awards for Blair SMACS then it will lose some of its appeal.

There is a rumor on DCUM, you mean?

PP, aka Kennedy concern troll, is the only one passing this rumor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inside sources tell me it will be in upcounty.

Seneca could be a good choice - considering it would have a new building.

Seneca Valley HS is already getting vocational programs (and high time there was a program in the upcounty, too).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So all that buzz about Blair being moved closer to the middle of the feeding area is materializing actually?

Nobody is moving Blair. It's a big building. And where would it go?

They're going to create a W consortium anchored at Kennedy for a new STEM/IB magnet. once they expansion there is complete. This is in addition to existing programs which haven't kept up with the county's population growth.

My source inside the central office has confirmed Kennedy will anchor the new W consortium.

Are these new magnet programs just for the new W consortium?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
There is a rumor that the SMAC and / or the CAPS program would move from Blair to Kennedy. Since both are in the DCC I guess CAPS is fair game. This would be an automatic diversity equalizer for Kennedy which is the least diverse school in the DCC. It draws people up to a school with the lowest enrollment in the DCC. It might help shift the over selection of Blair. It looks like an easy win.

My guess is that they will move the CAPS program but wait on the SMAC program. There is a risk that parents from the west won't send their kids to Kennedy. If they lose the kids in the west who win all the awards for Blair SMACS then it will lose some of its appeal.


There is a rumor on DCUM, you mean?

No, heard it from someone in MCCPTA . I inferred that she was hearing from people she knows in MCPS but I didn't ask. FTR, we're not in Kennedy, Blair, or a W school so wouldn't mean anything to us other than maybe a different bus route up to the magnet down the road.

[Anonymous]

Actually you could do some massive shuffling that would not create bus routes that are too crazy.

1. Shift a bunch of Whitman kids out of Whitman into the next closest school which is BCC.
2. Shift the FARMS kids at BCC into Whitman. Shift a bunch of white BCC kids into Blair.
3. Shift a bunch of FARMS kids at Blair into BCC. Move the SMAC and CAPS program up to Kennedy.

Outcome - Kennedy gets an additional 20% white/asian high performers. Whitman gets 20% FARMS, BCC gets another 5-10% FARMS and Blair stays about the same in terms of FARMS but you reduce some of the overcrowding at Blair. No one is on a crazy bus ride past multiple schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
There is a rumor that the SMAC and / or the CAPS program would move from Blair to Kennedy. Since both are in the DCC I guess CAPS is fair game. This would be an automatic diversity equalizer for Kennedy which is the least diverse school in the DCC. It draws people up to a school with the lowest enrollment in the DCC. It might help shift the over selection of Blair. It looks like an easy win.

My guess is that they will move the CAPS program but wait on the SMAC program. There is a risk that parents from the west won't send their kids to Kennedy. If they lose the kids in the west who win all the awards for Blair SMACS then it will lose some of its appeal.


There is a rumor on DCUM, you mean?

No, heard it from someone in MCCPTA . I inferred that she was hearing from people she knows in MCPS but I didn't ask. FTR, we're not in Kennedy, Blair, or a W school so wouldn't mean anything to us other than maybe a different bus route up to the magnet down the road.

Yep, and that's how telephone works, you muddled the whole thing, while the info you started with was second hand and out of date, yet you pass it on as reliable...

[Anonymous]

OK stick your head in the sand or ask yourself whether you think MCPS will be able to sustain bussing in up to 20% of the students from OOB when Blair is overcrowded by 800 students. Yes the 20% number includes some kids who are in boundary for Blair but the majority of kids are from other areas in the DCC and the SMAC draws from even more schools outside the DCC. Its completely obvious that Blair can't sustain the growth and keep the magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually you could do some massive shuffling that would not create bus routes that are too crazy.

1. Shift a bunch of Whitman kids out of Whitman into the next closest school which is BCC.
2. Shift the FARMS kids at BCC into Whitman. Shift a bunch of white BCC kids into Blair.
3. Shift a bunch of FARMS kids at Blair into BCC. Move the SMAC and CAPS program up to Kennedy.

Outcome - Kennedy gets an additional 20% white/asian high performers. Whitman gets 20% FARMS, BCC gets another 5-10% FARMS and Blair stays about the same in terms of FARMS but you reduce some of the overcrowding at Blair. No one is on a crazy bus ride past multiple schools.

So children are moved around based on their race and income level? I am so glad we are nearly done with MCPS. W parent with a Blair smac kid. I wouldn’t have considered sending him to Kennedy. The reason we like Blair is because the school as a whole is wonderful. Lots of smart kids outside the Magnet and CAP programs. Kids are expected to excel in the classroom and in their extracurricular activities. I hear good things about Wheaton and Einstein and Northwood but I have not heard much about Kennedy and their SAT scores are concerning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK stick your head in the sand or ask yourself whether you think MCPS will be able to sustain bussing in up to 20% of the students from OOB when Blair is overcrowded by 800 students. Yes the 20% number includes some kids who are in boundary for Blair but the majority of kids are from other areas in the DCC and the SMAC draws from even more schools outside the DCC. Its completely obvious that Blair can't sustain the growth and keep the magnet.

And you're not sticking your head in the sand by making up stories in an anonymous corner of the internet?

Blair was built with the intention of housing the special programs, they're as much a part of the fabric of the school as the in-boundary kids. It's also not over capacity by 800 (more like 200 which is handled by portables). I know in your head this is just about rerouting some busses, and you have some fixation on Kennedy, but you'd actually be uprooting staff who have planned their lives around working at Blair. So since you don't have a dog in this fight and aren't well informed, maybe take the PP's advice, and find a different hobby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Actually you could do some massive shuffling that would not create bus routes that are too crazy.

1. Shift a bunch of Whitman kids out of Whitman into the next closest school which is BCC.
2. Shift the FARMS kids at BCC into Whitman. Shift a bunch of white BCC kids into Blair.
3. Shift a bunch of FARMS kids at Blair into BCC. Move the SMAC and CAPS program up to Kennedy.

Outcome - Kennedy gets an additional 20% white/asian high performers. Whitman gets 20% FARMS, BCC gets another 5-10% FARMS and Blair stays about the same in terms of FARMS but you reduce some of the overcrowding at Blair. No one is on a crazy bus ride past multiple schools.

So children are moved around based on their race and income level? I am so glad we are nearly done with MCPS. W parent with a Blair smac kid. I wouldn’t have considered sending him to Kennedy. The reason we like Blair is because the school as a whole is wonderful. Lots of smart kids outside the Magnet and CAP programs. Kids are expected to excel in the classroom and in their extracurricular activities. I hear good things about Wheaton and Einstein and Northwood but I have not heard much about Kennedy and their SAT scores are concerning

You should look at the numbers and the MCPS planning documents. Blair is over by 200 now and projected to be over by 700-800 in a few years. In the past several years, the hispanic population (which is predominantly low income) has grown by 30% and this growth was under projected by MCPS years ago. Right now, 20% of Blair's population is in SMAC or CAP and these are predominately white and asian kids from other areas in the DCC and county not Blair.

Northwood and Einstein have similar population problems and Woodward will not be even close to enough to handle their overflow with how WJ is even more over populated. There is an expansion at Northwood but that is also years off and will not be enough. Blair can not get any bigger. There simply are no under enrolled schools in the eastern areas and Kennedy is the closest in being able to absorb more students with an expansion.

My guess is that SMAC and CAP will get phased out or put in hiatus due to over crowding while the staff are transferred to new programs up at Kennedy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually you could do some massive shuffling that would not create bus routes that are too crazy.

1. Shift a bunch of Whitman kids out of Whitman into the next closest school which is BCC.
2. Shift the FARMS kids at BCC into Whitman. Shift a bunch of white BCC kids into Blair.
3. Shift a bunch of FARMS kids at Blair into BCC. Move the SMAC and CAPS program up to Kennedy.

Outcome - Kennedy gets an additional 20% white/asian high performers. Whitman gets 20% FARMS, BCC gets another 5-10% FARMS and Blair stays about the same in terms of FARMS but you reduce some of the overcrowding at Blair. No one is on a crazy bus ride past multiple schools.

If you're going to do that kind of massive shuffling, just go ahead and build a new high school at Brickyard in Potomac. Call it Widewater HS, so that people don't panic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Actually you could do some massive shuffling that would not create bus routes that are too crazy.

1. Shift a bunch of Whitman kids out of Whitman into the next closest school which is BCC.
2. Shift the FARMS kids at BCC into Whitman. Shift a bunch of white BCC kids into Blair.
3. Shift a bunch of FARMS kids at Blair into BCC. Move the SMAC and CAPS program up to Kennedy.

Outcome - Kennedy gets an additional 20% white/asian high performers. Whitman gets 20% FARMS, BCC gets another 5-10% FARMS and Blair stays about the same in terms of FARMS but you reduce some of the overcrowding at Blair. No one is on a crazy bus ride past multiple schools.

So children are moved around based on their race and income level? I am so glad we are nearly done with MCPS. W parent with a Blair smac kid. I wouldn’t have considered sending him to Kennedy. The reason we like Blair is because the school as a whole is wonderful. Lots of smart kids outside the Magnet and CAP programs. Kids are expected to excel in the classroom and in their extracurricular activities. I hear good things about Wheaton and Einstein and Northwood but I have not heard much about Kennedy and their SAT scores are concerning

You should look at the numbers and the MCPS planning documents. Blair is over by 200 now and projected to be over by 700-800 in a few years. In the past several years, the hispanic population (which is predominantly low income) has grown by 30% and this growth was under projected by MCPS years ago. Right now, 20% of Blair's population is in SMAC or CAP and these are predominately white and asian kids from other areas in the DCC and county not Blair.

Northwood and Einstein have similar population problems and Woodward will not be even close to enough to handle their overflow with how WJ is even more over populated. There is an expansion at Northwood but that is also years off and will not be enough. Blair can not get any bigger. There simply are no under enrolled schools in the eastern areas and Kennedy is the closest in being able to absorb more students with an expansion.

My guess is that SMAC and CAP will get phased out or put in hiatus due to over crowding while the staff are transferred to new programs up at Kennedy.

And why would anyone care about your guess?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually you could do some massive shuffling that would not create bus routes that are too crazy.

1. Shift a bunch of Whitman kids out of Whitman into the next closest school which is BCC.
2. Shift the FARMS kids at BCC into Whitman. Shift a bunch of white BCC kids into Blair.
3. Shift a bunch of FARMS kids at Blair into BCC. Move the SMAC and CAPS program up to Kennedy.

Outcome - Kennedy gets an additional 20% white/asian high performers. Whitman gets 20% FARMS, BCC gets another 5-10% FARMS and Blair stays about the same in terms of FARMS but you reduce some of the overcrowding at Blair. No one is on a crazy bus ride past multiple schools.

The new W consortium where Kennedy kids can go to Whitman and Churchill to Einstein makes more sense.