HS Choice Programs

[Anonymous]

"Not sure why you would put region C as Kennegy or Einstein. I'd pick BCC because it is farther from Springbrook."

No room at BCC to make it a regional IB center. Already projected to be overcrowded in just a few more years!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regional test-in magnets replacing the RM, Blait SMACs and Poolesville has some distinct advantages and disadvantages. To be clear this is 100% the direction that this is going. Do not think for one second that this will end at IB programs. There is a whole initiative to change the magnet program that is being released in drips and drabs.

Pros -

1.) Cheaper and more logistical. The current routes and costs for bussing kids all over the county to serve so few students is insane.
2.) Shorter commutes for high schoolers. MCPS already starts too early and the long bus rides are horrible for teenagers.
3.) More seats -this should allow for substantially more seats.
4. ) More equitable. Right now the magnet eligibility map is just bizarre. Some schools have very few options while others have many. With regional centers, every kid regardless of geography in the system should have access to the same programs.

Cons

1.) The quality of these regional magnets will differ based on the region. Regions with a higher concentration of the smartest kids (and sorry DCC people, this is not you despite your obsession) will be substantially better than regions with fewer gifted kids. You see this scenario now with RM. RM is stronger than any of the other IB programs in the county despite having the same IB curriculum. The difference is the combination of the IB curriculum and top students from a much large area.

2.) It will remove the truly top level magnet options like Blair SMACs from the system. There simply are not that many kids capable of thriving in a program like this and certainly not enough to fill four regional centers. The STEM magnets can be good but they will never be anything like Blair is today pulling the top students from a large area. Since MD has nothing like TJ, kids in Montgomery County will not have the same opportunity for a top level magnet anymore.

3.) Schools like Watkins Mill/Seneca Valley and Kennedy will struggle to attract whites and asians with only the offer a regional magnet. No one is going to choose an IB program at Kennedy over Blair CAPS. If people from NW and QO who used to go to RM only have access to magnet programs at Watkins Mill or Seneca Valley, they'll just stay in private or their home school. Kennedy/WM/SV have too many problems no matter how many incidents MCPS suppresses from being reported.

1) Will RMIB be affected adversely by 7 math teachers leaving the school? Are more mass departures coming?

3) Maybe MCPS isn’t interested in only attracting whites and Asians to IB. A relative is in an IB program that is majority AA and Hispanic in another state. It’s possible Kennedy could look similar. As a parent, I’ve never used the number of whites or Asians enrolled as a sign that a program is quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Regional test-in magnets replacing the RM, Blait SMACs and Poolesville has some distinct advantages and disadvantages. To be clear this is 100% the direction that this is going. Do not think for one second that this will end at IB programs. There is a whole initiative to change the magnet program that is being released in drips and drabs.

Pros -

1.) Cheaper and more logistical. The current routes and costs for bussing kids all over the county to serve so few students is insane.
2.) Shorter commutes for high schoolers. MCPS already starts too early and the long bus rides are horrible for teenagers.
3.) More seats -this should allow for substantially more seats.
4. ) More equitable. Right now the magnet eligibility map is just bizarre. Some schools have very few options while others have many. With regional centers, every kid regardless of geography in the system should have access to the same programs.

Cons

1.) The quality of these regional magnets will differ based on the region. Regions with a higher concentration of the smartest kids (and sorry DCC people, this is not you despite your obsession) will be substantially better than regions with fewer gifted kids. You see this scenario now with RM. RM is stronger than any of the other IB programs in the county despite having the same IB curriculum. The difference is the combination of the IB curriculum and top students from a much large area.

2.) It will remove the truly top level magnet options like Blair SMACs from the system. There simply are not that many kids capable of thriving in a program like this and certainly not enough to fill four regional centers. The STEM magnets can be good but they will never be anything like Blair is today pulling the top students from a large area. Since MD has nothing like TJ, kids in Montgomery County will not have the same opportunity for a top level magnet anymore.

3.) Schools like Watkins Mill/Seneca Valley and Kennedy will struggle to attract whites and asians with only the offer a regional magnet. No one is going to choose an IB program at Kennedy over Blair CAPS. If people from NW and QO who used to go to RM only have access to magnet programs at Watkins Mill or Seneca Valley, they'll just stay in private or their home school. Kennedy/WM/SV have too many problems no matter how many incidents MCPS suppresses from being reported.


1) Will RMIB be affected adversely by 7 math teachers leaving the school? Are more mass departures coming?

3) Maybe MCPS isn’t interested in only attracting whites and Asians to IB. A relative is in an IB program that is majority AA and Hispanic in another state. It’s possible Kennedy could look similar. As a parent, I’ve never used the number of whites or Asians enrolled as a sign that a program is quality.

1.) Its irrelevant to any long term program planning effort whether RM math teacher decide to transfer. This is an internal HR/principal problem.

3.) MCPS cares ALOT about attracting whites and asians into majority And Hispanic schools. Whether you agree or not, its a corner stone of their philosophy. In PG county there are magnets with majority AA students running circles around MCPS students but this is because PG county attracts a combination of high and low SES AA. Montgomery County does not attract large numbers of high SES AA in areas that feed into Kennedy. They choose private, PG county, W schools etc. The overwhelming majority of AA and Hispanic students in Montgomery County are lower performing-hence the achievement gap. A magnet with these students can't do the same level of work.

A magnet in name only doesn't fool anyone and isn't really valuable to anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Regional test-in magnets replacing the RM, Blait SMACs and Poolesville has some distinct advantages and disadvantages. To be clear this is 100% the direction that this is going. Do not think for one second that this will end at IB programs. There is a whole initiative to change the magnet program that is being released in drips and drabs.

Pros -

1.) Cheaper and more logistical. The current routes and costs for bussing kids all over the county to serve so few students is insane.
2.) Shorter commutes for high schoolers. MCPS already starts too early and the long bus rides are horrible for teenagers.
3.) More seats -this should allow for substantially more seats.
4. ) More equitable. Right now the magnet eligibility map is just bizarre. Some schools have very few options while others have many. With regional centers, every kid regardless of geography in the system should have access to the same programs.

Cons

1.) The quality of these regional magnets will differ based on the region. Regions with a higher concentration of the smartest kids (and sorry DCC people, this is not you despite your obsession) will be substantially better than regions with fewer gifted kids. You see this scenario now with RM. RM is stronger than any of the other IB programs in the county despite having the same IB curriculum. The difference is the combination of the IB curriculum and top students from a much large area.

2.) It will remove the truly top level magnet options like Blair SMACs from the system. There simply are not that many kids capable of thriving in a program like this and certainly not enough to fill four regional centers. The STEM magnets can be good but they will never be anything like Blair is today pulling the top students from a large area. Since MD has nothing like TJ, kids in Montgomery County will not have the same opportunity for a top level magnet anymore.

3.) Schools like Watkins Mill/Seneca Valley and Kennedy will struggle to attract whites and asians with only the offer a regional magnet. No one is going to choose an IB program at Kennedy over Blair CAPS. If people from NW and QO who used to go to RM only have access to magnet programs at Watkins Mill or Seneca Valley, they'll just stay in private or their home school. Kennedy/WM/SV have too many problems no matter how many incidents MCPS suppresses from being reported.


1) Will RMIB be affected adversely by 7 math teachers leaving the school? Are more mass departures coming?

3) Maybe MCPS isn’t interested in only attracting whites and Asians to IB. A relative is in an IB program that is majority AA and Hispanic in another state. It’s possible Kennedy could look similar. As a parent, I’ve never used the number of whites or Asians enrolled as a sign that a program is quality.

1.) Its irrelevant to any long term program planning effort whether RM math teacher decide to transfer. This is an internal HR/principal problem.

3.) MCPS cares ALOT about attracting whites and asians into majority And Hispanic schools. Whether you agree or not, its a corner stone of their philosophy. In PG county there are magnets with majority AA students running circles around MCPS students but this is because PG county attracts a combination of high and low SES AA. Montgomery County does not attract large numbers of high SES AA in areas that feed into Kennedy. They choose private, PG county, W schools etc. The overwhelming majority of AA and Hispanic students in Montgomery County are lower performing-hence the achievement gap. A magnet with these students can't do the same level of work.

A magnet in name only doesn't fool anyone and isn't really valuable to anyone.

PG county had a grand total of 5 National merit semi finalists a couple of years ago all from Eleanor Roosevelt HS
https://www.pgcps.org/Communications/Press-Releases/2016---2017/September/Five-PGCPS-Scholars-Named-National-Merit-Scholarship-Program-Semifinalists/
MCPS typically has 150 NMSF in a typical year.

[Anonymous]

Per BOE meeting - the new regional programs will be at Watkins Mill, Springbrook, and Kennedy. RM will remain countywide during the initial phase of high school program expansions (which is implied for ~5 years until the opening of Woodward).

[Anonymous]

Application and results will be streamlined. Students will select all high school programs of interest via one form/process and the outcomes for all programs requested will be delivered at the same time in one letter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Per BOE meeting - the new regional programs will be at Watkins Mill, Springbrook, and Kennedy. RM will remain countywide during the initial phase of high school program expansions (which is implied for ~5 years until the opening of Woodward).

Not sure it will be five years. One of the slides in the beginning of the presentation put Phase II earlier. Does anyone remember the date?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Per BOE meeting - the new regional programs will be at Watkins Mill, Springbrook, and Kennedy. RM will remain countywide during the initial phase of high school program expansions (which is implied for ~5 years until the opening of Woodward).

Not sure it will be five years. One of the slides in the beginning of the presentation put Phase II earlier. Does anyone remember the date?

So Woodward will replace RM after that period? Or RM will become regional too?

[Anonymous]

Here is the info from the meeting: https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/BCDLPL55BB9C/$file/Choice%20Update%20HS%20Prog%20Options%20190530.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Per BOE meeting - the new regional programs will be at Watkins Mill, Springbrook, and Kennedy. RM will remain countywide during the initial phase of high school program expansions (which is implied for ~5 years until the opening of Woodward).

Not sure it will be five years. One of the slides in the beginning of the presentation put Phase II earlier. Does anyone remember the date?

So Woodward will replace RM after that period? Or RM will become regional too?

No, they said that RM will become regional. I thought they said Woodward would be arts focused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Per BOE meeting - the new regional programs will be at Watkins Mill, Springbrook, and Kennedy. RM will remain countywide during the initial phase of high school program expansions (which is implied for ~5 years until the opening of Woodward).

Not sure it will be five years. One of the slides in the beginning of the presentation put Phase II earlier. Does anyone remember the date?

To clarify, all of the phases will happen within ~6 years according to the presentation and memo posted on BoardDocs. However, some of the board members seemed to emphasize slowing down to make sure the roll out doesn't look like the ES/MS fiasco.

[Anonymous]

They don't have a defined "end" to phase 1. I think they are planning to have a few years of monitoring the process, and then they will decide on phase 2 tweaks based on student demand for all the various HS choice programs (not just IB) in time to implement new things with the expansion of Kennedy, new Northwood, and reopening of Woodward. We will have results from the boundary study by then too, so phase 2 may include new and creative ways to move kids around in the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Per BOE meeting - the new regional programs will be at Watkins Mill, Springbrook, and Kennedy. RM will remain countywide during the initial phase of high school program expansions (which is implied for ~5 years until the opening of Woodward).

Kennedy and Springbrook are pretty close to each other to each house a regional program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Per BOE meeting - the new regional programs will be at Watkins Mill, Springbrook, and Kennedy. RM will remain countywide during the initial phase of high school program expansions (which is implied for ~5 years until the opening of Woodward).

Not sure it will be five years. One of the slides in the beginning of the presentation put Phase II earlier. Does anyone remember the date?

So Woodward will replace RM after that period? Or RM will become regional too?

No, they said that RM will become regional. I thought they said Woodward would be arts focused.

Been living in MCPS since the 90’s. I was there when they opened up Blake as the Montgomery county public school first arts high school magnet and they did the same with Einstein VAPA, and they both failed. I was always interested in a performing arts magnet but the county doesn’t have a good track record with supporting the arts. They’re always threatening to cut positions and now they want to open a magnet program with teachers who have worked in the entertainment field? That’s not cheap! artist and performers aren’t cheap. I can’t trust MCPS but I do think their reasonings are good. Parents and students probably don’t want to commit to a magnet arts program. Even the Baltimore School of the Arts are going though cuts. How is the MCPS Visual Art Center? is the county fully investing in that? I think this Woodward arts thing is gonna fall apart, MCPS just doesn’t have a good track record. They should focus on the arts programs they have now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Per BOE meeting - the new regional programs will be at Watkins Mill, Springbrook, and Kennedy. RM will remain countywide during the initial phase of high school program expansions (which is implied for ~5 years until the opening of Woodward).

Kennedy and Springbrook are pretty close to each other to each house a regional program.

So anyone want to start guessing how they will divide the county into regions..that is a fun DCUM topic. Will they break up the W's? DCC?