Any updates on the DOE Investigation on discrimination case for magnet middle schools MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't worry so much about retaliation as having my child become the Whitman cluster equivalent of #BeckyWithTheBadGrades.

We know there were ZERO sending middle schools with no kids accepted to the magnets, but that the bar was higher for clusters with a large number of "high achieving" kids, in order to select outliers from each sending school.


I would not want my kid publicly identified as a "above average but not exceptional" kid in a court case. I mean, my kid actually IS above average but not exceptional, but there's something particularly cruel about making that the basis of a legal complaint.

I think the point is that these kids WERE actually exceptional. But did not get accepted. Whereas many kids who were ‘above average and not exceptional’ did get in.

My kid in a 5th grade CES did not get in and she’s completely fine with it. But she knows of several truly exceptional students who were denied admission. Yes, they happen to be Asian. And even the young 5th graders have discussed how it’s a strange, possibly unfair system of admission. They’re bright kids and they know what’s going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The only thing I have read on here about which child is "worthy" is based on test scores and grades, irrespective of parental income. No one says, "Only children of rich parents who can afford tutors should be allowed in". There are parents who aren't that well off but will scrape money together to send their kids to after school tutoring; spend a lot of time at libraries, and what not. If they score well enough, they get in.

Life is unfair. I grew up poor, with uneducated parents from a different country and who couldn't speak English. That doesn't mean that I should have had the bar lowered for me. Although, it would've been great if they had lowered the high bar for me in PE because, as a short person, I could never get over the darn thing. The taller kids from other poor families could get over the hurdle, though. I tell my short kids the same thing.. life is unfair. Some people have to work harder than others in some things, while in other things, other people have to work harder than you.

"Life is unfair" is not a good basis for public policy.

right... tell that to MCPS who is trying to make life fair for certain groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't worry so much about retaliation as having my child become the Whitman cluster equivalent of #BeckyWithTheBadGrades.

We know there were ZERO sending middle schools with no kids accepted to the magnets, but that the bar was higher for clusters with a large number of "high achieving" kids, in order to select outliers from each sending school.


I would not want my kid publicly identified as a "above average but not exceptional" kid in a court case. I mean, my kid actually IS above average but not exceptional, but there's something particularly cruel about making that the basis of a legal complaint.

I think the point is that these kids WERE actually exceptional. But did not get accepted. Whereas many kids who were ‘above average and not exceptional’ did get in.

My kid in a 5th grade CES did not get in and she’s completely fine with it. But she knows of several truly exceptional students who were denied admission. Yes, they happen to be Asian. And even the young 5th graders have discussed how it’s a strange, possibly unfair system of admission. They’re bright kids and they know what’s going on.

My bright kid can understand that if you are the only bright kid in your school, it would really be better for you to switch schools to a place where there are others learning like you. He is looking to have a great group where he is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't worry so much about retaliation as having my child become the Whitman cluster equivalent of #BeckyWithTheBadGrades.

We know there were ZERO sending middle schools with no kids accepted to the magnets, but that the bar was higher for clusters with a large number of "high achieving" kids, in order to select outliers from each sending school.


I would not want my kid publicly identified as a "above average but not exceptional" kid in a court case. I mean, my kid actually IS above average but not exceptional, but there's something particularly cruel about making that the basis of a legal complaint.

I think the point is that these kids WERE actually exceptional. But did not get accepted. Whereas many kids who were ‘above average and not exceptional’ did get in.

My kid in a 5th grade CES did not get in and she’s completely fine with it. But she knows of several truly exceptional students who were denied admission. Yes, they happen to be Asian. And even the young 5th graders have discussed how it’s a strange, possibly unfair system of admission. They’re bright kids and they know what’s going on.

I think the only way this has merit is if Asian kids in the same cluster had higher scores and were denied in favor of white students with lower scores.

MCPS has been open that the bar is higher coming from communities that have a large number of "highly able" students, and that you need to stand out from the other kids in your cluster.

Even if the DOE investigation results in MCPS making some changes (remember that the best that will happen is some tweaks to the system), I suspect it will just push the district to codify a "top 5% from each sending school" type of rule. The old system where a handful of elementary schools sent the bulk of the magnet students is never coming back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Exactly, everyone who posts acts on cohort for their decision making, and then wants to pretend it's insignificant when MCPS does the same.

People sort themselves when they fear their kid will not be the top student. It's better to be a mediocre student at top school, because when the student's not self-motivated the surrounding students become all important (at least that's the fearful parent logic). But this is exactly why the cohort model makes sense. The students who rise to the very top in each setting are the ones to watch, and the ones who might find a magnet transformative. The next 30 best kids may be very good at a high SES school, but they're already punching above their weight, because of their cohort--which was bought and paid for by their parents.

A parent makes decisions that is best for their own child.

MCPS needs to make decisions that is best for ALL the children. Here, we have MCPS only concerned about certain groups, hence "peer cohort".

That's the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually hope the CO keeps track of the people filing this frivolous nonsense and reduce their eligibility for consideration going forward.

Are you stupid, or are you a monster? Transparency is always good and for the benefit of everyone.

OP,

You were very courageous to file a complaint. On behalf of all MCPS families, thank you. Whether we know it or not, we are all affected by discrimination, if it turns out there is discrimination.

Thank you for draining off tax dollars that would be used to educate children so they can defend against a frivolous investigation

Excuses and tangents to get away from MCPS discriminating against top students. MCPS will soon find out that most of the county is not stupid, non-working, bleeding heart social justice warriors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To answer OP's question, no you will not be likely to suffer any negative consequences.

1. Retaliation is illegal. MCPS is already in hot water and it would be insane to push things any further. Some central office staff may hate the parents who reported the discrimination but their lawyers will be breathing down their necks going forward. If anything, you are more likely to receive slightly favorable consideration or at least not be overlooked because of fear of getting into a retaliation class action suit.

2. Teachers do not like the central office and even if someone in the central office were to somehow signal to a school that you reported them to the feds, you will only be more popular with the teachers. Teachers don't have the same type of protections that parents do and have more to lose with their pensions on the line. Retaliation is quite common by the central office against teachers because they know they have little recourse unlike parents. Teachers are cheering you on!

3. MCPS is a bully. Like all bullies, if you stand up to them they stand down. MCPS banks on Asian American parents being meek and staying quiet, good for you for proving them wrong!

Thank you for standing up for yourself, your child and others. Discrimination against any high performing kids to favor lower performing URM kids harms everyone and only propagates racial discriminatory institutions. White kids would be far better served being required to compete on their own merits and not having a group in the central office watching out to make sure they stay on top.

Well said.

[Anonymous]

So being smart in a school with mediocre kids could get you access to a magnet program and the enriched material associated with it. But being exceptional in a school with other exceptional kids means you stay behind in your home cohort and do not get access to enriched material, because you can self enrich? Nice.

I do not know why people are against kids studying / preparing for tests. It is not like the kids who prepare come in to the test knowing that the answer for question 1 is C, for question 2 is D etc....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't worry so much about retaliation as having my child become the Whitman cluster equivalent of #BeckyWithTheBadGrades.

We know there were ZERO sending middle schools with no kids accepted to the magnets, but that the bar was higher for clusters with a large number of "high achieving" kids, in order to select outliers from each sending school.


I would not want my kid publicly identified as a "above average but not exceptional" kid in a court case. I mean, my kid actually IS above average but not exceptional, but there's something particularly cruel about making that the basis of a legal complaint.

I think the point is that these kids WERE actually exceptional. But did not get accepted. Whereas many kids who were ‘above average and not exceptional’ did get in.

My kid in a 5th grade CES did not get in and she’s completely fine with it. But she knows of several truly exceptional students who were denied admission. Yes, they happen to be Asian. And even the young 5th graders have discussed how it’s a strange, possibly unfair system of admission. They’re bright kids and they know what’s going on.

How do you know this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So being smart in a school with mediocre kids could get you access to a magnet program and the enriched material associated with it. But being exceptional in a school with other exceptional kids means you stay behind in your home cohort and do not get access to enriched material, because you can self enrich? Nice.

I do not know why people are against kids studying / preparing for tests. It is not like the kids who prepare come in to the test knowing that the answer for question 1 is C, for question 2 is D etc....

Yes. Because the magnet program does not exist to be a prize, it exists to serve the needs of students whose needs can't be met in the home school.

Is there access to enriched material in the home school? Yes, there is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Exactly, everyone who posts acts on cohort for their decision making, and then wants to pretend it's insignificant when MCPS does the same.

People sort themselves when they fear their kid will not be the top student. It's better to be a mediocre student at top school, because when the student's not self-motivated the surrounding students become all important (at least that's the fearful parent logic). But this is exactly why the cohort model makes sense. The students who rise to the very top in each setting are the ones to watch, and the ones who might find a magnet transformative. The next 30 best kids may be very good at a high SES school, but they're already punching above their weight, because of their cohort--which was bought and paid for by their parents.

A parent makes decisions that is best for their own child.

MCPS needs to make decisions that is best for ALL the children. Here, we have MCPS only concerned about certain groups, hence "peer cohort".

That's the difference.

Which is exactly why they (1) added the cohort factor and (2) added the new enriched classes in the home middle schools.

[Anonymous]

Tiger Mom Asians

You can keep playing the system

Move to a crappier area of the county

Your kid will get accepted to the magnet program and you can save hundreds of thousands in real estate costs

Double Win

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So being smart in a school with mediocre kids could get you access to a magnet program and the enriched material associated with it. But being exceptional in a school with other exceptional kids means you stay behind in your home cohort and do not get access to enriched material, because you can self enrich? Nice.

I do not know why people are against kids studying / preparing for tests. It is not like the kids who prepare come in to the test knowing that the answer for question 1 is C, for question 2 is D etc....

Yes. Because the magnet program does not exist to be a prize, it exists to serve the needs of students whose needs can't be met in the home school.

Is there access to enriched material in the home school? Yes, there is.

No, there is not. That is exactly what this lawsuit is about! Such misinformation on here.

MCPS only offers an enriched Humanities course and AIM in 6th grade. There is NO enriched English course. Every single kid takes Advanced English in 6th grade at our MS. Whether you have come from a CED reading complex books, or whether you come from a class where you are still working on fundamental reading skills. There is one additional support class the 6th graders are required to take if they need extra help in getting up to grade level.

THAT is the issue.

The parents of this complaint are trying to advocate for more offerings at their home school. Which MCPS is not doing other than two classes. Nowhere near what is offered at the Magnet MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tiger Mom Asians

You can keep playing the system

Move to a crappier area of the county

Your kid will get accepted to the magnet program and you can save hundreds of thousands in real estate costs

Double Win

I’m not Asian, but I don’t get why these types of posts are allowed and accepted and embraced on this site.

[Anonymous]

Yes. If our kids were denied admission based on cohort factor then that kid should receive education comparable to that offered in the magnet school. The enrichment courses AIM and Global Humanities are not the same to the magnet curriculum. Hence the parents who filed compain - Hats off to you for trying to get whats constitutionally and legally right of each of our kid - equitable access to education.