Why can't we have more smaller high schools all over the MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Land is too expensive for the county to purchase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because mcps gets more bang for its buck with a larger school. They don't have to staff two schools, two sets of principals two sets of Building Services two sets of teachers, versus one larger staff. It's much cheaper.

Larger schools also give GS students a larger set of offerings. A department of 6 FL teachers can’t offer as much as a department of 10. A small staff pretty much ensures limited levels of core classes and few electives, including AP courses.

Dear 1200 kid HS parent, do you find posting the course catalog so we can compare for ourselves?

+1. I have kids who go to a large high school and as a result have been able to take a lot of advanced classes and arts that wouldn't be offered at a smaller HS. Same w/ foreign languages - not everyone wants to take Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Land is too expensive for the county to purchase.

How about charitable donations by big sponsors who always put education first?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because mcps gets more bang for its buck with a larger school. They don't have to staff two schools, two sets of principals two sets of Building Services two sets of teachers, versus one larger staff. It's much cheaper.

Larger schools also give GS students a larger set of offerings. A department of 6 FL teachers can’t offer as much as a department of 10. A small staff pretty much ensures limited levels of core classes and few electives, including AP courses.

Dear 1200 kid HS parent, do you find posting the course catalog so we can compare for ourselves?

+1. I have kids who go to a large high school and as a result have been able to take a lot of advanced classes and arts that wouldn't be offered at a smaller HS. Same w/ foreign languages - not everyone wants to take Spanish.

We traded big for small by moving out of the county. While the choices are limited, I'd rather have schools focus on skills. My HS daughter is graduating a year early and her foundation is strong. There is no reassessing. Late work is penalized, and if you need help you seek out the teacher before you receive that bad grade.

In MCPS, she took Italian. loved that class to death - but couldn't continue as it wasn't offered in the new school
So she took Latin instead and also loved it.

Smaller, imo, is better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a small (public) HS in a small town in MA, where schools are organized by town rather than county. Even in that kind of system there are a lot of big HS -- and they happen to be some of the best in the state. Newton North, Newton South, Brookline. Size is not an inherent problem, OP, and as some of the PPs have noted there are some distinct advantages to larger high schools.

Fellow Massachusetts native here. I work in MCPS and it doesn't hold a candle to the schools west of Boston. The town system makes it easier to effect change and harder to "pass the trash." Bad teachers get weeded out, corruption is more visible earlier in general, new initiatives can be piloted and accepted or rejected faster, elected officials are actually within the community they serve, there is a little less variation among students' needs, etc. That said, you end up with rich and poor school systems. So some towns benefit if they're wealthy, ie Newton, Weston, Wellesley, and some suffer.

+1

Certain parts of MoCo suffer, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While everyone is jazzed about the "opportunities" of larger schools I don't think that they serve our children well. Many are as large as small cities. Our children are anonymous as are their teachers. There is little ability for the children, the teachers and the parents to develop any kind of relationship. I truly believe that a lot of the problems children are having these days are due to the size of the schools. It is hard to near impossible to see a child who is struggling and to find the time to help him or her. My child had their college recommendation written by a counselor they never met. Teachers cannot mentor students and nurture passions or enhance understanding. I'd trade some AP offerings for a place that could be an actual community for my child during this difficult and important time in their life.

+1