Who is considering turning down a middle school magnet spot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because lots of 11 year olds who are only a couple months removed from elementary school will find it intimidating to ride buses with high school students and change buses at a high school. Some of these kids come from really small elementary schools with only a couple classes per grade. It’s hard enough to make the transition from elementary to middle school and do it at a magnet, where you don’t know anybody else. These kids shouldn’t be stressing about who to sit with on a crowded bus where some of the students are 6 grades ahead of them.

You're making a lot of assumptions there, PP. I suggest you ask people whose kids have actually done it.

Dufief Elementary is part of 20878 that is zoned for Frost and Wooton. There are only 2 classes per grade, outside of their in-house special Ed program. Those kids would be zoned for Eastern. Incoming 6th graders were still elementary students right before summer break. If they’re riding a bus with high school students, there could be some 12th graders. The only assumption I’ve made is that these 6th graders will find the experience intimidating. That’s not much of a stretch.

I understand your thought process and this crossed my mind too. I can only say it hasn’t been our experience. The high schoolers on the bus have been very respectful.
The bigger concern at Eastern is more the 7-8th grade non magnet students if you are worried about poor interactions. Im sorry to say that but my child hasn’t had great interactions with some non-magnet kids. Just a couple days ago there was a gun threat (which I understand can happen anywhere). It’s not the nicest school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because lots of 11 year olds who are only a couple months removed from elementary school will find it intimidating to ride buses with high school students and change buses at a high school. Some of these kids come from really small elementary schools with only a couple classes per grade. It’s hard enough to make the transition from elementary to middle school and do it at a magnet, where you don’t know anybody else. These kids shouldn’t be stressing about who to sit with on a crowded bus where some of the students are 6 grades ahead of them.

This has not been an issue on our bus. The high schoolers are quite frankly zoned out that early in the morning and tend to be the good/nerdy kids. The buses aren’t as crowded as many people have set up carpools (not an option for us).
The bigger issue for us has just been the amount of time she’s on the bus. It’s a long day.

In your family’s experience, would you make the same decision despite the long day and long travel?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because lots of 11 year olds who are only a couple months removed from elementary school will find it intimidating to ride buses with high school students and change buses at a high school. Some of these kids come from really small elementary schools with only a couple classes per grade. It’s hard enough to make the transition from elementary to middle school and do it at a magnet, where you don’t know anybody else. These kids shouldn’t be stressing about who to sit with on a crowded bus where some of the students are 6 grades ahead of them.

You're making a lot of assumptions there, PP. I suggest you ask people whose kids have actually done it.

Dufief Elementary is part of 20878 that is zoned for Frost and Wooton. There are only 2 classes per grade, outside of their in-house special Ed program. Those kids would be zoned for Eastern. Incoming 6th graders were still elementary students right before summer break. If they’re riding a bus with high school students, there could be some 12th graders. The only assumption I’ve made is that these 6th graders will find the experience intimidating. That’s not much of a stretch.

I understand your thought process and this crossed my mind too. I can only say it hasn’t been our experience. The high schoolers on the bus have been very respectful.
The bigger concern at Eastern is more the 7-8th grade non magnet students if you are worried about poor interactions. Im sorry to say that but my child hasn’t had great interactions with some non-magnet kids. Just a couple days ago there was a gun threat (which I understand can happen anywhere). It’s not the nicest school.

Want to echo this. It's a tough school and this would definitely be something to pay attention to, depending on your 11 year old.

[Anonymous]

Do you mean kids get bullied or beat up, or what’s happening at Eastern?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Geography is a factor. Where are people commuting from or choosing not to commute from?

If it take an hour each way, and it's likely way more for us if we use the bus system, that's the equivalent of over two months of work weeks sitting on a bus. I realize that many kids around the world (and even in MoCo) may view that as normal, or even desirable, for the right school, but that just seems excessive to me.

Or...it is additional time your child gets to spend with people who have similar brains?

Haha. It is not. Please don’t kid yourself they are interacting on the bus. They all have phones out staring straight ahead.
The buses are mixed with middle and high schoolers and many many of the kids carpool. My child does the 1 hour plus each way and it totally sucks. On the way there it mean she catches the bus at 6:35. They get there much earlier than school starts. On the way home she takes a bus from Eastern to Blair and then switches buses and that makes it a little over an hour. She leaves at 6:35 and gets home at 4:10 to commute from Gaithersburg.

How is a kid from Gaithersburg going to Eastern? If you moved from downcounty to Gaithersburg after your child got in to Eastern, no wonder the commute is so long. We live in Gaithersburg and dc attends MLK. There are no high school students on dc’s magnet bus.

TPMS, Eastern and Blair bus are shared, so you definitely have high school students on the bus
True for not much good interactions on bus, they are mostly sleeping, on phone or gossiping

Is it true for every bus route?
We're in Rockville, child accepted to Eastern, so I've also been wondering about the bus situation. Is it true that the bus stops at Eastern first, drops everyone off and then TPMS kids catch a shuttle to their school? And it's all in reverse in the afternoon?

In the morning they switch at Eastern but I think it’s only middle school kids on bus. In afternoon they switch at Blair and the high school magnet kids are on the bus too.

Thank you!

There are middle school kids getting on with my Blair kid in the am. My understanding is that it is Blair/Eastern/TP until Blair, Eastern kids switch busses and the bus continues to TP. This is the Wooten area bus. Maybe some areas are different?

Current bus routes for Eastern magnet are here:
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/easternms/departments/Blair%20MAGNET%20BUS%20SCHEDULE%2010-21-19.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you mean kids get bullied or beat up, or what’s happening at Eastern?

Our DC likes Eastern overall, and really likes the Magnet. He says the lunch room is loud, and the kids in his PE/health class mess around a ton. But, he doesn't notice much difference in his science and math classes (non-magnet) in terms of mis-behaving. No bullying or beating up to be reported.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you mean kids get bullied or beat up, or what’s happening at Eastern?

Our DC likes Eastern overall, and really likes the Magnet. He says the lunch room is loud, and the kids in his PE/health class mess around a ton. But, he doesn't notice much difference in his science and math classes (non-magnet) in terms of mis-behaving. No bullying or beating up to be reported.

My kid said those things about their upcounty lower-poverty middle school, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because lots of 11 year olds who are only a couple months removed from elementary school will find it intimidating to ride buses with high school students and change buses at a high school. Some of these kids come from really small elementary schools with only a couple classes per grade. It’s hard enough to make the transition from elementary to middle school and do it at a magnet, where you don’t know anybody else. These kids shouldn’t be stressing about who to sit with on a crowded bus where some of the students are 6 grades ahead of them.

This has not been an issue on our bus. The high schoolers are quite frankly zoned out that early in the morning and tend to be the good/nerdy kids. The buses aren’t as crowded as many people have set up carpools (not an option for us).
The bigger issue for us has just been the amount of time she’s on the bus. It’s a long day.

In your family’s experience, would you make the same decision despite the long day and long travel?

I don’t know. My child decided she wanted to go and I let her know I was not able to drive her, that if she attended she had to take the bus. I was leaning towards turning down the spot. There have been many things I’ve liked and some I’ve not. I’m not sure that I think it’s been worth it as we have a good home middle school. I’m very ambivalent about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you mean kids get bullied or beat up, or what’s happening at Eastern?

The lunch room is a shit show. My child has not experienced bullies but definitely steers clear of certain groups of people. For example she says she approached a lunch table and was told to “get the F—-away”. I’m sure it happens at all middle schools, but IMO it’s worse at Eastern than our home middle school (my older kids have gone to home middle school).
Her PE/health class is almost entirely ESOL so they can’t even seem to communicate to play games in PE.
The facilities are beyond depressing.
Think of all the reasons you don’t want to buy a home zoned to a low income school and that’s what Eastern is. Kids who don’t have parental supervision as much as they should, lots of absences, middle schoolers having sex, bad language (again true at all middle schools but rougher here). It’s a very strange system to mix these two very different groups of kids, then label them magnet and comprehensive. Of course there is a divide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Geography is a factor. Where are people commuting from or choosing not to commute from?

If it take an hour each way, and it's likely way more for us if we use the bus system, that's the equivalent of over two months of work weeks sitting on a bus. I realize that many kids around the world (and even in MoCo) may view that as normal, or even desirable, for the right school, but that just seems excessive to me.

Or...it is additional time your child gets to spend with people who have similar brains?

Haha. It is not. Please don’t kid yourself they are interacting on the bus. They all have phones out staring straight ahead.
The buses are mixed with middle and high schoolers and many many of the kids carpool. My child does the 1 hour plus each way and it totally sucks. On the way there it mean she catches the bus at 6:35. They get there much earlier than school starts. On the way home she takes a bus from Eastern to Blair and then switches buses and that makes it a little over an hour. She leaves at 6:35 and gets home at 4:10 to commute from Gaithersburg.

How is a kid from Gaithersburg going to Eastern? If you moved from downcounty to Gaithersburg after your child got in to Eastern, no wonder the commute is so long. We live in Gaithersburg and dc attends MLK. There are no high school students on dc’s magnet bus.

TPMS, Eastern and Blair bus are shared, so you definitely have high school students on the bus
True for not much good interactions on bus, they are mostly sleeping, on phone or gossiping

Is it true for every bus route?
We're in Rockville, child accepted to Eastern, so I've also been wondering about the bus situation. Is it true that the bus stops at Eastern first, drops everyone off and then TPMS kids catch a shuttle to their school? And it's all in reverse in the afternoon?

In the morning they switch at Eastern but I think it’s only middle school kids on bus. In afternoon they switch at Blair and the high school magnet kids are on the bus too.

Not true, high schoolers are on the bus in the morning and in the afternoon for all buses to TPMS and Eastern, Blair is the first stop in the morning, since night school has earlier start time, DC used to take the bus daily from Rockville to TPMS
But the high schoolers are all respectable magnet kids, no problem ever with them

Now that DC is in a home HS and the high schoolers there are rough and yelled at other kids and the driver

[Anonymous]

Our son was accepted to both programs. I'm somewhat intrigued by the Takoma Park program, while my DH is very strongly anti-magnet. Our home MS is Pyle, which we liked for our older two, but that was many years ago. The bus trip seems like it would be incredibly annoying.

Does anyone have any recent experience choosing Takoma Park over Pyle? I'd love to hear your impressions if so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because lots of 11 year olds who are only a couple months removed from elementary school will find it intimidating to ride buses with high school students and change buses at a high school. Some of these kids come from really small elementary schools with only a couple classes per grade. It’s hard enough to make the transition from elementary to middle school and do it at a magnet, where you don’t know anybody else. These kids shouldn’t be stressing about who to sit with on a crowded bus where some of the students are 6 grades ahead of them.

You're making a lot of assumptions there, PP. I suggest you ask people whose kids have actually done it.

Dufief Elementary is part of 20878 that is zoned for Frost and Wooton. There are only 2 classes per grade, outside of their in-house special Ed program. Those kids would be zoned for Eastern. Incoming 6th graders were still elementary students right before summer break. If they’re riding a bus with high school students, there could be some 12th graders. The only assumption I’ve made is that these 6th graders will find the experience intimidating. That’s not much of a stretch.

I understand your thought process and this crossed my mind too. I can only say it hasn’t been our experience. The high schoolers on the bus have been very respectful.
The bigger concern at Eastern is more the 7-8th grade non magnet students if you are worried about poor interactions. Im sorry to say that but my child hasn’t had great interactions with some non-magnet kids. Just a couple days ago there was a gun threat (which I understand can happen anywhere). It’s not the nicest school.

Want to echo this. It's a tough school and this would definitely be something to pay attention to, depending on your 11 year old.

That’s concerning, DC thinks TPMS non magnet kids are rough, they are disruptive in non magnet classes, I can’t imagine even worse than that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our son was accepted to both programs. I'm somewhat intrigued by the Takoma Park program, while my DH is very strongly anti-magnet. Our home MS is Pyle, which we liked for our older two, but that was many years ago. The bus trip seems like it would be incredibly annoying.

Does anyone have any recent experience choosing Takoma Park over Pyle? I'd love to hear your impressions if so.

Why is your husband anti magnet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you mean kids get bullied or beat up, or what’s happening at Eastern?

The lunch room is a shit show. My child has not experienced bullies but definitely steers clear of certain groups of people. For example she says she approached a lunch table and was told to “get the F—-away”. I’m sure it happens at all middle schools, but IMO it’s worse at Eastern than our home middle school (my older kids have gone to home middle school).
Her PE/health class is almost entirely ESOL so they can’t even seem to communicate to play games in PE.
The facilities are beyond depressing.
Think of all the reasons you don’t want to buy a home zoned to a low income school and that’s what Eastern is. Kids who don’t have parental supervision as much as they should, lots of absences, middle schoolers having sex, bad language (again true at all middle schools but rougher here). It’s a very strange system to mix these two very different groups of kids, then label them magnet and comprehensive. Of course there is a divide.

My kid is at a non-W Middle School, and there are definitely issues, but Eastern is quite different, IMO. We had a relative at Eastern MS and it's a lot to ask for an 11 year old to deal with the racial issues that arise when you stick some magnet kids in a school such as Eastern.

Our nonW lunch room is also crazy, but not at the level that we have heard about Eastern.

I know this year, some 6th grade magnet parents approached admin about the situation, but there has not been much improvement. Definitely talk to some current students and parents and go visit for yourself. Agree that you should check out the lunch room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our son was accepted to both programs. I'm somewhat intrigued by the Takoma Park program, while my DH is very strongly anti-magnet. Our home MS is Pyle, which we liked for our older two, but that was many years ago. The bus trip seems like it would be incredibly annoying.

Does anyone have any recent experience choosing Takoma Park over Pyle? I'd love to hear your impressions if so.

Why is your husband anti magnet?

He graduated from Whitman in the late 80s, and thought that there was zero difference in ability and outcomes between the kids picked for the gifted/magnet programs and those who stayed at Pyle and Whitman. He also thought that a lot of the magnet kids were annoying. He thinks there is no reason for anyone who can send their kid to Whitman or one of the other wealthy MoCo schools to get any extra help given that between the high level of offerings at the home schools and mostly wealthy, committed parents, all these kids already have everything they need to do well in life.

I don't really disagree with him, and we didn't see too much of a difference between the magnet kids and the studious kids at Whitman when our much older kids went through HS. But I've always felt guilty that we haven't done anything special to support our youngest, besides nagging him to read. He's intensely curious about a lot of things, and loves science in particular. I worry we should be giving him more opportunities or academic support, but neither of us is math or science oriented at all.