MCPS to end areawide Blair Magnet and countywide Richard Montgomery's IB program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went through 30 pages of comments and I think the problem is not really the replacement of some successful programs but rather a matter of trust. People have minimal (if any) trust in MCPS and this feeling is based on a history of terrible decisions.
Hard to convince parents that your plan is actually good when you lack to provide significant info like how do you find the teachers, how is the admission going to happen, how do you measure the success of the new approach and what's your backup plan if it is not working.
A safer approach would have been to sunset the current programs gradually if the new approach delivers results.

Trust is everything and as someone mentioned before, these decision makers have no accountability. This might be another failure as many others with no consequences whatsoever.

Yes, but they have already tried that with the four regional IBs. What is the "success" of those programs? As you stated, how is MCPS gauging whether those regional are successful?

Remember on July 24th BOE meeting, the study team attributed the failure of regional IBs to the existence of RMIB, so far more students chose to travel far instead of staying in local that makes the local IB program lacking enough cohort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Across the 3 schools, there are roughly 1,000-1200 kids being served by the magnets. Someone else mentioned there are 55k HS students so it’s serving 2.18% of the population (1200/55k).

MCPS is short on funding. It sucks if your kid is one of the 2%. However the money can be spent serving a broader spectrum of students. MCPS is paying for DE classes at MC. The opportunities for the academically gifted students are there. There’s even bus service from the local HS to the MC campuses.

I agree it’s not a great solution but it does reallocate funding to where the majority of students can access it.

How much exactly does MCPS spend on the 2.18% population of students? And how much is it expecting to spend on 6X more students? We need to use "cost per student" as the measure, shouldn't we?

Do people realize that a significant portion of magnet costs are covered by magnet foundation (donated from alumni) and nearby universities? Magnet foundation is not willing to pay bills if expanding to regional models because the majority of the successful alumni do not originally come from Region #1 or #6, and asking UMD to spend 6X for MCPS? You can daydream about that.

Maybe it's for the best if the Magnet Foundation gets replaced by a Montgomery County Gifted Foundation and parents funds experiences for students at various schools and outside of school. Why tie them to Blair?

For inspo, there are many privately funded robotics teams in Montgomery County, and not all of them are school-linked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went through 30 pages of comments and I think the problem is not really the replacement of some successful programs but rather a matter of trust. People have minimal (if any) trust in MCPS and this feeling is based on a history of terrible decisions.
Hard to convince parents that your plan is actually good when you lack to provide significant info like how do you find the teachers, how is the admission going to happen, how do you measure the success of the new approach and what's your backup plan if it is not working.
A safer approach would have been to sunset the current programs gradually if the new approach delivers results.

Trust is everything and as someone mentioned before, these decision makers have no accountability. This might be another failure as many others with no consequences whatsoever.

DCUM is not the real world

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You need a critical mass of highly able students in the same classroom, a good program, and good teachers for this to be successful. Montgomery county benefited from the national awards won by Blair, Poolesville, and RM students, by increased tax revenue for instance. It is simply not possible to achieve the same level of success with regional programs. There won't be enough interested and capable students to justify the same level of classes at the same number of classes. There won't be enough teachers capable of teaching these classes at the same level they are taught today. For all practical purposes, this is the end of a very successful program. Sad.

Totally agree. It’s just impossible to duplicate those highly successful programs across all six regions. Eventually, the so-called magnet programs in each region will become just regular programs with a few advanced classes.

But I guess no one cares.

People don't care because the few magnets slots are placed in the far eastern part of the county or upper Northwest part of the county. For the vast majority of us, our kids either didn't qualify because we haven't been prepping them since the age of 5 AND/OR we live far away and travel time isn't worth it. What is the plan for middle school magnets? IMO, that is the level where we most need reform.

Middle school magnets are on the chopping block next year. I haven't heard about the gifted and talented programs at the elementary school levels, but it makes sense those will be cancelled after the middle school programs are unwound.

If that means that GT kids will have access to accelerated and enriched programming that is meaningful at local schools that is great. My children have never had lottery luck and have been stuck with sun-par programming at local schools.

You’re delusion if you think this means any improvement for your kids.

Well worth my kids not being served at all
By CES/magnets right now, it won’t be any worse for them.

You need to think about beyond

DP. The status quo is not serving the vast majority of CO-identified students with needs for acceleration, especially in secondary.

The reforms won’t help them. And if the students cannot benefit from the AP programs they already have - what makes you think a regional magnet will be better

Why won't the reforms help them? My kid isn't in H$ yet but my understanding is that there is currently little to no acceleration or enrichment in 9th or 10th except math, whereas the programs will cover all of high school.

Ask yourself why they cannot just offer acceleration in 9th and 10th instead of canceling the highly selective magnets? Hint - because they are not actually interested in tracking kids. They want to stop tracking. the regional magnets will be lottery based and will not offer the acceleration you envision.

This part of the conversation really interests me. I do not know enough about the current situation or solutions, but I think differentiated instruction across schools for all 4 years is really important. It’s important in MS too. This is something I got in my run of the mill large public HS back in the day (not MoCo) and it feels important.

There's no tracking nor differentiation since MS in MCPS. It's honor-for-all. The special programs are created for creating some differentiation, and it's going to be honor-for-all again soon once the regional model is implemented. Central office people don't care for education, don't care about students, and don't care about teachers either. They care about how to spend tax payer's money to create the "achievements" on their resume. And BOE should be hold accountable for unanimously applauding everything central office claim as "achievements".

+1111. At least teachers have an organized mechanism to press for their interests. parents do not. will be interesting to see if the cohort of magnet parents will be able to have any sort of impact here.

Why would they care?

+1 The kids currently in the walled-off programs will be able to finish in their bespoke jewel in which some classes serve 5-10 kids.

In the meantime, MCPS will build a set of programs that serve many more kids, offering accelerated and enriched instruction to an additional 200 or so kids per year (assuming we're only talking about STEM, because DCUM is always only talking about STEM).

The only people who would be upset are the folks who feel sure down to the tips of their toes that their own personal kid would absolutely get into RMIB or SMCS, which is like all of those working Republicans who vote for tax policies to benefit the wealthy because they are sure they will also be millionaires one day.

You are a complete tool if you believe the above will happen.

DP but what out of this do you think won't happen?

I don’t think MCPS has any intention of creating more tracked programs for everyone. the “magnets” will be lotteries with everyone in the pool who can meet very low criteria.

Please stop sharing misinformation and freaking people out. They have said nothing that indicates this and everything they have said points in the other direction.

You shouldn’t believe them. If they turned ES and MS gifted programs into lotteries they will do the same with HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Per this report from Bethesda Magazine

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/07/25/mcps-end-countywide-program-consortia/

That's a really unfortunate quote from the superintendent. I guess competitive programs for highly accelerated learning are a problem.

Didn’t NYC and Seattle lead the way by entirely eliminating their gifted and talented programs?

MCPS is following suit. They all want to “close the racial achievement gap from the top down;” instead of trying to raise up those at the bottom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of the justifications people are giving for why the system has to stay the way it is just sound like gatekeeping to me. People seem to want to benefit from a program and then slam the door behind them and keep access limited. “My kid was smart and had the right combination of skills and genius and prepping to do well, but yours might not!” “If more non-wealthy students have access to what my kids had access to, it will be tragic, the program will go downhill!” I’m all for broadening access. True access for students who qualify for a program. Not more gatekeeping behind lotteries, which is what MCPS has done in recent years and which isn’t any better. Why can’t each high school have the same advanced math classes? Because anonymous posters on dcum say it’s hard to get people with the right background to teach these subjects? It’s public school. People want a fair system, and having your course options limited because of where you live within the school district, or because the county does not create enough seats in a program for the number of students who qualify for the program, does not seem like a fair system.

They think kids in the dcc and other schools are not as smart as theirs. If they offered more at all schools and not just the w schools more families would stay making those schools “better”. Every school should have the same course offerings. There is a huge disparity between the schools. The expectation is you have to pay a million or more for your home to get access and so what happens when these lower cost neighborhoods now have homes that surpass Bethesda and Potomac and other areas?

Bussing dcc kids cross county is unfair as there will only be a few slots and transportation outside school hours. They could offer the classes virtually. This is all show and no substance to deflect from what’s really going on.

If you can offer a class virtually, then that proves that Montgomery County teachers aren't needed except as peacekeepers, and students can attend highest quality virtual classes from around the world...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Per this report from Bethesda Magazine

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/07/25/mcps-end-countywide-program-consortia/

That's a really unfortunate quote from the superintendent. I guess competitive programs for highly accelerated learning are a problem.

Didn’t NYC and Seattle lead the way by entirely eliminating their gifted and talented programs?

MCPS is following suit. They all want to “close the racial achievement gap from the top down;” instead of trying to raise up those at the bottom.

NYC tried and failed. Not sure about Seattle. This is an era of anti-wisdom and MCPS is just following the inedible sliding down of this country to abyss (or WIII?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Per this report from Bethesda Magazine

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/07/25/mcps-end-countywide-program-consortia/

That's a really unfortunate quote from the superintendent. I guess competitive programs for highly accelerated learning are a problem.

Didn’t NYC and Seattle lead the way by entirely eliminating their gifted and talented programs?

MCPS is following suit. They all want to “close the racial achievement gap from the top down;” instead of trying to raise up those at the bottom.

NYC tried (and partially succeeded) to get rid of the "gifted" programs that relied on a test administered at 4 years old, and for which a massive prep culture had emerged.

They did not get rid of high school magnets, which is the topic of this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Across the 3 schools, there are roughly 1,000-1200 kids being served by the magnets. Someone else mentioned there are 55k HS students so it’s serving 2.18% of the population (1200/55k).

MCPS is short on funding. It sucks if your kid is one of the 2%. However the money can be spent serving a broader spectrum of students. MCPS is paying for DE classes at MC. The opportunities for the academically gifted students are there. There’s even bus service from the local HS to the MC campuses.

I agree it’s not a great solution but it does reallocate funding to where the majority of students can access it.

What are the “3 schools” you refer to? There are about 6-7 percent or more in advanced programs across many more than three schools, currently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Across the 3 schools, there are roughly 1,000-1200 kids being served by the magnets. Someone else mentioned there are 55k HS students so it’s serving 2.18% of the population (1200/55k).

MCPS is short on funding. It sucks if your kid is one of the 2%. However the money can be spent serving a broader spectrum of students. MCPS is paying for DE classes at MC. The opportunities for the academically gifted students are there. There’s even bus service from the local HS to the MC campuses.

I agree it’s not a great solution but it does reallocate funding to where the majority of students can access it.

This is a sad statement. The best and brightest top 2% is not worth saving.

I don’t really know what pp is talking about. This past year there were 51,000 students enrolled in MCPS high schools and 3,100 enrolled in 12 special programs located in 8 different schools. 6% of high school students were served by these programs.

Thanks you for some facts!

[Anonymous]

I’m so tired of this goddamn district 🤦‍♀️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Across the 3 schools, there are roughly 1,000-1200 kids being served by the magnets. Someone else mentioned there are 55k HS students so it’s serving 2.18% of the population (1200/55k).

MCPS is short on funding. It sucks if your kid is one of the 2%. However the money can be spent serving a broader spectrum of students. MCPS is paying for DE classes at MC. The opportunities for the academically gifted students are there. There’s even bus service from the local HS to the MC campuses.

I agree it’s not a great solution but it does reallocate funding to where the majority of students can access it.

This is a sad statement. The best and brightest top 2% is not worth saving.

I don’t really know what pp is talking about. This past year there were 51,000 students enrolled in MCPS high schools and 3,100 enrolled in 12 special programs located in 8 different schools. 6% of high school students were served by these programs.

I think that PP was only counting in two SMACS in Blair and Poolsville plus RMIB?

And maybe the regional IBs?

But, yea, we're talking about the test in programs, not the lottery programs.

They said 3 schools so no they were just wrong.

And Wheaton engineering and biomedical are not lottery programs. Neither is early college, or CAP or the VAC. So many options for high schoolers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Across the 3 schools, there are roughly 1,000-1200 kids being served by the magnets. Someone else mentioned there are 55k HS students so it’s serving 2.18% of the population (1200/55k).

MCPS is short on funding. It sucks if your kid is one of the 2%. However the money can be spent serving a broader spectrum of students. MCPS is paying for DE classes at MC. The opportunities for the academically gifted students are there. There’s even bus service from the local HS to the MC campuses.

I agree it’s not a great solution but it does reallocate funding to where the majority of students can access it.

What are the “3 schools” you refer to? There are about 6-7 percent or more in advanced programs across many more than three schools, currently.

I'm assuming PP is talking about Poolesville, Blair, and RMIB. Which are the only programs certain folks recognize as truly competitive or worth attending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went through 30 pages of comments and I think the problem is not really the replacement of some successful programs but rather a matter of trust. People have minimal (if any) trust in MCPS and this feeling is based on a history of terrible decisions.
Hard to convince parents that your plan is actually good when you lack to provide significant info like how do you find the teachers, how is the admission going to happen, how do you measure the success of the new approach and what's your backup plan if it is not working.
A safer approach would have been to sunset the current programs gradually if the new approach delivers results.

Trust is everything and as someone mentioned before, these decision makers have no accountability. This might be another failure as many others with no consequences whatsoever.

DCUM is not the real world

True statement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Across the 3 schools, there are roughly 1,000-1200 kids being served by the magnets. Someone else mentioned there are 55k HS students so it’s serving 2.18% of the population (1200/55k).

MCPS is short on funding. It sucks if your kid is one of the 2%. However the money can be spent serving a broader spectrum of students. MCPS is paying for DE classes at MC. The opportunities for the academically gifted students are there. There’s even bus service from the local HS to the MC campuses.

I agree it’s not a great solution but it does reallocate funding to where the majority of students can access it.

How much exactly does MCPS spend on the 2.18% population of students? And how much is it expecting to spend on 6X more students? We need to use "cost per student" as the measure, shouldn't we?

Do people realize that a significant portion of magnet costs are covered by magnet foundation (donated from alumni) and nearby universities? Magnet foundation is not willing to pay bills if expanding to regional models because the majority of the successful alumni do not originally come from Region #1 or #6, and asking UMD to spend 6X for MCPS? You can daydream about that.

Maybe it's for the best if the Magnet Foundation gets replaced by a Montgomery County Gifted Foundation and parents funds experiences for students at various schools and outside of school. Why tie them to Blair?

For inspo, there are many privately funded robotics teams in Montgomery County, and not all of them are school-linked.

If someone wants to create a new foundation and fund it they can. The Blair magnet foundation is run by and supports the Blair magnet and is strong because of the efforts of DECADES of alumni. I am uninvolved but I cannot imagine a scenario that an established foundation like that would shift its focus to a completely different mission. That’s a ridiculous suggestion.