Regional model - which programs in which schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do regions 1 and 6 separate theatre and music? There are so many kids who do both and school musicals benefit from having strong musicians in the school.

+1

Are they gonna fix this? The arts should be at one school.

I really hope not, because Einstein actually got the visual arts and the music magnet in this iteration, which it really, really should. In the first iteration Northwood was given all the performing arts magnets. They split them up to try to assuage all the complaints.

Then they should just put theater and dance at Einstein too and place all of the engineering programs at Northwood. Splitting each in half is spreading the peanut butter too thin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do regions 1 and 6 separate theatre and music? There are so many kids who do both and school musicals benefit from having strong musicians in the school.

+1

Are they gonna fix this? The arts should be at one school.

I really hope not, because Einstein actually got the visual arts and the music magnet in this iteration, which it really, really should. In the first iteration Northwood was given all the performing arts magnets. They split them up to try to assuage all the complaints.

Then they should just put theater and dance at Einstein too and place all of the engineering programs at Northwood. Splitting each in half is spreading the peanut butter too thin.

Agreed. Kids from other art disciplines learn from each other. Einstein needs theater and dance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing I don’t like for region 1 is putting humanities at Whitman. I would really like to see this at Einstein or Northwood, and I don’t care which. My DCC kids could apply to IB at BCC but that’s still the second furthest option. I don’t see why Whitman needs a major draw magnet.

Neither BCC nor Whitman need magnets. They already have all the advanced classwork in their schools that they need. We know this because vanishingly few kids from these schools go to RMIB or Blair SMCS.

Obviously, these schools will attract high-performing kids from Einstein and Northwood (and maybe Blair) who have access to transportation from their parents. It won't go the other way around. BCC students and definitely not Whitman students will definitely NOT be traveling to Einstein, Northwood or Blair. This is how you create inequity. You try to make everything uniform, the same for everyone, but you ignore how these schools, including their course offerings, and the populations they serve are very different, and so trying to give everyone the same thing means giving more opportunities to the wealthiest students.

Yes, exactly.  The program analysis team admitted they did not consider equity in where programs were placed, and it shows. They seemed confused at the idea that anyone would have expected them to.  They really do not understand equity at all, and just use it as a buzzword.

And to the other poster who said "if Whitman doesn't have magnets, no one from out of boundaries will get to go to Whitman"... you can still give Whitman interest-based programs that allow out of boundary kids to go to Whitman if they really want.  The languages magnet seems fine to me-- Whitman offers more languages than other schools, let kids from other schools take advantage of Whitman language classes if they really want them. Their interest-based LASJ program also seems fine to me as an acceptable generic "I want my kid at Whitman, here's a way to do it" option.  

However, criteria-based academic magnets drawing top students are a totally different ballgame.  They increase the number of advanced students and advanced classes at schools, which can be really important and valuable for schools that struggle with that otherwise.  Giving a program like that to Whitman not only gives this benefit to a school that does not at all need it rather than to a school like Northwood that would have gained a lot from it, but actually actively hurt other schools by decreasing the number of advanced students in-bounds who stay. 

(It's also just offensive that Whitman kids will get a leg up in admissions to the humanities program because they will have a local set-aside that gives them a disproportionate share of slots.)

I'm not sure how this would really work for Region 5 - Currently we have Watkins Mill, Gaithersburg HS and Magruder and QO in Region 5. As a QO parent we would rather send our advanced kid to QO and just take AP courses rather than going to Gaithersburg HS which does not have a good rep and because the magnet will most likely be diluted with no strong cohorts for Region 5. I'm sure there will be other parents from QO who think the same.

It sucks because we had access to Poolesville before but now our kid who has no inclination to do anything in the medical field has to go to Gaithersburg or Watkins Mill for the advanced courses they are interested in and we want our kid in a learning environment not in schools with the worst reputations upcounty.

[Anonymous]

What happens to the kids currently enrolled in the current magnets, and the kids who are enrolling now for next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happens to the kids currently enrolled in the current magnets, and the kids who are enrolling now for next year?

They're able to stay at those schools/programs through graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing I don’t like for region 1 is putting humanities at Whitman. I would really like to see this at Einstein or Northwood, and I don’t care which. My DCC kids could apply to IB at BCC but that’s still the second furthest option. I don’t see why Whitman needs a major draw magnet.

Neither BCC nor Whitman need magnets. They already have all the advanced classwork in their schools that they need. We know this because vanishingly few kids from these schools go to RMIB or Blair SMCS.

Obviously, these schools will attract high-performing kids from Einstein and Northwood (and maybe Blair) who have access to transportation from their parents. It won't go the other way around. BCC students and definitely not Whitman students will definitely NOT be traveling to Einstein, Northwood or Blair. This is how you create inequity. You try to make everything uniform, the same for everyone, but you ignore how these schools, including their course offerings, and the populations they serve are very different, and so trying to give everyone the same thing means giving more opportunities to the wealthiest students.

Yes, exactly.  The program analysis team admitted they did not consider equity in where programs were placed, and it shows. They seemed confused at the idea that anyone would have expected them to.  They really do not understand equity at all, and just use it as a buzzword.

And to the other poster who said "if Whitman doesn't have magnets, no one from out of boundaries will get to go to Whitman"... you can still give Whitman interest-based programs that allow out of boundary kids to go to Whitman if they really want.  The languages magnet seems fine to me-- Whitman offers more languages than other schools, let kids from other schools take advantage of Whitman language classes if they really want them. Their interest-based LASJ program also seems fine to me as an acceptable generic "I want my kid at Whitman, here's a way to do it" option.  

However, criteria-based academic magnets drawing top students are a totally different ballgame.  They increase the number of advanced students and advanced classes at schools, which can be really important and valuable for schools that struggle with that otherwise.  Giving a program like that to Whitman not only gives this benefit to a school that does not at all need it rather than to a school like Northwood that would have gained a lot from it, but actually actively hurt other schools by decreasing the number of advanced students in-bounds who stay. 

(It's also just offensive that Whitman kids will get a leg up in admissions to the humanities program because they will have a local set-aside that gives them a disproportionate share of slots.)

I'm not sure how this would really work for Region 5 - Currently we have Watkins Mill, Gaithersburg HS and Magruder and QO in Region 5. As a QO parent we would rather send our advanced kid to QO and just take AP courses rather than going to Gaithersburg HS which does not have a good rep and because the magnet will most likely be diluted with no strong cohorts for Region 5. I'm sure there will be other parents from QO who think the same.

It sucks because we had access to Poolesville before but now our kid who has no inclination to do anything in the medical field has to go to Gaithersburg or Watkins Mill for the advanced courses they are interested in and we want our kid in a learning environment not in schools with the worst reputations upcounty.

Just stay at QO. My DD is at Blair but if she was a bit younger she would not be attending a magnet. Even Blair won't be Blalr anymore. I predict many of these magnets will fail and at some point we will be back to a few strong ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happens to the kids currently enrolled in the current magnets, and the kids who are enrolling now for next year?

They're able to stay at those schools/programs through graduation.

So they say. Until there aren't enough buses to transport these kids and the new routes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do regions 1 and 6 separate theatre and music? There are so many kids who do both and school musicals benefit from having strong musicians in the school.

+1

Are they gonna fix this? The arts should be at one school.

I really hope not, because Einstein actually got the visual arts and the music magnet in this iteration, which it really, really should. In the first iteration Northwood was given all the performing arts magnets. They split them up to try to assuage all the complaints.

Then they should just put theater and dance at Einstein too and place all of the engineering programs at Northwood. Splitting each in half is spreading the peanut butter too thin.

This would be nice to have Engineering or Stem or preferably both at Northwood as its far easier for the families to get between these two schools than other schools. One needs to be academic. Northwood is probably a better choice depending on their leadership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happens to the kids currently enrolled in the current magnets, and the kids who are enrolling now for next year?

They're able to stay at those schools/programs through graduation.

So they say. Until there aren't enough buses to transport these kids and the new routes.

MCPS needs to budget for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing I don’t like for region 1 is putting humanities at Whitman. I would really like to see this at Einstein or Northwood, and I don’t care which. My DCC kids could apply to IB at BCC but that’s still the second furthest option. I don’t see why Whitman needs a major draw magnet.

Neither BCC nor Whitman need magnets. They already have all the advanced classwork in their schools that they need. We know this because vanishingly few kids from these schools go to RMIB or Blair SMCS.

Obviously, these schools will attract high-performing kids from Einstein and Northwood (and maybe Blair) who have access to transportation from their parents. It won't go the other way around. BCC students and definitely not Whitman students will definitely NOT be traveling to Einstein, Northwood or Blair. This is how you create inequity. You try to make everything uniform, the same for everyone, but you ignore how these schools, including their course offerings, and the populations they serve are very different, and so trying to give everyone the same thing means giving more opportunities to the wealthiest students.

Yes, exactly.  The program analysis team admitted they did not consider equity in where programs were placed, and it shows. They seemed confused at the idea that anyone would have expected them to.  They really do not understand equity at all, and just use it as a buzzword.

And to the other poster who said "if Whitman doesn't have magnets, no one from out of boundaries will get to go to Whitman"... you can still give Whitman interest-based programs that allow out of boundary kids to go to Whitman if they really want.  The languages magnet seems fine to me-- Whitman offers more languages than other schools, let kids from other schools take advantage of Whitman language classes if they really want them. Their interest-based LASJ program also seems fine to me as an acceptable generic "I want my kid at Whitman, here's a way to do it" option.  

However, criteria-based academic magnets drawing top students are a totally different ballgame.  They increase the number of advanced students and advanced classes at schools, which can be really important and valuable for schools that struggle with that otherwise.  Giving a program like that to Whitman not only gives this benefit to a school that does not at all need it rather than to a school like Northwood that would have gained a lot from it, but actually actively hurt other schools by decreasing the number of advanced students in-bounds who stay. 

(It's also just offensive that Whitman kids will get a leg up in admissions to the humanities program because they will have a local set-aside that gives them a disproportionate share of slots.)

I'm not sure how this would really work for Region 5 - Currently we have Watkins Mill, Gaithersburg HS and Magruder and QO in Region 5. As a QO parent we would rather send our advanced kid to QO and just take AP courses rather than going to Gaithersburg HS which does not have a good rep and because the magnet will most likely be diluted with no strong cohorts for Region 5. I'm sure there will be other parents from QO who think the same.

It sucks because we had access to Poolesville before but now our kid who has no inclination to do anything in the medical field has to go to Gaithersburg or Watkins Mill for the advanced courses they are interested in and we want our kid in a learning environment not in schools with the worst reputations upcounty.

Just stay at QO. My DD is at Blair but if she was a bit younger she would not be attending a magnet. Even Blair won't be Blalr anymore. I predict many of these magnets will fail and at some point we will be back to a few strong ones.

Nothing will change at Blair. It will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing I don’t like for region 1 is putting humanities at Whitman. I would really like to see this at Einstein or Northwood, and I don’t care which. My DCC kids could apply to IB at BCC but that’s still the second furthest option. I don’t see why Whitman needs a major draw magnet.

Neither BCC nor Whitman need magnets. They already have all the advanced classwork in their schools that they need. We know this because vanishingly few kids from these schools go to RMIB or Blair SMCS.

Obviously, these schools will attract high-performing kids from Einstein and Northwood (and maybe Blair) who have access to transportation from their parents. It won't go the other way around. BCC students and definitely not Whitman students will definitely NOT be traveling to Einstein, Northwood or Blair. This is how you create inequity. You try to make everything uniform, the same for everyone, but you ignore how these schools, including their course offerings, and the populations they serve are very different, and so trying to give everyone the same thing means giving more opportunities to the wealthiest students.

Yes, exactly.  The program analysis team admitted they did not consider equity in where programs were placed, and it shows. They seemed confused at the idea that anyone would have expected them to.  They really do not understand equity at all, and just use it as a buzzword.

And to the other poster who said "if Whitman doesn't have magnets, no one from out of boundaries will get to go to Whitman"... you can still give Whitman interest-based programs that allow out of boundary kids to go to Whitman if they really want.  The languages magnet seems fine to me-- Whitman offers more languages than other schools, let kids from other schools take advantage of Whitman language classes if they really want them. Their interest-based LASJ program also seems fine to me as an acceptable generic "I want my kid at Whitman, here's a way to do it" option.  

However, criteria-based academic magnets drawing top students are a totally different ballgame.  They increase the number of advanced students and advanced classes at schools, which can be really important and valuable for schools that struggle with that otherwise.  Giving a program like that to Whitman not only gives this benefit to a school that does not at all need it rather than to a school like Northwood that would have gained a lot from it, but actually actively hurt other schools by decreasing the number of advanced students in-bounds who stay. 

(It's also just offensive that Whitman kids will get a leg up in admissions to the humanities program because they will have a local set-aside that gives them a disproportionate share of slots.)

I'm not sure how this would really work for Region 5 - Currently we have Watkins Mill, Gaithersburg HS and Magruder and QO in Region 5. As a QO parent we would rather send our advanced kid to QO and just take AP courses rather than going to Gaithersburg HS which does not have a good rep and because the magnet will most likely be diluted with no strong cohorts for Region 5. I'm sure there will be other parents from QO who think the same.

It sucks because we had access to Poolesville before but now our kid who has no inclination to do anything in the medical field has to go to Gaithersburg or Watkins Mill for the advanced courses they are interested in and we want our kid in a learning environment not in schools with the worst reputations upcounty.

Just stay at QO. My DD is at Blair but if she was a bit younger she would not be attending a magnet. Even Blair won't be Blalr anymore. I predict many of these magnets will fail and at some point we will be back to a few strong ones.

Nothing will change at Blair. It will be fine.

Except 2/3rd of the gifted kids being imported in for the magnet won’t come and the special teachers will have options to go head new programs. The minimal middle class local pop will find it’s self applying to the two better schools it finds it’s self clustered with as it will no longer be the best of the DCC but in the bottom half of its new group. This too will cause a brain drain as motivated kids no longer seek it.

Without the influx Blair’s scores will fall and it will revert to being a high school version of eastern which it natively is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing I don’t like for region 1 is putting humanities at Whitman. I would really like to see this at Einstein or Northwood, and I don’t care which. My DCC kids could apply to IB at BCC but that’s still the second furthest option. I don’t see why Whitman needs a major draw magnet.

Neither BCC nor Whitman need magnets. They already have all the advanced classwork in their schools that they need. We know this because vanishingly few kids from these schools go to RMIB or Blair SMCS.

Obviously, these schools will attract high-performing kids from Einstein and Northwood (and maybe Blair) who have access to transportation from their parents. It won't go the other way around. BCC students and definitely not Whitman students will definitely NOT be traveling to Einstein, Northwood or Blair. This is how you create inequity. You try to make everything uniform, the same for everyone, but you ignore how these schools, including their course offerings, and the populations they serve are very different, and so trying to give everyone the same thing means giving more opportunities to the wealthiest students.

Yes, exactly.  The program analysis team admitted they did not consider equity in where programs were placed, and it shows. They seemed confused at the idea that anyone would have expected them to.  They really do not understand equity at all, and just use it as a buzzword.

And to the other poster who said "if Whitman doesn't have magnets, no one from out of boundaries will get to go to Whitman"... you can still give Whitman interest-based programs that allow out of boundary kids to go to Whitman if they really want.  The languages magnet seems fine to me-- Whitman offers more languages than other schools, let kids from other schools take advantage of Whitman language classes if they really want them. Their interest-based LASJ program also seems fine to me as an acceptable generic "I want my kid at Whitman, here's a way to do it" option.  

However, criteria-based academic magnets drawing top students are a totally different ballgame.  They increase the number of advanced students and advanced classes at schools, which can be really important and valuable for schools that struggle with that otherwise.  Giving a program like that to Whitman not only gives this benefit to a school that does not at all need it rather than to a school like Northwood that would have gained a lot from it, but actually actively hurt other schools by decreasing the number of advanced students in-bounds who stay. 

(It's also just offensive that Whitman kids will get a leg up in admissions to the humanities program because they will have a local set-aside that gives them a disproportionate share of slots.)

+100

[Anonymous]

Northwood’s new building was designed based on Northwood’s having an academy for musical theater and dance. It’s actually a big part of the design.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do regions 1 and 6 separate theatre and music? There are so many kids who do both and school musicals benefit from having strong musicians in the school.

+1

Are they gonna fix this? The arts should be at one school.

I really hope not, because Einstein actually got the visual arts and the music magnet in this iteration, which it really, really should. In the first iteration Northwood was given all the performing arts magnets. They split them up to try to assuage all the complaints.

Then they should just put theater and dance at Einstein too and place all of the engineering programs at Northwood. Splitting each in half is spreading the peanut butter too thin.

This would be nice to have Engineering or Stem or preferably both at Northwood as its far easier for the families to get between these two schools than other schools. One needs to be academic. Northwood is probably a better choice depending on their leadership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing I don’t like for region 1 is putting humanities at Whitman. I would really like to see this at Einstein or Northwood, and I don’t care which. My DCC kids could apply to IB at BCC but that’s still the second furthest option. I don’t see why Whitman needs a major draw magnet.

Neither BCC nor Whitman need magnets. They already have all the advanced classwork in their schools that they need. We know this because vanishingly few kids from these schools go to RMIB or Blair SMCS.

Obviously, these schools will attract high-performing kids from Einstein and Northwood (and maybe Blair) who have access to transportation from their parents. It won't go the other way around. BCC students and definitely not Whitman students will definitely NOT be traveling to Einstein, Northwood or Blair. This is how you create inequity. You try to make everything uniform, the same for everyone, but you ignore how these schools, including their course offerings, and the populations they serve are very different, and so trying to give everyone the same thing means giving more opportunities to the wealthiest students.

Yes, exactly.  The program analysis team admitted they did not consider equity in where programs were placed, and it shows. They seemed confused at the idea that anyone would have expected them to.  They really do not understand equity at all, and just use it as a buzzword.

And to the other poster who said "if Whitman doesn't have magnets, no one from out of boundaries will get to go to Whitman"... you can still give Whitman interest-based programs that allow out of boundary kids to go to Whitman if they really want.  The languages magnet seems fine to me-- Whitman offers more languages than other schools, let kids from other schools take advantage of Whitman language classes if they really want them. Their interest-based LASJ program also seems fine to me as an acceptable generic "I want my kid at Whitman, here's a way to do it" option.  

However, criteria-based academic magnets drawing top students are a totally different ballgame.  They increase the number of advanced students and advanced classes at schools, which can be really important and valuable for schools that struggle with that otherwise.  Giving a program like that to Whitman not only gives this benefit to a school that does not at all need it rather than to a school like Northwood that would have gained a lot from it, but actually actively hurt other schools by decreasing the number of advanced students in-bounds who stay. 

(It's also just offensive that Whitman kids will get a leg up in admissions to the humanities program because they will have a local set-aside that gives them a disproportionate share of slots.)

It would be naive to think that they didn’t want to ensure their strongest rated schools in the county didn’t stay strong while damping the outrage an influx kids chasing the Joneses would have on the inbound locals. By making certain programs merit based for kids resourced enough to make he trek, it limits the county’s downside. Your priorities aren’t an all encompassing standard people must operate to and your willingness to submarine other schools for token improvements to your own makes them easy to ignore…. Which they were

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing I don’t like for region 1 is putting humanities at Whitman. I would really like to see this at Einstein or Northwood, and I don’t care which. My DCC kids could apply to IB at BCC but that’s still the second furthest option. I don’t see why Whitman needs a major draw magnet.

Neither BCC nor Whitman need magnets. They already have all the advanced classwork in their schools that they need. We know this because vanishingly few kids from these schools go to RMIB or Blair SMCS.

Obviously, these schools will attract high-performing kids from Einstein and Northwood (and maybe Blair) who have access to transportation from their parents. It won't go the other way around. BCC students and definitely not Whitman students will definitely NOT be traveling to Einstein, Northwood or Blair. This is how you create inequity. You try to make everything uniform, the same for everyone, but you ignore how these schools, including their course offerings, and the populations they serve are very different, and so trying to give everyone the same thing means giving more opportunities to the wealthiest students.

Yes, exactly.  The program analysis team admitted they did not consider equity in where programs were placed, and it shows. They seemed confused at the idea that anyone would have expected them to.  They really do not understand equity at all, and just use it as a buzzword.

And to the other poster who said "if Whitman doesn't have magnets, no one from out of boundaries will get to go to Whitman"... you can still give Whitman interest-based programs that allow out of boundary kids to go to Whitman if they really want.  The languages magnet seems fine to me-- Whitman offers more languages than other schools, let kids from other schools take advantage of Whitman language classes if they really want them. Their interest-based LASJ program also seems fine to me as an acceptable generic "I want my kid at Whitman, here's a way to do it" option.  

However, criteria-based academic magnets drawing top students are a totally different ballgame.  They increase the number of advanced students and advanced classes at schools, which can be really important and valuable for schools that struggle with that otherwise.  Giving a program like that to Whitman not only gives this benefit to a school that does not at all need it rather than to a school like Northwood that would have gained a lot from it, but actually actively hurt other schools by decreasing the number of advanced students in-bounds who stay. 

(It's also just offensive that Whitman kids will get a leg up in admissions to the humanities program because they will have a local set-aside that gives them a disproportionate share of slots.)

I'm not sure how this would really work for Region 5 - Currently we have Watkins Mill, Gaithersburg HS and Magruder and QO in Region 5. As a QO parent we would rather send our advanced kid to QO and just take AP courses rather than going to Gaithersburg HS which does not have a good rep and because the magnet will most likely be diluted with no strong cohorts for Region 5. I'm sure there will be other parents from QO who think the same.

It sucks because we had access to Poolesville before but now our kid who has no inclination to do anything in the medical field has to go to Gaithersburg or Watkins Mill for the advanced courses they are interested in and we want our kid in a learning environment not in schools with the worst reputations upcounty.

Just stay at QO. My DD is at Blair but if she was a bit younger she would not be attending a magnet. Even Blair won't be Blalr anymore. I predict many of these magnets will fail and at some point we will be back to a few strong ones.

Nothing will change at Blair. It will be fine.

Except 2/3rd of the gifted kids being imported in for the magnet won’t come and the special teachers will have options to go head new programs. The minimal middle class local pop will find it’s self applying to the two better schools it finds it’s self clustered with as it will no longer be the best of the DCC but in the bottom half of its new group. This too will cause a brain drain as motivated kids no longer seek it.

Without the influx Blair’s scores will fall and it will revert to being a high school version of eastern which it natively is.

Hi, minimal middle class local pop parent here. Blair has a solid reputation in our area. I hear that you are saying it’s because we currently import kids from elsewhere. The locals don’t think about it this way. I am super bummed that IB and Humanities are at schools that are quite far from us. The incentives to send our kids that far would have to be quite compelling, and it wouldn’t be because we were keen to escape to greener pastures.

We are a highly educated family and I don’t think we’re unusual.