Magnet MS results - Takoma Park & Eastern - anyone heard today?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Just do simple math. If the house price overall is not declining, and giving the fact that property tax rate keeps on increasing for the past couple of years, why MC is experiencing such a big hole in budget? Where did the money go?

I have a coworker living in Silver Spring for more than 20 years. She saw the retreat of the "dividing boundary" from 97, to 355, now to 270. And I saw the boundary moving from up north to North Potomac in the past 5 years or so. Let's wait and see how long the "old money" in Bethesda and Potomac would disappear.

It's not a big hole, and it didn't go anywhere. It's a $120 million shortfall in a $5.4 billion operating budget, due to income tax revenues that came in below projections.

Which "dividing boundary" are you talking about, anyway? The right side and the wrong side of the tracks in Silver Spring? Have you been to closer-in Silver Spring lately?

[Anonymous]

^^^But hey, here we are, talking about the Maryland Public School forum's favorite topic again: real estate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Just do simple math. If the house price overall is not declining, and giving the fact that property tax rate keeps on increasing for the past couple of years, why MC is experiencing such a big hole in budget? Where did the money go?

I have a coworker living in Silver Spring for more than 20 years. She saw the retreat of the "dividing boundary" from 97, to 355, now to 270. And I saw the boundary moving from up north to North Potomac in the past 5 years or so. Let's wait and see how long the "old money" in Bethesda and Potomac would disappear.

It's not a big hole, and it didn't go anywhere. It's a $120 million shortfall in a $5.4 billion operating budget, due to income tax revenues that came in below projections.

Which "dividing boundary" are you talking about, anyway? The right side and the wrong side of the tracks in Silver Spring? Have you been to closer-in Silver Spring lately?

Yes, you see the "income tax revenues" are "below projections". Why if the property tax rate is increasing (or kept the same) and the housing price stands high? Equation doesn't work.
For the "dividing boundary", I'm just being completely politically incorrect here. Thank goodness it's an anonymous forum so I don't need to be "correct" all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, you see the "income tax revenues" are "below projections". Why if the property tax rate is increasing (or kept the same) and the housing price stands high? Equation doesn't work.
For the "dividing boundary", I'm just being completely politically incorrect here. Thank goodness it's an anonymous forum so I don't need to be "correct" all the time.

Income tax revenues are revenues from income tax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^But hey, here we are, talking about the Maryland Public School forum's favorite topic again: real estate.

That's one of the 5 or 6 goals that justify the existence of magnet program (check out another post nearby). Fact is, if W cluster students are "scarified" from this new selection criteria, I don't see a reason why they still want to sink together with this ship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^But hey, here we are, talking about the Maryland Public School forum's favorite topic again: real estate.

That's one of the 5 or 6 goals that justify the existence of magnet program (check out another post nearby). Fact is, if W cluster students are "scarified" from this new selection criteria, I don't see a reason why they still want to sink together with this ship.

No, the magnet programs do not exist to maintain people's property values.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^But hey, here we are, talking about the Maryland Public School forum's favorite topic again: real estate.

That's one of the 5 or 6 goals that justify the existence of magnet program (check out another post nearby). Fact is, if W cluster students are "scarified" from this new selection criteria, I don't see a reason why they still want to sink together with this ship.

No, the magnet programs do not exist to maintain people's property values.

Agreed! Lots of families in the area pay high property taxes but sent kids to private schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After reading these posts, I now understand why there are about 5 testing and tutoring centers within a mile radius of the house.

You clearly haven’t followed the process for admission to these two magnets this year. The test was a secret, so no one could prep. The director even said several times during the parent meeting that there would be no math component, which turned out to be completely false.

It was only a secret for the group that tested in December. Word got out quickly that it was Cogat and rushed to test prep.

And, look how that worked out, eh. It seems to me it's the prep maniacs that are raising the stink on this thread. Asking everyone for scores receiving denials with 99s across the board, etc.

[Anonymous]

There are plenty of students in Potomac and Bethesda areas are not challenged in MCPS. For every student accepted and arttended the MS and HS magnets, there are at least one or two students perform at the same level in their home school. My DC wasn't accepted by HGC and MS magnets but her test scores were at the median of the Accepted students. Many students with semilar test scores were rejected in our home school. When I asked why DC didn't make to the waitlist, I was told that they do not take too many students from one cluster. Who were accepted with scores that were below the median accepted scores?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After reading these posts, I now understand why there are about 5 testing and tutoring centers within a mile radius of the house.

You clearly haven’t followed the process for admission to these two magnets this year. The test was a secret, so no one could prep. The director even said several times during the parent meeting that there would be no math component, which turned out to be completely false.

It was only a secret for the group that tested in December. Word got out quickly that it was Cogat and rushed to test prep.

And, look how that worked out, eh. It seems to me it's the prep maniacs that are raising the stink on this thread. Asking everyone for scores receiving denials with 99s across the board, etc.

Not necessarily. If your kid was in the 99th percentile without prepping and did not get in you want to know why. If kids with better scores are being rejected simply because of their street address you want to know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Okay, it's not 0, it's 2. 3% of the kids who got into the most competitive magnet ES in the county versus up to 50% in previous years. Cold Spring is known for its very high-achieving program. Only 2 of those kids deserved MS magnet admission, really?

According to anonymous posts on DCUM.

I am the parent of a CS kid. So far, we are only aware of two.

We just got our acceptance last night. Haven't told anyone. Are these two from Cold Spring confirmed? As in the rest have received rejections? Given we just found out last night and my child just arrived home from school where she could talk to friends about it, it seems early to know this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Of course that wouldn't happen immediately, but if you have coworkers lived in Silver Spring 10 years ago, ask them what it looked like back then. I have noticed more than 10 cases from my DC's schoolmates moved to FCPS and got satisfied with their AAP system.

Are you saying that house prices are declining in Silver Spring?

Or are you saying that people will pick up and move from Bethesda to Silver Spring? Why would this be bad for MCPS or Montgomery County's property tax revenues?

Just do simple math. If the house price overall is not declining, and giving the fact that property tax rate keeps on increasing for the past couple of years, why MC is experiencing such a big hole in budget? Where did the money go?

I have a coworker living in Silver Spring for more than 20 years. She saw the retreat of the "dividing boundary" from 97, to 355, now to 270. And I saw the boundary moving from up north to North Potomac in the past 5 years or so. Let's wait and see how long the "old money" in Bethesda and Potomac would disappear.

Dividing boundary?! Literally all of Bethesda and Chevy Chase are east of 270. All of Chevy Chase and Kensington are east of 355. Are you saying there is no money in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Kensington? I would actually even argue with her 97 contention, having spent a good bit of time in Woodside lately.

[Anonymous]

I find it really, really ugly that people whose children didn't get in are jumping to the conclusion that unqualified minority kids took their kids' places. You didn't buy a right to this school when you bought your house, and you don't get to decide who is worthy. Your kids go to some of the best schools in the country, have parents who value education, and have enough money at their disposal to go to college. You're winning. It's so ugly to begrudge other kids that opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After reading these posts, I now understand why there are about 5 testing and tutoring centers within a mile radius of the house.

You clearly haven’t followed the process for admission to these two magnets this year. The test was a secret, so no one could prep. The director even said several times during the parent meeting that there would be no math component, which turned out to be completely false.

It was only a secret for the group that tested in December. Word got out quickly that it was Cogat and rushed to test prep.

And, look how that worked out, eh. It seems to me it's the prep maniacs that are raising the stink on this thread. Asking everyone for scores receiving denials with 99s across the board, etc.

Not necessarily. If your kid was in the 99th percentile without prepping and did not get in you want to know why. If kids with better scores are being rejected simply because of their street address you want to know

There is no proof anyone has been discriminated against based on zip code. The median quantitative score for TPMS is 99th percentile, which sounds like they've managed to identify a group of students who can handle a STEM magnet. That is the goal of the selection process. There are only enough magnet slots for 3% of middle school students county wide. Do you think fewer than 3% of the students in your zip code were admitted? I'm not suggesting there was an effort to spread admissions evenly across the district, my guess is the wealthier zips are still over represented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Okay, it's not 0, it's 2. 3% of the kids who got into the most competitive magnet ES in the county versus up to 50% in previous years. Cold Spring is known for its very high-achieving program. Only 2 of those kids deserved MS magnet admission, really?

According to anonymous posts on DCUM.

I am the parent of a CS kid. So far, we are only aware of two.

We just got our acceptance last night. Haven't told anyone. Are these two from Cold Spring confirmed? As in the rest have received rejections? Given we just found out last night and my child just arrived home from school where she could talk to friends about it, it seems early to know this.

A teacher, in the heat of the moment, told the kids, who thought no one got in, that two got in but she didn't know who. Presumably those two hadn't gotten their letters yet. If you are one of those two, PP, congrats! I reinforced to my kid that everyone should be happy for those two and congratulate them.

By the way, the Cold Spring principal came in to talk to the CES cohort today. She told them the fact that virtually none of them got in had nothing to do with their academic abilities, but was due to the new admissions policy. She then had each middle MS group--Cabin John, Hoover, and Robert Frost--raise their hands to show them their "peer cohort." I'm sorry, but this is not right. It was too drastic, and at least could have been done more gradually so the kids could adjust to the apparent new normal.