Blair Magnet moving to Kennedy or Springbrook

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair Magnet eductation foundation has been for formed by magnet parents and they pour in thousands of dollars into Blair HS to benefit the school, the teachers, the magnet students and the non-magnet students. This money is not federal, county or PTA money. Perhaps, by moving the program to Kennedy, MCPS thinks that the parents will create a foundation for Kennedy also and help them. Its all a game for MCPS. They do not care for magnet students. The program has become a coveted prize to hand over to schools and let all the non-magnet parents feel that their children will absorb knowledge by being in the proximity of magnet kids. What a joke. All politics and no substance.

Kennedy has a foundation already.

Blair Magnet parent here..Does the foundation really pour money into the school as a whole or is it pretty focused on the magnet program itself? My understanding is it provides funding to make up some of what was lost during budget cuts to the magnet about 10 years ago. If the program should move, I think the magnet foundation would move with it. The focus is the program not the school. I am not supporting a move (especially since my child will be a senior next year) but I don't think the foundation is an issue. I would need a lot more information about the ability of another school to support the classroom needs, scheduling needs, and non-magnet course needs of that group of kids. But since this is such a vague rumor (no one could even mention the school where this rumor started) I am not worried much right now.

[Anonymous]

NP here: No, I think the PP is correct. When the magnet opened in 1985, Takoma Park was approximately 60% white according to the census data. I was told by older residents that the magnet was opened to prevent further white flight and that families in the western part of the county felt comfortable sending their kids to a school that still had a significant white population. Let's be honest, if you look at the demographics at Kennedy now, basically all Hispanic and Black vs Blair now, which as white students (22%), I don't think families from the western part of the county will send their kids. DCC families, maybe!? If you said the program was moving to Einstein, I would say yes, but Kennedy doesn't have enough white students.

In 1985 MCPS was worried about white flight out of TP but that is no longer a concern. The white areas in TP will stay white as long as DC is too expensive. Also in 1985, attracting high performing students meant attracting white students. In 2018, attracting high performing students doesn't necessarily mean white students.

Asian students are the ones soaring on the test scores, winning the national awards and bringing prestige to the program. As a group, they are far more likely to prioritize the merit and strength of the program over the surrounding community the way that white parents might behave. In a weird way, it would somewhat solve MCPS's problem with the Asian community. If they are allowed entrance based on the highest achievement/scores and its a top program then they will come. This will raise the prestige of the school and rankings attracting a few more white people. Plus if MCPS starts moving around boundaries in the W schools then access to a top level magnet at Kennedy could get a lot more interest. You'll start with the top Asian students in across the county, the top white and all minorities in other clusters and the top students at Kennedy. Academically it will be the same but it may be less white which isn't necessarily bad.

I also can't imagine anyone in TP being able to stand up now and say we need to keep Blair or we'll lose white people. White people come first and they must be served first, forget Kennedy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

NP here: No, I think the PP is correct. When the magnet opened in 1985, Takoma Park was approximately 60% white according to the census data. I was told by older residents that the magnet was opened to prevent further white flight and that families in the western part of the county felt comfortable sending their kids to a school that still had a significant white population. Let's be honest, if you look at the demographics at Kennedy now, basically all Hispanic and Black vs Blair now, which as white students (22%), I don't think families from the western part of the county will send their kids. DCC families, maybe!? If you said the program was moving to Einstein, I would say yes, but Kennedy doesn't have enough white students.

In 1985 MCPS was worried about white flight out of TP but that is no longer a concern. The white areas in TP will stay white as long as DC is too expensive. Also in 1985, attracting high performing students meant attracting white students. In 2018, attracting high performing students doesn't necessarily mean white students.

Asian students are the ones soaring on the test scores, winning the national awards and bringing prestige to the program. As a group, they are far more likely to prioritize the merit and strength of the program over the surrounding community the way that white parents might behave. In a weird way, it would somewhat solve MCPS's problem with the Asian community. If they are allowed entrance based on the highest achievement/scores and its a top program then they will come. This will raise the prestige of the school and rankings attracting a few more white people. Plus if MCPS starts moving around boundaries in the W schools then access to a top level magnet at Kennedy could get a lot more interest. You'll start with the top Asian students in across the county, the top white and all minorities in other clusters and the top students at Kennedy. Academically it will be the same but it may be less white which isn't necessarily bad.

I also can't imagine anyone in TP being able to stand up now and say we need to keep Blair or we'll lose white people. White people come first and they must be served first, forget Kennedy.

I am not looking from the perspective of TP. I am looking from the perspective of the W schools. I agree that Asian parents would more likely send their kids, but only a tiny percentage of white families from the western part. I also include the DCC parents because the majority of white families send their kids to Blair or Einstein--to be around other white kids. The DCC is segregated too.

[Anonymous]

To the argument that “no white families would send their kids to Kennedy,” what about all the families that are sending their kids to Wheaton magnet? Wheaton is also very significantly Hispanic and black but the magnet is popular with all kinds of strong students from all over the DCC. We don’t know if white parents from the west county would send kids there because it’s not open to them, but I know lots of white kids there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair Magnet eductation foundation has been for formed by magnet parents and they pour in thousands of dollars into Blair HS to benefit the school, the teachers, the magnet students and the non-magnet students. This money is not federal, county or PTA money. Perhaps, by moving the program to Kennedy, MCPS thinks that the parents will create a foundation for Kennedy also and help them. Its all a game for MCPS. They do not care for magnet students. The program has become a coveted prize to hand over to schools and let all the non-magnet parents feel that their children will absorb knowledge by being in the proximity of magnet kids. What a joke. All politics and no substance.

Kennedy has a foundation already.

Blair Magnet parent here..Does the foundation really pour money into the school as a whole or is it pretty focused on the magnet program itself? My understanding is it provides funding to make up some of what was lost during budget cuts to the magnet about 10 years ago. If the program should move, I think the magnet foundation would move with it. The focus is the program not the school. I am not supporting a move (especially since my child will be a senior next year) but I don't think the foundation is an issue. I would need a lot more information about the ability of another school to support the classroom needs, scheduling needs, and non-magnet course needs of that group of kids. But since this is such a vague rumor (no one could even mention the school where this rumor started) I am not worried much right now.

The magnet program has seen a lot of funding cuts over the last decade and this is what the Magnet Foundation tries to compensate for.

I would have to hope that this is either a rumor or that the proposal will not take effect next year. They recently had information meetings for the program on October 8th and they would have mentioned it then- right?!?

[Anonymous]

I really hope this isn't a troll who is hoping to suppress the number of applications to Blair magnet (due in a couple of weeks).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really hope this isn't a troll who is hoping to suppress the number of applications to Blair magnet (due in a couple of weeks).

I was thinking a person who was bored at work and wanted something amusing to read..but you could be correct too.

[Anonymous]

Yes, this seems really odd to me. (Blair parent here). WOuldn't it take years to put a shift in place, & if money is a concern, wouldn't it be too expensive to move the program? I could see them doing a little redistricting to regular Blair, capping magnet and CAP seats, and adding seats at another school for increased magnet demand. that sounds far more cost effective to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the argument that “no white families would send their kids to Kennedy,” what about all the families that are sending their kids to Wheaton magnet? Wheaton is also very significantly Hispanic and black but the magnet is popular with all kinds of strong students from all over the DCC. We don’t know if white parents from the west county would send kids there because it’s not open to them, but I know lots of white kids there.

Asian families from the west county have been sending their kids to Wheaton for a while now, I'm not sure about white families but that doesn't mean that they're not there. They get in via MMSC schools or Eastern/TP magnets.

[Anonymous]

Ooh! Rumor mill fun! I'll bite -

If the magnet were to move, it would make sense to move it to Woodward. Any new construction could take into account the needs of the magnet. If they do move the magnet, they will likely do what they just did with the move of the Upcounty Humanities program from Clemente to MLK - start with the incoming grade level, and then roll the transition each year. Teachers had the choice of transferring or not.

[Anonymous]

here's an idea--how about opening ANOTHER Science and Math high quality magnet in MCPS? There are clearly lots of kids with talent and interest for an intensive high-quality program.
In an era where we need way more people train in math and science it confounds me to no end that we make these programs so inaccessible and exclusive. The last thing we want is more smart kids trained intensively in math and science, let's just limit it to a couple hundred a year....and we wonder why we're not keeping up with other countries!

[Anonymous]

Why are you going into all the minutia of unsubstantiated rumor!?! I heard they were going to be assigning grades on a lottery basis from now on! That’s as useful a discussion to have at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:here's an idea--how about opening ANOTHER Science and Math high quality magnet in MCPS? There are clearly lots of kids with talent and interest for an intensive high-quality program.
In an era where we need way more people train in math and science it confounds me to no end that we make these programs so inaccessible and exclusive. The last thing we want is more smart kids trained intensively in math and science, let's just limit it to a couple hundred a year....and we wonder why we're not keeping up with other countries!

Someone already covered that..a rumor that there will be one at Seneca Valley when it is rebuilt. That would make a lot more sense.

[Anonymous]

why not make the new Woodward HS like Thomas Jefferson HS in VA?

[Anonymous]

I doubt this is a “rumor.” Could be a test balloon from MCPS admin.