Lottery for Specialty Programs open - TAG information

[Anonymous]

The Lottery for the Specialty Programs is open for those who are interested.

If you have a rising 6th grader and are eligible, several of the TAG centers, including Kenmoor Middle School, Tasker Middle School and Walker Mill Middle School TAG programs were not at capacity for 6th because they made it through their entire waitlist. This is largely due to the new TAG center at Tasker MS. Next year there will be even more slots open to lottery students at Kenmoor because the Heather Hills students will not have the option of going there instead of Tasker.

I feel like the TAG office is concerned that they will not be at capacity next year so the chances of getting into these programs is MUCH higher than previous years.

Also, if you live in the feeding area for Highland Park TAG center, parents were notified last week that the TAG program is ending there this year and that the students will be sent to other TAG elementary centers. The kids in my neighborhood will be going to Capitol Heights.

The TAG Center Showcase is Jan 17, 6:30-8 PM at Kenmoor MS.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information. Will all Heather Hills students eventually go to Benjamin Tasker no matter where you live or do you have to live in the boundary to be accepted at Tasker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the information. Will all Heather Hills students eventually go to Benjamin Tasker no matter where you live or do you have to live in the boundary to be accepted at Tasker.

You can look up your address on the School Finder site. If you are in zone for Tasker's TAG program it will list in Middle School programs specialty program list. It will list Kenmoor for 7-8 and Tasker for 6th but Tasker's program will expand to 7th next year and 8th the year after that. PGCPS boundaries and feeding patterns are so wonky that you just need to look up specific addresses.

Talented and Gifted (TAG) 6 6 Benjamin Tasker Middle
Talented and Gifted (TAG) 7 8 Kenmoor Middle


http://gis.pgcps.org/schoolfinder/findschool2.asp

[Anonymous]

So what happens if your in-boundary TAG middle school has no lottery seats? My TAG student is currently at his neighborhood school and from what I have heard the MS we are zoned for has no room due to the number of students matriculating from a TAG ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what happens if your in-boundary TAG middle school has no lottery seats? My TAG student is currently at his neighborhood school and from what I have heard the MS we are zoned for has no room due to the number of students matriculating from a TAG ES.

Honestly, you are largely SOL. That was the situation at Kenmoor until this past year when the new TAG center at Tasker was started. This year Walker Mill, Kenmoor and Tasker all had slots left over after they made it through the waitlist and they opened it up to out of bounds students. Those kids would have to provide their own transportation though.

The continuity issue is one of the reasons that parents petitioned the TAG office to open up a new Center. Because you know that you will get into a good middle school there is a huge incentive to put your kid in a TAG elementary school program even if you aren't happy there.

Hopefully people will continue to apply for the middle school lottery and prove that there is interest in expanding the TAG programs in other parts of the county. Greenbelt MS is already over enrolled but parents could try to lobby to have the TAG program increased by one classroom per grade. Not sure how successful that would be but it might be worth a shot. I think the number of kids on the GMS 6th grade waitlist was something like 50 with no kids getting in for SY16.

My experiences with the PGTAG PTA organization is that they are very focused on getting improving the TAG centers but have little to do with strengthening TAG programs in neighborhood schools.....probably because most of them have kids in the Centers.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the reply. Sigh. As I feared, SOL.