Magnet vs. Neighborhood Schools

[Anonymous]

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I am a mother of two small children with a third on the way. The oldest is starting K in the fall. My husband and I are looking to move to PG county by next fall. We both grew up in Prince George's and know a lot about the area. But the schools seem to have changed considerably since then.

How do the magnet schools work? It seems that there are so many in PG County now, or so many schools have been converted to magnet schools, are they exclusively lottery only or do they double as neighborhood schools? (as in if a child lived in a house directly next to the school, would they still have to win a lottery to get in?) If not, where are the kids in the magnet neighborhoods being bused. We really don't like the idea of having our kids ride long bus rides to some school far away, and like the idea of a community school where we can spend time volunteering, investing in the school, attending events, meeting with the other kids/parents, etc. and the school being a neighborhood hub (as they should be!)

But all the schools of any decent ranking are all now designated "magnets" which makes them competitive to get into and far away because you never know what school you will get into before buying a home. Is there still any "community spirit" at these type of schools? What about PTA/PTO involvement and responsiveness to parents?

If your child is bused to a magnet farther away, what has your experience been like?

I myself was in TAG/Magnet growing up, but it was usually a program within a neighborhood school, so you could both test in for the special program to be bused in and attend if you were locally zoned (this was the 80s/early 90s). I was therefore able to interact with a variety of kids across the economic spectrum. This also seemed a good way to integrate neighborhoods, but the new way seems to pit exclusively magnet/TAG students against other kids and segregate them completely. I thought the purpose of magnet schools was to integrate (and reading beteween the lines, bring more white/middle class families into black/poor schools)? Or maybe I am not understanding how it all works now.

[Anonymous]

I mean, if your oldest is starting K in the fall this is kind of a moot question since you have missed the deadline to apply to the lottery for any of the immersion or Montessori magnets. Your next opportunity would be to try for one of the TAG programs which do not start until 2nd grade. Then there are additional TAG, performing arts, stem, etc magnets at the middle school level and above.
And yes, many neighborhood schools have pull-out TAG programs within their school. This is in addition to the TAG only schools.
I would focus at this point on finding a home in boundary to a neighborhood school you feel comfortable with.

[Anonymous]

The magnet system is convoluted. There are two types of Specialty schools (they don't call them magnets any more). There is the schools that are only specialty programs (French Immersion, Spanish Immersion, Montessori, Performing arts) and then there are "school within a school" programs. Most of the TAG centers are this model. The exceptions being Heather Hills and Glen Arden Woods. Some neighborhood schools have specialty programs that only the students that live within the boundary are eligible for. Examples are the Chinese Immersion program and the Elementary IB programs.

Living in close proximity to a magnet school does not give you any preference into getting into that program. Even if you attench the neighborhood school where a specialty program is housed, that doesn't mean you automatically get into the magnet stream. i.e. just because you live within bounds of Greenbelt Middle School doesn't mean that your TAG child will get into the TAG specialty program.

We chose to attend the neighborhood elementary school and have no regrets. When my daughter is older, I hope that we can get her into the TAG middle school program because our local MS is not an option.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, PP. That really clarifies things.

We do plan to have the littles attend a neighborhood school, but just wanted to make sure we understood exactly which ones were or weren't. I'd love to be able to walk them to school no matter where we are, and volunteer regularly. But that's negotiable as long as it's not too far.

Anyone care to comment on how they feel about the quality of schools that house bused populations versus local ones? In terms of their social/emotional environment and community spirit, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The magnet system is convoluted. There are two types of Specialty schools (they don't call them magnets any more). There is the schools that are only specialty programs (French Immersion, Spanish Immersion, Montessori, Performing arts) and then there are "school within a school" programs. Most of the TAG centers are this model. The exceptions being Heather Hills and Glen Arden Woods. Some neighborhood schools have specialty programs that only the students that live within the boundary are eligible for. Examples are the Chinese Immersion program and the Elementary IB programs.

Living in close proximity to a magnet school does not give you any preference into getting into that program. Even if you attench the neighborhood school where a specialty program is housed, that doesn't mean you automatically get into the magnet stream. i.e. just because you live within bounds of Greenbelt Middle School doesn't mean that your TAG child will get into the TAG specialty program.

We chose to attend the neighborhood elementary school and have no regrets. When my daughter is older, I hope that we can get her into the TAG middle school program because our local MS is not an option.

Actually, TAG kids that live in Greenbrlt MS do get pulled into the TAG program at Greenbelt automatically. Those kids aren’t required to do lottery for middle school TAG.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The magnet system is convoluted. There are two types of Specialty schools (they don't call them magnets any more). There is the schools that are only specialty programs (French Immersion, Spanish Immersion, Montessori, Performing arts) and then there are "school within a school" programs. Most of the TAG centers are this model. The exceptions being Heather Hills and Glen Arden Woods. Some neighborhood schools have specialty programs that only the students that live within the boundary are eligible for. Examples are the Chinese Immersion program and the Elementary IB programs.

Living in close proximity to a magnet school does not give you any preference into getting into that program. Even if you attench the neighborhood school where a specialty program is housed, that doesn't mean you automatically get into the magnet stream. i.e. just because you live within bounds of Greenbelt Middle School doesn't mean that your TAG child will get into the TAG specialty program.

We chose to attend the neighborhood elementary school and have no regrets. When my daughter is older, I hope that we can get her into the TAG middle school program because our local MS is not an option.

Actually, TAG kids that live in Greenbrlt MS do get pulled into the TAG program at Greenbelt automatically. Those kids aren’t required to do lottery for middle school TAG.

.
Interesting. I was told that they weren't allow to do that. Maybe it is at the discretion of the Principal? It would certainly explain why no one gets in via lottery though.

[Anonymous]

As far as specialty programs and school community feeling goes.....it depends on the school. I have a lot of friends with kids at Hoyer and they are active at the school and PTA. I have friends with kids at Pullen, Chavez and Dora Kennedy and they have no interaction with the school in the weekends.