What are the pros & cons of the consortium model? (Does it differ for DCC vs NEC?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the NEC would expand their performing arts program to either Paint Branch or Springbrook. Blake is too highly desired and overcrowded and there are many kids who can’t into the program because of this.

This is the inherent flaw of the consortia model that we're talking about. You can't fix it. With the consortia model, inevitably, one or two schools will become the favored ones, leaving the least desirable school underutilized and undesirable by the student population.

In the NEC, that least desirable school is Springbrook. In the DCC, that least desirable school is Kennedy.

Kennedy has the least amount of programs and resources to draw the smarter/talented/interested kids. If they put another magnet program there - maybe a computer science program, kids would go.

Putting the Regional IB Program at Kennedy was MCPS's magnet play. And it's kind of working, but the IB program is incredibly shaky and some of the better resourced, white kids who the Regional IB program was intended to draw to the school are being dropped into Kennedy to great shock with the lack of resources, underwhelming classroom instruction and chaos of the safety environment at the school. Several of those families are abandoning ship when they realize the mediocre state of the school, and I imagine they are telling others about their not-so-great experiences.

The idea of a magnet only works if the program is well resourced and is a good experience for students and families. And right now, the Regional IB Program at Kennedy is not quite there yet.

Is Kennedy badly run/staffed/etc? Like, there will always be some families who will try to avoid a school with demographics like Kennedy's and will think of schools with those demographics as "bad schools" regardless of any other factors, but some schools with the same demographics can be much better than others.

Yes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the NEC would expand their performing arts program to either Paint Branch or Springbrook. Blake is too highly desired and overcrowded and there are many kids who can’t into the program because of this.

This is the inherent flaw of the consortia model that we're talking about. You can't fix it. With the consortia model, inevitably, one or two schools will become the favored ones, leaving the least desirable school underutilized and undesirable by the student population.

In the NEC, that least desirable school is Springbrook. In the DCC, that least desirable school is Kennedy.

Kennedy has the least amount of programs and resources to draw the smarter/talented/interested kids. If they put another magnet program there - maybe a computer science program, kids would go.

Putting the Regional IB Program at Kennedy was MCPS's magnet play. And it's kind of working, but the IB program is incredibly shaky and some of the better resourced, white kids who the Regional IB program was intended to draw to the school are being dropped into Kennedy to great shock with the lack of resources, underwhelming classroom instruction and chaos of the safety environment at the school. Several of those families are abandoning ship when they realize the mediocre state of the school, and I imagine they are telling others about their not-so-great experiences.

The idea of a magnet only works if the program is well resourced and is a good experience for students and families. And right now, the Regional IB Program at Kennedy is not quite there yet.

Is Kennedy badly run/staffed/etc? Like, there will always be some families who will try to avoid a school with demographics like Kennedy's and will think of schools with those demographics as "bad schools" regardless of any other factors, but some schools with the same demographics can be much better than others.

Kennedy has had not-so-great leadership for years and that is directly the result and consequence of MCPS’s own failed leadership.

Dr. Rubens was principal for 10 years and he was never held accountable for the outcomes of the school. Rather, he focused on covering things up, until he couldn’t any longer when Ashleigh Edwards, Kennedy sophomore died of fentanyl overdoses and her mother, Edith Montalvan, pointed the finger at the school and MCPS for being aware of and doing nothing about the drug trafficking going on at the school.

Instead of firing Dr. Rubens after this, they promoted him to director and he currently oversees the Wheaton and Einstein clusters.

The next principal appointed in 2023, Vickie Adamson, had never been a principal before. She was an AP at BCC. Grace Rivera-Oven voted against her confirmation at the BOE. She struggled from the jump and mightily overwhelmed by the job. She failed and floundered until she was pushed into early retirement in February this year.

The latest principal, Karla Lopez-Arias, is a CO reject who needed a new job after her current CO role was eliminated. She’s never been a principal. I doubt her stint as Kennedy’s principal will be much better than Adamson’s.

But these principals do not bear all or most of the blame. Their directors, associate superintendents and the superintendents themselves have been knowledgeable and complicit in the failures of the school as they ignore problems, neglect complaints and encourage coverups.

What do you expect them to do to fix the school, one could argue that the outcomes of the students exceed their expectations it just that statistically their probabilities are very low. With that much mediocity the school is then forced to structure around it leaving others neglected causing the middle class to flee. People say FARMS doesn't matter but this is what the poorest school in the county looks like. What are you hoping for, Whitman?

If you believe MCPS has no culpability and could not be doing much better by Kennedy than it currently is doing, I'm not going to waste my breath explaining to you why that is not the case.

But know that the leadership failures that have made Kennedy what it is run deep and far beyond the poor principal they place in the hot seat at the moment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the NEC would expand their performing arts program to either Paint Branch or Springbrook. Blake is too highly desired and overcrowded and there are many kids who can’t into the program because of this.

This is the inherent flaw of the consortia model that we're talking about. You can't fix it. With the consortia model, inevitably, one or two schools will become the favored ones, leaving the least desirable school underutilized and undesirable by the student population.

In the NEC, that least desirable school is Springbrook. In the DCC, that least desirable school is Kennedy.

Kennedy has the least amount of programs and resources to draw the smarter/talented/interested kids. If they put another magnet program there - maybe a computer science program, kids would go.

Putting the Regional IB Program at Kennedy was MCPS's magnet play. And it's kind of working, but the IB program is incredibly shaky and some of the better resourced, white kids who the Regional IB program was intended to draw to the school are being dropped into Kennedy to great shock with the lack of resources, underwhelming classroom instruction and chaos of the safety environment at the school. Several of those families are abandoning ship when they realize the mediocre state of the school, and I imagine they are telling others about their not-so-great experiences.

The idea of a magnet only works if the program is well resourced and is a good experience for students and families. And right now, the Regional IB Program at Kennedy is not quite there yet.

Is Kennedy badly run/staffed/etc? Like, there will always be some families who will try to avoid a school with demographics like Kennedy's and will think of schools with those demographics as "bad schools" regardless of any other factors, but some schools with the same demographics can be much better than others.

Kennedy has had not-so-great leadership for years and that is directly the result and consequence of MCPS’s own failed leadership.

Dr. Rubens was principal for 10 years and he was never held accountable for the outcomes of the school. Rather, he focused on covering things up, until he couldn’t any longer when Ashleigh Edwards, Kennedy sophomore died of fentanyl overdoses and her mother, Edith Montalvan, pointed the finger at the school and MCPS for being aware of and doing nothing about the drug trafficking going on at the school.

Instead of firing Dr. Rubens after this, they promoted him to director and he currently oversees the Wheaton and Einstein clusters.

The next principal appointed in 2023, Vickie Adamson, had never been a principal before. She was an AP at BCC. Grace Rivera-Oven voted against her confirmation at the BOE. She struggled from the jump and mightily overwhelmed by the job. She failed and floundered until she was pushed into early retirement in February this year.

The latest principal, Karla Lopez-Arias, is a CO reject who needed a new job after her current CO role was eliminated. She’s never been a principal. I doubt her stint as Kennedy’s principal will be much better than Adamson’s.

But these principals do not bear all or most of the blame. Their directors, associate superintendents and the superintendents themselves have been knowledgeable and complicit in the failures of the school as they ignore problems, neglect complaints and encourage coverups.

What do you expect them to do to fix the school, one could argue that the outcomes of the students exceed their expectations it just that statistically their probabilities are very low. With that much mediocity the school is then forced to structure around it leaving others neglected causing the middle class to flee. People say FARMS doesn't matter but this is what the poorest school in the county looks like. What are you hoping for, Whitman?

If you believe MCPS has no culpability and could not be doing much better by Kennedy than it currently is doing, I'm not going to waste my breath explaining to you why that is not the case.

But know that the leadership failures that have made Kennedy what it is run deep and far beyond the poor principal they place in the hot seat at the moment.

And because of the population at Kennedy, the string of lackluster leaders has gone unchallenged. Imagine if these had been the principals appointed at Churchill or Whitman. The uproar! The parent involvement! Same thing at Springbrook. CO knows it can off-ramp weak leaders at high FARMS schools because parents will not make the same kind of noise that W schools would. It is maddening. Everyone should be incensed about Kennedy, whether your kid goes there or not. It’s a MCPS school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the NEC would expand their performing arts program to either Paint Branch or Springbrook. Blake is too highly desired and overcrowded and there are many kids who can’t into the program because of this.

This is the inherent flaw of the consortia model that we're talking about. You can't fix it. With the consortia model, inevitably, one or two schools will become the favored ones, leaving the least desirable school underutilized and undesirable by the student population.

In the NEC, that least desirable school is Springbrook. In the DCC, that least desirable school is Kennedy.

Kennedy has the least amount of programs and resources to draw the smarter/talented/interested kids. If they put another magnet program there - maybe a computer science program, kids would go.

Putting the Regional IB Program at Kennedy was MCPS's magnet play. And it's kind of working, but the IB program is incredibly shaky and some of the better resourced, white kids who the Regional IB program was intended to draw to the school are being dropped into Kennedy to great shock with the lack of resources, underwhelming classroom instruction and chaos of the safety environment at the school. Several of those families are abandoning ship when they realize the mediocre state of the school, and I imagine they are telling others about their not-so-great experiences.

The idea of a magnet only works if the program is well resourced and is a good experience for students and families. And right now, the Regional IB Program at Kennedy is not quite there yet.

Is Kennedy badly run/staffed/etc? Like, there will always be some families who will try to avoid a school with demographics like Kennedy's and will think of schools with those demographics as "bad schools" regardless of any other factors, but some schools with the same demographics can be much better than others.

Kennedy has had not-so-great leadership for years and that is directly the result and consequence of MCPS’s own failed leadership.

Dr. Rubens was principal for 10 years and he was never held accountable for the outcomes of the school. Rather, he focused on covering things up, until he couldn’t any longer when Ashleigh Edwards, Kennedy sophomore died of fentanyl overdoses and her mother, Edith Montalvan, pointed the finger at the school and MCPS for being aware of and doing nothing about the drug trafficking going on at the school.

Instead of firing Dr. Rubens after this, they promoted him to director and he currently oversees the Wheaton and Einstein clusters.

The next principal appointed in 2023, Vickie Adamson, had never been a principal before. She was an AP at BCC. Grace Rivera-Oven voted against her confirmation at the BOE. She struggled from the jump and mightily overwhelmed by the job. She failed and floundered until she was pushed into early retirement in February this year.

The latest principal, Karla Lopez-Arias, is a CO reject who needed a new job after her current CO role was eliminated. She’s never been a principal. I doubt her stint as Kennedy’s principal will be much better than Adamson’s.

But these principals do not bear all or most of the blame. Their directors, associate superintendents and the superintendents themselves have been knowledgeable and complicit in the failures of the school as they ignore problems, neglect complaints and encourage coverups.

What do you expect them to do to fix the school, one could argue that the outcomes of the students exceed their expectations it just that statistically their probabilities are very low. With that much mediocity the school is then forced to structure around it leaving others neglected causing the middle class to flee. People say FARMS doesn't matter but this is what the poorest school in the county looks like. What are you hoping for, Whitman?

If you believe MCPS has no culpability and could not be doing much better by Kennedy than it currently is doing, I'm not going to waste my breath explaining to you why that is not the case.

But know that the leadership failures that have made Kennedy what it is run deep and far beyond the poor principal they place in the hot seat at the moment.

And because of the population at Kennedy, the string of lackluster leaders has gone unchallenged. Imagine if these had been the principals appointed at Churchill or Whitman. The uproar! The parent involvement! Same thing at Springbrook. CO knows it can off-ramp weak leaders at high FARMS schools because parents will not make the same kind of noise that W schools would. It is maddening. Everyone should be incensed about Kennedy, whether your kid goes there or not. It’s a MCPS school.

Correct! On that point, you are 100% on target and on point.

MCPS absolutely intentionally places inexperienced or ineffective principals, APs and teachers at high FARMS schools because they know they can avoid backlash and outrage in those environments because parents don't know what they're missing out on and/or don't have the capacity and know-how to organize and advocate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there many kids who prioritize and go to certain schools because there are things they like better about that school than their home school, but don't actually apply to or get into certain programs there? Seems like that would be the main potential loss here. If so, what are the kinds of things that are attractive about those schools to them?

- Safety and security
- Academic outcomes associated with the school
- Newness of the school building
- Quality of school leadership
- Quality of classroom instruction
- Satisfaction of school-based staff
- Vibrance and reputation of sports teams (basketball and football primarily)

That's an interesting point regarding extracurriculars and the like (not just sports ) Is there a lot of variation between schools regarding the quality and opportunities for kids who care about things like band/orchestra, school plays, sports teams, school newspapers, or any other kind of extracurriculars or activities that a kid might be passionate about and strongly prefer one school over another because of? I could see that being a real benefit of the consortium model.

I think there is a lot of variability between schools as far as sports and other extracurriculars. I mean, if playing basketball is important and you have a choice between the NEC schools, you're not choosing Springbrook. If you want dance or Poms, your first (and only real) choice is Blake. Blake is Division I and the other two are Division III for Poms and only Blake had dancers in the 2024 and 2025 Dance Showcases. But there are some really good aspects of each of the signature programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the NEC would expand their performing arts program to either Paint Branch or Springbrook. Blake is too highly desired and overcrowded and there are many kids who can’t into the program because of this.

This is the inherent flaw of the consortia model that we're talking about. You can't fix it. With the consortia model, inevitably, one or two schools will become the favored ones, leaving the least desirable school underutilized and undesirable by the student population.

In the NEC, that least desirable school is Springbrook. In the DCC, that least desirable school is Kennedy.

Kennedy has the least amount of programs and resources to draw the smarter/talented/interested kids. If they put another magnet program there - maybe a computer science program, kids would go.

Putting the Regional IB Program at Kennedy was MCPS's magnet play. And it's kind of working, but the IB program is incredibly shaky and some of the better resourced, white kids who the Regional IB program was intended to draw to the school are being dropped into Kennedy to great shock with the lack of resources, underwhelming classroom instruction and chaos of the safety environment at the school. Several of those families are abandoning ship when they realize the mediocre state of the school, and I imagine they are telling others about their not-so-great experiences.

The idea of a magnet only works if the program is well resourced and is a good experience for students and families. And right now, the Regional IB Program at Kennedy is not quite there yet.

Is Kennedy badly run/staffed/etc? Like, there will always be some families who will try to avoid a school with demographics like Kennedy's and will think of schools with those demographics as "bad schools" regardless of any other factors, but some schools with the same demographics can be much better than others.

Kennedy has had not-so-great leadership for years and that is directly the result and consequence of MCPS’s own failed leadership.

Dr. Rubens was principal for 10 years and he was never held accountable for the outcomes of the school. Rather, he focused on covering things up, until he couldn’t any longer when Ashleigh Edwards, Kennedy sophomore died of fentanyl overdoses and her mother, Edith Montalvan, pointed the finger at the school and MCPS for being aware of and doing nothing about the drug trafficking going on at the school.

Instead of firing Dr. Rubens after this, they promoted him to director and he currently oversees the Wheaton and Einstein clusters.

The next principal appointed in 2023, Vickie Adamson, had never been a principal before. She was an AP at BCC. Grace Rivera-Oven voted against her confirmation at the BOE. She struggled from the jump and mightily overwhelmed by the job. She failed and floundered until she was pushed into early retirement in February this year.

The latest principal, Karla Lopez-Arias, is a CO reject who needed a new job after her current CO role was eliminated. She’s never been a principal. I doubt her stint as Kennedy’s principal will be much better than Adamson’s.

But these principals do not bear all or most of the blame. Their directors, associate superintendents and the superintendents themselves have been knowledgeable and complicit in the failures of the school as they ignore problems, neglect complaints and encourage coverups.

What do you expect them to do to fix the school, one could argue that the outcomes of the students exceed their expectations it just that statistically their probabilities are very low. With that much mediocity the school is then forced to structure around it leaving others neglected causing the middle class to flee. People say FARMS doesn't matter but this is what the poorest school in the county looks like. What are you hoping for, Whitman?

I mean, Kennedy and Wheaton have very similar demographics, don't they? But people seem much happier with Wheaton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the NEC would expand their performing arts program to either Paint Branch or Springbrook. Blake is too highly desired and overcrowded and there are many kids who can’t into the program because of this.

This is the inherent flaw of the consortia model that we're talking about. You can't fix it. With the consortia model, inevitably, one or two schools will become the favored ones, leaving the least desirable school underutilized and undesirable by the student population.

In the NEC, that least desirable school is Springbrook. In the DCC, that least desirable school is Kennedy.

Kennedy has the least amount of programs and resources to draw the smarter/talented/interested kids. If they put another magnet program there - maybe a computer science program, kids would go.

Putting the Regional IB Program at Kennedy was MCPS's magnet play. And it's kind of working, but the IB program is incredibly shaky and some of the better resourced, white kids who the Regional IB program was intended to draw to the school are being dropped into Kennedy to great shock with the lack of resources, underwhelming classroom instruction and chaos of the safety environment at the school. Several of those families are abandoning ship when they realize the mediocre state of the school, and I imagine they are telling others about their not-so-great experiences.

The idea of a magnet only works if the program is well resourced and is a good experience for students and families. And right now, the Regional IB Program at Kennedy is not quite there yet.

Is Kennedy badly run/staffed/etc? Like, there will always be some families who will try to avoid a school with demographics like Kennedy's and will think of schools with those demographics as "bad schools" regardless of any other factors, but some schools with the same demographics can be much better than others.

Kennedy has had not-so-great leadership for years and that is directly the result and consequence of MCPS’s own failed leadership.

Dr. Rubens was principal for 10 years and he was never held accountable for the outcomes of the school. Rather, he focused on covering things up, until he couldn’t any longer when Ashleigh Edwards, Kennedy sophomore died of fentanyl overdoses and her mother, Edith Montalvan, pointed the finger at the school and MCPS for being aware of and doing nothing about the drug trafficking going on at the school.

Instead of firing Dr. Rubens after this, they promoted him to director and he currently oversees the Wheaton and Einstein clusters.

The next principal appointed in 2023, Vickie Adamson, had never been a principal before. She was an AP at BCC. Grace Rivera-Oven voted against her confirmation at the BOE. She struggled from the jump and mightily overwhelmed by the job. She failed and floundered until she was pushed into early retirement in February this year.

The latest principal, Karla Lopez-Arias, is a CO reject who needed a new job after her current CO role was eliminated. She’s never been a principal. I doubt her stint as Kennedy’s principal will be much better than Adamson’s.

But these principals do not bear all or most of the blame. Their directors, associate superintendents and the superintendents themselves have been knowledgeable and complicit in the failures of the school as they ignore problems, neglect complaints and encourage coverups.

What do you expect them to do to fix the school, one could argue that the outcomes of the students exceed their expectations it just that statistically their probabilities are very low. With that much mediocity the school is then forced to structure around it leaving others neglected causing the middle class to flee. People say FARMS doesn't matter but this is what the poorest school in the county looks like. What are you hoping for, Whitman?

I mean, Kennedy and Wheaton have very similar demographics, don't they? But people seem much happier with Wheaton.

Wheaton arts are not great but they offer a lot more in terms of classes and choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the NEC would expand their performing arts program to either Paint Branch or Springbrook. Blake is too highly desired and overcrowded and there are many kids who can’t into the program because of this.

This is the inherent flaw of the consortia model that we're talking about. You can't fix it. With the consortia model, inevitably, one or two schools will become the favored ones, leaving the least desirable school underutilized and undesirable by the student population.

In the NEC, that least desirable school is Springbrook. In the DCC, that least desirable school is Kennedy.

Kennedy has the least amount of programs and resources to draw the smarter/talented/interested kids. If they put another magnet program there - maybe a computer science program, kids would go.

Putting the Regional IB Program at Kennedy was MCPS's magnet play. And it's kind of working, but the IB program is incredibly shaky and some of the better resourced, white kids who the Regional IB program was intended to draw to the school are being dropped into Kennedy to great shock with the lack of resources, underwhelming classroom instruction and chaos of the safety environment at the school. Several of those families are abandoning ship when they realize the mediocre state of the school, and I imagine they are telling others about their not-so-great experiences.

The idea of a magnet only works if the program is well resourced and is a good experience for students and families. And right now, the Regional IB Program at Kennedy is not quite there yet.

Is Kennedy badly run/staffed/etc? Like, there will always be some families who will try to avoid a school with demographics like Kennedy's and will think of schools with those demographics as "bad schools" regardless of any other factors, but some schools with the same demographics can be much better than others.

Kennedy has had not-so-great leadership for years and that is directly the result and consequence of MCPS’s own failed leadership.

Dr. Rubens was principal for 10 years and he was never held accountable for the outcomes of the school. Rather, he focused on covering things up, until he couldn’t any longer when Ashleigh Edwards, Kennedy sophomore died of fentanyl overdoses and her mother, Edith Montalvan, pointed the finger at the school and MCPS for being aware of and doing nothing about the drug trafficking going on at the school.

Instead of firing Dr. Rubens after this, they promoted him to director and he currently oversees the Wheaton and Einstein clusters.

The next principal appointed in 2023, Vickie Adamson, had never been a principal before. She was an AP at BCC. Grace Rivera-Oven voted against her confirmation at the BOE. She struggled from the jump and mightily overwhelmed by the job. She failed and floundered until she was pushed into early retirement in February this year.

The latest principal, Karla Lopez-Arias, is a CO reject who needed a new job after her current CO role was eliminated. She’s never been a principal. I doubt her stint as Kennedy’s principal will be much better than Adamson’s.

But these principals do not bear all or most of the blame. Their directors, associate superintendents and the superintendents themselves have been knowledgeable and complicit in the failures of the school as they ignore problems, neglect complaints and encourage coverups.

What do you expect them to do to fix the school, one could argue that the outcomes of the students exceed their expectations it just that statistically their probabilities are very low. With that much mediocity the school is then forced to structure around it leaving others neglected causing the middle class to flee. People say FARMS doesn't matter but this is what the poorest school in the county looks like. What are you hoping for, Whitman?

I mean, Kennedy and Wheaton have very similar demographics, don't they? But people seem much happier with Wheaton.

Wheaton arts are not great but they offer a lot more in terms of classes and choices.

Right. In other words, PP who said that Kennedy is doomed to be terrible because of its demographics (so you shouldn't blame school leadership/central office) is wrong. If Wheaton and Kennedy have similar demographics but Wheaton is notably better than Kennedy, Kennedy could be better too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there many kids who prioritize and go to certain schools because there are things they like better about that school than their home school, but don't actually apply to or get into certain programs there? Seems like that would be the main potential loss here. If so, what are the kinds of things that are attractive about those schools to them?

- Safety and security
- Academic outcomes associated with the school
- Newness of the school building
- Quality of school leadership
- Quality of classroom instruction
- Satisfaction of school-based staff
- Vibrance and reputation of sports teams (basketball and football primarily)

That's an interesting point regarding extracurriculars and the like (not just sports ) Is there a lot of variation between schools regarding the quality and opportunities for kids who care about things like band/orchestra, school plays, sports teams, school newspapers, or any other kind of extracurriculars or activities that a kid might be passionate about and strongly prefer one school over another because of? I could see that being a real benefit of the consortium model.

I think there is a lot of variability between schools as far as sports and other extracurriculars. I mean, if playing basketball is important and you have a choice between the NEC schools, you're not choosing Springbrook. If you want dance or Poms, your first (and only real) choice is Blake. Blake is Division I and the other two are Division III for Poms and only Blake had dancers in the 2024 and 2025 Dance Showcases. But there are some really good aspects of each of the signature programs.

To be fair, Blake is the only one that has dance classes. Paint Branch and Springbrook don’t. Which is part of the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the NEC would expand their performing arts program to either Paint Branch or Springbrook. Blake is too highly desired and overcrowded and there are many kids who can’t into the program because of this.

This is the inherent flaw of the consortia model that we're talking about. You can't fix it. With the consortia model, inevitably, one or two schools will become the favored ones, leaving the least desirable school underutilized and undesirable by the student population.

In the NEC, that least desirable school is Springbrook. In the DCC, that least desirable school is Kennedy.

Kennedy has the least amount of programs and resources to draw the smarter/talented/interested kids. If they put another magnet program there - maybe a computer science program, kids would go.

Putting the Regional IB Program at Kennedy was MCPS's magnet play. And it's kind of working, but the IB program is incredibly shaky and some of the better resourced, white kids who the Regional IB program was intended to draw to the school are being dropped into Kennedy to great shock with the lack of resources, underwhelming classroom instruction and chaos of the safety environment at the school. Several of those families are abandoning ship when they realize the mediocre state of the school, and I imagine they are telling others about their not-so-great experiences.

The idea of a magnet only works if the program is well resourced and is a good experience for students and families. And right now, the Regional IB Program at Kennedy is not quite there yet.

Is Kennedy badly run/staffed/etc? Like, there will always be some families who will try to avoid a school with demographics like Kennedy's and will think of schools with those demographics as "bad schools" regardless of any other factors, but some schools with the same demographics can be much better than others.

Kennedy has had not-so-great leadership for years and that is directly the result and consequence of MCPS’s own failed leadership.

Dr. Rubens was principal for 10 years and he was never held accountable for the outcomes of the school. Rather, he focused on covering things up, until he couldn’t any longer when Ashleigh Edwards, Kennedy sophomore died of fentanyl overdoses and her mother, Edith Montalvan, pointed the finger at the school and MCPS for being aware of and doing nothing about the drug trafficking going on at the school.

Instead of firing Dr. Rubens after this, they promoted him to director and he currently oversees the Wheaton and Einstein clusters.

The next principal appointed in 2023, Vickie Adamson, had never been a principal before. She was an AP at BCC. Grace Rivera-Oven voted against her confirmation at the BOE. She struggled from the jump and mightily overwhelmed by the job. She failed and floundered until she was pushed into early retirement in February this year.

The latest principal, Karla Lopez-Arias, is a CO reject who needed a new job after her current CO role was eliminated. She’s never been a principal. I doubt her stint as Kennedy’s principal will be much better than Adamson’s.

But these principals do not bear all or most of the blame. Their directors, associate superintendents and the superintendents themselves have been knowledgeable and complicit in the failures of the school as they ignore problems, neglect complaints and encourage coverups.

What do you expect them to do to fix the school, one could argue that the outcomes of the students exceed their expectations it just that statistically their probabilities are very low. With that much mediocity the school is then forced to structure around it leaving others neglected causing the middle class to flee. People say FARMS doesn't matter but this is what the poorest school in the county looks like. What are you hoping for, Whitman?

I mean, Kennedy and Wheaton have very similar demographics, don't they? But people seem much happier with Wheaton.

Wheaton arts are not great but they offer a lot more in terms of classes and choices.

Right. In other words, PP who said that Kennedy is doomed to be terrible because of its demographics (so you shouldn't blame school leadership/central office) is wrong. If Wheaton and Kennedy have similar demographics but Wheaton is notably better than Kennedy, Kennedy could be better too.

What demographics are we comparing? I don’t usually see gang affiliations broken down by school, but maybe that’s at play. It would explain how racial demographics could be similar but the actual environment of the school is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I wish the NEC would expand their performing arts program to either Paint Branch or Springbrook. Blake is too highly desired and overcrowded and there are many kids who can’t into the program because of this.

This is the inherent flaw of the consortia model that we're talking about. You can't fix it. With the consortia model, inevitably, one or two schools will become the favored ones, leaving the least desirable school underutilized and undesirable by the student population.

In the NEC, that least desirable school is Springbrook. In the DCC, that least desirable school is Kennedy.

Kennedy has the least amount of programs and resources to draw the smarter/talented/interested kids. If they put another magnet program there - maybe a computer science program, kids would go.

Putting the Regional IB Program at Kennedy was MCPS's magnet play. And it's kind of working, but the IB program is incredibly shaky and some of the better resourced, white kids who the Regional IB program was intended to draw to the school are being dropped into Kennedy to great shock with the lack of resources, underwhelming classroom instruction and chaos of the safety environment at the school. Several of those families are abandoning ship when they realize the mediocre state of the school, and I imagine they are telling others about their not-so-great experiences.

The idea of a magnet only works if the program is well resourced and is a good experience for students and families. And right now, the Regional IB Program at Kennedy is not quite there yet.

Is Kennedy badly run/staffed/etc? Like, there will always be some families who will try to avoid a school with demographics like Kennedy's and will think of schools with those demographics as "bad schools" regardless of any other factors, but some schools with the same demographics can be much better than others.

Kennedy has had not-so-great leadership for years and that is directly the result and consequence of MCPS’s own failed leadership.

Dr. Rubens was principal for 10 years and he was never held accountable for the outcomes of the school. Rather, he focused on covering things up, until he couldn’t any longer when Ashleigh Edwards, Kennedy sophomore died of fentanyl overdoses and her mother, Edith Montalvan, pointed the finger at the school and MCPS for being aware of and doing nothing about the drug trafficking going on at the school.

Instead of firing Dr. Rubens after this, they promoted him to director and he currently oversees the Wheaton and Einstein clusters.

The next principal appointed in 2023, Vickie Adamson, had never been a principal before. She was an AP at BCC. Grace Rivera-Oven voted against her confirmation at the BOE. She struggled from the jump and mightily overwhelmed by the job. She failed and floundered until she was pushed into early retirement in February this year.

The latest principal, Karla Lopez-Arias, is a CO reject who needed a new job after her current CO role was eliminated. She’s never been a principal. I doubt her stint as Kennedy’s principal will be much better than Adamson’s.

But these principals do not bear all or most of the blame. Their directors, associate superintendents and the superintendents themselves have been knowledgeable and complicit in the failures of the school as they ignore problems, neglect complaints and encourage coverups.

What do you expect them to do to fix the school, one could argue that the outcomes of the students exceed their expectations it just that statistically their probabilities are very low. With that much mediocity the school is then forced to structure around it leaving others neglected causing the middle class to flee. People say FARMS doesn't matter but this is what the poorest school in the county looks like. What are you hoping for, Whitman?

If you believe MCPS has no culpability and could not be doing much better by Kennedy than it currently is doing, I'm not going to waste my breath explaining to you why that is not the case.

But know that the leadership failures that have made Kennedy what it is run deep and far beyond the poor principal they place in the hot seat at the moment.

Can you explain? I don’t know Kennedy and am genuinely interested

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the NEC would expand their performing arts program to either Paint Branch or Springbrook. Blake is too highly desired and overcrowded and there are many kids who can’t into the program because of this.

This is the inherent flaw of the consortia model that we're talking about. You can't fix it. With the consortia model, inevitably, one or two schools will become the favored ones, leaving the least desirable school underutilized and undesirable by the student population.

In the NEC, that least desirable school is Springbrook. In the DCC, that least desirable school is Kennedy.

Kennedy has the least amount of programs and resources to draw the smarter/talented/interested kids. If they put another magnet program there - maybe a computer science program, kids would go.

Putting the Regional IB Program at Kennedy was MCPS's magnet play. And it's kind of working, but the IB program is incredibly shaky and some of the better resourced, white kids who the Regional IB program was intended to draw to the school are being dropped into Kennedy to great shock with the lack of resources, underwhelming classroom instruction and chaos of the safety environment at the school. Several of those families are abandoning ship when they realize the mediocre state of the school, and I imagine they are telling others about their not-so-great experiences.

The idea of a magnet only works if the program is well resourced and is a good experience for students and families. And right now, the Regional IB Program at Kennedy is not quite there yet.

Is Kennedy badly run/staffed/etc? Like, there will always be some families who will try to avoid a school with demographics like Kennedy's and will think of schools with those demographics as "bad schools" regardless of any other factors, but some schools with the same demographics can be much better than others.

Kennedy has had not-so-great leadership for years and that is directly the result and consequence of MCPS’s own failed leadership.

Dr. Rubens was principal for 10 years and he was never held accountable for the outcomes of the school. Rather, he focused on covering things up, until he couldn’t any longer when Ashleigh Edwards, Kennedy sophomore died of fentanyl overdoses and her mother, Edith Montalvan, pointed the finger at the school and MCPS for being aware of and doing nothing about the drug trafficking going on at the school.

Instead of firing Dr. Rubens after this, they promoted him to director and he currently oversees the Wheaton and Einstein clusters.

The next principal appointed in 2023, Vickie Adamson, had never been a principal before. She was an AP at BCC. Grace Rivera-Oven voted against her confirmation at the BOE. She struggled from the jump and mightily overwhelmed by the job. She failed and floundered until she was pushed into early retirement in February this year.

The latest principal, Karla Lopez-Arias, is a CO reject who needed a new job after her current CO role was eliminated. She’s never been a principal. I doubt her stint as Kennedy’s principal will be much better than Adamson’s.

But these principals do not bear all or most of the blame. Their directors, associate superintendents and the superintendents themselves have been knowledgeable and complicit in the failures of the school as they ignore problems, neglect complaints and encourage coverups.

What do you expect them to do to fix the school, one could argue that the outcomes of the students exceed their expectations it just that statistically their probabilities are very low. With that much mediocity the school is then forced to structure around it leaving others neglected causing the middle class to flee. People say FARMS doesn't matter but this is what the poorest school in the county looks like. What are you hoping for, Whitman?

I mean, Kennedy and Wheaton have very similar demographics, don't they? But people seem much happier with Wheaton.

Wheaton arts are not great but they offer a lot more in terms of classes and choices.

Right. In other words, PP who said that Kennedy is doomed to be terrible because of its demographics (so you shouldn't blame school leadership/central office) is wrong. If Wheaton and Kennedy have similar demographics but Wheaton is notably better than Kennedy, Kennedy could be better too.

What demographics are we comparing? I don’t usually see gang affiliations broken down by school, but maybe that’s at play. It would explain how racial demographics could be similar but the actual environment of the school is not.

Today one BOE member was talkign about gang recuitment in schools, gun and other weapons and then safety officer said that some families have culture to normalize that. MCPS needs to educate those families. I have no clue if it is applicable to Kennedy.

[Anonymous]

An advantage of the DCC and the NEC for kids who move during HS but stay w/in the DCC ir NEC they do not have to change schools. There are many apartment buildings in the DCC with many families that move just a few miles every year. In a neighborhood model these students may change schools two or three times in HS or and wouldn’t have transportation options to stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An advantage of the DCC and the NEC for kids who move during HS but stay w/in the DCC ir NEC they do not have to change schools. There are many apartment buildings in the DCC with many families that move just a few miles every year. In a neighborhood model these students may change schools two or three times in HS or and wouldn’t have transportation options to stay.

This is a good point that I hadn’t thought of. And there are lots of kids whose parents do have to or end up moving a lot during their time in high school, and the chance to stay at the same high school despite that is a real benefit to the consortia model. But maybe this new regional model will offer/allow families the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand some of the issues with Kennedy, but what are the reasons kids try to avoid Northwood?

In the past it was known as a not so great school but that area has turned around a lot. It was old, run down and not a lot of offerings. They are trying to turn it around and its a much better school now. Currently no one wants to go as the kids are bussed to Woodward.

Northwood got a strong principal and they doubled down on what they already had as good resources like performing arts and dual enrollment. The building situation is the albatross around the school’s neck. Once they go home, it’s going to be a highly desirable school.