Thursday Nov 20 BOE Discussion on Boundaries and Regional Program Model

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the meeting at Flora Singer this week Taylor said the DCC was a good idea but its “flaw” was not including the “white, wealthy schools.” I’m not sure what he thought he was achieving by sharing that perspective, other than saying the quiet part out loud as is clear from this entire process.

That blew my mind when he said that. Then claiming that placing the IB magnet at BCC was to help diversify it. FFS man, read the room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the meeting at Flora Singer this week Taylor said the DCC was a good idea but its “flaw” was not including the “white, wealthy schools.” I’m not sure what he thought he was achieving by sharing that perspective, other than saying the quiet part out loud as is clear from this entire process.

That blew my mind when he said that. Then claiming that placing the IB magnet at BCC was to help diversify it. FFS man, read the room.

Didn't the Metis report reach essentially that same conclusion about the DCC's flaw?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the meeting at Flora Singer this week Taylor said the DCC was a good idea but its “flaw” was not including the “white, wealthy schools.” I’m not sure what he thought he was achieving by sharing that perspective, other than saying the quiet part out loud as is clear from this entire process.

That blew my mind when he said that. Then claiming that placing the IB magnet at BCC was to help diversify it. FFS man, read the room.

Taylor is so full of shit. In the new presentation, MCPS says there will be 30 – 60 Regional seats and 15 – 25 Local seats in the criteria based programs like IB. Even if most of those seats don’t go to rich, white kids from Whitman, those numbers won’t shift any demographics significantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the meeting at Flora Singer this week Taylor said the DCC was a good idea but its “flaw” was not including the “white, wealthy schools.” I’m not sure what he thought he was achieving by sharing that perspective, other than saying the quiet part out loud as is clear from this entire process.

That blew my mind when he said that. Then claiming that placing the IB magnet at BCC was to help diversify it. FFS man, read the room.

Didn't the Metis report reach essentially that same conclusion about the DCC's flaw?

yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the ppt
Boundary Studies Program Analysis Update 251120 PPT.pdf https://share.google/M0lQdbx2jTMlewfP9

They seem to be frantically adding programs to address concerns. BCC now getting an interest based engineering program so they can siphon off more wealthy students from Einstein and Northwood, so awesome.

And, yet, they aren't giving many slots. Einstein familes (and now Northwood) have always been the forgotten school - no renovations, no advanced classes, few clubs...

I suspect they are doing it at Einstein as they aready have the classes so it looks like they are getting something new when they aren't. Einstein only has one engineering teacher who teaches a combine two classes in one in one class period class and that's it (great teacher but stretched thin as that's not fair to anyone). How MCPS thinks this is ok is beyond me!

Isn't Einstein getting a new criteria based Biotech program, a new interet based health care program, the criteria based visual arts for the region, the criteria based music for the region plus IB?

The biotech program will be a glorified lab tech training program.

https://marylandpublicschools.org/programs/documents/cte/standards/hhs_biotechnology-a.pdf

Umm what role do you think as HS student would qualify for beyond a glorified lab tech??? That alone doesn’t mean they can’t create a program that exposes kids to research, science and the opportunities to explore biotechnology.

I have my issues with how this is going but I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.

Compare that curriculum to the ones for the STEM programs at Blair and Poolesville. Are they even remotely similar? No. MCPS is developing direct-entry career pathways and trying to sell them as advanced college prep programs. It’s dishonest and parents are going to be pissed when it turns out their kid isn’t in a pre-pre-med track, but a track to work an entry-level job at LabCorp.


https://old.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/courses.php

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wOQxSa4R9M18B0DT0JrSnBFs50XKe0QGXa36rw5xIkU/edit?tab=t.0

🙄 a pre-pre-med track. You mean HS.

There is no such thing as a pre-pre-med track. That’s made up. Premed is the set of classes that must show in a collegiate level transcript to qualify for medical school application. That’s it.

Agree. Region 1 already has the Blair STEM magnet if you want to go that route. It's perfectly fine to put this sort of biotech program at another school in the same region.

[Anonymous]

I think they changed the slides between now and yesterday. Northwood now has Environmental Science. Making it up as they go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the ppt
Boundary Studies Program Analysis Update 251120 PPT.pdf https://share.google/M0lQdbx2jTMlewfP9

They seem to be frantically adding programs to address concerns. BCC now getting an interest based engineering program so they can siphon off more wealthy students from Einstein and Northwood, so awesome.

And, yet, they aren't giving many slots. Einstein familes (and now Northwood) have always been the forgotten school - no renovations, no advanced classes, few clubs...

I suspect they are doing it at Einstein as they aready have the classes so it looks like they are getting something new when they aren't. Einstein only has one engineering teacher who teaches a combine two classes in one in one class period class and that's it (great teacher but stretched thin as that's not fair to anyone). How MCPS thinks this is ok is beyond me!

Isn't Einstein getting a new criteria based Biotech program, a new interet based health care program, the criteria based visual arts for the region, the criteria based music for the region plus IB?

The biotech program will be a glorified lab tech training program.

https://marylandpublicschools.org/programs/documents/cte/standards/hhs_biotechnology-a.pdf

Umm what role do you think as HS student would qualify for beyond a glorified lab tech??? That alone doesn’t mean they can’t create a program that exposes kids to research, science and the opportunities to explore biotechnology.

I have my issues with how this is going but I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.

Compare that curriculum to the ones for the STEM programs at Blair and Poolesville. Are they even remotely similar? No. MCPS is developing direct-entry career pathways and trying to sell them as advanced college prep programs. It’s dishonest and parents are going to be pissed when it turns out their kid isn’t in a pre-pre-med track, but a track to work an entry-level job at LabCorp.


https://old.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/courses.php

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wOQxSa4R9M18B0DT0JrSnBFs50XKe0QGXa36rw5xIkU/edit?tab=t.0

🙄 a pre-pre-med track. You mean HS.

There is no such thing as a pre-pre-med track. That’s made up. Premed is the set of classes that must show in a collegiate level transcript to qualify for medical school application. That’s it.

Agree. Region 1 already has the Blair STEM magnet if you want to go that route. It's perfectly fine to put this sort of biotech program at another school in the same region.

The Blair magnet isn’t a life sciences program. The Wheaton biomedical magnet is the life sciences program for the DCC, and the teacher just won a national award from the organization that developed the curriculum. Region 3 should be super excited to gain access to that magnet.

In the new Region 1, the only life sciences option will be this biotechnology pathway. Unless MCPS delivers a whole lot of AP and IB science courses as electives (which Einstein doesn’t currently offer), it will just be a handful of classes on how to use a pipette and a microscope.

Would you get on a bus from Whitman for that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the ppt
Boundary Studies Program Analysis Update 251120 PPT.pdf https://share.google/M0lQdbx2jTMlewfP9

They seem to be frantically adding programs to address concerns. BCC now getting an interest based engineering program so they can siphon off more wealthy students from Einstein and Northwood, so awesome.

Northwood still screwed. People complained about it not having an academic criteria-based program and so they added.... agroecology, whatever the heck that is?

Meanwhile Whitman still has a criteria-based humanities magnet and BCC still has a criteria-based IB magnet, and they are doubling down on local schools getting extra local set-aside seats (as many as twice their fair share, ie. 15 compared to 30 shared among the other 4 schools or 25 compared to 60 shared among the other 4 schools.). So a humanities kid from the DCC not only has to travel all the way go BCC or Whitman for a magnet, but the BCC and Whitman kids have a much higher chance of getting in.

SMH. This is all so terribly inequitable.

Racist, even. Segregation 2.0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the ppt
Boundary Studies Program Analysis Update 251120 PPT.pdf https://share.google/M0lQdbx2jTMlewfP9

They seem to be frantically adding programs to address concerns. BCC now getting an interest based engineering program so they can siphon off more wealthy students from Einstein and Northwood, so awesome.

Northwood still screwed. People complained about it not having an academic criteria-based program and so they added.... agroecology, whatever the heck that is?

Meanwhile Whitman still has a criteria-based humanities magnet and BCC still has a criteria-based IB magnet, and they are doubling down on local schools getting extra local set-aside seats (as many as twice their fair share, ie. 15 compared to 30 shared among the other 4 schools or 25 compared to 60 shared among the other 4 schools.). So a humanities kid from the DCC not only has to travel all the way go BCC or Whitman for a magnet, but the BCC and Whitman kids have a much higher chance of getting in.

SMH. This is all so terribly inequitable.

Racist, even. Segregation 2.0

Where is the Black and Brown coalition when you need them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the ppt
Boundary Studies Program Analysis Update 251120 PPT.pdf https://share.google/M0lQdbx2jTMlewfP9

They seem to be frantically adding programs to address concerns. BCC now getting an interest based engineering program so they can siphon off more wealthy students from Einstein and Northwood, so awesome.

And, yet, they aren't giving many slots. Einstein familes (and now Northwood) have always been the forgotten school - no renovations, no advanced classes, few clubs...

I suspect they are doing it at Einstein as they aready have the classes so it looks like they are getting something new when they aren't. Einstein only has one engineering teacher who teaches a combine two classes in one in one class period class and that's it (great teacher but stretched thin as that's not fair to anyone). How MCPS thinks this is ok is beyond me!

Isn't Einstein getting a new criteria based Biotech program, a new interet based health care program, the criteria based visual arts for the region, the criteria based music for the region plus IB?

The biotech program will be a glorified lab tech training program.

https://marylandpublicschools.org/programs/documents/cte/standards/hhs_biotechnology-a.pdf

Umm what role do you think as HS student would qualify for beyond a glorified lab tech??? That alone doesn’t mean they can’t create a program that exposes kids to research, science and the opportunities to explore biotechnology.

I have my issues with how this is going but I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.

Compare that curriculum to the ones for the STEM programs at Blair and Poolesville. Are they even remotely similar? No. MCPS is developing direct-entry career pathways and trying to sell them as advanced college prep programs. It’s dishonest and parents are going to be pissed when it turns out their kid isn’t in a pre-pre-med track, but a track to work an entry-level job at LabCorp.


https://old.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/courses.php

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wOQxSa4R9M18B0DT0JrSnBFs50XKe0QGXa36rw5xIkU/edit?tab=t.0

🙄 a pre-pre-med track. You mean HS.

There is no such thing as a pre-pre-med track. That’s made up. Premed is the set of classes that must show in a collegiate level transcript to qualify for medical school application. That’s it.

Agree. Region 1 already has the Blair STEM magnet if you want to go that route. It's perfectly fine to put this sort of biotech program at another school in the same region.

The Blair magnet isn’t a life sciences program. The Wheaton biomedical magnet is the life sciences program for the DCC, and the teacher just won a national award from the organization that developed the curriculum. Region 3 should be super excited to gain access to that magnet.

In the new Region 1, the only life sciences option will be this biotechnology pathway. Unless MCPS delivers a whole lot of AP and IB science courses as electives (which Einstein doesn’t currently offer), it will just be a handful of classes on how to use a pipette and a microscope.

Would you get on a bus from Whitman for that?

I was just replying to the previous poster who specifically brought up the Blair STEM program in comparison to the proposed biotech program.

But I agree that loosing access to the Wheaton magnet programs is a big deal for region 1. If you look at the data, it largely served kids from the DCC. I have a kid who would have been very interested in going there, but now won't be able to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the ppt
Boundary Studies Program Analysis Update 251120 PPT.pdf https://share.google/M0lQdbx2jTMlewfP9

They seem to be frantically adding programs to address concerns. BCC now getting an interest based engineering program so they can siphon off more wealthy students from Einstein and Northwood, so awesome.

And, yet, they aren't giving many slots. Einstein familes (and now Northwood) have always been the forgotten school - no renovations, no advanced classes, few clubs...

I suspect they are doing it at Einstein as they aready have the classes so it looks like they are getting something new when they aren't. Einstein only has one engineering teacher who teaches a combine two classes in one in one class period class and that's it (great teacher but stretched thin as that's not fair to anyone). How MCPS thinks this is ok is beyond me!

Isn't Einstein getting a new criteria based Biotech program, a new interet based health care program, the criteria based visual arts for the region, the criteria based music for the region plus IB?

The biotech program will be a glorified lab tech training program.

https://marylandpublicschools.org/programs/documents/cte/standards/hhs_biotechnology-a.pdf

Umm what role do you think as HS student would qualify for beyond a glorified lab tech??? That alone doesn’t mean they can’t create a program that exposes kids to research, science and the opportunities to explore biotechnology.

I have my issues with how this is going but I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.

Compare that curriculum to the ones for the STEM programs at Blair and Poolesville. Are they even remotely similar? No. MCPS is developing direct-entry career pathways and trying to sell them as advanced college prep programs. It’s dishonest and parents are going to be pissed when it turns out their kid isn’t in a pre-pre-med track, but a track to work an entry-level job at LabCorp.


https://old.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/courses.php

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wOQxSa4R9M18B0DT0JrSnBFs50XKe0QGXa36rw5xIkU/edit?tab=t.0

🙄 a pre-pre-med track. You mean HS.

There is no such thing as a pre-pre-med track. That’s made up. Premed is the set of classes that must show in a collegiate level transcript to qualify for medical school application. That’s it.

Agree. Region 1 already has the Blair STEM magnet if you want to go that route. It's perfectly fine to put this sort of biotech program at another school in the same region.

The Blair magnet isn’t a life sciences program. The Wheaton biomedical magnet is the life sciences program for the DCC, and the teacher just won a national award from the organization that developed the curriculum. Region 3 should be super excited to gain access to that magnet.

In the new Region 1, the only life sciences option will be this biotechnology pathway. Unless MCPS delivers a whole lot of AP and IB science courses as electives (which Einstein doesn’t currently offer), it will just be a handful of classes on how to use a pipette and a microscope.

Would you get on a bus from Whitman for that?

But doesn't the fact that MCPS is placing biotech in Einstein suggest that it will be adding the AP science classes to Einstein that are needed there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the ppt
Boundary Studies Program Analysis Update 251120 PPT.pdf https://share.google/M0lQdbx2jTMlewfP9

They seem to be frantically adding programs to address concerns. BCC now getting an interest based engineering program so they can siphon off more wealthy students from Einstein and Northwood, so awesome.

Northwood still screwed. People complained about it not having an academic criteria-based program and so they added.... agroecology, whatever the heck that is?

Meanwhile Whitman still has a criteria-based humanities magnet and BCC still has a criteria-based IB magnet, and they are doubling down on local schools getting extra local set-aside seats (as many as twice their fair share, ie. 15 compared to 30 shared among the other 4 schools or 25 compared to 60 shared among the other 4 schools.). So a humanities kid from the DCC not only has to travel all the way go BCC or Whitman for a magnet, but the BCC and Whitman kids have a much higher chance of getting in.

SMH. This is all so terribly inequitable.

+1 Agroecology is so random and I have no faith that the district has any idea what it is either. The wording in some of these slides is desperate.

What a bizarre program for an urban high school. MCPS must have pulled this off some "Jobs of the Future" website as they cast about for something to put at Northwood. Perhaps MCPS should listen to the community for what it desires.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the meeting at Flora Singer this week Taylor said the DCC was a good idea but its “flaw” was not including the “white, wealthy schools.” I’m not sure what he thought he was achieving by sharing that perspective, other than saying the quiet part out loud as is clear from this entire process.

That blew my mind when he said that. Then claiming that placing the IB magnet at BCC was to help diversify it. FFS man, read the room.

Taylor is so full of shit. In the new presentation, MCPS says there will be 30 – 60 Regional seats and 15 – 25 Local seats in the criteria based programs like IB. Even if most of those seats don’t go to rich, white kids from Whitman, those numbers won’t shift any demographics significantly.

The perception is that 3/4ths of the non local seats would go to schools that are “less wealthy” “more diverse” DCC schools. The reality is the actual kids likely to come from those “less wealthy” “more diverse” schools for this program are probably the ones who are demographically and economically similar to the BCC kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the ppt
Boundary Studies Program Analysis Update 251120 PPT.pdf https://share.google/M0lQdbx2jTMlewfP9

They seem to be frantically adding programs to address concerns. BCC now getting an interest based engineering program so they can siphon off more wealthy students from Einstein and Northwood, so awesome.

And, yet, they aren't giving many slots. Einstein familes (and now Northwood) have always been the forgotten school - no renovations, no advanced classes, few clubs...

I suspect they are doing it at Einstein as they aready have the classes so it looks like they are getting something new when they aren't. Einstein only has one engineering teacher who teaches a combine two classes in one in one class period class and that's it (great teacher but stretched thin as that's not fair to anyone). How MCPS thinks this is ok is beyond me!

Isn't Einstein getting a new criteria based Biotech program, a new interet based health care program, the criteria based visual arts for the region, the criteria based music for the region plus IB?

The biotech program will be a glorified lab tech training program.

https://marylandpublicschools.org/programs/documents/cte/standards/hhs_biotechnology-a.pdf

Umm what role do you think as HS student would qualify for beyond a glorified lab tech??? That alone doesn’t mean they can’t create a program that exposes kids to research, science and the opportunities to explore biotechnology.

I have my issues with how this is going but I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.

Compare that curriculum to the ones for the STEM programs at Blair and Poolesville. Are they even remotely similar? No. MCPS is developing direct-entry career pathways and trying to sell them as advanced college prep programs. It’s dishonest and parents are going to be pissed when it turns out their kid isn’t in a pre-pre-med track, but a track to work an entry-level job at LabCorp.


https://old.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/courses.php

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wOQxSa4R9M18B0DT0JrSnBFs50XKe0QGXa36rw5xIkU/edit?tab=t.0

🙄 a pre-pre-med track. You mean HS.

There is no such thing as a pre-pre-med track. That’s made up. Premed is the set of classes that must show in a collegiate level transcript to qualify for medical school application. That’s it.

Agree. Region 1 already has the Blair STEM magnet if you want to go that route. It's perfectly fine to put this sort of biotech program at another school in the same region.

The Blair magnet isn’t a life sciences program. The Wheaton biomedical magnet is the life sciences program for the DCC, and the teacher just won a national award from the organization that developed the curriculum. Region 3 should be super excited to gain access to that magnet.

In the new Region 1, the only life sciences option will be this biotechnology pathway. Unless MCPS delivers a whole lot of AP and IB science courses as electives (which Einstein doesn’t currently offer), it will just be a handful of classes on how to use a pipette and a microscope.

Would you get on a bus from Whitman for that?

We already know that very few Whitman or BCC kids will travel to Einstein, Northwood or Blair as very few currently travel to a very well established program at Blair. MCPS knows very well that kids will be traveling one way in this model.

That being said I do think a biotech program is a good idea. I don't think it will limit kids to being lab techs, it seems like it could give students a broad introduction to biomedical research at any level. Which makes sense for our area given the biotech industry here. Ph.D. researchers do work in labs and need those skills and if you are going into that field I do see a value in getting some exposure to that. During college if you want to go into biotech it is a good idea to work with researchers in their labs and having this experience could make students more competitive for those research assistant type roles for college students.

That being said this is all dependent on them actually being able to stand up this program which will be hard with zero resources. And Einstein doesn't currently have higher level science classes doesn't bode well for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the ppt
Boundary Studies Program Analysis Update 251120 PPT.pdf https://share.google/M0lQdbx2jTMlewfP9

They seem to be frantically adding programs to address concerns. BCC now getting an interest based engineering program so they can siphon off more wealthy students from Einstein and Northwood, so awesome.

And, yet, they aren't giving many slots. Einstein familes (and now Northwood) have always been the forgotten school - no renovations, no advanced classes, few clubs...

I suspect they are doing it at Einstein as they aready have the classes so it looks like they are getting something new when they aren't. Einstein only has one engineering teacher who teaches a combine two classes in one in one class period class and that's it (great teacher but stretched thin as that's not fair to anyone). How MCPS thinks this is ok is beyond me!

Isn't Einstein getting a new criteria based Biotech program, a new interet based health care program, the criteria based visual arts for the region, the criteria based music for the region plus IB?

The biotech program will be a glorified lab tech training program.

https://marylandpublicschools.org/programs/documents/cte/standards/hhs_biotechnology-a.pdf

Umm what role do you think as HS student would qualify for beyond a glorified lab tech??? That alone doesn’t mean they can’t create a program that exposes kids to research, science and the opportunities to explore biotechnology.

I have my issues with how this is going but I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.

Compare that curriculum to the ones for the STEM programs at Blair and Poolesville. Are they even remotely similar? No. MCPS is developing direct-entry career pathways and trying to sell them as advanced college prep programs. It’s dishonest and parents are going to be pissed when it turns out their kid isn’t in a pre-pre-med track, but a track to work an entry-level job at LabCorp.


https://old.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/courses.php

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wOQxSa4R9M18B0DT0JrSnBFs50XKe0QGXa36rw5xIkU/edit?tab=t.0

🙄 a pre-pre-med track. You mean HS.

There is no such thing as a pre-pre-med track. That’s made up. Premed is the set of classes that must show in a collegiate level transcript to qualify for medical school application. That’s it.

Agree. Region 1 already has the Blair STEM magnet if you want to go that route. It's perfectly fine to put this sort of biotech program at another school in the same region.

The Blair magnet isn’t a life sciences program. The Wheaton biomedical magnet is the life sciences program for the DCC, and the teacher just won a national award from the organization that developed the curriculum. Region 3 should be super excited to gain access to that magnet.

In the new Region 1, the only life sciences option will be this biotechnology pathway. Unless MCPS delivers a whole lot of AP and IB science courses as electives (which Einstein doesn’t currently offer), it will just be a handful of classes on how to use a pipette and a microscope.

Would you get on a bus from Whitman for that?

But doesn't the fact that MCPS is placing biotech in Einstein suggest that it will be adding the AP science classes to Einstein that are needed there?

Dunno. People keep asking about stuff like that and MCPS never answers.