What did the board say about the Regional model and the DCC for upcoming school year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS could also just start with 3 regions and build slowly. Have a combined region 1/2, 3/4, 5/6. Nothing in the approved proposal says they need 6 regions.

True. They could start slow and then after the first couple of years, see where the demand is and add more programs as they go along, splitting the regions.

They have publicly stated that a piecemeal approach would be "inequitable"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS could also just start with 3 regions and build slowly. Have a combined region 1/2, 3/4, 5/6. Nothing in the approved proposal says they need 6 regions.

They've allowed maximum flexibility to the superintendent. Taylor is choosing to do it with 6. His successor could consolidate it down or up and doesn't need the board's permission to make those changes. They basically left the structure of the program model up entirely to whoever is superintendent. Which is crazy, but hey, that's the board that we have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am surprised QO does not have established programs. I originally thought that QO is considered a decent medium HS with okay students surrounded by other high FARM HS in nearby areas.

QO = Sports. No established programs in QO. If QO was asked to move to Crown, no one would have put up a fight like Wootton did.

Is QO only known for football? How about other sports? I am zoned to QO, within walking zone for 20 min. My child would rather get bused to new Crown HS instead of walking, lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS could also just start with 3 regions and build slowly. Have a combined region 1/2, 3/4, 5/6. Nothing in the approved proposal says they need 6 regions.

True. They could start slow and then after the first couple of years, see where the demand is and add more programs as they go along, splitting the regions.

They have publicly stated that a piecemeal approach would be "inequitable"

Then transportation must be the first priority along with how many established successful programs will be in each region and how much funds they need to start a new program in that region. You cannot have students traversing across the county when the goal was to have these programs accessible to all.

Current MCPS region 6:
Poolesville - SMCS
Clarksburg - P-Tech
NorthWest - Ulysses
Seneca Valley - IB

Current MCPS Region 5:
Watkins Mill - IB
Magruder - Aerospace

You have 3 STEM related successful programs in MCPS Region 6. In MCPS Region 5, Magruder's Aerospace program is the only STEM program.

This does not even make any sense having 4 established programs (with 3 of them STEM) in one region, and only 2 established programs in the neighboring region (1 STEM), especially when one of those schools with the established STEM program in Region 6 does not even belong there if it comes to transportation (I'm talking about Clarksburg).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS could also just start with 3 regions and build slowly. Have a combined region 1/2, 3/4, 5/6. Nothing in the approved proposal says they need 6 regions.

True. They could start slow and then after the first couple of years, see where the demand is and add more programs as they go along, splitting the regions.

They have publicly stated that a piecemeal approach would be "inequitable"

Then transportation must be the first priority along with how many established successful programs will be in each region and how much funds they need to start a new program in that region. You cannot have students traversing across the county when the goal was to have these programs accessible to all.

Current MCPS region 6:
Poolesville - SMCS
Clarksburg - P-Tech
NorthWest - Ulysses
Seneca Valley - IB

Current MCPS Region 5:
Watkins Mill - IB
Magruder - Aerospace

You have 3 STEM related successful programs in MCPS Region 6. In MCPS Region 5, Magruder's Aerospace program is the only STEM program.

This does not even make any sense having 4 established programs (with 3 of them STEM) in one region, and only 2 established programs in the neighboring region (1 STEM), especially when one of those schools with the established STEM program in Region 6 does not even belong there if it comes to transportation (I'm talking about Clarksburg).

They should just combine region 5 & 6, same for other regions to combine them to be more fair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS could also just start with 3 regions and build slowly. Have a combined region 1/2, 3/4, 5/6. Nothing in the approved proposal says they need 6 regions.

True. They could start slow and then after the first couple of years, see where the demand is and add more programs as they go along, splitting the regions.

They have publicly stated that a piecemeal approach would be "inequitable"

Then transportation must be the first priority along with how many established successful programs will be in each region and how much funds they need to start a new program in that region. You cannot have students traversing across the county when the goal was to have these programs accessible to all.

Current MCPS region 6:
Poolesville - SMCS
Clarksburg - P-Tech
NorthWest - Ulysses
Seneca Valley - IB

Current MCPS Region 5:
Watkins Mill - IB
Magruder - Aerospace

You have 3 STEM related successful programs in MCPS Region 6. In MCPS Region 5, Magruder's Aerospace program is the only STEM program.

This does not even make any sense having 4 established programs (with 3 of them STEM) in one region, and only 2 established programs in the neighboring region (1 STEM), especially when one of those schools with the established STEM program in Region 6 does not even belong there if it comes to transportation (I'm talking about Clarksburg).

They should just combine region 5 & 6, same for other regions to combine them to be more fair.

I agree, and for the other regions too. 3 regions would be more fair, less complicated, would probably have higher quality special programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS could also just start with 3 regions and build slowly. Have a combined region 1/2, 3/4, 5/6. Nothing in the approved proposal says they need 6 regions.

True. They could start slow and then after the first couple of years, see where the demand is and add more programs as they go along, splitting the regions.

They have publicly stated that a piecemeal approach would be "inequitable"

Then transportation must be the first priority along with how many established successful programs will be in each region and how much funds they need to start a new program in that region. You cannot have students traversing across the county when the goal was to have these programs accessible to all.

Current MCPS region 6:
Poolesville - SMCS
Clarksburg - P-Tech
NorthWest - Ulysses
Seneca Valley - IB

Current MCPS Region 5:
Watkins Mill - IB
Magruder - Aerospace

You have 3 STEM related successful programs in MCPS Region 6. In MCPS Region 5, Magruder's Aerospace program is the only STEM program.

This does not even make any sense having 4 established programs (with 3 of them STEM) in one region, and only 2 established programs in the neighboring region (1 STEM), especially when one of those schools with the established STEM program in Region 6 does not even belong there if it comes to transportation (I'm talking about Clarksburg).

They should just combine region 5 & 6, same for other regions to combine them to be more fair.

I agree, but if they have already stated that piecemeal approach would be inequitable, then what other solutions are there to make it equitable?

The superintendent is not the person who goes down to the basics on transportation and other logistics - he would rely on his teams and there must be people in those teams with agendas if the information they presented to him showed that Damascus and Clarksburg belonged in Region 6 with Poolesville. Damascus and Clarksburg just don't belong in Region 6. With the current region 5 there is a very low Asian population. Moving Clarksburg (which has a good sized Asian population) and Damascus (more white population) to Region 5 will make the magnet crowd more diverse.

And there is no equity in having 3 established STEM programs in one region and 1 STEM program in the neighboring region. And honestly if you consider proximity, Magruder should be with Region 4, but then having the RM IB, Wootton STEM and Magruder Aerospace means that region will benefit way too much compared to the others.

Nothing is set in stone yet so I am still holding on to hope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am surprised QO does not have established programs. I originally thought that QO is considered a decent medium HS with okay students surrounded by other high FARM HS in nearby areas.

QO = Sports. No established programs in QO. If QO was asked to move to Crown, no one would have put up a fight like Wootton did.

Is QO only known for football? How about other sports? I am zoned to QO, within walking zone for 20 min. My child would rather get bused to new Crown HS instead of walking, lol.

Also zoned for QO. As far as I know, its football football and football. My kid will be there 4 years down the line and we would have loved to go to Crown. We will be bused to QO, so getting bused to Crown is actually better for us.

[Anonymous]

They don't have to consider 3 regions piecemeal. They could say with budget it is the best chance to be equitable (especially with transportation) AND expand with fidelity. I think a lot more people could get on board with a 3 region plan.

[Anonymous]

From today's email from MCPS:

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DSFTQE7875F4/$file/Apprv%20Rec%20Establish%20Secondary%20Regional%20Programs%20260326.pdf

"
Resolved, That the Board of Education authorizes the superintendent of schools to establish
a secondary regional program model to expand equitable access to specialized programs and
reduce scarcity and geographic barriers; and be it further
Resolved, regional programs shall be available within each operational region and shall
be populated through student interest and choice within those regions; and be it further
Resolved, That the superintendent of schools is authorized to determine the location, design,
implementation, and enrollment of regional programs based on student interest, program capacity,
and system needs; and be it further
Resolved, That implementation of the regional secondary program model shall begin
in the 2027–2028 school year, with Grade 9 students enrolling in regional programs as the initial
cohort; and be it further
Resolved, That the graduating Class of 2031 shall be the first class to fully participate
in the regional high school program model; and be it further
"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They don't have to consider 3 regions piecemeal. They could say with budget it is the best chance to be equitable (especially with transportation) AND expand with fidelity. I think a lot more people could get on board with a 3 region plan.

Yes, it's pretty obvious to everyone they should have started with 3 regions. But that wouldn't work with Taylor's plans to shoehorn everything else in the county into 6 regions operationally/logistically, so we're stuck with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don't have to consider 3 regions piecemeal. They could say with budget it is the best chance to be equitable (especially with transportation) AND expand with fidelity. I think a lot more people could get on board with a 3 region plan.

Yes, it's pretty obvious to everyone they should have started with 3 regions. But that wouldn't work with Taylor's plans to shoehorn everything else in the county into 6 regions operationally/logistically, so we're stuck with this.

Poster who came up with all these options.

He seems reasonable and open to change and it looks like he does want the best for the county. Have faith. He may surprise you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don't have to consider 3 regions piecemeal. They could say with budget it is the best chance to be equitable (especially with transportation) AND expand with fidelity. I think a lot more people could get on board with a 3 region plan.

Yes, it's pretty obvious to everyone they should have started with 3 regions. But that wouldn't work with Taylor's plans to shoehorn everything else in the county into 6 regions operationally/logistically, so we're stuck with this.

Poster who came up with all these options.

He seems reasonable and open to change and it looks like he does want the best for the county. Have faith. He may surprise you.

DP

I don't care about his intentions. His plan is not sound. He intentionally chose not to engage with the community about the dissolution of the DCC and NEC and instead flooded the zone with a bunch of endless power points about a half baked regional program proposal. He's made it clear he doesn't want to hear from us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am surprised QO does not have established programs. I originally thought that QO is considered a decent medium HS with okay students surrounded by other high FARM HS in nearby areas.

QO = Sports. No established programs in QO. If QO was asked to move to Crown, no one would have put up a fight like Wootton did.

Is QO only known for football? How about other sports? I am zoned to QO, within walking zone for 20 min. My child would rather get bused to new Crown HS instead of walking, lol.

Also zoned for QO. As far as I know, its football football and football. My kid will be there 4 years down the line and we would have loved to go to Crown. We will be bused to QO, so getting bused to Crown is actually better for us.

Go ahead and move to Crown. To each their own. My child is zoned for QO and loves their accelerated cohort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am surprised QO does not have established programs. I originally thought that QO is considered a decent medium HS with okay students surrounded by other high FARM HS in nearby areas.

QO = Sports. No established programs in QO. If QO was asked to move to Crown, no one would have put up a fight like Wootton did.

Is QO only known for football? How about other sports? I am zoned to QO, within walking zone for 20 min. My child would rather get bused to new Crown HS instead of walking, lol.

Also zoned for QO. As far as I know, its football football and football. My kid will be there 4 years down the line and we would have loved to go to Crown. We will be bused to QO, so getting bused to Crown is actually better for us.

Go ahead and move to Crown. To each their own. My child is zoned for QO and loves their accelerated cohort.

Can you tell me more about accelerated cohort?