Fighting and suspensions at Blair

[Anonymous]

How about we all agree to demand that Blair should release statistics for the schools with the CAP and magnet stats reported separately?

After all, if we honestly believe Blair is a good school, the disaggregated numbers would support our belief, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill's FARMS percent is 5.3%. Churchill's percent of black students is 8.9%. Churchill's enrollment is 2,093. So 111 FARMS students, and 186 black students.

Blair's FARMS percent is 36.8%. Blair's percent of black students is 27.2%. Blair's enrollment is 2,790. So 1,027 FARMS students, and 759 black students.

I wonder if the difference in the size of the denominator makes a difference. (Actually I don't wonder that. I'm pretty sure it does.)

But, ok, let's say you're correct. Churchill does a better job of educating FARMS students and black students than Blair. Therefore, MCPS should enable more FARMS students and black students to attend Churchill. You don't have a problem with that, right?

I cannot believe anyone would have the chutzpah to even say these things. very inappropriate.

On a more politically correct note, these two schools cannot even be compared. You are comparing a Ferrari to a Ford. I mean seriously. Almost half of Blair is Farms, ok. So basically, a majority of the non-magnet students are socioeconomically disadvantaged. And yes, these students get into fights. At least, they are the kids who would usually start the fights in my SS school (but not always finish them). And believe me, it's not racial. White people scrap too in SS. I did, my cousins did (SS public schools).

Almost half of Blair is FARMS? See http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04757.pdf

Not quite.

Yes, getting into fights may not be the monopoly of any single race.

The question is whether Blair does a good job teaching its students compare to other MCPS schools, especially "W" schools.

You blame the teachers for the stats? I don't think so. It's the kids. The parents. It's definitely not the teachers (please).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill's FARMS percent is 5.3%. Churchill's percent of black students is 8.9%. Churchill's enrollment is 2,093. So 111 FARMS students, and 186 black students.

Blair's FARMS percent is 36.8%. Blair's percent of black students is 27.2%. Blair's enrollment is 2,790. So 1,027 FARMS students, and 759 black students.

I wonder if the difference in the size of the denominator makes a difference. (Actually I don't wonder that. I'm pretty sure it does.)

But, ok, let's say you're correct. Churchill does a better job of educating FARMS students and black students than Blair. Therefore, MCPS should enable more FARMS students and black students to attend Churchill. You don't have a problem with that, right?

I cannot believe anyone would have the chutzpah to even say these things. very inappropriate.

On a more politically correct note, these two schools cannot even be compared. You are comparing a Ferrari to a Ford. I mean seriously. Almost half of Blair is Farms, ok. So basically, a majority of the non-magnet students are socioeconomically disadvantaged. And yes, these students get into fights. At least, they are the kids who would usually start the fights in my SS school (but not always finish them). And believe me, it's not racial. White people scrap too in SS. I did, my cousins did (SS public schools).

Almost half of Blair is FARMS? See http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04757.pdf

Not quite.

Yes, getting into fights may not be the monopoly of any single race.

The question is whether Blair does a good job teaching its students compare to other MCPS schools, especially "W" schools.

You blame the teachers for the stats? I don't think so. It's the kids. The parents. It's definitely not the teachers (please).

Jeez, will you give it a rest? No one is blaming teachers. The ability to teach a student is not, I say not, simply a function of the teacher's skills.

[Anonymous]

Blair has substitutes teaching classes for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Blair has an award winning principal. She apparently won an award from a group that help recruit teachers to difficult schools: https://silverchips.mbhs.edu/story/12375.
According to the school newspaper, “After being appointed as principal three years ago, Johnson has made many improvements to the school. She has installed a TV in Blair's cafeteria , created a less strict cell phone policy and started a Principal's Advisory Council composed of Blair students. In the future, Johnson hopes to make the lunch room more "teenage-friendly" including installing a microwave in the cafeteria.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill's FARMS percent is 5.3%. Churchill's percent of black students is 8.9%. Churchill's enrollment is 2,093. So 111 FARMS students, and 186 black students.

Blair's FARMS percent is 36.8%. Blair's percent of black students is 27.2%. Blair's enrollment is 2,790. So 1,027 FARMS students, and 759 black students.

I wonder if the difference in the size of the denominator makes a difference. (Actually I don't wonder that. I'm pretty sure it does.)

But, ok, let's say you're correct. Churchill does a better job of educating FARMS students and black students than Blair. Therefore, MCPS should enable more FARMS students and black students to attend Churchill. You don't have a problem with that, right?

One problem. At Churchill you have a different type of black student. Some are from Scotland but most are sons and daughters of doctors, lawyers, and other professionals. At Blair the blacks are the sons and daughters of the blue collar crowd that Churchill parents hire to shovel their driveway.

You can't be seriou. Do you know how many black lawyers, doctors, dentists and business owners there are in the DCC?!

[Anonymous]

I don't quite understand the mindset of denigrating people to defend Blair. I don't get the idea of claiming SS does not have professionals from the minority community.

Blair's problems can't be blamed on the demographics alone. I find the principal's accomplishments troubling-- "Johnson has made many improvements to the school. She has installed a TV in Blair's cafeteria , created a less strict cell phone policy and started a Principal's Advisory Council composed of Blair students. In the future, Johnson hopes to make the lunch room more "teenage-friendly" including installing a microwave in the cafeteria.” Is she trying to curry favor with the student body or promote academics. Looking at her twitter feed a previous poster mentioned made me realize (a) she tweets a lot. I mean a lot, and (b) she seems to include a lot of pictures of herself.

How about a principal who shows interest in students and promotes academics? TV in the Blair cafeteria? Seriously? Is that the priority at Blair?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't quite understand the mindset of denigrating people to defend Blair. I don't get the idea of claiming SS does not have professionals from the minority community.

Blair's problems can't be blamed on the demographics alone. I find the principal's accomplishments troubling-- "Johnson has made many improvements to the school. She has installed a TV in Blair's cafeteria , created a less strict cell phone policy and started a Principal's Advisory Council composed of Blair students. In the future, Johnson hopes to make the lunch room more "teenage-friendly" including installing a microwave in the cafeteria.” Is she trying to curry favor with the student body or promote academics. Looking at her twitter feed a previous poster mentioned made me realize (a) she tweets a lot. I mean a lot, and (b) she seems to include a lot of pictures of herself.

How about a principal who shows interest in students and promotes academics? TV in the Blair cafeteria? Seriously? Is that the priority at Blair?

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about we all agree to demand that Blair should release statistics for the schools with the CAP and magnet stats reported separately?

After all, if we honestly believe Blair is a good school, the disaggregated numbers would support our belief, right?

How about we all first explain

1. Why we need to have MCPS separate out the statistics for CAP, magnet, and general Blair?
2. WHY PEOPLE ARE SO FIXATED ON RUNNING DOWN BLAIR. (I apologize for the shouting. But I just really, really don't get it.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill's FARMS percent is 5.3%. Churchill's percent of black students is 8.9%. Churchill's enrollment is 2,093. So 111 FARMS students, and 186 black students.

Blair's FARMS percent is 36.8%. Blair's percent of black students is 27.2%. Blair's enrollment is 2,790. So 1,027 FARMS students, and 759 black students.

I wonder if the difference in the size of the denominator makes a difference. (Actually I don't wonder that. I'm pretty sure it does.)

But, ok, let's say you're correct. Churchill does a better job of educating FARMS students and black students than Blair. Therefore, MCPS should enable more FARMS students and black students to attend Churchill. You don't have a problem with that, right?[/

Don't have a problem with that at all. Please go ahead and ask the MCCPTA to advocate for your suggestion. You don't have a problem with that, right?

I have no problem with asking MCCPTA to ask MCPS to allow anybody who wants to to go to Whitman or Churchill. If Whitman and Churchill are the best schools in MCPS, then everybody in MCPS should have the opportunity to go there -- not just people whose parents can afford to live in the Whitman and Churchill zones. Hooray! I'm glad we agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
How about we all first explain

1. Why we need to have MCPS separate out the statistics for CAP, magnet, and general Blair?
2. WHY PEOPLE ARE SO FIXATED ON RUNNING DOWN BLAIR. (I apologize for the shouting. But I just really, really don't get it.)

I'll address these:

1. Where would MCPS stop on this? It's not like Blair has the only magnet program in the county. Do you start separating out Blake's programs, Einstein's, BCC? RM IB? How about accounting for general population kids who take a magnet class or 2? Do you disregard them because they happen to be intelligent?

We can have high level stats discussions all day and pay people to figure out what is statistically significant or not. But it will all say effectively the same thing: higher SES kids tend to perform more highly on standardized tests. So, the higher SES within Blair is very comparable to the stats for a school (cough Whitman cough) that is primarily high SES. And lower SES (which in MoCo tends to be non-Asian minority) performs more poorly. And maybe there is a disparity between schools of how lower SES students perform, maybe not.

2. I've often wondered why people here pick on Blair in particular. There have been obvious trolls in previous posts (Poolesville, Olney), whose motivations appear almost spiteful. But otherwise there is no sense to the tearing down of Blair, although many people clearly are keen to do so.

BTW, I am a DTSS parent who plans to send their kids to Blair in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
How about we all first explain

1. Why we need to have MCPS separate out the statistics for CAP, magnet, and general Blair?
2. WHY PEOPLE ARE SO FIXATED ON RUNNING DOWN BLAIR. (I apologize for the shouting. But I just really, really don't get it.)

I'll address these:

1. Where would MCPS stop on this? It's not like Blair has the only magnet program in the county. Do you start separating out Blake's programs, Einstein's, BCC? RM IB? How about accounting for general population kids who take a magnet class or 2? Do you disregard them because they happen to be intelligent?

We can have high level stats discussions all day and pay people to figure out what is statistically significant or not. But it will all say effectively the same thing: higher SES kids tend to perform more highly on standardized tests. So, the higher SES within Blair is very comparable to the stats for a school (cough Whitman cough) that is primarily high SES. And lower SES (which in MoCo tends to be non-Asian minority) performs more poorly. And maybe there is a disparity between schools of how lower SES students perform, maybe not.

2. I've often wondered why people here pick on Blair in particular. There have been obvious trolls in previous posts (Poolesville, Olney), whose motivations appear almost spiteful. But otherwise there is no sense to the tearing down of Blair, although many people clearly are keen to do so.

BTW, I am a DTSS parent who plans to send their kids to Blair in a few years.

Also, CAP is magnet that is only for DCC students. I think that fact might mess up whatever point the Blair haters are trying to make (if I could figure out exactly what that point is). And no, Blair is not our school. I just don't get all the hate that is directed towards it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
How about we all first explain

1. Why we need to have MCPS separate out the statistics for CAP, magnet, and general Blair?
2. WHY PEOPLE ARE SO FIXATED ON RUNNING DOWN BLAIR. (I apologize for the shouting. But I just really, really don't get it.)

I'll address these:

1. Where would MCPS stop on this? It's not like Blair has the only magnet program in the county. Do you start separating out Blake's programs, Einstein's, BCC? RM IB? How about accounting for general population kids who take a magnet class or 2? Do you disregard them because they happen to be intelligent?

We can have high level stats discussions all day and pay people to figure out what is statistically significant or not. But it will all say effectively the same thing: higher SES kids tend to perform more highly on standardized tests. So, the higher SES within Blair is very comparable to the stats for a school (cough Whitman cough) that is primarily high SES. And lower SES (which in MoCo tends to be non-Asian minority) performs more poorly. And maybe there is a disparity between schools of how lower SES students perform, maybe not.

2. I've often wondered why people here pick on Blair in particular. There have been obvious trolls in previous posts (Poolesville, Olney), whose motivations appear almost spiteful. But otherwise there is no sense to the tearing down of Blair, although many people clearly are keen to do so.

BTW, I am a DTSS parent who plans to send their kids to Blair in a few years.

Also, CAP is magnet that is only for DCC students. I think that fact might mess up whatever point the Blair haters are trying to make (if I could figure out exactly what that point is). And no, Blair is not our school. I just don't get all the hate that is directed towards it.

Thank you for pointing that out. It's a very important distinction to make to counter those who suggest that CAP kids somehow artificially inflate Blair's numbers. CAP students are DCC kids. There are some non-DCC kids who come in through Eastern's magnet, but most are DCC kids. In other words, most of these kids would be going to Blair anyway, or at least hope to get in via the choice process. CAP just guarantees them a spot at Blair.

And guess what--of the 100 kids per grade in the M&S magnet, some of them come from the DCC too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't quite understand the mindset of denigrating people to defend Blair. I don't get the idea of claiming SS does not have professionals from the minority community.

Blair's problems can't be blamed on the demographics alone. I find the principal's accomplishments troubling-- "Johnson has made many improvements to the school. She has installed a TV in Blair's cafeteria , created a less strict cell phone policy and started a Principal's Advisory Council composed of Blair students. In the future, Johnson hopes to make the lunch room more "teenage-friendly" including installing a microwave in the cafeteria.” Is she trying to curry favor with the student body or promote academics. Looking at her twitter feed a previous poster mentioned made me realize (a) she tweets a lot. I mean a lot, and (b) she seems to include a lot of pictures of herself.

How about a principal who shows interest in students and promotes academics? TV in the Blair cafeteria? Seriously? Is that the priority at Blair?

+100

Ummm ... that quote is from the school newspaper. You know, the one written by students?? The ones for whom a TV in the cafeteria might actually be a priority. To take a quote from the school newspaper, label that as the principal's accomplishments, and then conclude that the principal is trying to curry favor with students as opposed to promoting academics is a bit of a leap, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't quite understand the mindset of denigrating people to defend Blair. I don't get the idea of claiming SS does not have professionals from the minority community.

Blair's problems can't be blamed on the demographics alone. I find the principal's accomplishments troubling-- "Johnson has made many improvements to the school. She has installed a TV in Blair's cafeteria , created a less strict cell phone policy and started a Principal's Advisory Council composed of Blair students. In the future, Johnson hopes to make the lunch room more "teenage-friendly" including installing a microwave in the cafeteria.” Is she trying to curry favor with the student body or promote academics. Looking at her twitter feed a previous poster mentioned made me realize (a) she tweets a lot. I mean a lot, and (b) she seems to include a lot of pictures of herself.

How about a principal who shows interest in students and promotes academics? TV in the Blair cafeteria? Seriously? Is that the priority at Blair?

+100

Ummm ... that quote is from the school newspaper. You know, the one written by students?? The ones for whom a TV in the cafeteria might actually be a priority. To take a quote from the school newspaper, label that as the principal's accomplishments, and then conclude that the principal is trying to curry favor with students as opposed to promoting academics is a bit of a leap, no?

Seriously? So, your argument is that the reason the kids listed what they did as Johnson's accomplishments is because it is the priority of the kids??! So, you are now denigrating an award winning newspaper?