Law Suit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both of my kids have been in MCPS since before the oldest started K. We have never been contacted by MCPS, sent informational letters, or pointed to a website regarding anything other than your garden variety public school. Alternative education options are not publicized. I only know about them because I happen to be on here, through Child Find, or a friend telling me. How many people know about MCPS's Gifted/Talented/Learning Disabled program? No one at the school mentioned this to me. I found out from a friend. All I'm saying is spend a little time publicizing these options, just like they do for annual testing and fundraising.

+1. Special education kids also experience discrimination in these programs. I have 2 kids, one with an IEP, one with a 504, and we were consistently told in MS that there are no services available in foreign language programs, because foreign language is not a "core academic" class. One school even tried to kick my kid out of foreign language class rather than provide accommodations in the 504. This is illegal. The lack of support for "specialized instruction" in foreign language classes drives special ed kids away from foreign language at all levels, not jut immersion.

Many parents are driven away from the magnet programs because MCPS refuses to give IEPs or 504 plans to GT/LD or GT/ADHD kids. Without a plan, these kids don't get accommodations. The testing and application mechanisms have a negative disparate impact on applications from this qualified population of students. Parents are also privately told that the magnet is a "bad fit" or "won't provide services". GT/LD kids are steered toward the GT/LD program as the only place that a student can get both GT academics and "special instruction." This is also illegal. I had to fight both times to get the magnet schools to comply with IEP and 504 plans. Yet, with accommodations, my kids can perform in a magnet just like other kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe he is not the best voice for this but it is 100% true that the system as now set up benefits those in the know and penalizes you for not knowing you need to google the immersion requirements the winter before your kid starts.

Options:
1) flip the lottery to later so participating is simply a box you check during regular enrollment

2) start immersion in 1st as FCPS does in many cases so you can publicize it through all the normal communication channels like flyers and robo calls.

And finally get rid of sibling preference. There is no good reason for this that anyone NOT benefiting from it can point to.

1) Lottery can't be much later because it takes a while for the slots to be filled as people accept and reject spots due to multiple options in and outside of immersion.
2) Not sure parents want to uproot their kid after the first year of school to a new building, student body and language.
3) YES!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both of my kids have been in MCPS since before the oldest started K. We have never been contacted by MCPS, sent informational letters, or pointed to a website regarding anything other than your garden variety public school. Alternative education options are not publicized. I only know about them because I happen to be on here, through Child Find, or a friend telling me. How many people know about MCPS's Gifted/Talented/Learning Disabled program? No one at the school mentioned this to me. I found out from a friend. All I'm saying is spend a little time publicizing these options, just like they do for annual testing and fundraising.

I find this strange.
We get calls regularly about the Saturday Learning Academy, about information meetings for GT programs and for magnet/choice programs. We get calls reminding us about application deadlines. I get mail from MCPS about magnet and choice programs and these mailings direct me to the website for more information. Did you opt out of mailings and/or phone calls?
I do not recall ever getting a mailing about GT/LD programs but I got mailings and calls about the magnet middle schools and magnet high schools, about the magnet choice programs (Parkland etc.), and about the DCC choice program (the DownCounty Consortium high school choice programs). The phone calls are in both English and Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anyone listen to the Kojo Nmandi show today?

[Anonymous]

" 1) Lottery can't be much later because it takes a while for the slots to be filled as people accept and reject spots due to multiple options in and outside of immersion.
2) Not sure parents want to uproot their kid after the first year of school to a new building, student body and language.
3) YES! "

1) Sure it can if it flows into summer more. And it's simply impossible then just move up normal registration. These are not dates carved in stone and it's really wrong that the immersion lottery must be applied for BEFORE normal K registration. It needs to be the other way around & they can play with the dates to make it happen. Without that, I fail to see how they can adequately notify people of the options out there.

2) AND? The immersion programs seem strongly over-subscribed. If people find out they like their local rather than avoiding it based on rumors, this would be a bad thing why??? For those totally devoted to immersion's benefits I would think that although they would prefer a start in K they would be willing to make the trade off for the huge benefit they get of the public schools giving them a bilingual child. It's not as if the lottery is struggling to get enough participants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone listen to the Kojo Nmandi show today?

I listened. Jawando only mentioned that he applied to RCF. He did not mentioned that he also applied and got a spot in RTES.

He otherwise didn't seem that unreasonable. He said that the programs should be expanded to better meet the demand. He also said the demand would probably be much larger if there was better outreach to under-served communities and information sessions that did not only occur during the workday. There was some discussion about the MS/HS magnet programs and inequality there that has existed for decades. He mentioned that he filed a federal civil suit to try to force the issue of reform that should have come long ago.

He specifically said that he wasn't advocating for the sibling link to be removed, but that they should evaluate more thoroughly the impact of the sibling link (beyond the choice study). Most importantly, he said that the larger discussions about inequality are being lost in the highly emotionally charged discussions about the sibling link. (Side note, he has 3 kids; his first is entering K this fall.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
" 1) Lottery can't be much later because it takes a while for the slots to be filled as people accept and reject spots due to multiple options in and outside of immersion.
2) Not sure parents want to uproot their kid after the first year of school to a new building, student body and language.
3) YES! "

1) Sure it can if it flows into summer more. And it's simply impossible then just move up normal registration. These are not dates carved in stone and it's really wrong that the immersion lottery must be applied for BEFORE normal K registration. It needs to be the other way around & they can play with the dates to make it happen. Without that, I fail to see how they can adequately notify people of the options out there.

2) AND? The immersion programs seem strongly over-subscribed. If people find out they like their local rather than avoiding it based on rumors, this would be a bad thing why??? For those totally devoted to immersion's benefits I would think that although they would prefer a start in K they would be willing to make the trade off for the huge benefit they get of the public schools giving them a bilingual child. It's not as if the lottery is struggling to get enough participants.

1) Why is the summer any different than April?
2) You make a valid point here which is my response to those who want to keep the sibling link. If it's that important that your kids stay together don't do immersion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone listen to the Kojo Nmandi show today?

I listened. Jawando only mentioned that he applied to RCF. He did not mentioned that he also applied and got a spot in RTES.

He otherwise didn't seem that unreasonable. He said that the programs should be expanded to better meet the demand. He also said the demand would probably be much larger if there was better outreach to under-served communities and information sessions that did not only occur during the workday. There was some discussion about the MS/HS magnet programs and inequality there that has existed for decades. He mentioned that he filed a federal civil suit to try to force the issue of reform that should have come long ago.

He specifically said that he wasn't advocating for the sibling link to be removed, but that they should evaluate more thoroughly the impact of the sibling link (beyond the choice study). Most importantly, he said that the larger discussions about inequality are being lost in the highly emotionally charged discussions about the sibling link. (Side note, he has 3 kids; his first is entering K this fall.)

He wouldn't come out and say it but trust me he's against it. That's why he mentioned placing siblings in the English Academy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone listen to the Kojo Nmandi show today?

I listened. Jawando only mentioned that he applied to RCF. He did not mentioned that he also applied and got a spot in RTES.

He otherwise didn't seem that unreasonable. He said that the programs should be expanded to better meet the demand. He also said the demand would probably be much larger if there was better outreach to under-served communities and information sessions that did not only occur during the workday. There was some discussion about the MS/HS magnet programs and inequality there that has existed for decades. He mentioned that he filed a federal civil suit to try to force the issue of reform that should have come long ago.

He specifically said that he wasn't advocating for the sibling link to be removed, but that they should evaluate more thoroughly the impact of the sibling link (beyond the choice study). Most importantly, he said that the larger discussions about inequality are being lost in the highly emotionally charged discussions about the sibling link. (Side note, he has 3 kids; his first is entering K this fall.)

Just curious how he would propose that MCPS pay for all the additional busing if the programs were expanded to better meet a higher than current demand.

MCPS currently has enough budget issues without expanding programs.

[Anonymous]

"Why is the summer any different than April? "

The point is that immersion sign up should be done as part of normal registration so the info is provided to everyone if you are starting in K. That would mean the timing of the lottery deadlines would need to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
" 1) Lottery can't be much later because it takes a while for the slots to be filled as people accept and reject spots due to multiple options in and outside of immersion.
2) Not sure parents want to uproot their kid after the first year of school to a new building, student body and language.
3) YES! "

1) Sure it can if it flows into summer more. And it's simply impossible then just move up normal registration. These are not dates carved in stone and it's really wrong that the immersion lottery must be applied for BEFORE normal K registration. It needs to be the other way around & they can play with the dates to make it happen. Without that, I fail to see how they can adequately notify people of the options out there.

2) AND? The immersion programs seem strongly over-subscribed. If people find out they like their local rather than avoiding it based on rumors, this would be a bad thing why??? For those totally devoted to immersion's benefits I would think that although they would prefer a start in K they would be willing to make the trade off for the huge benefit they get of the public schools giving them a bilingual child. It's not as if the lottery is struggling to get enough participants.

3). YES. The one thing that struck me is that the year he applied at RCF, something like 42-45% of spots were taken by siblings. I think we applied the same year for our kindergartner. Why did I even bother?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know from the Post article that 47% of the participants are white. But how many of the applicants are white? How many are each of the other races/ethnicities?

According to the choice study, 45% of the applicants were White, 17% Black, 18% Hispanic for the year they did the evaluation. They only evaluated one year, so there obviously will be some variability of those numbers each year.

MCPS is only 21% black. If 17% of the applicants to immersion programs were black, seems like lots of black folks know about it.

I suspect that Jawando was always planning to send his kid to private. I'm sure this investigation will mainly serve to divert money away from instructional needs and possibly bring about the end of immersion programs altogether. I think it is absolutely infuriating that someone who has not even had a child in MCPS would advocate for expanding immersion when there are so many pressing budget issues and a rapidly expanding FARMS population. I agree with him, that there is a huge unmet need in foreign language instruction, but, given our current budget environment and demographic realities, I'm not sure this should be a county priority. Most of the parents I know, would prefer to see money spent on expanding differentiated instruction for high performing students in ES and MS in our down county schools.

[Anonymous]

High performing students are not the current focus of MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Why is the summer any different than April? "

The point is that immersion sign up should be done as part of normal registration so the info is provided to everyone if you are starting in K. That would mean the timing of the lottery deadlines would need to change.

Well the point is that it cannot be tied directly to registration because parents register all through the year. Anyway you look at it a deadline has to be set with enough time before school starts so that the lottery can be conducted and parents can accept and decline spots. You seem to think this step is trivial and its not. It takes time for 10 parents to decline a spot until the one parent who accepts is reached. Sufficient time has to be given to ensure that when a parent is notified via email, phone, etc. that they can respond. They could be on vacation, email could be overlooked, call missed, etc.

One thing I would say is perhaps on the registration page of the website that a notice is given that you need to register before said date in order to be considered for immersion instead of the info being in an completely different section of the website that you just have to happen to surf to...

[Anonymous]

^ there is one major sign up window in the spring. That is relatively well promoted. Immersion could happen after/as part of that window.

As for reaching parents and people being away - people should provide cell and email and be given 3 business days to reply. You miss it then you miss it and they go on to the next family. You could also cap the number of lotteries a family applied to in order to cut the dance down some.

The reality is the current system is not designed well to be widely accessible to families seeking immersion for their oldest. MCPS needs to think how to fix that info gap problem.