Why can't we have more smaller high schools all over the MCPS?

[Anonymous]

If they were smaller they would be easier to maintain and adjust to the
needs of the public. Why they have to be such a gigantic factories?

[Anonymous]

b/c that means giving more autonomy to teachers, administrators and the community in general

It's harder to run a system top-down when schools are the hub of a community.

Outside of MCPS (and larger districts), this still occurs. We moved to a smaller district for the kids. The main campus has the HS (about 1200 kids), a middle, and elementary - all the same name! On the outskirts of town are two other elementary schools that eventually feed into the middle school.

It's so different from what we've experienced in MCPS. I say this as an MCPS teacher. Commute can be rough, but it's worth the sacrifice for the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they were smaller they would be easier to maintain and adjust to the
needs of the public. Why they have to be such a gigantic factories?

The pressure for everything to be standard will be the same. They will still focus on the Gap and making sure every is in advanced English even if they do not speak English.

[Anonymous]

Because mcps gets more bang for its buck with a larger school. They don't have to staff two schools, two sets of principals two sets of Building Services two sets of teachers, versus one larger staff. It's much cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because mcps gets more bang for its buck with a larger school. They don't have to staff two schools, two sets of principals two sets of Building Services two sets of teachers, versus one larger staff. It's much cheaper.

If that was the only way to do things, then one central school for 50 000 kids would be even less expensive
to run, having one principal and one set of staff, one building but is this what it is all about?

At the end of the day the best things are not the least expensive. It is about quality education so maybe
it needs to cost more? Smaller communities can be run more effectively and they are more kids friendly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because mcps gets more bang for its buck with a larger school. They don't have to staff two schools, two sets of principals two sets of Building Services two sets of teachers, versus one larger staff. It's much cheaper.

Larger schools also give GS students a larger set of offerings. A department of 6 FL teachers can’t offer as much as a department of 10. A small staff pretty much ensures limited levels of core classes and few electives, including AP courses.

Dear 1200 kid HS parent, do you find posting the course catalog so we can compare for ourselves?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because mcps gets more bang for its buck with a larger school. They don't have to staff two schools, two sets of principals two sets of Building Services two sets of teachers, versus one larger staff. It's much cheaper.

If that was the only way to do things, then one central school for 50 000 kids would be even less expensive
to run, having one principal and one set of staff, one building but is this what it is all about?

At the end of the day the best things are not the least expensive. It is about quality education so maybe
it needs to cost more? Smaller communities can be run more effectively and they are more kids friendly.

More schools would mean less buses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because mcps gets more bang for its buck with a larger school. They don't have to staff two schools, two sets of principals two sets of Building Services two sets of teachers, versus one larger staff. It's much cheaper.

If that was the only way to do things, then one central school for 50 000 kids would be even less expensive
to run, having one principal and one set of staff, one building but is this what it is all about?

At the end of the day the best things are not the least expensive. It is about quality education so maybe
it needs to cost more? Smaller communities can be run more effectively and they are more kids friendly.

You’d have class sizes of 300-400. Do you think most 14 year olds can learn algebra I in a lecture hall setting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because mcps gets more bang for its buck with a larger school. They don't have to staff two schools, two sets of principals two sets of Building Services two sets of teachers, versus one larger staff. It's much cheaper.

If that was the only way to do things, then one central school for 50 000 kids would be even less expensive
to run, having one principal and one set of staff, one building but is this what it is all about?

At the end of the day the best things are not the least expensive. It is about quality education so maybe
it needs to cost more? Smaller communities can be run more effectively and they are more kids friendly.

More schools would mean less buses.

Only if students were forced to attend their neighborhood school no matter their needs.

[Anonymous]

Let's ask people from different countries, how do you feel about big High Schools as opposed to
smaller ones? Do they exist in your country and were they run efficiently with good results?
If you got a great education at your school in your country do tell us about that experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's ask people from different countries, how do you feel about big High Schools as opposed to
smaller ones? Do they exist in your country and were they run efficiently with good results?
If you got a great education at your school in your country do tell us about that experience.

How would they be able to compare to a large school?

I can tell you that my relatives who live in small districts are very upset when they compare their children’s opportunities to those my DDs are/have accessed in MCPS. My cousin had children in the same age span as mine and lives only 2 hours away in the same state. The girls have similar interests in school subjects and extra curricular. I think they are equally as smart. But my youngest is years ahead in math, science, and FL because she had more options. My cousin wouldn’t know this if she didn’t have access to a child in a larger school.

[Anonymous]

I went to a small (public) HS in a small town in MA, where schools are organized by town rather than county. Even in that kind of system there are a lot of big HS -- and they happen to be some of the best in the state. Newton North, Newton South, Brookline. Size is not an inherent problem, OP, and as some of the PPs have noted there are some distinct advantages to larger high schools.

[Anonymous]

I went to a small high school elsewhere in MD. For my most advanced classes, I was usually in a mixed grade class with older kids in order to have enough kids to run the class. By the time that my best friend’s younger brother came along, they had given up trying to make it work and he was bussed to a larger high school nearby for GT level classes.

I was a three sport varsity athlete because we barely had enough kids to field varsity. We lost game after game. We did have fun though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a small (public) HS in a small town in MA, where schools are organized by town rather than county. Even in that kind of system there are a lot of big HS -- and they happen to be some of the best in the state. Newton North, Newton South, Brookline. Size is not an inherent problem, OP, and as some of the PPs have noted there are some distinct advantages to larger high schools.

Fellow Massachusetts native here. I work in MCPS and it doesn't hold a candle to the schools west of Boston. The town system makes it easier to effect change and harder to "pass the trash." Bad teachers get weeded out, corruption is more visible earlier in general, new initiatives can be piloted and accepted or rejected faster, elected officials are actually within the community they serve, there is a little less variation among students' needs, etc. That said, you end up with rich and poor school systems. So some towns benefit if they're wealthy, ie Newton, Weston, Wellesley, and some suffer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they were smaller they would be easier to maintain and adjust to the
needs of the public. Why they have to be such a gigantic factories?

If they were smaller, they would be harder to maintain, because there would be more buildings to maintain, which would cost even more. And MCPS's capital budget is already insufficient. There is such a thing as economies of scale.

But OP, there are smaller high schools in MCPS, for example Rockville HS and Poolesville HS.