Op-Ed from previous MCPS SMOBs

[Anonymous]

Montgomery County’s public schools are still segregated. It’s time to fix that.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/local-opinions/montgomery-countys-public-schools-are-still-segregated-its-time-to-fix-that/2020/07/02/8541a08c-b65a-11ea-aca5-ebb63d27e1ff_story.html

[Anonymous]

+1000

[Anonymous]

Our schools are integrated. Our neighborhoods are not. How you gonna solve that, HS kids?

[Anonymous]

Take a stroll into the Magruder clusters schools. Seem pretty integrated to me.

[Anonymous]

Certain zip codes succeeded at preventing construction of rental housing and public transportation. Fix that, and the W schools will magically become more diverse.

And, let’s make each W school a magnet so high performing kids from anywhere in the county can attend.

Easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Certain zip codes succeeded at preventing construction of rental housing and public transportation. Fix that, and the W schools will magically become more diverse.

And, let’s make each W school a magnet so high performing kids from anywhere in the county can attend.

Easy.

The unknown is whether those "high performing" kids would be the "right mix" wanted by MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our schools are integrated. Our neighborhoods are not. How you gonna solve that, HS kids?

This. We need to stop allowing developers to buy their way out of building low income housing. And we need to improve public transportation throughout the County.

[Anonymous]

Magnets were expressly created to create a ‘school within a school.’ That’s why I (as a person living in W cluster) always laugh when the Blair Magnet crowd chimes in. Magnet schools are the apotheosis of racism and classism. Truly the pot calling the kettle...now if you want to change the makeup of the schools change housing policy. Don’t just throw a kid on a bus...

[Anonymous]

What is the Demographic makeup of MCPS magnets? I give it to FCPS, at least, for releasing the data. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/thomas-jefferson-high-admissions-diversity/2020/07/01/802fbc02-badb-11ea-80b9-40ece9a701dc_story.html#click=https://t.co/XkQbgwZ1CR

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Certain zip codes succeeded at preventing construction of rental housing and public transportation. Fix that, and the W schools will magically become more diverse.

And, let’s make each W school a magnet so high performing kids from anywhere in the county can attend.

Easy.

How would that fix things to bus kids into the W schools that are overcrowded? Every school should have their own magnet program, especially the underperforming to encourage families to stay in those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our schools are integrated. Our neighborhoods are not. How you gonna solve that, HS kids?

This. We need to stop allowing developers to buy their way out of building low income housing. And we need to improve public transportation throughout the County.

There are no more low income housing anymore. And, those that are are not going to be in places you'd live. You can preach all you want but you choose to live where you live. We live in a very diverse neighborhood and schools. There is a lot of transportation. It just takes forever to get anywhere via bus. Metro is expensive.

[Anonymous]

Stanford professor: “the only way to close the [achievement] gap is to racially integrate schools.”


In the days of segregation, black students in the segregated Dunbar High School in DC outperformed white students in white schools.

Today, in some NYC charter schools with mostly poor black and Latino kids, those kids outperform white kids in the suburbs.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/books/review/how-the-other-half-learns-robert-pondiscio.html

According to the NYT: "Decades of research have shown that engaged parents and a stable family are far more important than schools and teachers to a child’s academic achievement."

Thomas Sowell just published a book on charter schools and black-and-white achievement gap:
https://www.amazon.com/Charter-Schools-Enemies-Thomas-Sowell/dp/1541675134


Must black and brown kids be with whites and Asians to succeed? Of course not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Magnets were expressly created to create a ‘school within a school.’ That’s why I (as a person living in W cluster) always laugh when the Blair Magnet crowd chimes in. Magnet schools are the apotheosis of racism and classism. Truly the pot calling the kettle...now if you want to change the makeup of the schools change housing policy. Don’t just throw a kid on a bus...

Maybe I am making a bad assumption here that you are white. But I am going to make that assumption. Why do you live in a W district? If you are a proponent of diversity, why not move to a neighborhood with people of color? There are so many white people who claim they want diversity and they believe the culture at w schools is racist, so why not put your money where your mouth is and go diversify Kennedy High School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Magnets were expressly created to create a ‘school within a school.’ That’s why I (as a person living in W cluster) always laugh when the Blair Magnet crowd chimes in. Magnet schools are the apotheosis of racism and classism. Truly the pot calling the kettle...now if you want to change the makeup of the schools change housing policy. Don’t just throw a kid on a bus...

How are they a school within a school when kids take 1/2 their classes outside the magnet? My child takes English a language, social studies, all electives and PE with non magnet kids every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Certain zip codes succeeded at preventing construction of rental housing and public transportation. Fix that, and the W schools will magically become more diverse.

And, let’s make each W school a magnet so high performing kids from anywhere in the county can attend.

Easy.

Magnet programs don't always have to be "high performing"... Why not have an arts program. Why not have a green program?