Magnets, Regions, and the Future of MCPS Gifted Kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, those programs (RM/Blair), while definitely rigorous, create a sense of entitlement, arrogance, and obnoxiousness for some of those students who participate (as well as their parents). No doubt many of the kids are lovely, but not sure I love some of the parents asking me if my kid was in Gen Pop.

Spread out the resources these program take so more kids can get access to them.

But this plan is not spreading resources. Have you seen in their presentation any resources being spread? No new teachers, no new investments, nothing. Just creating 30 new magnets out of thin air.

If your kid is such a high flyer take some math classes at MC or Maryland. Every school will have AP Calculus BC and probably local options to take the more rigorous math and science classes. And guess what, if your kid is crazy talented and at Northwood (a lower performing school) they could be #1 at Northwood! That actually means something in the college process and could get them into a better school. The idea that you cannot succeed outside the magnet is a fallacy. Further, at Blair, if you are an average magnet kid your profile actually doesn’t look so great when compared to the really high flyers in the program. Average Blair magnet kids are not getting into Ivy’s and some are not even getting into UMD for those precious engineering and computer science slots. The program is not overrated, it just does not need to be as consolidated and exclusive as currently constructed.

MC doesn't offer these courses at the same level of rigor.

Does Maryland offer these courses in Montgomery County? (Shady Grove?) I don't think they do.

Please provide evidence for this. How do you know the courses aren’t at the same level of rigor. Have you taken both sets?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, I agree with you but this is a losing battle. This is how you destroy good school systems. I am just glad we are done with MCPS. I feel sorry for magnet kids but moco is full of idiots right now

There are so few magnet kids that is it really a good use of money.

There are so few special needs kids as well. Can I as a parent of a NT kid ask if it is a good use of money?

I mean you could, but you would look someone who is both ignorant of federal law and a jerk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, I agree with you but this is a losing battle. This is how you destroy good school systems. I am just glad we are done with MCPS. I feel sorry for magnet kids but moco is full of idiots right now

There are so few magnet kids that is it really a good use of money.

There are so few special needs kids as well. Can I as a parent of a NT kid ask if it is a good use of money?

I mean you could, but you would look someone who is both ignorant of federal law and a jerk.

+1
Adding that according to the MCPS District Profile, 13.5% or almost 22,000 students receive special education services. So no it is not just a "few" kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, I agree with you but this is a losing battle. This is how you destroy good school systems. I am just glad we are done with MCPS. I feel sorry for magnet kids but moco is full of idiots right now

There are so few magnet kids that is it really a good use of money.

if that's your view, why should MCPS spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year trying to educate low performing kids who have no interest in learning? isn't that bigger waste of funds? there are well over 1000 kids in county's magnet program, that's not big enough to support in your mind?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, I agree with you but this is a losing battle. This is how you destroy good school systems. I am just glad we are done with MCPS. I feel sorry for magnet kids but moco is full of idiots right now

There are so few magnet kids that is it really a good use of money.

if that's your view, why should MCPS spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year trying to educate low performing kids who have no interest in learning? isn't that bigger waste of funds? there are well over 1000 kids in county's magnet program, that's not big enough to support in your mind?

You're the one assuming large numbers of kids have no interest in learning. Why because they were absent for 10 days? In surveys 96% of high school students agree with the statement "It is important to me to do well in school" - and the percentages are the same for all racial groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They need a program if only to say that they aren’t excluding kids from other schools. If they don’t have one it looks exclusionary.

This statement implies an equality mindset, not an equity mindset. If they were taking an equity approach, their goal would not be to create a system that looks uniform, because they would be acknowledging that different school communities need different things. Having low income kids travel the Bethesda for criteria based programs is not equity, it's inequity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need a program if only to say that they aren’t excluding kids from other schools. If they don’t have one it looks exclusionary.

This statement implies an equality mindset, not an equity mindset. If they were taking an equity approach, their goal would not be to create a system that looks uniform, because they would be acknowledging that different school communities need different things. Having low income kids travel the Bethesda for criteria based programs is not equity, it's inequity.

While I agree with you, you absolutely know that would be a complaint leveled against MCPS if they didn’t put a program at all schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need a program if only to say that they aren’t excluding kids from other schools. If they don’t have one it looks exclusionary.

This statement implies an equality mindset, not an equity mindset. If they were taking an equity approach, their goal would not be to create a system that looks uniform, because they would be acknowledging that different school communities need different things. Having low income kids travel the Bethesda for criteria based programs is not equity, it's inequity.

While I agree with you, you absolutely know that would be a complaint leveled against MCPS if they didn’t put a program at all schools.

It is incorrect and offensive to imply that Whitman would not have any programs given the wealth of coursework they office, including a local engineering program and many more AP courses than most other schools.

Why is that potential complaint being considered more important than the complaint about the inequity of forcing low income students to travel to access programs that rich students have access to at their home schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need a program if only to say that they aren’t excluding kids from other schools. If they don’t have one it looks exclusionary.

That is because they are telling everyone how unfair it is that the DCC schools "get to" share a bunch of programs that rich schools have at their home schools

Well the DCC have program that other poor schools don’t which is the issue.

Whitman can have their special programs that only Whitman students can partake in, but the poors in DCC absolutely cannot have special programs.

+1

"It's so unfair that some kids, like those at wealthy school and the DCC have access to special programs and others do not!"
"Okay, let's reduce access for DCC kids. For equity."

Well, they are trying to offer the special programs to all and not just the DCC kids. How is that reducing access for DCC kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need a program if only to say that they aren’t excluding kids from other schools. If they don’t have one it looks exclusionary.

That is because they are telling everyone how unfair it is that the DCC schools "get to" share a bunch of programs that rich schools have at their home schools

Well the DCC have program that other poor schools don’t which is the issue.

Whitman can have their special programs that only Whitman students can partake in, but the poors in DCC absolutely cannot have special programs.

+1

"It's so unfair that some kids, like those at wealthy school and the DCC have access to special programs and others do not!"
"Okay, let's reduce access for DCC kids. For equity."

Well, they are trying to offer the special programs to all and not just the DCC kids. How is that reducing access for DCC kids?

Because there will be fewer slots and much more limited transportation.

[Anonymous]

Please dont use chat gpt to write your posts on this site. Its so obvious and annoying. No one likes em dashes that much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need a program if only to say that they aren’t excluding kids from other schools. If they don’t have one it looks exclusionary.

That is because they are telling everyone how unfair it is that the DCC schools "get to" share a bunch of programs that rich schools have at their home schools

Well the DCC have program that other poor schools don’t which is the issue.

Whitman can have their special programs that only Whitman students can partake in, but the poors in DCC absolutely cannot have special programs.

+1

"It's so unfair that some kids, like those at wealthy school and the DCC have access to special programs and others do not!"
"Okay, let's reduce access for DCC kids. For equity."

Well, they are trying to offer the special programs to all and not just the DCC kids. How is that reducing access for DCC kids?

Again, it is incorrect and offensive to imply that wealthy non DCC schools do not have special programs. They have special programs that are available for their own students. And Whitman currently has the social justice program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need a program if only to say that they aren’t excluding kids from other schools. If they don’t have one it looks exclusionary.

That is because they are telling everyone how unfair it is that the DCC schools "get to" share a bunch of programs that rich schools have at their home schools

Well the DCC have program that other poor schools don’t which is the issue.

Whitman can have their special programs that only Whitman students can partake in, but the poors in DCC absolutely cannot have special programs.

+1

"It's so unfair that some kids, like those at wealthy school and the DCC have access to special programs and others do not!"
"Okay, let's reduce access for DCC kids. For equity."

Well, they are trying to offer the special programs to all and not just the DCC kids. How is that reducing access for DCC kids?

Again, it is incorrect and offensive to imply that wealthy non DCC schools do not have special programs. They have special programs that are available for their own students. And Whitman currently has the social justice program.

To clarify: the complaint about DCC having access is (in my reading) not coming from wealthy schools. It is from the other non-wealthy schools in the county. I doubt Whitman (for example) gives a sh*t about having a magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need a program if only to say that they aren’t excluding kids from other schools. If they don’t have one it looks exclusionary.

That is because they are telling everyone how unfair it is that the DCC schools "get to" share a bunch of programs that rich schools have at their home schools

Well the DCC have program that other poor schools don’t which is the issue.

Whitman can have their special programs that only Whitman students can partake in, but the poors in DCC absolutely cannot have special programs.

+1

"It's so unfair that some kids, like those at wealthy school and the DCC have access to special programs and others do not!"
"Okay, let's reduce access for DCC kids. For equity."

Well, they are trying to offer the special programs to all and not just the DCC kids. How is that reducing access for DCC kids?

Again, it is incorrect and offensive to imply that wealthy non DCC schools do not have special programs. They have special programs that are available for their own students. And Whitman currently has the social justice program.

To clarify: the complaint about DCC having access is (in my reading) not coming from wealthy schools. It is from the other non-wealthy schools in the county. I doubt Whitman (for example) gives a sh*t about having a magnet.

Right, and I have no problem giving non wealthy schools more programs and I have not seen any comments in this thread implying that. But I'd honestly rather they eliminate all countywide and regional programs including DCC programs than create this absurd inequitable system that sends kids from low income schools to wealthy schools for "equity".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need a program if only to say that they aren’t excluding kids from other schools. If they don’t have one it looks exclusionary.

This statement implies an equality mindset, not an equity mindset. If they were taking an equity approach, their goal would not be to create a system that looks uniform, because they would be acknowledging that different school communities need different things. Having low income kids travel the Bethesda for criteria based programs is not equity, it's inequity.

While I agree with you, you absolutely know that would be a complaint leveled against MCPS if they didn’t put a program at all schools.

It is incorrect and offensive to imply that Whitman would not have any programs given the wealth of coursework they office, including a local engineering program and many more AP courses than most other schools.

Why is that potential complaint being considered more important than the complaint about the inequity of forcing low income students to travel to access programs that rich students have access to at their home schools?

Let me try again, since my point is apparently being lost: if whitman did not have a program that enabled students at other schools in the region to go to Whitman, there would be a complaint that Whitman is being exclusionary (bc it is a rich white school that doesn’t want unwashed outsiders, or something). So MCPS needs to avoid that likely complaint and put something there. I agree that they could put an unwanted, underdeveloped program there such that no one would ACTUALLY go there (and the academic program could go to a higher-FARMS school).

It’s just optics.