Any updates on the DOE Investigation on discrimination case for magnet middle schools MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So being smart in a school with mediocre kids could get you access to a magnet program and the enriched material associated with it. But being exceptional in a school with other exceptional kids means you stay behind in your home cohort and do not get access to enriched material, because you can self enrich? Nice.

I do not know why people are against kids studying / preparing for tests. It is not like the kids who prepare come in to the test knowing that the answer for question 1 is C, for question 2 is D etc....

Yes. Because the magnet program does not exist to be a prize, it exists to serve the needs of students whose needs can't be met in the home school.

Is there access to enriched material in the home school? Yes, there is.

No, there is not. That is exactly what this lawsuit is about! Such misinformation on here.

MCPS only offers an enriched Humanities course and AIM in 6th grade. There is NO enriched English course. Every single kid takes Advanced English in 6th grade at our MS. Whether you have come from a CED reading complex books, or whether you come from a class where you are still working on fundamental reading skills. There is one additional support class the 6th graders are required to take if they need extra help in getting up to grade level.

THAT is the issue.

The parents of this complaint are trying to advocate for more offerings at their home school. Which MCPS is not doing other than two classes. Nowhere near what is offered at the Magnet MS.

Folks on this very thread are complaining about magnet admission, NOT more course offerings at the home school. If your home middle school is not offering differentiated English - a thing that does exist at other schools - then maybe the problem is your administration. I'd focus your efforts there.

We love the enriched classes at our school. They're totally wonderful! It's like the magnet but without the long bus ride,

What MS is this?

I’d like to hear where it is actually being implemented successfully in MCPS. Our MS seems woefully underprepared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The peer cohort was the best thing the county's done ever. Decades ago politically connected parents got the school boundaries gerrymandered to create good and bad schools. These days people pay hundreds of thousands more for homes assigned to these good schools. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to live in these areas. The cohort criteria simply level the playing field so all kids regardless of where they live get an equal opportunity.

Basing admission based on where you live is not providing EO.

Sure, it is when some kids are reaping the benefit of better schools. This just makes it a fair race.

According to BOE, all MCPS schools are good, and schools with lots of lower income kids are just as good as schools with lots of high income kids. I heard it straight from their mouths at a boundary meeting.

The "benefit" of a better school is not provided by MCPS, btw. MCPS has an obligation to treat ALL schools and students equally. If you look at peer cohort, that is not treating them as equals.

On the contrary, NOT looking at peer cohort would be treating schools and students UNequally.

DCUM is all about the importance of peer cohort when it comes to the "good" schools in Bethesda/Potomac vs the "bad" schools in the DCC. But when peer cohort potentially disadvantages DCUM kids in Bethesda/Potomac, suddenly all of the schools are equally good.

DCUM is not MCPS, FFS. I don't see how MCPS looking at peer cohort would be treating individuals equally, as in "as individuals" rather than a statistic made up of their peers.

And like I said, it was a BOE member who stated that all the schools were good. You have reading comprehension issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've had kids go through TPMS magnet and Eastern magnet. My youngest was not offered magnet admission, but was offered enriched classes. These enriched classes are nothing like the magnet experience. My child at Eastern won a cspan documentary award for middle schoolers. My TPMS kid placed in the National Science Bowl. These are "prestigious" national level competitions that faculty advisors in the magnet programs are able to help kids compete in, and win. This is why people are mad.

My youngest kid's MS doesn't even offer mathcounts or significant academic after school programming.

I would expand the magnet program. I think they should rank kids by test scores in all ES's. Top 3% (or less if they need to) from each school gets a spot automatically in the magnet. The remainder of the seats go to the most qualified FARMS students based on test scores.

Yup. People are mad because MCPS has good stuff that their kids aren't getting. Which was true before the middle-school magnet admissions process changed, and it's still true now. What is it that some PPs keep saying? "Life isn't fair"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The peer cohort was the best thing the county's done ever. Decades ago politically connected parents got the school boundaries gerrymandered to create good and bad schools. These days people pay hundreds of thousands more for homes assigned to these good schools. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to live in these areas. The cohort criteria simply level the playing field so all kids regardless of where they live get an equal opportunity.

Basing admission based on where you live is not providing EO.

Sure, it is when some kids are reaping the benefit of better schools. This just makes it a fair race.

According to BOE, all MCPS schools are good, and schools with lots of lower income kids are just as good as schools with lots of high income kids. I heard it straight from their mouths at a boundary meeting.

The "benefit" of a better school is not provided by MCPS, btw. MCPS has an obligation to treat ALL schools and students equally. If you look at peer cohort, that is not treating them as equals.

On the contrary, NOT looking at peer cohort would be treating schools and students UNequally.

DCUM is all about the importance of peer cohort when it comes to the "good" schools in Bethesda/Potomac vs the "bad" schools in the DCC. But when peer cohort potentially disadvantages DCUM kids in Bethesda/Potomac, suddenly all of the schools are equally good.

DCUM is not MCPS, FFS. I don't see how MCPS looking at peer cohort would be treating individuals equally, as in "as individuals" rather than a statistic made up of their peers.

And like I said, it was a BOE member who stated that all the schools were good. You have reading comprehension issues.

Since so many people are willing to pay a premium to live in the good school zones, it's clear that most people don't believe that these schools are comparable particularly the parents impacted by peer cohort criteria. They just want their cake and to eat it...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So being smart in a school with mediocre kids could get you access to a magnet program and the enriched material associated with it. But being exceptional in a school with other exceptional kids means you stay behind in your home cohort and do not get access to enriched material, because you can self enrich? Nice.

I do not know why people are against kids studying / preparing for tests. It is not like the kids who prepare come in to the test knowing that the answer for question 1 is C, for question 2 is D etc....

Yes. Because the magnet program does not exist to be a prize, it exists to serve the needs of students whose needs can't be met in the home school.

Is there access to enriched material in the home school? Yes, there is.

No, there is not. That is exactly what this lawsuit is about! Such misinformation on here.

MCPS only offers an enriched Humanities course and AIM in 6th grade. There is NO enriched English course. Every single kid takes Advanced English in 6th grade at our MS. Whether you have come from a CED reading complex books, or whether you come from a class where you are still working on fundamental reading skills. There is one additional support class the 6th graders are required to take if they need extra help in getting up to grade level.

THAT is the issue.

The parents of this complaint are trying to advocate for more offerings at their home school. Which MCPS is not doing other than two classes. Nowhere near what is offered at the Magnet MS.

Folks on this very thread are complaining about magnet admission, NOT more course offerings at the home school. If your home middle school is not offering differentiated English - a thing that does exist at other schools - then maybe the problem is your administration. I'd focus your efforts there.

We love the enriched classes at our school. They're totally wonderful! It's like the magnet but without the long bus ride,

Please provide us with details of the books your child read and about the type of assignments she/he was assigned in the enriched class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The peer cohort was the best thing the county's done ever. Decades ago politically connected parents got the school boundaries gerrymandered to create good and bad schools. These days people pay hundreds of thousands more for homes assigned to these good schools. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to live in these areas. The cohort criteria simply level the playing field so all kids regardless of where they live get an equal opportunity.

Basing admission based on where you live is not providing EO.

Sure, it is when some kids are reaping the benefit of better schools. This just makes it a fair race.

According to BOE, all MCPS schools are good, and schools with lots of lower income kids are just as good as schools with lots of high income kids. I heard it straight from their mouths at a boundary meeting.

The "benefit" of a better school is not provided by MCPS, btw. MCPS has an obligation to treat ALL schools and students equally. If you look at peer cohort, that is not treating them as equals.

On the contrary, NOT looking at peer cohort would be treating schools and students UNequally.

DCUM is all about the importance of peer cohort when it comes to the "good" schools in Bethesda/Potomac vs the "bad" schools in the DCC. But when peer cohort potentially disadvantages DCUM kids in Bethesda/Potomac, suddenly all of the schools are equally good.

DCUM is not MCPS, FFS. I don't see how MCPS looking at peer cohort would be treating individuals equally, as in "as individuals" rather than a statistic made up of their peers.

And like I said, it was a BOE member who stated that all the schools were good. You have reading comprehension issues.

Since so many people are willing to pay a premium to live in the good school zones, it's clear that most people don't believe that these schools are comparable particularly the parents impacted by peer cohort criteria. They just want their cake and to eat it...

But the BOE does, so why use peer cohort? You are just willfully ignoring what I posted about how the BOE stated that those schools with lots of low income kids are just as good as those with more higher income kids. That is what she said. I was there. If they really believed that, then they shouldn't be looking at peer cohort. If they do believe that, then it's clear why they look at peer cohort.

This is not about what parents believe. This is about what BOE has stated publicly and how they are engineering magnet admission so that students who live in certain areas are given preference over those who live in more affluent areas. That is biased. They should treat each individual students as individuals and not as a statistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had kids go through TPMS magnet and Eastern magnet. My youngest was not offered magnet admission, but was offered enriched classes. These enriched classes are nothing like the magnet experience. My child at Eastern won a cspan documentary award for middle schoolers. My TPMS kid placed in the National Science Bowl. These are "prestigious" national level competitions that faculty advisors in the magnet programs are able to help kids compete in, and win. This is why people are mad.

My youngest kid's MS doesn't even offer mathcounts or significant academic after school programming.

I would expand the magnet program. I think they should rank kids by test scores in all ES's. Top 3% (or less if they need to) from each school gets a spot automatically in the magnet. The remainder of the seats go to the most qualified FARMS students based on test scores.

Yup. People are mad because MCPS has good stuff that their kids aren't getting. Which was true before the middle-school magnet admissions process changed, and it's still true now. What is it that some PPs keep saying? "Life isn't fair"?

Because life isn't fair. Who told you it was?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree, These kind of crazy racist comments should not be allowed here. What is shame ..

,

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tiger Mom Asians

You can keep playing the system

Move to a crappier area of the county

Your kid will get accepted to the magnet program and you can save hundreds of thousands in real estate costs

Double Win

I’m not Asian, but I don’t get why these types of posts are allowed and accepted and embraced on this site.

It's the same casual racism that allows De Blasio and Carranza in NYC to ignore the effects of their intended policies regarding the selective high schools on the mostly poor Asian American students who dominate those student bodies.

It’s absurd. It has become acceptable in the US to use racial slurs against Asian Americans and to discriminate against them.

Here in the US, it doesn’t matter if you are a South Indian immigrant kid with two wealthy doctor parents or if you are the child of a Cambodian refugee. You are all lumped together as Asian and that counts against you for college admissions. Or Magnet MS admissions, as is the case here in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It’s absurd. It has become acceptable in the US to use racial slurs against Asian Americans and to discriminate against them.

Here in the US, it doesn’t matter if you are a South Indian immigrant kid with two wealthy doctor parents or if you are the child of a Cambodian refugee. You are all lumped together as Asian and that counts against you for college admissions. Or Magnet MS admissions, as is the case here in MCPS.

Are there many children of Cambodian refugees who live in Potomac?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had kids go through TPMS magnet and Eastern magnet. My youngest was not offered magnet admission, but was offered enriched classes. These enriched classes are nothing like the magnet experience. My child at Eastern won a cspan documentary award for middle schoolers. My TPMS kid placed in the National Science Bowl. These are "prestigious" national level competitions that faculty advisors in the magnet programs are able to help kids compete in, and win. This is why people are mad.

My youngest kid's MS doesn't even offer mathcounts or significant academic after school programming.

I would expand the magnet program. I think they should rank kids by test scores in all ES's. Top 3% (or less if they need to) from each school gets a spot automatically in the magnet. The remainder of the seats go to the most qualified FARMS students based on test scores.

Yup. People are mad because MCPS has good stuff that their kids aren't getting. Which was true before the middle-school magnet admissions process changed, and it's still true now. What is it that some PPs keep saying? "Life isn't fair"?

Because life isn't fair. Who told you it was?

So why is the top PP complaining? Their third kid didn't get the opportunities that their first and second kids did get, but hey, life isn't fair!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had kids go through TPMS magnet and Eastern magnet. My youngest was not offered magnet admission, but was offered enriched classes. These enriched classes are nothing like the magnet experience. My child at Eastern won a cspan documentary award for middle schoolers. My TPMS kid placed in the National Science Bowl. These are "prestigious" national level competitions that faculty advisors in the magnet programs are able to help kids compete in, and win. This is why people are mad.

My youngest kid's MS doesn't even offer mathcounts or significant academic after school programming.

I would expand the magnet program. I think they should rank kids by test scores in all ES's. Top 3% (or less if they need to) from each school gets a spot automatically in the magnet. The remainder of the seats go to the most qualified FARMS students based on test scores.

Yup. People are mad because MCPS has good stuff that their kids aren't getting. Which was true before the middle-school magnet admissions process changed, and it's still true now. What is it that some PPs keep saying? "Life isn't fair"?

Because life isn't fair. Who told you it was?

So why is the top PP complaining? Their third kid didn't get the opportunities that their first and second kids did get, but hey, life isn't fair!

When a public school makes life unfair, that is not right. When you are born to uneducated parents simply by luck/nature, it is what it is. I was born to such parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The peer cohort was the best thing the county's done ever. Decades ago politically connected parents got the school boundaries gerrymandered to create good and bad schools. These days people pay hundreds of thousands more for homes assigned to these good schools. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to live in these areas. The cohort criteria simply level the playing field so all kids regardless of where they live get an equal opportunity.

Basing admission based on where you live is not providing EO.

Sure, it is when some kids are reaping the benefit of better schools. This just makes it a fair race.

According to BOE, all MCPS schools are good, and schools with lots of lower income kids are just as good as schools with lots of high income kids. I heard it straight from their mouths at a boundary meeting.

The "benefit" of a better school is not provided by MCPS, btw. MCPS has an obligation to treat ALL schools and students equally. If you look at peer cohort, that is not treating them as equals.

On the contrary, NOT looking at peer cohort would be treating schools and students UNequally.

DCUM is all about the importance of peer cohort when it comes to the "good" schools in Bethesda/Potomac vs the "bad" schools in the DCC. But when peer cohort potentially disadvantages DCUM kids in Bethesda/Potomac, suddenly all of the schools are equally good.

DCUM is not MCPS, FFS. I don't see how MCPS looking at peer cohort would be treating individuals equally, as in "as individuals" rather than a statistic made up of their peers.

And like I said, it was a BOE member who stated that all the schools were good. You have reading comprehension issues.

Since so many people are willing to pay a premium to live in the good school zones, it's clear that most people don't believe that these schools are comparable particularly the parents impacted by peer cohort criteria. They just want their cake and to eat it...

But the BOE does, so why use peer cohort? You are just willfully ignoring what I posted about how the BOE stated that those schools with lots of low income kids are just as good as those with more higher income kids. That is what she said. I was there. If they really believed that, then they shouldn't be looking at peer cohort. If they do believe that, then it's clear why they look at peer cohort.

This is not about what parents believe. This is about what BOE has stated publicly and how they are engineering magnet admission so that students who live in certain areas are given preference over those who live in more affluent areas. That is biased. They should treat each individual students as individuals and not as a statistic.

Magnet seats are a county wide good, they should be distributed through out the county. The top students at a given school should not have to compete against kids in a different cluster, when they haven't benefited from having been in classes with those kids. That's the concept of a magnet, bring students together so they can benefit from a wider cohort. What parents or BOE believe about all schools being equal is irrelevant, once each cluster gets roughly the same magnet seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The peer cohort was the best thing the county's done ever. Decades ago politically connected parents got the school boundaries gerrymandered to create good and bad schools. These days people pay hundreds of thousands more for homes assigned to these good schools. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to live in these areas. The cohort criteria simply level the playing field so all kids regardless of where they live get an equal opportunity.

Basing admission based on where you live is not providing EO.

Sure, it is when some kids are reaping the benefit of better schools. This just makes it a fair race.

According to BOE, all MCPS schools are good, and schools with lots of lower income kids are just as good as schools with lots of high income kids. I heard it straight from their mouths at a boundary meeting.

The "benefit" of a better school is not provided by MCPS, btw. MCPS has an obligation to treat ALL schools and students equally. If you look at peer cohort, that is not treating them as equals.

On the contrary, NOT looking at peer cohort would be treating schools and students UNequally.

DCUM is all about the importance of peer cohort when it comes to the "good" schools in Bethesda/Potomac vs the "bad" schools in the DCC. But when peer cohort potentially disadvantages DCUM kids in Bethesda/Potomac, suddenly all of the schools are equally good.

DCUM is not MCPS, FFS. I don't see how MCPS looking at peer cohort would be treating individuals equally, as in "as individuals" rather than a statistic made up of their peers.

And like I said, it was a BOE member who stated that all the schools were good. You have reading comprehension issues.

Since so many people are willing to pay a premium to live in the good school zones, it's clear that most people don't believe that these schools are comparable particularly the parents impacted by peer cohort criteria. They just want their cake and to eat it...

But the BOE does, so why use peer cohort? You are just willfully ignoring what I posted about how the BOE stated that those schools with lots of low income kids are just as good as those with more higher income kids. That is what she said. I was there. If they really believed that, then they shouldn't be looking at peer cohort. If they do believe that, then it's clear why they look at peer cohort.

This is not about what parents believe. This is about what BOE has stated publicly and how they are engineering magnet admission so that students who live in certain areas are given preference over those who live in more affluent areas. That is biased. They should treat each individual students as individuals and not as a statistic.

Magnet seats are a county wide good, they should be distributed through out the county. The top students at a given school should not have to compete against kids in a different cluster, when they haven't benefited from having been in classes with those kids. That's the concept of a magnet, bring students together so they can benefit from a wider cohort. What parents or BOE believe about all schools being equal is irrelevant, once each cluster gets roughly the same magnet seats.

I agree they should be granted to top students as determined by their scores relative to the caliber of their school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
When a public school makes life unfair, that is not right. When you are born to uneducated parents simply by luck/nature, it is what it is. I was born to such parents.

So we should accept that life is unfair, except for when we shouldn't accept that life is unfair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've had kids go through TPMS magnet and Eastern magnet. My youngest was not offered magnet admission, but was offered enriched classes. These enriched classes are nothing like the magnet experience. My child at Eastern won a cspan documentary award for middle schoolers. My TPMS kid placed in the National Science Bowl. These are "prestigious" national level competitions that faculty advisors in the magnet programs are able to help kids compete in, and win. This is why people are mad.

My youngest kid's MS doesn't even offer mathcounts or significant academic after school programming.

I would expand the magnet program. I think they should rank kids by test scores in all ES's. Top 3% (or less if they need to) from each school gets a spot automatically in the magnet. The remainder of the seats go to the most qualified FARMS students based on test scores.

Am I the only person here who doesn't care about middle school competitions?

Oh, yeah. Probably. I will note that my non-magnet child wasn't even told those contests existed. That's fine--we don't chase trophies, we chase learning.