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[quote=Anonymous]I

I am a mother of two small children with a third on the way. The oldest is starting K in the fall. My husband and I are looking to move to PG county by next fall. We both grew up in Prince George's and know a lot about the area. But the schools seem to have changed considerably since then.

How do the magnet schools work? It seems that there are so many in PG County now, or so many schools have been converted to magnet schools, are they exclusively lottery only or do they double as neighborhood schools? (as in if a child lived in a house directly next to the school, would they still have to win a lottery to get in?) If not, where are the kids in the magnet neighborhoods being bused. We really don't like the idea of having our kids ride long bus rides to some school far away, and like the idea of a community school where we can spend time volunteering, investing in the school, attending events, meeting with the other kids/parents, etc. and the school being a neighborhood hub (as they should be!)

But all the schools of any decent ranking are all now designated "magnets" which makes them competitive to get into and far away because you never know what school you will get into before buying a home. Is there still any "community spirit" at these type of schools? What about PTA/PTO involvement and responsiveness to parents?

If your child is bused to a magnet farther away, what has your experience been like?

I myself was in TAG/Magnet growing up, but it was usually a program within a neighborhood school, so you could both test in for the special program to be bused in and attend if you were locally zoned (this was the 80s/early 90s). I was therefore able to interact with a variety of kids across the economic spectrum. This also seemed a good way to integrate neighborhoods, but the new way seems to pit exclusively magnet/TAG students against other kids and segregate them completely. I thought the purpose of magnet schools was to integrate (and reading beteween the lines, bring more white/middle class families into black/poor schools)? Or maybe I am not understanding how it all works now.

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