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[quote=Anonymous]OP here-

I am in favor of magnet schools, but not when our normal schools are suffering for it. The heart of  any public school system is not its magnets, but rather its regular, run of the mill schools.

DCPS needs more money. Period. And yes, we need to spread the money around better, Wilson and other upper-northwest schools seem to get a bit more money then those down, say in Anacostia. But, when you get down to it, the school system is in need of money. Raising taxes is a no-go, people won't (and don't) like that idea at all, and cutting is also not all that popular.

Alot of the budgeting for DCPS is related to student count, pretty much the more students a school has, the more money. Some of the per-student budget goes towards costs that each student requires- money for textbooks, desks, etc- while the rest goes towards improving the school environment for the student body as a whole- like computer access, staff, etc. By cutting magnet schools, we consolidate the money into the schools that make up the bread and butter of our system. We also could sell the buildings that currently house those schools (I know that both School without walls and Banneker are on prime property for George Washington and Howard Universities, respectively). Yeah some might transfer out of DCPS in favor of Charters or Private schools, but in the end, I think, a majority will decide to stay and go to school in DCPS.

Not only the money, but also the students will transfer to the normal schools, and as you said, many of these are dedicated students who want to succeed. Maybe those students could bring that same dedication and drive to succeed into the neighborhood schools.

Also, to 19:09, I happen to know a few kids who go to magnet schools (Walls especially) as they were in my son's middle school and are still friends with my son.I would say more then half of them went to the magnet not because they really wanted to or were striving for it, but because their parents were pushing them to. The fact is that kids often don't get a choice in the High School decisions that are made.

19:08: Why can't they get their needs met at Anacostia or Wilson is my question. Our school system is messed up if the only way smart kids can get a decent education is by going to a couple selective high schools. Last year I went to a meeting with Kaya Henderson, and she talked alot about having a unified school system. But you know what? We don't have that.

What we have is a two-pronged school system, where the top students (as chosen by their middle school academic "career", a test, an interview, or a combination of the above) get a completely separate and better experience then those that are average or below average. A true magnet school improves on what is already in the local school system, what ours does is take those students in a completely different direction. That direction gives those students an advantage over the normal students that is large and obvious. It also teaches the kids in them that they are innately better then those in neighborhood schools in the same way Yale teaches their kids that they are innately better than those in UDC.

I mentioned the meeting with Kaya Henderson earlier, and I have something else to say about it. There was a group of students from Walls at this meeting protesting the budget cuts. While I admire their spunk and willingness to stand up for what they thought was right, I was also annoyed when they came into the discussion and took the majority of Kaya Henderson's time whining (and yes, it was essentially whining- they kept saying the same thing over and over) about the fact that one of their counselors was excessed (though, as the chancellor pointed out, they were only supposed to have 3 counselors to begin with). Do I blame them? No, they obviously really liked the Counselor, but it just goes to show that magnets often seem to get away with more then regular public schools do. It also is a good example of them feeling like they were above normal schools, despite the fact that others wanted to talk (some about the budget cuts at their own school) these representative from walls just kept butting in and bringing it back to Walls again.

Again, after we have an acceptable school system, I think we should look into recreating magnets like Walls and Banneker. As I said earlier, magnets are meant to build upon the normal schools, but when there is not much their at normal school level, they just end up dividing the school system into the Haves and the have-nots. I understand that my idea is not popular and quite honestly, not likely to ever happen, but I just wanted to see whether I was alone in this thinking.
-Anne [/quote]

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