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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Rita apparently doesn't know the reason that the magnet program, and the Communications Arts Program, were formed at Blair HS. Back in the 1980s, Blair had the poorest academic outcomes in the county. There was talk of closing the school. The magnet and CAP programs were started to attract students with higher academic outcomes, to improve the school, and it worked. Rita, do you like high academic achievement? Most parents do. Blair achieved greater racial integration, a good thing. These two programs lifted the entire school into one that made people move to the Blair area, so that they could go to a good school. Now that you have helped diminish the magnet program into something that will be far less rigorous, west county students will likely not travel east from west county (west county, which was left virtually untouched by all these regional changes), you have helped to further segregate the county. Congratulations Rita.

And if you think you were elected to make the hard decisions, the fiscally sound decisions, you are wrong. You ran for office, as a neophyte, because your medical marijuana legal practice was going nowhere, and you smelled opportunity because of a vulnerable board of education. You won, because BOE member Lynne Harris, viewed as a supporter of Monifa McKnight, having voted to make her superintendent, was vulnerable. You won, because you were not Lynne Harris, and the teachers' union, unwisely, endorsed you, and its members worked every precinct to pass out your name on their endorsement literature.

It is ridiculous that you are claiming to make fiscally sound decisions. There is virtually no budgetary information available on this ambitious regional programming scheme. Regional programs' curriculum will be cut-and-paste operations, amounting to academic mush, and the transportation costs will be far higher than the school district can afford to pay. This regional operation will collapse into chaos. You think you are the champion of BIPOC students? If you want to improve academic outcomes of students, you should have advised the superintendent that he should start at the preK and ES levels. But what do you know?[/quote]

I agree with everything you said in your last paragraph. I don't think Montoya's vote to support the regional program model was right or just because the programs will not be high quality for many, many years if ever. Rushing this implementation is such a bad idea.

I will say I don't know about how well magnet programs truly help the local kids. From the MD school report card, it is not clear to me at all that local Black, EML and FARMS kids at Blair are doing better than these populations do at other schools. I have to wonder if the true beneficiaries of having the countywide magnet at Blair are the White families that are zoned for Blair whose property values have benefited.

Many of the opponents of the regional program model actually think it's a good idea to create more opportunities. We simply don't trust that what has been proposed is going to achieve that and we worry about the impact of creating so many specialized programs on the resources that will be available for MCPS's core mission. None of this will address the terrible math and ELA proficiency rates.[/quote]

Not everything is about property values and not everyone chooses a house for the school.  We picked what we could afford with a reasonable commute.  Blair property values have gone up as the housing has been lower making it more affordable.  [/quote]

I didn't say property values are entirely due to the Blair magnet program. I said the property values benefit from the magnet program. Blair is obviously a desirable school. That has a lot to do with the impact of the magnet program on the school's reputation.[/quote]

And once the regional program system is in place, what high schools will be desirable?[/quote]

It's not MCPS's job to concern itself with how desirable a school is to homebuyers. They should focus on ensuring kids graduate proficient in math and literacy. Magnet programs and general "desirability" doesn't help with that.[/quote]

I'm not talking about real estate values. I'm asking about what high schools are likely to produce high academic outcomes?

If the board truly focused on graduating students proficient in math and literacy, it would focus on outcomes in elementary school. Instead, it focused on regional programs for high schools.[/quote]

The biggest differences in proficiency rates are between demographic groups. The schools with the highest proficiency rates serve populations that are predominantly White, Asian and non-poor.[/quote]

And do you agree with Rita Montoya, that regional programs are going to provide good academic outcomes and equity for BIPOC students living in poverty?[/quote]

Not anytime soon since most of the programs will be half baked and inadequately staffed. I fundamentally disagree with her on most of her arguments (I do agree people shouldn't yell at her or disparage BIPOC). I support the aims of the regional program model and I don't think the current system is a good one, but it's clear they did not design it with equity in mind.[/quote]

Actually, the Blair magnet and RMIB were developed specifically with equity in mind. Blair had the worst academic outcomes of any MoCo high school in the 1980s. Closing the school was under discussion. Instead, Principal Phil Gainous led an effort to develop the magnet program in 1985, with the Communications Arts Program following in 1987.  These programs turned around Blair. Blair achieved greater racial integration. Richard Montgomery HS was a struggling high school as well. The IB program is credited with its turnaround.

Good programming takes time to develop. If anyone thinks that Taylor can deliver on 100 quality regional programs, to begin across all high schools by Fall 2027, I have a bridge in the Sahara I would like to sell you.[/quote]

Maybe up to a certain degree.

We knew students at both schools both in the IB and magnet programs and students that were not.

This was a while back but both sets of students acknowledged that they never interacted with students that were or were not in the program.  ie non IB students never interacted with the IB students and vice versa.  And it sounded like the students in the special programs were in a separate wing of the schools and hardly left that wing.

So can't say that the programs were put in place to promote integration.  It did help somewhat improve the school's scores and reputation.

Where you look at RM now, the school has improved overall and there are a lot of nice neighborhoods that go to RM.  The areas feeding into RM was very high in our areas to live in, even though we knew that outside of the IB program, the school is probably just average, which we were okay with.

Did it work for Blair?  I'm not so sure.  Even with the magnet program, it ranks 13th in the US News rankings of top high schools in Montgomery County:
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland/districts/montgomery-county-public-schools-104047

Where it goes:
Whitman
Wootton
Poolesville
Churchill
Richard Montgomery
Walter Johnson
Bethesda Chevy Chase
Northwest
Quince Orchard
Magruder
Clarksburg
Springbrook
Blair

We do know people who live around Blair and are/were happy with the school even though their kids were not in the special programs there.  But proximity to DC was a big factor for some of the families and some of the other families grew up in the area and were fine with it.

But don't think that Blair is that much of an example of success in integration and becoming a desirable area for families to choose to move to like you're describing.  RM maybe a better example of that.[/quote]

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