Reply to MCPS to end areawide Blair Magnet and countywide Richard Montgomery's IB program

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]as a current student @ blair, here's a few things i've noticed

- the rigor of the program is supplied by two things - the student cohort, and the teachers.

- the biggest thing is the teachers. classes themselves do not automatically become rigorous. it's all dependent on your teacher - some go hard on you and make you struggle for every grade, others take it easy. many of my friends and myself choose classes solely based off of who teaches them - and know that the best aspect of our education is because of the insane amount of skill + efforts our teachers put in. there is no way that quality of teacher (which we're already struggling to fill at blair, major example with mr.kaluta leaving 3-4 years ago and still no proper replacement found) can be replicated across however many regional programs exist. in general, though the teachers are so unique and amazing that even the "hated" teachers in the magnet would be stellar elsewhere. the standard of teaching and respect we get is very high and I just haven't been able to feel that with most of my other teachers.

- other than the rigorous classes in mostly just math & cs, the major amount of motivation and rigor comes from the cohort. i only skimmed this thread and saw so much discussion about top 1% or 5% or blah blah, but in truth the peer group at blair is unlike one at any other high school. the concentration of people in my grade are so smart that it literally is one of my main motivating factors to try and build myself up as well - and even though a regional program would supply a very good peer group, it would for sure not give the same motivation/drive/push to literally try and make myself the best version I can be.

- from a feasibility perspective, there just isn't any way that a regional program could be of the same rigor of blair/rm/poolesville. the magnet is literally such a wonderful environment and while i'd love to expand access to it, splitting up the central programs is just not the way to go about it. 
[/quote]

Nicely explained![/quote]

A few things:
1) Just because you write “current student @ Blair” doesn’t mean that anyone on this should believe you to be a student. This is an anonymous forum so taking anyone at face value with objective skepticism isn’t a good idea.  Hopefully this is a lesson you learn fully before exiting HS if a student.

2) The program can in fact be replicated in other locations as we Only need look at the fact that the Poolesville SMACs program exist as evidence.

3) Sourcing teacher or talent in an of itself isn’t the issue. Heck there is a lot of it on the market right now. The problem is what these people are willing to accept for pay. It’s not a talent issue but an economic one.
 
4) Because of the above, CO and the Superintendent should already be having conversation with both the teacher’s union and county council about this plan.

5) A key downfall of this is that it is not being conducted as part of a larger conversation   This should not be just a program analysis and boundary study.  It should be a phase in a strategic program for of reimagining education in MCPS and that should be tied to the economics and development of the county.   [/quote]

#5, 1,000%! We already know a ton of people in the county are losing their jobs and leaving the area. I worry we are going to spend all this time and energy to create something we can’t afford for students that don’t exist.

A simpler option would be to go with boundary option #1 to fill the new schools and use regional programs to help balance the capacity of every school. [/quote]

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