Reply to HS program application this Fall for incoming 8th graders?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The possible change to regions will not happen until fall 2027, and final decisions about the new programs will not even be made until December 2025 or later.

The main question is whether MCPS will make any specific reassurances or guarantees to this fall's applicants or not.  For example, they could theoretically say "We commit that students starting a program in fall 2026 (or earlier) will be able to finish out that program.". If you would like that kind of information/reassurance, I would highly suggest you contact the Board of Ed *now*.to demand that, so they have time to put pressure on MCPS to make a statement like that by early fall.[/quote]

I would suggest that anyone with a rising 8th grader who might be interested in a program (or rising 5th grader, honestly-- there's been less talk about middle school so far but they are supposed to assess and potentially change those programs too) to fill out their questions/feedback form asking what the impact will be: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1fCkz2b1rVr60QIatOoSPXCLD7f1YlRRDCn3VbHrBx-o/viewform?edit_requested=true

Contacting Board of Ed members would be good too, and maybe even signing up to testify at the next board meeting on July 24th.  And if you can get your kid to do any of these things as well, that would be even more powerful...[/quote]

I personally find it a little uncomfortable when younger kids testify. Like, clearly their parent put them up to it and they are parroting what the parent says and thinks. I fully think kids have feelings about certain things and should have an avenue to communicate and advocate, but a lot of the testimony from ES age kids can feel like a bit of exploitation.[/quote]

I think in some cases that's true and in others the ES kids really do have strong feelings themselves that they want to convey.  But I hear you on that.

But by 8th grade, kids absolutely are often deeply invested in the decision about their high school plans (not just based on what their parents think), and the current lack of clarity genuinely puts them in an extremely tough spot.  And I strongly suspect the Board would be more sympathetic to hearing that from the kids themselves than their parents.[/quote]

+1. Thinking that an 8th grader doesn’t have the capacity to have strong opinions about future plans is false. Many kids have seen older siblings or friends apply for special programs and had planned to follow their example.

That said, not sure what anyone (young or old) can intelligently say about plans that are entirely unclear from McPS.  You can’t stop change, but when there’s no clarity as to how that change will be conducted-how can you determine whether it’s favorable or not?  Not sure why MCPS takes so long to make these decisions and yet provides such scant information.[/quote]

I wasn’t talking about 8th graders. I was referring to elementary kids. Apologies if I wasn’t more clear. I agree some 8th graders care about this and would absolutely have opinions of their own. Although honestly the vast majority expect to simply move on to the high school in their cluster. [/quote]

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