Reply to Board of Education 9/4/2025 Board Work Session thread

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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]The 6th testimony unveiled [b]some interesting motivation from Taylor’s past in pushing the the secondary program analysis[/b]. Interesting…[/quote]

Which was...?[/quote]

Starting from 28:14, watch the video[/quote]

Just that he made the same change in Stafford, his prior school system that is much smaller than MCPS (5 HSs, not 25).  [/quote]

Why is that a problem?[/quote]

The lady testified made the key concerns very clear. First, he is trying to expand the same thing by 5X at the same time with the same timeframe. That's definitely too quick. Second, the previous county Taylor worked didn't have any magnet programs, let alone established county-wide ones that MCPS has for decades. Thirdly, previous board passed with 4:3, meaning that BOE there was also concerned and reluctant to give a green light. Last but not the least, the implementation rolled in only one year ago there. So basically he ran away from any potential credits or accountability. He will absolutely do the same thing after his term here.  [/quote]
Agree with the woman (starts around minute 28) to keep current humanities magnets criteria based, and that this plan cannot be half baked.

But I don’t see how equity can get worse than the [b]current 400 seats for almost 52,000 students[/b], over 40% from two high SES high schools.

Also, just because he is replicating the regional model from his former school district, does not mean that the regional model would not meet the needs of MCPS students. That is a strange argument. It’s additionally not relevant that his plan passed 4:3. So what, three people did not vote for his plan. And MCPS has stated it will keep the magnets and replicate them.[/quote]

Where did you get these numbers? They are both wrong. It's ~ 720 SMCS seats (400 from Blair and 320 from Poolsville) for 45,000 HS students. The regional model will roughly double the total of STEM students (75*4*6), at the costs of tearing down the 2 national-renowned programs, chopping off half of the advanced courses, dilute the SMCS student make-up to 1/3 of it's current density, "inestimable" increase of transportation cost (according to Taylor), and lack of qualified specialized teachers which is very likely to happen due to the extremely tiny allocation of "training" budget. And I'm not touching IB or humanity programs at all.

Now let's talk about "equity" that the testimony discussed. Which region will rise to the top? Which region will suffer the most and sink even more? You can choose to be blind and deaf to the fact of exacerbated segregation this regional model will bring.   [/quote]

Oh forgot to mention, the future transportation will only occur between HS and HS. So poor students who live away from a HS will be automatically cut-off from any opportunity for criteria-based programs. You call this "equity"? [/quote]

No the HS becomes a central stop just like is present now.[/quote]

No, students from marginalized HS catchment areas lose access to magnets, which are being dismantled in favor of criteria-based programming in regional HS that will do better in west county, where highly capitalized students reside.[/quote]

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