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][quote=Anonymous]Blair's SMCS magnet can't exist in its current form without a 9th period, so the students have 8 classes a semester.  This requires extra funding to pay teachers for an extra period, which is a big factor in the limit on the number of students in the program.  (The same applies to the Blair CAP magnet, but they are not required to have a 9th period in grades 11-12.)

My older kid is a rising senior in Blair SMCS, and my younger kid is a rising freshman at Blair, but not in the SMCS magnet. The younger one is trying to do as close to a DIY SMCS magnet as he can, but, aside from the accelerated math (4 semesters of Algebra 2 and Precalc being compressed into 3 semesters or 2 for Functions), and the accelerated CS path (which is not done by all SMCS students), he cannot possibly fit the equivalent classes into his schedule because of the lack of a 9th period.  That's 4 full extra class periods over the 4 years that the magnet students get that are typically rigorous classes in interesting STEM subjects with a weighted GPA boost.

Unless other schools offer an extra class period, they cannot replicate the SMCS magnet, even aside from the actual course content.[/quote]

Wait, how does it even work for some students at the same school to have more periods than others?  I'm so confused...[/quote]

The afternoon school bus for magnet also takes TPMS and Eastern kids. The extra period gives SMACS students one more course to take and same afternoon bus time. [/quote]

Wait, I assumed it was something to do with block scheduling or how long each period is for the different programs. You're not actually saying that the Blair magnet kids get a whole extra period of school every day, are you?  Like, that Blair magnet kids actually get *more* education time-wise than all the rest of the kids in the county?  Because if so, that would be truly nuts and one of the most unfair things I have ever heard of...[/quote]
Same for the Poolesville SMCS program. Those kids have to take the activity bus home most days because they still have one period left when everyone else is dismissed at 2:30.[/quote]

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