Reply to Program Study Moving Too Fast (opinion article)

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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=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I really wish that folks would reach at to the media less about the school district.  Not to mention complain less. Eyes and accountability are important but I don’t think people consider  the damage and how difficult it also makes things.

Like does anyone realize that there is no district in the state written about or talked about more than MCPS? Heck there is no district nearby that is talked about as much and this includes FCPS which has more students and sometimes similar challenges.

I’m not suggesting that bad things should be covered up, but I am suggesting that everything doesn’t need parent opinion or to be made into a mountain.  Teachers are feed up with parents.  It’s hard to get people to want to do the work of Central Office. Sourcing for a Superintendent is a nightmare.  No one wants to run for BOE because of salary and the  backlash. Even kids hate the blood sport of competition that late to have created.

If there is anything at present that I would ask from parents it would be some calmness and discretion.[/quote]

Seriously? That’s your response to this opinion piece that is well-researched, well-argued and points out serious concerns worth considering?

Just a blanket, “Leave MCPS alone” plea? Do you not see how pathetic you sound?[/quote]

I didn’t say anywhere “Leave MCPS alone.” What I said is that some of ya’ll need to learn better discretion, partnership, and that the Bethesda area view of things is not the only view that must be considered. What I called out, is that the constant overly public negativity about the district does damage.  As much as we can and should push for change and improvements, that should also be teemed with understanding for exactly how good things are in comparison to many school districts elsewhere, including in this very state.  Not to mention, that while opinion pieces like this can be well researched and push for good things, they also bring with them a spotlight that is not always helpful.

Some of ya’ll on this board can’t manage a decision of bedtimes without crowdsourcing. Imagine if I constantly shone a spotlight on your every decision and all the inner working of your house. Imagine the stress that would cause. Imagine how much priority shifting would happen as you respond to people’s comments, questions, concerns or call out of both real and perceived failings.

[/quote]

Wow - this is an amazingly out of touch take. When the government is set to take away a program that people rely on you cannot expect them to just STFU. [/quote]

Oh stop with the drama.  No one said they should STFU, (though occasionally parents in this district should be told exactly that).  This is not like someone is taking away food or housing or even education all together.   This is a change that is being made to address real inequity in this county that has been talked about, complained about, and even reported in several studies.

I have a kid in a magnet and am absolutely happy about that because that is were said child needs to be. That said, I’m not ignorant to the fact that there are a number of other children who would also benefit from these programs and don’t because of number of seats and where they are located. I’m also not ignorant to the fact that while there may be things I want to see MCPS do better, they are also head and shoulders above A LOT of other school districts in the nation. [b]And I’m also not ignorant to the fact that most other places don’t air out their problems nearly as much as MCPS.
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[b]Go to a top private school[/b] and you know what you will find. That your thoughts and opinions on their curriculum choices and operations while heard are often roundly ignored.  And if you want to leave they will wish you well and replace you with one of the many other waiting persons.  Public schools give more parent opportunity for engagement and voice and I certainly encourage that to continue.  But do not confuse that with meaning that everyone’s thoughts and opinions should always be the deciding factor. Particularly when it doesn’t present all the sides.  For instance the fact that the state is publishing new Science standards. Or that the state published new integrated Algebra requirements, but that now means MCPs has to figure out what to do with compacted math kids who will be done with Algebra by the end of MS, not all of whom want to be taking Linear Algebra, and those who do may not be missing content.

All this to say is there are a lot of perspectives that need to be considered.[/quote]

Geez, you are on a platform titled "MCPS". What else do you expect people to discuss about other than MCPS? Please get out and enter another platform called "AAP" on dcurbanmom, and you can find all kinds of complaint or whining about FCPS (according to your standard, everything other than agreeing is complaint).[/quote]

This isn’t a private school. It doesn’t matter what happens there.

And “not being ignorant” of this and that sounds like one way of saying… “the system is working for my kid, so why doesn’t everyone calm down?”

I actually hope you’re a CO troll because if you’re an actual magnet parent? Ick. I wouldn’t like you IRL. [/quote]

I have two kids, one went through CES to magnet track, and the other one is in CES right now. From a parent perspective, I echo this article in every concern because they are all legitimate concerns. The vigorous resentful response you showed hints you are probably from central office.

As discussed in other responses, the fact that the article author is from within the study team who should have signed a NDA but still chose to speak out publicly proves that central office doesn't listen at all to community inputs. They shut their ears and eyes and show attitude exactly like yours. No this forum is not for the purpose for negativity. This is a forum for community to vet out their concerns and unhappiness about MCPS administrations. [/quote]

And yoj know this how?  Because you’ve heard one person’s input. I’ve heard numerous persons input.  Guess what not everyone agrees that things should be slowed down.  Yes, all want various questions answered, but some are highly in agreement with the 6 region model and looking forward to the possibility it brings. Because that challenges your narrative and thoughts doesn’t make it an invalid community opinion.[/quote]
MCPS can't even manage the programs that they have now, or do any kind of analysis of those programs.   Yes, they need to slow down the process and think things through.

My kids were the first class to be the 2.0 guinea pigs.   We moved here right as 2.0 was starting.  I was willing to give it a shot, but I also didn't have the history of 2.0 or MCPS when we moved here.  I heard parents complaining about 2.0 and how awful it was.  I thought the same as you.. let's give it a shot; those parents should stop complaining. I even wrote a long post about it on this forum to give it a shot.

Boy, was I wrong.   [b]After 10+ years in MCPS I have learned that MCPS is terrible at managing and implementing programs.[/b]

We moved here because of the magnet programs.  Such a huge loss to MCPS to get rid of the county wide magnets that draw the best and brightest from around the country.   This is our last year in MCPS, thank god.[/quote]
Which programs are these?[/quote]
2.0 was a disaster, and the subsequent replacements have been a revolving door.

The regional IBs are not successful.  MCPS won't publish the DP rate at the regional IBs. There's a reason for that.  Yet, they think replicating the programs is a good idea. They've yet to show the success of the programs.  Why replicate a program that's not proven?[/quote]
C2.0 was not a program. The regional IBs are new, no DP rate to compare. 
All the other programs are successful. [/quote]
Kennedy has had IB for years.   They didn't change the program just because they made it a regional program.

But, even so, where's the data for pass rates for the first class in the regional program?

C2.0 rollout was a program.  And it was a disaster.  Terrible worksheets; teachers not trained properly.

MCPS cannot manage large scale programs, especially ones that they push too quickly.

What programs have been successful recently by CO?[/quote]
Again, C2.0 was not a program. 
All the MCPS programs have been successfully and well managed,  be it CES, Magnets etc..[/quote]
I'm a program manager.  The rollout of 2.0 was not successful. It was awful.

Magnets have been around for many many years.

The recent changes to CES and MS magnet with the so called "accelerated" classes at the home school was  were pathetic.   I had one DC go to HGC, and one not but had the acceleration at the home school.  Pathetic.

MCPS hasn't been able to successful rollout programs in recent years.  They have yet to provide a good assessment and post mortem of the changes that they made.  Read the article.   [/quote]

I'm a PI of many multi-year projects/missions, and I'm the pp who expressed disgust about the 1st response in this thread. I echo every concern you had. From a PM or PI point of view, MCPS is extremely disqualified for any new projects/changes they had tried to implement over the past decade or so. CES and MS-magnet significantly watered down after lottery. As a promise to the change from criteria-based to lottery, they brought accelerated math and HIGH to local MSs, and ELC enrichment to local ESs. I see those as some temporary highlights/remedies, but now they either become honor-for-all, or removed. They didn't touch the HS magnets much, except removed CoGAT from the metrics.

Now without a constructive study of "lessons learnt", they just want to reinvent every wheel from scratch without a good estimates of the costs, resource requirements, risk management, evaluation metrics, mitigation strategy. This is a failed proposal in every measure if you bring it to a funding agency, yet, BOE allows every proposal from MCPS to get approved. Failure for everyone. [/quote]

Even if you back the regional idea, MCPS has not crossed its I’s or dotted its T’s that makes the proposed credible or sustainable.[/quote]

And that may be a valid criticism with a suggested improvement that this actually needs to be someone’s responsibility fulltime if it’s to be successful.

The budget initially had Project Management training for Administration.[/quote]

A lot of the people in CO and admin roles get paid 6 figures. If you need project management training at that level, than the salaries need to come down to reflect that.[/quote]

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