Anonymous
Post 01/23/2014 13:31     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
Anonymous wrote:I went to Wheaton many many moons ago. DH wnet to Northwood before it closed. We've recently moved back to the area. When we went to HS, the only school to avoid was Einsten and that's because it was a very rough school--lots of fights. Blair you only went to if you got into the magnet.

So I'm curious....why are Wheaton, Kennedy, and Northwood today seen as the less desirable schools? Do they not offer the same type of honor level/AP classes that Blair and Einstein have? I don't hear of a lot of shootings or police being called in and such on the news at these schools. I assume that all HS still follow the same ciriculumn so that Biology is Biology no matter where it is taught. What makes these schools in the DCC not as good as the others?


Demographic and real estate changes.

I think Wheaton is more "urban" area, so higher % apartments (though there are more luxury apartments coming soon). Kennedy is just a bit further up from DC, so lower housing prices. Einstein area's housing prices are higher compared to Wheaton and Kennedy, I think (benefited from real estate boom, and recovered quite a bit).

More minority kids, bad economy, less time for families/parents to devote to kids = lower academic performance and "rougher" schools.

Anonymous
Post 01/23/2014 13:31     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Einstein is also a very desirable size.


Can you elaborate? Aren't all MoCo HS large in general?


Blair is 3000 kids, Einstein is about 1800. That's a big difference.

In fact that is one big plus for Northwood -- I think it's 900 kids.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2014 13:29     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
Anonymous wrote:Einstein is also a very desirable size.


Can you elaborate? Aren't all MoCo HS large in general?
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2014 13:28     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
Einstein is also a very desirable size.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2014 13:26     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
Anonymous wrote:I went to Wheaton many many moons ago. DH wnet to Northwood before it closed. We've recently moved back to the area. When we went to HS, the only school to avoid was Einsten and that's because it was a very rough school--lots of fights. Blair you only went to if you got into the magnet.

So I'm curious....why are Wheaton, Kennedy, and Northwood today seen as the less desirable schools? Do they not offer the same type of honor level/AP classes that Blair and Einstein have? I don't hear of a lot of shootings or police being called in and such on the news at these schools. I assume that all HS still follow the same ciriculumn so that Biology is Biology no matter where it is taught. What makes these schools in the DCC not as good as the others?


It's more, I think, that Einstein has developed some desirable special programs that are open to all students, and is particularly interesting for its IB curriculum and arts emphasis.

Anonymous
Post 01/23/2014 13:18     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
I went to Wheaton many many moons ago. DH wnet to Northwood before it closed. We've recently moved back to the area. When we went to HS, the only school to avoid was Einsten and that's because it was a very rough school--lots of fights. Blair you only went to if you got into the magnet.

So I'm curious....why are Wheaton, Kennedy, and Northwood today seen as the less desirable schools? Do they not offer the same type of honor level/AP classes that Blair and Einstein have? I don't hear of a lot of shootings or police being called in and such on the news at these schools. I assume that all HS still follow the same ciriculumn so that Biology is Biology no matter where it is taught. What makes these schools in the DCC not as good as the others?
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2014 13:07     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
Hopefully it will be magnet for you, I would imagine it will be fine. My kid applied but not currently magnet so who knows (we arrived here for her 7th grade). But she did get Blair as choice although we are in Northwood -- we just moved out of the Blair district about a year ago and she is COSA'd to TPMS + her sibling is a junior at Blair. It's just been very stressful because things are up in the air, so I know how you feel. It's hard to know how to manage expectations with kids. Looking back, I should have just pretended that it was a sure thing at Blair ... sibling preferences generally go through but it depends on numbers. I bet for you not getting Blair as a preference will create excellent karma for getting the magnet
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2014 13:00     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
Also (same poster) just realized that a lot of kids who got Blair will get into the Blair magnets, so hopefully there will be quite a few spaces at Blair to open ...
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2014 12:57     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
On a related note, does anyone know when the magnet results usually come in? And sorry about choice, particularly as you are now in the frustrating position of trying to support your kid and what can you do?
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2014 11:42     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
Anonymous wrote:Was his third choice your home school?


Yes that's right.

First choice was Blair, second was Einstein, third was home school -- Northwood.

It makes logical sense, in that most kids are going to choose Blair and Einstein first. The problem I have is that they get those kids in a room and talk about choice and special programs and cite facts like 90 of kids get their first and second choice. And yet I have not known any kid in our neighborhood to get that in the first round, although a couple did in the second round.

It's a smokescreen, until they make the other high schools as desirable as Blair and Einstein.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2014 11:08     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
The big problem with the choice process in the DCC is there's such a great disparity in the perceived quality of the schools. Blair tends to be the overwhelming top choice of most kids, Einstein is probably second. Too often kids in the Northwood, Wheaton and Kennedy zones are SOL. The whole choice scheme can't work if only a few of the schools are perceived to be acceptable.
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2014 10:46     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
Was his third choice your home school?
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2014 10:22     Subject: Re:Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
Interesting. People on here will often state that kids in the DCC can go to any of the DCC high schools, and I've never understood how they can make that statement (unless their kids are just so young the process isn't that clear to them yet). Would you mind sharing what the top two choices were? Also, why do they do this assignment lottery before they have at least gone through one round of the magnet process?
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2014 17:17     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
That does suck. Best of luck getting into a magnet. But even if he shouldn't get in, there is still Round 2, and seats will open up at his top 2 schools from kids who do get into the magnets. So either way, there's still hope he'll get into a school he prefers.
Anonymous
Post 01/22/2014 16:55     Subject: Just got the Downcounty Consortium high school lottery letter ...
DC got his THIRD choice. That sucks. Come on, magnet acceptance!!!