Can you blame the original poster for all the confusion? ‘Perfect goulash of nonsense’ is how I would describe MCPS itself.

This post is all over the place.

It asks about "alternative" high schools, which is a word normally used for programs that serve kids for whom a mainstream high school isn't a great fit, either because the kids are court-involved or because they are not college-bound.

Then asks about Thomas Edison, an awesome trade program.

But then we veer off into highly selective magnet high schools.

THEN we start talking about Takoma Park MS, which is a.....middle school, not a high school.

Add a dose of racism/classism, and you have a perfect gulash of nonsense.

Consortiums were developed to prevents entire neighborhood from losing middle-class families due to parents thinking they were trapped into a poor school zone. Granted the clustered the least desirable schools into regions. The schools with strong reputations were left alone and you can not opt into then.

You paid a premium to get a strong school with high demand when you bought your house. If you want any of the consortium schools I bet you can find a much better house for cheaper zoned for one of them, just move.

Thomas Edison

https://youtu.be/Gbpmw8-Me9U

https://youtu.be/YOALK_xhLEY

https://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04748.pdf

https://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/SafetyGlance/currentyear/schools/04748.pdf

Poolesville Humanities is upcounty (RCMS/MLK magnet area) only.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our home school is Wootton HS. Can you tell me about your experience with applying and/or attending one of the alternative high school programs offered in MCPS like at Richard Montgomery or Blair. I can't find any info on Thomas Edison HS. Do they group students with peers from the pool of applicants? Or do accepted students have classes with students that is their home school, too? I've heard that is a drawback with attending the Takoma Park magnet. The magnet student only has two classes with other magnet students and then all other classes are with Takoma Park home school students. Just want to see what the peer group would be and if these "specialty" programs are really worth the sacrifice we would make as a family with the driving, etc....

1. Do you have a child that is currently in Elementary School or Middle School?
2. If you have a child in ES that feeds into Wooton, then they will be able to apply for Takoma Park Math/Science Magnet, Eastern Humanities Magnet, or lottery into one of the focused middle schools (Argyle, Loiderman, Parkland).
3. Takoma Park and Eastern has busing for the magnet kids. The lottery schools do not. The bus ride from your neck of the woods is long, but kids do it. Families also carpool.
4. If you have a child in a MS that feeds into Wooton, then they will be able to apply to Blair STEM or Richard Montgomery IB programs. Both are highly competitive.
5. If you have a child already at Eastern or Takoma Park in the magnet program, they are eligible to apply to the Blair CAP program - a highly competitive humanities-focused magnet. Otherwise, your child is not eligible to apply to Blair CAP because your child is not in the DownCounty Consortium of schools.
6. Wheaton's Biomedical program, Einstein's Visual Arts Program, etc. are only available to children in the Downcounty consortium who apply and are admitted.

For all magnet programs the children are grouped together, although in high school they will take classes with other kids not in their program, and to some extent the same is true in the middle schools. Whether the programs are "worth the sacrifice" is a family-specific call, and involves a lot of variables - schedules, sports activities, the type of child, the availability of resources at neighborhood school, the adaptability of the child to new situations, etc.

Einstein Visual Art Center is County wide. If admitted in, you’re child has a option of being a student at Einstein or commuting.

Anonymous wrote:Our home school is Wootton HS. Can you tell me about your experience with applying and/or attending one of the alternative high school programs offered in MCPS like at Richard Montgomery or Blair. I can't find any info on Thomas Edison HS. Do they group students with peers from the pool of applicants? Or do accepted students have classes with students that is their home school, too? I've heard that is a drawback with attending the Takoma Park magnet. The magnet student only has two classes with other magnet students and then all other classes are with Takoma Park home school students. Just want to see what the peer group would be and if these "specialty" programs are really worth the sacrifice we would make as a family with the driving, etc....

There are several programs available to students county-wide. They include:

Global Ecology House (Poolesville HS)
Humanities House (Poolesville HS)
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (Richard Montgomery HS)

And others that are regional:
Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science Magnet (Blair HS or Poolesville)
To apply to the Blair program, students must live in one of the following high school clusters:
•Bethesda-Chevy Chase
•Winston Churchill
•Walter Johnson
•Richard Montgomery
•Rockville
•Sherwood
•Walt Whitman
•Thomas S. Wootton
•Northeast Consortium
•Downcounty Consortium

To apply for the Science, Mathematics, Computer Science House at Poolesville High School, students must live in one of the following high school clusters:
•Clarksburg
•Damascus
•Gaithersburg
•Magruder
•Northwest
•Poolesville
•Quince Orchard
•Seneca Valley
•Watkins Mill

There are also regional IB programs: https://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/ib.aspx

And Thomas Edison's programs are open to students county-wide: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/edison/about/enroll.aspx

Anonymous wrote:Our home school is Wootton HS. Can you tell me about your experience with applying and/or attending one of the alternative high school programs offered in MCPS like at Richard Montgomery or Blair. I can't find any info on Thomas Edison HS. Do they group students with peers from the pool of applicants? Or do accepted students have classes with students that is their home school, too? I've heard that is a drawback with attending the Takoma Park magnet. The magnet student only has two classes with other magnet students and then all other classes are with Takoma Park home school students. Just want to see what the peer group would be and if these "specialty" programs are really worth the sacrifice we would make as a family with the driving, etc....

1. Do you have a child that is currently in Elementary School or Middle School?
2. If you have a child in ES that feeds into Wooton, then they will be able to apply for Takoma Park Math/Science Magnet, Eastern Humanities Magnet, or lottery into one of the focused middle schools (Argyle, Loiderman, Parkland).
3. Takoma Park and Eastern has busing for the magnet kids. The lottery schools do not. The bus ride from your neck of the woods is long, but kids do it. Families also carpool.
4. If you have a child in a MS that feeds into Wooton, then they will be able to apply to Blair STEM or Richard Montgomery IB programs. Both are highly competitive.
5. If you have a child already at Eastern or Takoma Park in the magnet program, they are eligible to apply to the Blair CAP program - a highly competitive humanities-focused magnet. Otherwise, your child is not eligible to apply to Blair CAP because your child is not in the DownCounty Consortium of schools.
6. Wheaton's Biomedical program, Einstein's Visual Arts Program, etc. are only available to children in the Downcounty consortium who apply and are admitted.

For all magnet programs the children are grouped together, although in high school they will take classes with other kids not in their program, and to some extent the same is true in the middle schools. Whether the programs are "worth the sacrifice" is a family-specific call, and involves a lot of variables - schedules, sports activities, the type of child, the availability of resources at neighborhood school, the adaptability of the child to new situations, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I am confused. What question are you asking?

They are probably asking about the down county consortium and they aren't eligible.

Isn't Wootton eligible for the IB programs? MCPS is offering more IB programs in the coming years.

There is a down county consortium and if she's asking about Edison and other schools that is what she is asking about. She can move to have the school choice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I am confused. What question are you asking?

They are probably asking about the down county consortium and they aren't eligible.

Isn't Wootton eligible for the IB programs? MCPS is offering more IB programs in the coming years.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I am confused. What question are you asking?

They are probably asking about the down county consortium and they aren't eligible.

OP, I am confused. What question are you asking?

Look on MCPS. Edison is a technically training school.

Our home school is Wootton HS. Can you tell me about your experience with applying and/or attending one of the alternative high school programs offered in MCPS like at Richard Montgomery or Blair. I can't find any info on Thomas Edison HS. Do they group students with peers from the pool of applicants? Or do accepted students have classes with students that is their home school, too? I've heard that is a drawback with attending the Takoma Park magnet. The magnet student only has two classes with other magnet students and then all other classes are with Takoma Park home school students. Just want to see what the peer group would be and if these "specialty" programs are really worth the sacrifice we would make as a family with the driving, etc....