Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, because I drive her myself, but I am aghast at the 90 minute bus ride some kids have. MCPS should do something about it.

I mean, the kids with 90 minute bus rides are the kids whose parents opted them into the programs.*

*Except kids with special needs that can only be met at specific campuses, but I don't think that's what is being discussed here.

They would have loved to opt them into the same program with a shorter bus ride.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, because I drive her myself, but I am aghast at the 90 minute bus ride some kids have. MCPS should do something about it.

I mean, the kids with 90 minute bus rides are the kids whose parents opted them into the programs.*

*Except kids with special needs that can only be met at specific campuses, but I don't think that's what is being discussed here.

I don’t think the opt-in nature of the program means that they should have bus rides that long. They should try to balance it out better. Some bus routes have pickups/drop-offs at more than one magnet, so that probably makes them extra long.

Anonymous wrote:More because I can’t speak the language in the immersion program and distance learning has been a nightmare.

Same here. Why couldn’t they do daily Zoom? Just take turns reading a book and talk about what’s happening. Not rocket science.

Anonymous wrote:I have a rising 5th grader in CES. Bus ride is 25 minutes. I think I can drive him next year to avoid bus rides, but it’s not ideal. Considering going back to the home school. Anyone else?

You would uproot your kid over driving them to school some 15 .. 20 minutes>?

Yes, I would. But it's a moot point since there will be DL only until at least early 2021.

That is not a long drive. We don’t get a bus and have to drive ours. You can drive.

Anonymous wrote:
No, because I drive her myself, but I am aghast at the 90 minute bus ride some kids have. MCPS should do something about it.

I mean, the kids with 90 minute bus rides are the kids whose parents opted them into the programs.*

*Except kids with special needs that can only be met at specific campuses, but I don't think that's what is being discussed here.

Having had our DC go through a regional CES, I would really press your CES about whether it will be allowed to have a different curriculum than the home ES, even if it is DL. (For this spring, it was the same, and it was basically a waste of time beyond the kids and teacher having some time to interact with each other every day.) It's hard to ignore logistics, but I think you are deciding for 2021-22 and just dealing with the mess that will be 2020-21. Even one year at our CES in person would have been worth one year muddling along with driving the kid there a few times a week and meh DL. The CES experience for our DC was just night and day better than the home ES (which itself is highly rated), and knowing what we know now, we'd be willing to sacrifice a lot for it. If you decline now, I'm not sure they get to stay on a wait list; you'd have to ask the county.

the real question is if the incremental advancement that CES gives in the best of circumstances will be worth it if most of the heavy lifting is pushed off to the parents? Will little Thad come out actually any better off than the kids who walk to school the couple of days and parents pay to enrich?

Not like high SES kids get everything they get from the school system.

He won’t be doing that every day anymore so it seems short sighted.

More because I can’t speak the language in the immersion program and distance learning has been a nightmare.

No, because I drive her myself, but I am aghast at the 90 minute bus ride some kids have. MCPS should do something about it.

I’ll be driving for that reason but I don’t expect burnout from it because it will be 1-2 days most likely.

Honestly, for Fall, you will probably just driving 2x/week at max so I would just leave it be for now.

I have a rising 5th grader in CES. Bus ride is 25 minutes. I think I can drive him next year to avoid bus rides, but it’s not ideal. Considering going back to the home school. Anyone else?