I would never sign something like this. The sense of entitlement attached to these programs and the false premise that only the anointed few can handle these programs is breathtaking. It's the "dilution" argument that really gets me. Is the student body at the University of Michigan somehow "diluted" because it's larger than Dartmouth? Is great instruction only appropriate for people who can afford (yes, afford) to undertake a punishing commute? Is your child's education somehow compromised by having to exercise a little patience or compassion? You want all the riffraff out, go found a charter in Potomac where you can require 300s on the MAP-M for entrance and then circle the wagons.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not sign, and my kids have both been in a magnet. One graduated in 2025, and the other is in HS.

It's been a good experience for them, but there's far too much talent in the county to limit the participation to a few hundred students per grade level per year.

This. Regional magnet programs are a good idea.

+1 The "I got mine" posters are out in force, including hijacking parent chat groups at TPMS.

No. More opportunity is good and if we have to "dilute" classes that only 10 kids per year take in MCPS, so be it.

You are good then, if you live on the west side of the county. High SES community means more rigor for you. If you don't live on the westside, you have reason to be concerned about watered-down curriculum.

Can’t we look to something like compacted math as an example of a program that is offered in every school and hasn’t been “watered down”? Can’t you apply this up the chain? Why does more access to students who qualify for a program automatically equal less rigor? Also, I hate all the anti-silver spring bias in this and similar threads. As if there aren’t plenty of wealthy families with kids in public school in the eastern part of the county, and as if only kids from wealthy families are smart or can qualify for/handle rigorous programs anyway. It’s laughable.

I live in Silver Spring and I'm a teacher. Take a look at the MD state school report cards in east county and understand that teachers adjust curriculum to meet the needs of students.

I don’t know what your point is. My point is that it’s false that wealthy (by which I mean UMC, because that’s really what we’re talking about) people don’t live in the eastern part of the county, and it’s also false that only kids from wealthy families are smart. Every single high school in MCPS has smart, high performing kids who would be smart in any school and who can meet the entry criteria. So MCPS should be able to provide this program at every school without “watering it down.” Your point is something else.

There are also wealthy families in the dcc

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not sign, and my kids have both been in a magnet. One graduated in 2025, and the other is in HS.

It's been a good experience for them, but there's far too much talent in the county to limit the participation to a few hundred students per grade level per year.

This. Regional magnet programs are a good idea.

+1 The "I got mine" posters are out in force, including hijacking parent chat groups at TPMS.

No. More opportunity is good and if we have to "dilute" classes that only 10 kids per year take in MCPS, so be it.

You are good then, if you live on the west side of the county. High SES community means more rigor for you. If you don't live on the westside, you have reason to be concerned about watered-down curriculum.

Can’t we look to something like compacted math as an example of a program that is offered in every school and hasn’t been “watered down”? Can’t you apply this up the chain? Why does more access to students who qualify for a program automatically equal less rigor? Also, I hate all the anti-silver spring bias in this and similar threads. As if there aren’t plenty of wealthy families with kids in public school in the eastern part of the county, and as if only kids from wealthy families are smart or can qualify for/handle rigorous programs anyway. It’s laughable.

I live in Silver Spring and I'm a teacher. Take a look at the MD state school report cards in east county and understand that teachers adjust curriculum to meet the needs of students.

I don’t know what your point is. My point is that it’s false that wealthy (by which I mean UMC, because that’s really what we’re talking about) people don’t live in the eastern part of the county, and it’s also false that only kids from wealthy families are smart. Every single high school in MCPS has smart, high performing kids who would be smart in any school and who can meet the entry criteria. So MCPS should be able to provide this program at every school without “watering it down.” Your point is something else.

Every HS has smart and motivated students doesn’t mean every HS has same number of smart and highly-motivated students. How do you hold high-level courses if less than 5 students from a HS is capable to catch up? Doesn’t the current county-wide program provide best opportunities to these students by gathering together? I’m all in for providing basic high-level AP courses at each HS. This is what MCPS should be focusing on for equity. Tearing down the current successful programs would just cause more harm to really talented students in low SES cohorts.

Let me guess you are at a school where your kids get tons of advanced classes. If five kids need the class, then yes or transfer them to a school that has what they need and provide transportation. What you are saying is not equity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not sign, and my kids have both been in a magnet. One graduated in 2025, and the other is in HS.

It's been a good experience for them, but there's far too much talent in the county to limit the participation to a few hundred students per grade level per year.

This. Regional magnet programs are a good idea.

+1 The "I got mine" posters are out in force, including hijacking parent chat groups at TPMS.

No. More opportunity is good and if we have to "dilute" classes that only 10 kids per year take in MCPS, so be it.

You are good then, if you live on the west side of the county. High SES community means more rigor for you. If you don't live on the westside, you have reason to be concerned about watered-down curriculum.

Can’t we look to something like compacted math as an example of a program that is offered in every school and hasn’t been “watered down”? Can’t you apply this up the chain? Why does more access to students who qualify for a program automatically equal less rigor? Also, I hate all the anti-silver spring bias in this and similar threads. As if there aren’t plenty of wealthy families with kids in public school in the eastern part of the county, and as if only kids from wealthy families are smart or can qualify for/handle rigorous programs anyway. It’s laughable.

I live in Silver Spring and I'm a teacher. Take a look at the MD state school report cards in east county and understand that teachers adjust curriculum to meet the needs of students.

I don’t know what your point is. My point is that it’s false that wealthy (by which I mean UMC, because that’s really what we’re talking about) people don’t live in the eastern part of the county, and it’s also false that only kids from wealthy families are smart. Every single high school in MCPS has smart, high performing kids who would be smart in any school and who can meet the entry criteria. So MCPS should be able to provide this program at every school without “watering it down.” Your point is something else.

Every HS has smart and motivated students doesn’t mean every HS has same number of smart and highly-motivated students. How do you hold high-level courses if less than 5 students from a HS is capable to catch up? Doesn’t the current county-wide program provide best opportunities to these students by gathering together? I’m all in for providing basic high-level AP courses at each HS. This is what MCPS should be focusing on for equity. Tearing down the current successful programs would just cause more harm to really talented students in low SES cohorts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not sign, and my kids have both been in a magnet. One graduated in 2025, and the other is in HS.

It's been a good experience for them, but there's far too much talent in the county to limit the participation to a few hundred students per grade level per year.

This. Regional magnet programs are a good idea.

+1 The "I got mine" posters are out in force, including hijacking parent chat groups at TPMS.

No. More opportunity is good and if we have to "dilute" classes that only 10 kids per year take in MCPS, so be it.

Those classes that only 10 kids take won’t be diluted; they’ll be eliminated because those 10 kids will be distributed among many schools, none of which will have the talent pool to field enough students for these classes. That’s how these STEM programs will be diluted. We’ll have many good programs and no exceptional ones.

If the very good programs provide access to 3x the number of students, as long as the delta between exceptional and very good isn't too large, then that is a win from the perspective of maximizing educational benefit across the county.

I trust the SMCS teachers to know how big the delta is between very good STEM cohorting and exceptional STEM cohorting.

When we were in a race to develop the atomic bomb first or put a man on the moon first, we needed lots of very smart people to work together and a handful of geniuses to get us across the finish line. It seems like it would be beneficial to cater our educational system to both.

Why limit it to Montgomery County then? Why not one magnet for the best and the brightest across the state of Maryland?

NC has a fantastic HS residential magnet, but only for 11th and 12th grade. Logistically, and some point the commute is impossible, or it has to be residential, which is a huge life disruption.

Anyway, the obvious answer is that the right geo scope is whatever can fill classes.

Virginia has this. It’s called the Governor’s School. Kids are only there half a day and the other half at their home school.

“The Virginia Governor's School Program has been designed to assist divisions as they meet the needs of a small population of students whose learning levels are remarkably different from their age-level peers. The foundation of the Virginia Governor's School Program centers on best practices in the field of gifted education and the presentation of advanced content to able learners.“


https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/specialized-instruction/governor-s-schools

I did that when I was a kid in VA and thought it was so disruptive. I was missing everything at the home school.

Yes, what so many people are missing is that kids, even super genius ones, are still kids, who are social beings and part of a community. Their academic needs can be met without taking them out of their normal school community, and it won’t make them dumber or “water down” their academic experience if they’re made to mix with kids who only test at the 95% on a MAP test. I really think most of what MCPS does regarding magnet/gifted programming is about responding to squeaky wheel parents who (a) seem to need a rarefied experience for their kids and (b) can’t handle change.

What you’re failing to grasp is that we’re not talking about adding 95th% and 96th% students to programs that are already chock full of 98th% and 99th% students; what is being proposed is spreading out the 98th% and 99th% students among 6 programs instead of 2, while also admitting more students overall. The problem isn’t adding more students; it’s lowering the concentration of the most advanced students in any program. 99th% students will know significantly fewer other 99th% students going forward. Putting these kids together is valuable. Adding 95th% students isn’t harmful, but splitting up the 99th% is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not sign, and my kids have both been in a magnet. One graduated in 2025, and the other is in HS.

It's been a good experience for them, but there's far too much talent in the county to limit the participation to a few hundred students per grade level per year.

This. Regional magnet programs are a good idea.

+1 The "I got mine" posters are out in force, including hijacking parent chat groups at TPMS.

No. More opportunity is good and if we have to "dilute" classes that only 10 kids per year take in MCPS, so be it.

You are good then, if you live on the west side of the county. High SES community means more rigor for you. If you don't live on the westside, you have reason to be concerned about watered-down curriculum.

Can’t we look to something like compacted math as an example of a program that is offered in every school and hasn’t been “watered down”? Can’t you apply this up the chain? Why does more access to students who qualify for a program automatically equal less rigor? Also, I hate all the anti-silver spring bias in this and similar threads. As if there aren’t plenty of wealthy families with kids in public school in the eastern part of the county, and as if only kids from wealthy families are smart or can qualify for/handle rigorous programs anyway. It’s laughable.

I live in Silver Spring and I'm a teacher. Take a look at the MD state school report cards in east county and understand that teachers adjust curriculum to meet the needs of students.

I don’t know what your point is. My point is that it’s false that wealthy (by which I mean UMC, because that’s really what we’re talking about) people don’t live in the eastern part of the county, and it’s also false that only kids from wealthy families are smart. Every single high school in MCPS has smart, high performing kids who would be smart in any school and who can meet the entry criteria. So MCPS should be able to provide this program at every school without “watering it down.” Your point is something else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not sign, and my kids have both been in a magnet. One graduated in 2025, and the other is in HS.

It's been a good experience for them, but there's far too much talent in the county to limit the participation to a few hundred students per grade level per year.

This. Regional magnet programs are a good idea.

+1 The "I got mine" posters are out in force, including hijacking parent chat groups at TPMS.

No. More opportunity is good and if we have to "dilute" classes that only 10 kids per year take in MCPS, so be it.

You are good then, if you live on the west side of the county. High SES community means more rigor for you. If you don't live on the westside, you have reason to be concerned about watered-down curriculum.

Can’t we look to something like compacted math as an example of a program that is offered in every school and hasn’t been “watered down”? Can’t you apply this up the chain? Why does more access to students who qualify for a program automatically equal less rigor? Also, I hate all the anti-silver spring bias in this and similar threads. As if there aren’t plenty of wealthy families with kids in public school in the eastern part of the county, and as if only kids from wealthy families are smart or can qualify for/handle rigorous programs anyway. It’s laughable.

I live in Silver Spring and I'm a teacher. Take a look at the MD state school report cards in east county and understand that teachers adjust curriculum to meet the needs of students.

Our English teachers have bluntly told us they have to do it based on kids reading skills, knowledge, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not sign, and my kids have both been in a magnet. One graduated in 2025, and the other is in HS.

It's been a good experience for them, but there's far too much talent in the county to limit the participation to a few hundred students per grade level per year.

This. Regional magnet programs are a good idea.

+1 The "I got mine" posters are out in force, including hijacking parent chat groups at TPMS.

No. More opportunity is good and if we have to "dilute" classes that only 10 kids per year take in MCPS, so be it.

You are good then, if you live on the west side of the county. High SES community means more rigor for you. If you don't live on the westside, you have reason to be concerned about watered-down curriculum.

Can’t we look to something like compacted math as an example of a program that is offered in every school and hasn’t been “watered down”? Can’t you apply this up the chain? Why does more access to students who qualify for a program automatically equal less rigor? Also, I hate all the anti-silver spring bias in this and similar threads. As if there aren’t plenty of wealthy families with kids in public school in the eastern part of the county, and as if only kids from wealthy families are smart or can qualify for/handle rigorous programs anyway. It’s laughable.

I live in Silver Spring and I'm a teacher. Take a look at the MD state school report cards in east county and understand that teachers adjust curriculum to meet the needs of students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not sign, and my kids have both been in a magnet. One graduated in 2025, and the other is in HS.

It's been a good experience for them, but there's far too much talent in the county to limit the participation to a few hundred students per grade level per year.

This. Regional magnet programs are a good idea.

+1 The "I got mine" posters are out in force, including hijacking parent chat groups at TPMS.

No. More opportunity is good and if we have to "dilute" classes that only 10 kids per year take in MCPS, so be it.

You are good then, if you live on the west side of the county. High SES community means more rigor for you. If you don't live on the westside, you have reason to be concerned about watered-down curriculum.

Can’t we look to something like compacted math as an example of a program that is offered in every school and hasn’t been “watered down”? Can’t you apply this up the chain? Why does more access to students who qualify for a program automatically equal less rigor? Also, I hate all the anti-silver spring bias in this and similar threads. As if there aren’t plenty of wealthy families with kids in public school in the eastern part of the county, and as if only kids from wealthy families are smart or can qualify for/handle rigorous programs anyway. It’s laughable.

It could be a good analogy. Is there data supporting equal long term success of compacted math students regardless of cluster? Just look at the class sizes thread and you’ll see people saying they had 36 in compacted 4/5 math others says they have less than 20.

What I don’t understand is if compacted math works so well, why aren’t they getting rid of CES? Especially now that they’re no longer supporting ELC. How MCPS answers this question would most definitely tell you if county wife programs are watered down or not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not sign, and my kids have both been in a magnet. One graduated in 2025, and the other is in HS.

It's been a good experience for them, but there's far too much talent in the county to limit the participation to a few hundred students per grade level per year.

This. Regional magnet programs are a good idea.

+1 The "I got mine" posters are out in force, including hijacking parent chat groups at TPMS.

No. More opportunity is good and if we have to "dilute" classes that only 10 kids per year take in MCPS, so be it.

Those classes that only 10 kids take won’t be diluted; they’ll be eliminated because those 10 kids will be distributed among many schools, none of which will have the talent pool to field enough students for these classes. That’s how these STEM programs will be diluted. We’ll have many good programs and no exceptional ones.

If the very good programs provide access to 3x the number of students, as long as the delta between exceptional and very good isn't too large, then that is a win from the perspective of maximizing educational benefit across the county.

I trust the SMCS teachers to know how big the delta is between very good STEM cohorting and exceptional STEM cohorting.

When we were in a race to develop the atomic bomb first or put a man on the moon first, we needed lots of very smart people to work together and a handful of geniuses to get us across the finish line. It seems like it would be beneficial to cater our educational system to both.

Why limit it to Montgomery County then? Why not one magnet for the best and the brightest across the state of Maryland?

NC has a fantastic HS residential magnet, but only for 11th and 12th grade. Logistically, and some point the commute is impossible, or it has to be residential, which is a huge life disruption.

Anyway, the obvious answer is that the right geo scope is whatever can fill classes.

Virginia has this. It’s called the Governor’s School. Kids are only there half a day and the other half at their home school.

“The Virginia Governor's School Program has been designed to assist divisions as they meet the needs of a small population of students whose learning levels are remarkably different from their age-level peers. The foundation of the Virginia Governor's School Program centers on best practices in the field of gifted education and the presentation of advanced content to able learners.“


https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/specialized-instruction/governor-s-schools

I did that when I was a kid in VA and thought it was so disruptive. I was missing everything at the home school.

Yes, what so many people are missing is that kids, even super genius ones, are still kids, who are social beings and part of a community. Their academic needs can be met without taking them out of their normal school community, and it won’t make them dumber or “water down” their academic experience if they’re made to mix with kids who only test at the 95% on a MAP test. I really think most of what MCPS does regarding magnet/gifted programming is about responding to squeaky wheel parents who (a) seem to need a rarefied experience for their kids and (b) can’t handle change.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not sign, and my kids have both been in a magnet. One graduated in 2025, and the other is in HS.

It's been a good experience for them, but there's far too much talent in the county to limit the participation to a few hundred students per grade level per year.

This. Regional magnet programs are a good idea.

+1 The "I got mine" posters are out in force, including hijacking parent chat groups at TPMS.

No. More opportunity is good and if we have to "dilute" classes that only 10 kids per year take in MCPS, so be it.

Those classes that only 10 kids take won’t be diluted; they’ll be eliminated because those 10 kids will be distributed among many schools, none of which will have the talent pool to field enough students for these classes. That’s how these STEM programs will be diluted. We’ll have many good programs and no exceptional ones.

If the very good programs provide access to 3x the number of students, as long as the delta between exceptional and very good isn't too large, then that is a win from the perspective of maximizing educational benefit across the county.

I trust the SMCS teachers to know how big the delta is between very good STEM cohorting and exceptional STEM cohorting.

When we were in a race to develop the atomic bomb first or put a man on the moon first, we needed lots of very smart people to work together and a handful of geniuses to get us across the finish line. It seems like it would be beneficial to cater our educational system to both.

Why limit it to Montgomery County then? Why not one magnet for the best and the brightest across the state of Maryland?

NC has a fantastic HS residential magnet, but only for 11th and 12th grade. Logistically, and some point the commute is impossible, or it has to be residential, which is a huge life disruption.

Anyway, the obvious answer is that the right geo scope is whatever can fill classes.

Virginia has this. It’s called the Governor’s School. Kids are only there half a day and the other half at their home school.

“The Virginia Governor's School Program has been designed to assist divisions as they meet the needs of a small population of students whose learning levels are remarkably different from their age-level peers. The foundation of the Virginia Governor's School Program centers on best practices in the field of gifted education and the presentation of advanced content to able learners.“


https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/specialized-instruction/governor-s-schools

I did that when I was a kid in VA and thought it was so disruptive. I was missing everything at the home school.

I attended HS in VA with many peers that attended the Governor’s School for the arts. Then, I taught in southwest and central VA where many students attended a different GovernorMs School. The programs were so popular that counselors built school schedules based on those students so they could take the classes they wanted at their home school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not sign, and my kids have both been in a magnet. One graduated in 2025, and the other is in HS.

It's been a good experience for them, but there's far too much talent in the county to limit the participation to a few hundred students per grade level per year.

This. Regional magnet programs are a good idea.

+1 The "I got mine" posters are out in force, including hijacking parent chat groups at TPMS.

No. More opportunity is good and if we have to "dilute" classes that only 10 kids per year take in MCPS, so be it.

Those classes that only 10 kids take won’t be diluted; they’ll be eliminated because those 10 kids will be distributed among many schools, none of which will have the talent pool to field enough students for these classes. That’s how these STEM programs will be diluted. We’ll have many good programs and no exceptional ones.

If the very good programs provide access to 3x the number of students, as long as the delta between exceptional and very good isn't too large, then that is a win from the perspective of maximizing educational benefit across the county.

I trust the SMCS teachers to know how big the delta is between very good STEM cohorting and exceptional STEM cohorting.

When we were in a race to develop the atomic bomb first or put a man on the moon first, we needed lots of very smart people to work together and a handful of geniuses to get us across the finish line. It seems like it would be beneficial to cater our educational system to both.

Why limit it to Montgomery County then? Why not one magnet for the best and the brightest across the state of Maryland?

NC has a fantastic HS residential magnet, but only for 11th and 12th grade. Logistically, and some point the commute is impossible, or it has to be residential, which is a huge life disruption.

Anyway, the obvious answer is that the right geo scope is whatever can fill classes.

Virginia has this. It’s called the Governor’s School. Kids are only there half a day and the other half at their home school.

“The Virginia Governor's School Program has been designed to assist divisions as they meet the needs of a small population of students whose learning levels are remarkably different from their age-level peers. The foundation of the Virginia Governor's School Program centers on best practices in the field of gifted education and the presentation of advanced content to able learners.“


https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/specialized-instruction/governor-s-schools

I did that when I was a kid in VA and thought it was so disruptive. I was missing everything at the home school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not sign, and my kids have both been in a magnet. One graduated in 2025, and the other is in HS.

It's been a good experience for them, but there's far too much talent in the county to limit the participation to a few hundred students per grade level per year.

This. Regional magnet programs are a good idea.

+1 The "I got mine" posters are out in force, including hijacking parent chat groups at TPMS.

No. More opportunity is good and if we have to "dilute" classes that only 10 kids per year take in MCPS, so be it.

You are good then, if you live on the west side of the county. High SES community means more rigor for you. If you don't live on the westside, you have reason to be concerned about watered-down curriculum.

Can’t we look to something like compacted math as an example of a program that is offered in every school and hasn’t been “watered down”? Can’t you apply this up the chain? Why does more access to students who qualify for a program automatically equal less rigor? Also, I hate all the anti-silver spring bias in this and similar threads. As if there aren’t plenty of wealthy families with kids in public school in the eastern part of the county, and as if only kids from wealthy families are smart or can qualify for/handle rigorous programs anyway. It’s laughable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will not sign, and my kids have both been in a magnet. One graduated in 2025, and the other is in HS.

It's been a good experience for them, but there's far too much talent in the county to limit the participation to a few hundred students per grade level per year.

This. Regional magnet programs are a good idea.

+1 The "I got mine" posters are out in force, including hijacking parent chat groups at TPMS.

No. More opportunity is good and if we have to "dilute" classes that only 10 kids per year take in MCPS, so be it.

You are good then, if you live on the west side of the county. High SES community means more rigor for you. If you don't live on the westside, you have reason to be concerned about watered-down curriculum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It worked very well when we kept the CESs, but added ELC and made parents feel like their kids were getting the CES experience at their home schools. Why don’t we add a few extra cohorted math and science classes to each region, tell parents that’s the magnet experience, but still keep the existing STEM magnets so the truly gifted kids [b]can still take these tiny, super specialized advanced classes? Everyone will be happy.

Are they?

Right now bulk of Magnet seats are taken by WJ/Churchill/Wootton. I doubt that most tryly gifted kids are attending these magnets. They will be distributed all over the county.

Nobody is saying that there are no truly gifted kids who aren’t taking these highly specialized classes; what we’re saying is that the kids who do take these highly specialized classes are truly gifted. Each sixth of the county can’t necessarily field enough of these students to offer these classes.

A some portion of trully gifted attend magnet. If Entire portion can attend regional magnets then population size may be big enough to offer super specialized courses.

At 6 different locations?

Even worse, they are planning to slash the cohort sizes in half, from 100 to 50, which will obviously render the most advanced classes impossible to populate.

So going from 200 students countywide to 300? Seems like that would not "water down" the criteria much at all, and you could have virtual classes to group kids together across magnets for classes that can't be filled at an individual school...

No. Going from 100+85 each grade for two SMACS program in total to 85*6 spreading in 6 regions.

Where do you see 85?

In one of the slides for a medical science program example, it's listed 200 for out-of-local and 100 for local students, so it's like 75 each grade (sorry my math went wrong, but close enough).

How does that tell you what the SMC$ numbers will be?