How would it hurt Wooten, WJ, and Richard Montgomery to open their summer school programs to students out-of-bounds if there are extra spots in the programs?

MCPS establishes a baseline curriculum and has to offer it in every school. But, there is no way to stop an individual school from offering what it wants outside of that. It's driven by teacher interest, teacher talent, and a decision my the individual school on how to allocate resources. On school may decide to offer debate because they have a teacher qualified to teach it. Another may offer remedial Algebra but not AP Physics because that fits better with their student's needs. You might have a child who would love to take advanced Geometry, but it might not fit the needs of your school's majority. Similarly, there might be a student IB for Wooten who would benefit from a remedial class not offered. That will always be the case when a school is deciding what to offer based on average need. It's not criminal, it's just life.

Which high schools do not have this. Does Blair?

I don't think the school itself has to rent the building from MCPS. And kids are restricted from attending schools by their address all year. I can just enroll my child at whatever school I please. My child can not try out for another schools sports teams or audition for their plays.

If they are renting the school, I can't see how they can legally exclude any child in the county from attending. It is a public school building and most entities that rent can't exclude other based on such criteria - particularly where geographic residence is a proxy for race and class in Moco.

When my kid is in high school, I'll just apply and make a federal case out of it. Really. Someone should do that before me though. Go ahead out of bounds parent apply for the selective course offerings and break open the fun for the rest of us!!

Anonymous wrote:That's f*cked up.

Certainly not going to help MCPS close the Achievement Gap.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely agree that the disparity within county schools is evident. We are all paying taxes but depending on which zip code one lives, schools are far from equal.

It's not evident to me. Could you provide an example? Something that one school has and that the other school cannot have. I understand financial reasons where the PTA funds something and another school doesn't have PTA funding. But I'm looking for an example where MCPS offers one school something but tells another school they can't have it.

Likely that the teachers of some downcounty schools would not "volunteer" to teach such classes as they may be taking more lucrative summer jobs.
these programs work because the teachers are well-compensated (i.e., PTA's) and the principal of schools encourage /give the space for it to happen.

So no matter what they can only do lip service to closing the achievement gap. More power to kids who don't have access to these programs. Kids need a break in summer.

At Walter Johnson:

[url]http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/wjhs/summer/classes.aspx

Talk to you principal about what is required. Does the county even provide funding? Would there be enough interest to support it?

Anonymous wrote:That's f*cked up.

F'd up that kids have to go to school in the summer because their parents are crazy.

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely agree that the disparity within county schools is evident. We are all paying taxes but depending on which zip code one lives, schools are far from equal.

It's not evident to me. Could you provide an example? Something that one school has and that the other school cannot have. I understand financial reasons where the PTA funds something and another school doesn't have PTA funding. But I'm looking for an example where MCPS offers one school something but tells another school they can't have it.

Absolutely agree that the disparity within county schools is evident. We are all paying taxes but depending on which zip code one lives, schools are far from equal.

RM somehow offers summer classes (non-IB) and it is regularly given a thumbs down by DCUM. It is not just a W thing.

Anonymous wrote:Tax payer funded private school. MCPS is completely out of touch with what is happening in the system. The disparity between school districts is incredibly unfair and frustrating to those that have to deal with mediocre schools. Let's face it, not everyone can afford to live in Western Montgomery County.

So take the initiative and implement this at your school. Call up the coordinator at Wooten and tell them you want to bring this to your school. Ask them how it was implemented at their school. Then do the same for your school.