Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So we have a poster who claims that county selects based on URM and we have another poster who claims MCPS and the BoE are white supremacist. Isn't there a middle ground somewhere for these two posters?

Nobody is claiming that. That PP's point was that MCPS did nothing about the problem until a certain group of affluent parents started yelling about it, and that certain group of affluent parents didn't start yelling about it until the problem affected their kids.

Right. The problem of qualified kids not being given access to the curriculum has been around as long as there have been magnet programs. But MCPS didn't get its act together to start differentiating in home schools until a certain group of parents perceived that their kids had been passed over. Even though, anecdotally from information night it seems that white and Asian kids are about as well represented in the program as they have always been, folks perceive bias and so MCPS is finally doing what it should have done all along.

Umm, No. MCPS has been planning this since Fall, when representatives alluded to it during the Magnet MS presentations. They did not communicate well about their plans, however, and everyone Freaked-the-heck-out. So now, MCPS is planning to spread their original plan to more schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So we have a poster who claims that county selects based on URM and we have another poster who claims MCPS and the BoE are white supremacist. Isn't there a middle ground somewhere for these two posters?

Nobody is claiming that. That PP's point was that MCPS did nothing about the problem until a certain group of affluent parents started yelling about it, and that certain group of affluent parents didn't start yelling about it until the problem affected their kids.

Right. The problem of qualified kids not being given access to the curriculum has been around as long as there have been magnet programs. But MCPS didn't get its act together to start differentiating in home schools until a certain group of parents perceived that their kids had been passed over. Even though, anecdotally from information night it seems that white and Asian kids are about as well represented in the program as they have always been, folks perceive bias and so MCPS is finally doing what it should have done all along.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our older child went HGC elementary school but did not get into MS magnet. Local school was a breeze and not challenging, but he was determined and worked to get into HS magnet, where he is enjoying the challenge and doing very well. Thus we have first hand experience. My personal view has been that there have always been hundreds/thousands of MCPS students who were well qualified and would have benefited from a more challenging level of instruction who could not be invited get into magnet due to the numbers constraints. In the current trend, I see an opportunity for MCPS to begin to better meet the needs of all those high ability students beyond just the few slots available via magnets. I think more students can truly be better served this way if MCPS can implement this pilot approach well across the county. It will take time, but it could be a good solution to more appropriate instruction for more students across the higher achieving spectrum.

Well said, and I completely agree.

+2

Thanks, 14:23, for the calm, even keeled perspective. I don't know that very many parents are actually expecting "the same" as the magnets. Happy medium: Some challenge, good peer group, no requirement for academic concentration in 6th grade, no long daily commute, no concentration of friends all over the down-county - that is what I am looking for.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So we have a poster who claims that county selects based on URM and we have another poster who claims MCPS and the BoE are white supremacist. Isn't there a middle ground somewhere for these two posters?

Nobody is claiming that. That PP's point was that MCPS did nothing about the problem until a certain group of affluent parents started yelling about it, and that certain group of affluent parents didn't start yelling about it until the problem affected their kids.

I'm pretty sure there are only a few posters yelling, but she/he/ they have created many threads and are eager to leap into unrelated threads. Cold Spring somehow comes to mind.

Yeah, PP who called out the Happy Dancer here, at this point when the CS dog whistle gets pulled out, I get annoyed, doubly so when it's used on someone who is being positive for a moment. I wasn't angry (sorry if it sounded that bad) and I don't attack parents for being angry, I know there's frustration to go around here. But people who derail threads for their amusement, yeash (dollars to donuts that's the PP who's so extreme the actual CS parents have had to push back).

To the title of this thread, I don't think there is any claim that the pilot offering will be equivalent, just that it will help address the highly able students who didn't make the magnet cut. Having had kids in MS for the past six years already, I know how bad the MS situation is. Having had kids in MCPS for twelve years I know not all change is good change. But the current situation is past due for a pendulum swing as I haven't seen any attempt at MS change before this. Yes, the teacher(s) who weighed in may be right, and at some future point, everyone will have figured out how to ruin it all, but somewhere between now and then there should be something like a happy medium, right? No guarantee, but doing nothing definitely won't get anywhere. I appreciate that this is more frustrating for teachers but not many workplaces are free from shifting expectations.

Anonymous wrote:open up two more magnet programs then. not in east county.

With overcrowding and the lack of physical space MCPS would not be able to that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So we have a poster who claims that county selects based on URM and we have another poster who claims MCPS and the BoE are white supremacist. Isn't there a middle ground somewhere for these two posters?

Nobody is claiming that. That PP's point was that MCPS did nothing about the problem until a certain group of affluent parents started yelling about it, and that certain group of affluent parents didn't start yelling about it until the problem affected their kids.

I'm pretty sure there are only a few posters yelling, but she/he/ they have created many threads and are eager to leap into unrelated threads. Cold Spring somehow comes to mind.

Anonymous wrote:So we have a poster who claims that county selects based on URM and we have another poster who claims MCPS and the BoE are white supremacist. Isn't there a middle ground somewhere for these two posters?

Nobody is claiming that. That PP's point was that MCPS did nothing about the problem until a certain group of affluent parents started yelling about it, and that certain group of affluent parents didn't start yelling about it until the problem affected their kids.

So we have a poster who claims that county selects based on URM and we have another poster who claims MCPS and the BoE are white supremacist. Isn't there a middle ground somewhere for these two posters?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know what's interesting? Everyone knows that this process has been unfair all along, and that it advantaged kids who already had all of the advantages (involved parents, access to the HGCs, reliable transportation, essay editing support, cultural literacy around the process).

So, MCPS looked at that and tried to create a more fair process by testing many more kids and doing away with the components that were actually shibboleths for being middle class.

OUTRAGE ensued, and MCPS actually changed something. That's the power of white supremacy. Black and Latinx kids, and poor and working class kids, get passed over for years and nothing changes but weeks after the system actually gives them some tiny advantages of their own, the goalposts shift.

Right - the white supremacist montgomery county keeps electing a BoE that focusses on closing the achievement gap and implements policies that outrage the white supremacists.

It's the Montgomery County Board of Education, not the Montgomery County Board of Instantly Being Able To Wipe Out All Of The Effects, Everywhere, Of Centuries Of Systemic Discrimination.

Anonymous wrote:You know what's interesting? Everyone knows that this process has been unfair all along, and that it advantaged kids who already had all of the advantages (involved parents, access to the HGCs, reliable transportation, essay editing support, cultural literacy around the process).

So, MCPS looked at that and tried to create a more fair process by testing many more kids and doing away with the components that were actually shibboleths for being middle class.

OUTRAGE ensued, and MCPS actually changed something. That's the power of white supremacy. Black and Latinx kids, and poor and working class kids, get passed over for years and nothing changes but weeks after the system actually gives them some tiny advantages of their own, the goalposts shift.

Right - the white supremacist montgomery county keeps electing a BoE that focusses on closing the achievement gap and implements policies that outrage the white supremacists.

Anonymous wrote:

Look, I totally support everyone taking an interest and getting involved in the conversation. I just don't like this poster's approach: feigning camaraderie with the PP and sympathy for a logical fallacy, all as an in to grind the same axe--MCPS bad, CS parents need to stay screaming mad. There's no content in that post, it's rabble rousing. Give this poster an inch, you'll find out what's under that surface.

Wow -- the angry parent who gets angry at other parents for caring about their county's education is back. Only took 11 pages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:open up two more magnet programs then. not in east county.

Yes. Open as many magnets as it takes for my kid to get in one, and make sure that it's convenient to my home.

^^^to clarify -- I am not being sincere.

Anonymous wrote:open up two more magnet programs then. not in east county.

Yes. Open as many magnets as it takes for my kid to get in one, and make sure that it's convenient to my home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh, I've gotten this same reaction from some DCUM posters -- how dare you care about what's happening in the school system generally?? Why wouldn't you *only* care about what's happening to your kid *right now*?

I didn't notice much caring from the parents of high-ability kids who would probably have been admitted to TPMS under the previous admissions process, about the many, many high-ability kids who weren't admitted to the MS magnets, in many cases didn't even apply to the MS magnets, and received only the regular MCPS curriculum in their middle schools. But now that it's their own high-ability kids who would get the regular MCPS curriculum in their middle schools, they care! Which is perfectly understandable and natural, but not necessarily the moral high ground.

I assume it is the fact that many of the 25 MCPS home-school HS's have a form of ability tracking. You can take over 200 courses if you have done the pre-reqs and you can take scores of AP tests. Plus lots of clubs, extras and sports (must tryout usually). Skies the limit if you have your act together.

MCPS MS you just sit there treading water in your statistically constructed class of one-third high, middle and low performers.