Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give me a break. The Blair magnet serves more than 400 students, it has served thousands of moco families well over the years, stabilized and improved the largest and most diverse high school in Maryland (Go Blazers), and brought national rep to the school district. Pretty good ROI. I would care about that collateral damage.

400 a year is not very much, given the need. That's 100 per grade.

Well, even the 400 is a little bit of a "hide the ball" situation. Of the 100 kids per grade, only a handful are taking the massively accelerated courses that might not be sustainable when the program is duplicated.

When people talk about the "gem" that is SMCS, they don't actually mean that 400 kids per year are taking Linear Algebra or Organic Chemistry. Most Blair magnet kids are taking a normal math progression, ending with Multivariable or AP Statistics, and a normal math progression ending with Physics C (or whatever).

A very small number of kids are doing much more, and there is a critical mass of ES and MS parents who are convinced their children will be in that group, and who are lamenting what they perceive to be a loss of programs.

But it actually doesn't make sense to stand up a magnet around 15 kids per year, and I credit Taylor for being willing to walk away from the madness.

This is what doesn't make sense. If they aren't doing anything really accelerated, what's the point of it beyond bragging rights? I'd expect these kids to complete MV and Linear Algebra. It doesn't seem to make sense financially.

See my comments below. You are responding to a post full of inaccurate numbers. At least 80% of the kids reach the MVC/Diff Eqn level by graduation and take advantage of this program.

Ok, and the point is that many of these kids can do it in their home schools so why do we need to bus them cross country and not save those spots for kids who don't have access at their home schools? Many of our kids take those classes... its nothing to brag about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Programs need to be increased and spread out. All programs(Local and Central managed) need to have the same general basis of setup(e.g Coordinator, criteria, evaluation, knowledgeable staff, training, curriculum, appropriate funding allocation for the entirety of the program, etc). AND rigor and expectations need to be increased and leveled for all students/staff/administrators at all schools and CO. Not all kids need or want to go to college, BUT all students need be educated such that they can make that choice for themselves and have the option. If folks are socially promoting kids in ES and they get to HS not reading, the HS teachers give the appropriate grade and recommendations for moving classes to appropriate level classes. Then we investigate who failed that kid and hold them accountable.

Folks need to stop kicking the can and being afraid of the boss or CO or whatever excuse. Have some integrity. If teachers are experts in their fields then they should harness that and act like it. Clearly define what grades or comments mean and go forth. If administrators have different ideas then they are welcome to come back to the classroom to teach and grade. Heck, they are welcome to change grades so long as they are willing to bare the consequences

Nothing that you recommend to happen is happening right now. The vast expansion without well planning, budgeting, resource acquisition, teacher training, etc. will only end up in killing reputable existing programs built and maintained with multi-years or even multi-decades of efforts, and local students will receive nothing but losing opportunities that would otherwise exist.

Increasing accessibility is good intention. Implementation-wise this is absolutely a disaster. Prove me that I'm wrong.

MCPS should make public how they plan to execute this massive change so we can judge if this is a good plan.

Anonymous wrote:So is this being done to redirect bussing money into boundary changes where kids get bussed around against their will? What’s nice about the magnets is that the students and families CHOOSE whether they want to suffer a long bus ride. Looks like MCPS just wants to bus kids at the districts choice.

You are completely out of the loop. Or are you just a troll. Students would need to apply to be in a regional magnet, otherwise they would be attending their local school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give me a break. The Blair magnet serves more than 400 students, it has served thousands of moco families well over the years, stabilized and improved the largest and most diverse high school in Maryland (Go Blazers), and brought national rep to the school district. Pretty good ROI. I would care about that collateral damage.

400 a year is not very much, given the need. That's 100 per grade.

Well, even the 400 is a little bit of a "hide the ball" situation. Of the 100 kids per grade, only a handful are taking the massively accelerated courses that might not be sustainable when the program is duplicated.

When people talk about the "gem" that is SMCS, they don't actually mean that 400 kids per year are taking Linear Algebra or Organic Chemistry. Most Blair magnet kids are taking a normal math progression, ending with Multivariable or AP Statistics, and a normal math progression ending with Physics C (or whatever).

A very small number of kids are doing much more, and there is a critical mass of ES and MS parents who are convinced their children will be in that group, and who are lamenting what they perceive to be a loss of programs.

But it actually doesn't make sense to stand up a magnet around 15 kids per year, and I credit Taylor for being willing to walk away from the madness.

This is what doesn't make sense. If they aren't doing anything really accelerated, what's the point of it beyond bragging rights? I'd expect these kids to complete MV and Linear Algebra. It doesn't seem to make sense financially.

It doesn’t make sense because this poster is totally wrong. SMCS kids may be taking AP exams, but they’re not taking standard AP courses. No Blair SMCS kid takes AP Stats - they have a magnet stats class.

Kids who do what the PP describes would not be completing the program requirements for SMCS.

https://old.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/courses.php

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give me a break. The Blair magnet serves more than 400 students, it has served thousands of moco families well over the years, stabilized and improved the largest and most diverse high school in Maryland (Go Blazers), and brought national rep to the school district. Pretty good ROI. I would care about that collateral damage.

400 a year is not very much, given the need. That's 100 per grade.

Well, even the 400 is a little bit of a "hide the ball" situation. Of the 100 kids per grade, only a handful are taking the massively accelerated courses that might not be sustainable when the program is duplicated.

When people talk about the "gem" that is SMCS, they don't actually mean that 400 kids per year are taking Linear Algebra or Organic Chemistry. Most Blair magnet kids are taking a normal math progression, ending with Multivariable or AP Statistics, and a normal math progression ending with Physics C (or whatever).

A very small number of kids are doing much more, and there is a critical mass of ES and MS parents who are convinced their children will be in that group, and who are lamenting what they perceive to be a loss of programs.

But it actually doesn't make sense to stand up a magnet around 15 kids per year, and I credit Taylor for being willing to walk away from the madness.

First, your sharing about the stats has some wrong numbers. Each year there are about 80 kids taking MVC/Diff Eqn, among which 10-15 are juniors and the rest are seniors, so on average 80% per grade students will end up with taking MVC/Diff Eqn. This is a significant amount. Spreading them back to their regions will cause some of these kids lose the opportunity to take these courses. Secondly, the reason for declining enrollment number of Linear Algebra is because the teacher is unpopular among kids. Again, this proves how difficult to train and retain a good high-level math (or any other STEM subject) teacher and now we are talking about 5X more. Thirdly, if you check the college admission (e.g., this year's data: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/10/mcps-students-college/), you'll see 10% of Blair SMCS students end up in MIT, 30% end up in Top 10, and 50% end up in Top 20. Even TJ can't achieve this high rate of elite college admission. Destroying this program is like destroying Apple or Nvidia for U.S.

An unpopular teacher is different than an unqualified one or retaining. TJ is very different and a full school so you cannot compare the two.

Many of these kids come from the W schools and can take these classes at their home schools.

Beyond MVC/Diff Eqn., my SMCS DC took linear algebra, discrete math, complex analysis, and math physics. Let alone a dozen other science courses they were able to take advantage of in junior and senior years. I just checked course catalog in Wootton, nothing beyong MVC. Churchill has linear algebra, and nothing beyond that. Science offering is more basic. If the regional model is going to be implemented, I hope at least this means this is an opportunity to boost advanced course offering for Wootton and Churchill.

So is this being done to redirect bussing money into boundary changes where kids get bussed around against their will? What’s nice about the magnets is that the students and families CHOOSE whether they want to suffer a long bus ride. Looks like MCPS just wants to bus kids at the districts choice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give me a break. The Blair magnet serves more than 400 students, it has served thousands of moco families well over the years, stabilized and improved the largest and most diverse high school in Maryland (Go Blazers), and brought national rep to the school district. Pretty good ROI. I would care about that collateral damage.

400 a year is not very much, given the need. That's 100 per grade.

Well, even the 400 is a little bit of a "hide the ball" situation. Of the 100 kids per grade, only a handful are taking the massively accelerated courses that might not be sustainable when the program is duplicated.

When people talk about the "gem" that is SMCS, they don't actually mean that 400 kids per year are taking Linear Algebra or Organic Chemistry. Most Blair magnet kids are taking a normal math progression, ending with Multivariable or AP Statistics, and a normal math progression ending with Physics C (or whatever).

A very small number of kids are doing much more, and there is a critical mass of ES and MS parents who are convinced their children will be in that group, and who are lamenting what they perceive to be a loss of programs.

But it actually doesn't make sense to stand up a magnet around 15 kids per year, and I credit Taylor for being willing to walk away from the madness.

This is what doesn't make sense. If they aren't doing anything really accelerated, what's the point of it beyond bragging rights? I'd expect these kids to complete MV and Linear Algebra. It doesn't seem to make sense financially.

See my comments below. You are responding to a post full of inaccurate numbers. At least 80% of the kids reach the MVC/Diff Eqn level by graduation and take advantage of this program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give me a break. The Blair magnet serves more than 400 students, it has served thousands of moco families well over the years, stabilized and improved the largest and most diverse high school in Maryland (Go Blazers), and brought national rep to the school district. Pretty good ROI. I would care about that collateral damage.

400 a year is not very much, given the need. That's 100 per grade.

Well, even the 400 is a little bit of a "hide the ball" situation. Of the 100 kids per grade, only a handful are taking the massively accelerated courses that might not be sustainable when the program is duplicated.

When people talk about the "gem" that is SMCS, they don't actually mean that 400 kids per year are taking Linear Algebra or Organic Chemistry. Most Blair magnet kids are taking a normal math progression, ending with Multivariable or AP Statistics, and a normal math progression ending with Physics C (or whatever).

A very small number of kids are doing much more, and there is a critical mass of ES and MS parents who are convinced their children will be in that group, and who are lamenting what they perceive to be a loss of programs.

But it actually doesn't make sense to stand up a magnet around 15 kids per year, and I credit Taylor for being willing to walk away from the madness.

First, your sharing about the stats has some wrong numbers. Each year there are about 80 kids taking MVC/Diff Eqn, among which 10-15 are juniors and the rest are seniors, so on average 80% per grade students will end up with taking MVC/Diff Eqn. This is a significant amount. Spreading them back to their regions will cause some of these kids lose the opportunity to take these courses. Secondly, the reason for declining enrollment number of Linear Algebra is because the teacher is unpopular among kids. Again, this proves how difficult to train and retain a good high-level math (or any other STEM subject) teacher and now we are talking about 5X more. Thirdly, if you check the college admission (e.g., this year's data: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/10/mcps-students-college/), you'll see 10% of Blair SMCS students end up in MIT, 30% end up in Top 10, and 50% end up in Top 20. Even TJ can't achieve this high rate of elite college admission. Destroying this program is like destroying Apple or Nvidia for U.S.

An unpopular teacher is different than an unqualified one or retaining. TJ is very different and a full school so you cannot compare the two.

Many of these kids come from the W schools and can take these classes at their home schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give me a break. The Blair magnet serves more than 400 students, it has served thousands of moco families well over the years, stabilized and improved the largest and most diverse high school in Maryland (Go Blazers), and brought national rep to the school district. Pretty good ROI. I would care about that collateral damage.

400 a year is not very much, given the need. That's 100 per grade.

Well, even the 400 is a little bit of a "hide the ball" situation. Of the 100 kids per grade, only a handful are taking the massively accelerated courses that might not be sustainable when the program is duplicated.

When people talk about the "gem" that is SMCS, they don't actually mean that 400 kids per year are taking Linear Algebra or Organic Chemistry. Most Blair magnet kids are taking a normal math progression, ending with Multivariable or AP Statistics, and a normal math progression ending with Physics C (or whatever).

A very small number of kids are doing much more, and there is a critical mass of ES and MS parents who are convinced their children will be in that group, and who are lamenting what they perceive to be a loss of programs.

But it actually doesn't make sense to stand up a magnet around 15 kids per year, and I credit Taylor for being willing to walk away from the madness.

This is what doesn't make sense. If they aren't doing anything really accelerated, what's the point of it beyond bragging rights? I'd expect these kids to complete MV and Linear Algebra. It doesn't seem to make sense financially.

Anonymous wrote:Programs need to be increased and spread out. All programs(Local and Central managed) need to have the same general basis of setup(e.g Coordinator, criteria, evaluation, knowledgeable staff, training, curriculum, appropriate funding allocation for the entirety of the program, etc). AND rigor and expectations need to be increased and leveled for all students/staff/administrators at all schools and CO. Not all kids need or want to go to college, BUT all students need be educated such that they can make that choice for themselves and have the option. If folks are socially promoting kids in ES and they get to HS not reading, the HS teachers give the appropriate grade and recommendations for moving classes to appropriate level classes. Then we investigate who failed that kid and hold them accountable.

Folks need to stop kicking the can and being afraid of the boss or CO or whatever excuse. Have some integrity. If teachers are experts in their fields then they should harness that and act like it. Clearly define what grades or comments mean and go forth. If administrators have different ideas then they are welcome to come back to the classroom to teach and grade. Heck, they are welcome to change grades so long as they are willing to bare the consequences

Nothing that you recommend to happen is happening right now. The vast expansion without well planning, budgeting, resource acquisition, teacher training, etc. will only end up in killing reputable existing programs built and maintained with multi-years or even multi-decades of efforts, and local students will receive nothing but losing opportunities that would otherwise exist.

Increasing accessibility is good intention. Implementation-wise this is absolutely a disaster. Prove me that I'm wrong.

Programs need to be increased and spread out. All programs(Local and Central managed) need to have the same general basis of setup(e.g Coordinator, criteria, evaluation, knowledgeable staff, training, curriculum, appropriate funding allocation for the entirety of the program, etc). AND rigor and expectations need to be increased and leveled for all students/staff/administrators at all schools and CO. Not all kids need or want to go to college, BUT all students need be educated such that they can make that choice for themselves and have the option. If folks are socially promoting kids in ES and they get to HS not reading, the HS teachers give the appropriate grade and recommendations for moving classes to appropriate level classes. Then we investigate who failed that kid and hold them accountable.

Folks need to stop kicking the can and being afraid of the boss or CO or whatever excuse. Have some integrity. If teachers are experts in their fields then they should harness that and act like it. Clearly define what grades or comments mean and go forth. If administrators have different ideas then they are welcome to come back to the classroom to teach and grade. Heck, they are welcome to change grades so long as they are willing to bare the consequences

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give me a break. The Blair magnet serves more than 400 students, it has served thousands of moco families well over the years, stabilized and improved the largest and most diverse high school in Maryland (Go Blazers), and brought national rep to the school district. Pretty good ROI. I would care about that collateral damage.

400 a year is not very much, given the need. That's 100 per grade.

Well, even the 400 is a little bit of a "hide the ball" situation. Of the 100 kids per grade, only a handful are taking the massively accelerated courses that might not be sustainable when the program is duplicated.

When people talk about the "gem" that is SMCS, they don't actually mean that 400 kids per year are taking Linear Algebra or Organic Chemistry. Most Blair magnet kids are taking a normal math progression, ending with Multivariable or AP Statistics, and a normal math progression ending with Physics C (or whatever).

A very small number of kids are doing much more, and there is a critical mass of ES and MS parents who are convinced their children will be in that group, and who are lamenting what they perceive to be a loss of programs.

But it actually doesn't make sense to stand up a magnet around 15 kids per year, and I credit Taylor for being willing to walk away from the madness.

First, your sharing about the stats has some wrong numbers. Each year there are about 80 kids taking MVC/Diff Eqn, among which 10-15 are juniors and the rest are seniors, so on average 80% per grade students will end up with taking MVC/Diff Eqn. This is a significant amount. Spreading them back to their regions will cause some of these kids lose the opportunity to take these courses. Secondly, the reason for declining enrollment number of Linear Algebra is because the teacher is unpopular among kids. Again, this proves how difficult to train and retain a good high-level math (or any other STEM subject) teacher and now we are talking about 5X more. Thirdly, if you check the college admission (e.g., this year's data: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/10/mcps-students-college/), you'll see 10% of Blair SMCS students end up in MIT, 30% end up in Top 10, and 50% end up in Top 20. Even TJ can't achieve this high rate of elite college admission. Destroying this program is like destroying Apple or Nvidia for U.S.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give me a break. The Blair magnet serves more than 400 students, it has served thousands of moco families well over the years, stabilized and improved the largest and most diverse high school in Maryland (Go Blazers), and brought national rep to the school district. Pretty good ROI. I would care about that collateral damage.

400 a year is not very much, given the need. That's 100 per grade.

Well, even the 400 is a little bit of a "hide the ball" situation. Of the 100 kids per grade, only a handful are taking the massively accelerated courses that might not be sustainable when the program is duplicated.

When people talk about the "gem" that is SMCS, they don't actually mean that 400 kids per year are taking Linear Algebra or Organic Chemistry. Most Blair magnet kids are taking a normal math progression, ending with Multivariable or AP Statistics, and a normal math progression ending with Physics C (or whatever).

A very small number of kids are doing much more, and there is a critical mass of ES and MS parents who are convinced their children will be in that group, and who are lamenting what they perceive to be a loss of programs.

But it actually doesn't make sense to stand up a magnet around 15 kids per year, and I credit Taylor for being willing to walk away from the madness.

Anonymous wrote:Give me a break. The Blair magnet serves more than 400 students, it has served thousands of moco families well over the years, stabilized and improved the largest and most diverse high school in Maryland (Go Blazers), and brought national rep to the school district. Pretty good ROI. I would care about that collateral damage.

400 a year is not very much, given the need. That's 100 per grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give me a break. The Blair magnet serves more than 400 students, it has served thousands of moco families well over the years, stabilized and improved the largest and most diverse high school in Maryland (Go Blazers), and brought national rep to the school district. Pretty good ROI. I would care about that collateral damage.

I don't, actually. I don't think STEM needs any more help in our educational system at the literal expense of so many other worthy - and necessary - areas of study. I don't think we need to be pouring resources into over-accelerating mathematics when colleges so often need to redo or remediate anyway. And I don't think it's going to be catastrophic for the county to extend some version of SMCS across 5-6 smaller zones instead of 2 larger ones. There will still be plenty of opportunity for advanced study.

And, so our kids should only get courses in what you deem worthy? Let me guess, your kids are at schools with huge course offerings so its a non-issue anyway. Accelerated math is helpful for STEM to see if kids enjoy it/can handle it for college and to give them a good foundation. Its fine for them to repeat it in college but its good to have that overview and background in it. There are not plenty of opportunities at some schools, and that's the point. Other schools have plenty of opportunities so staying at their home schools is far easier than for other students.