Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What can be done to stop this? This is incredibly upsetting.

The main pathway is to convince the Board of Ed to refuse to approve it in December and tell MCPS to take another year to work on the plan, gather more feedback, etc.

We need to be telling Board of Ed members this every chance we get. Emails, testimony at Board meetings, anytime you see them in the community, etc.

I think we are much more likely to be successful if we are saying "not this year, slow things down, make a good plan and solicit feedback, etc" rather than "kill the program analysis, keep everything the way it is.* If we can win that, we can take on the substance of specific changes over the next year

BOE has clarified on several occasions that they won’t vote. This is superintendent’s own decision. BOE will help “guide the process” and “hold people accountable”, neither of which are reflected in their actions by far.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What can be done to stop this? This is incredibly upsetting.

The main pathway is to convince the Board of Ed to refuse to approve it in December and tell MCPS to take another year to work on the plan, gather more feedback, etc.

We need to be telling Board of Ed members this every chance we get. Emails, testimony at Board meetings, anytime you see them in the community, etc.

I think we are much more likely to be successful if we are saying "not this year, slow things down, make a good plan and solicit feedback, etc" rather than "kill the program analysis, keep everything the way it is.* If we can win that, we can take on the substance of specific changes over the next year

Anonymous wrote:What can be done to stop this? This is incredibly upsetting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What can be done to stop this? This is incredibly upsetting.

The most upsetting thing is not the plan, but the unlimited power of the superintendent and CO.

BOE decides to shy away so there is literally no way to stop or even slow down CO and sup.

When can the BOE be voted out?

The next BOE election is in 2026. There are four incumbents up for reelection, but only one has announced plans to do so.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What can be done to stop this? This is incredibly upsetting.

The most upsetting thing is not the plan, but the unlimited power of the superintendent and CO.

BOE decides to shy away so there is literally no way to stop or even slow down CO and sup.

When can the BOE be voted out?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What can be done to stop this? This is incredibly upsetting.

The most upsetting thing is not the plan, but the unlimited power of the superintendent and CO.

BOE decides to shy away so there is literally no way to stop or even slow down CO and sup.

Anonymous wrote:What can be done to stop this? This is incredibly upsetting.

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

Blair takes 60-80 kids per year in a flawed process of only looking at only a single data point of MAP-M. Having more programs more accessible to more kids, closer to their home schools is not a bad thing and will help mitigate the flawed selection process currently in place for SMCS.

I think people can have different opinions on the merit of the changes and still agree that the process has been terrible and it's not okay to make massive changes like this in a top-down way without getting input either from either parents/students about what they actually want and how they feel about potential changes, or from teachers and staff actually working in existing programs about what they do and what it would take to expand and duplicate programs well. But they didn't do either of those things, just had staff come up with a plan and now are rolling it out to people and presenting it as a done deal. And then they'll probably make a couple tiny tweaks and tell the Board it's them being responsive to feedback and the Board will somehow believe them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

Blair takes 60-80 kids per year in a flawed process of only looking at only a single data point of MAP-M. Having more programs more accessible to more kids, closer to their home schools is not a bad thing and will help mitigate the flawed selection process currently in place for SMCS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

Blair takes 60-80 kids per year in a flawed process of only looking at only a single data point of MAP-M. Having more programs more accessible to more kids, closer to their home schools is not a bad thing and will help mitigate the flawed selection process currently in place for SMCS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

Blair takes 60-80 kids per year in a flawed process of only looking at only a single data point of MAP-M. Having more programs more accessible to more kids, closer to their home schools is not a bad thing and will help mitigate the flawed selection process currently in place for SMCS.

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.

Anonymous wrote:This rushed operation to pass this massive proposal is suspicious. It is bad faith to have unveiled the proposal at the end of the school year when everyone is getting ready for summer, and to try to pass it in December.

There is not a robust forum for community feedback, and it is doubtful MCPS can implement this enormous change well. Look at the subpar IB programs at Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill, for instance.

If MCPS’s proposal goes through, the excellent countywide programs will become smaller, staff will be moved to different schools, and you will not get the best of the best students, which is what made the programs great in the first place. Imagine if TJ suddenly limited its students to be only from city of Fairfax. It would become a husk of its former self. This is what will happen to Blair SMCS.

In addition, Einstein will definitely get the shaft and the great arts hub it developed over many years will be in an instant destroyed by this irresponsible administration.