Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

Wealthy? Please. Heaven knows the apartment complexes in Rockville, Germantown, Grosvenor; or just Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village just scream out "wealth" to me.

We all know the down county magnet only catered only to the TPES home school area and no one else. Same went for Poolesville. No one in the center, northwest or southeast of the county can access either one easily. A child can easily spend an hour or hour and a half one way.

Want to claim "oh, just move"? I'd much rather change the voting rules so that district reps are only voted on by their own district voters to represent the interests of all children in Montgomery County. This is the board "elected" primarily by Silver Spring voters. That needs to change.

This comment illustrates so much that is wrong with the discourse on this board, and the way that people speak with "authority" on topics that they don't fully understand.

OP asked about the downcounty middle school magnets, which pull from a specific subset of HS clusters. So of course PP talks about a defunct ES program that only ever served 20 or so kids, and a HS program that isn't even part of the downcounty area.

If there is something that you "fully understand" then why not explain it with factual references and not just be condescending?

If it's defunct, then why doesn't the magnet program move from TPMS and Blair? I understand why MCPS wants to forget anything before 2020 and blame everything on covid, but it doesn't answer the question. I still think Woodward is a better downcounty location than Blair. If you think Blair is easy access, you must live in Silver Spring? At least the kids of parents working in VA would be able to access the program that way. Public education means equal access for all the children - not just personal favorites.

DP but who asked you to work in VA? The school has always been in SS. You knew the location of the school before accepting a job in VA, right?

How utterly arrogant of you. Unless MCPS specifically officially advertises it's rule that "if you work in Virginia and you want your children educated beyond the basics you should only live here (and publish a map)", I would suggest that MCPS is doing something should be investigated by the Maryland Inspector General.

Their comment may seem harsh but it was honest and spot on.

The argument that magnets are about integration is full of it. While that may be one aspect of Blair, it has nothing to do with Poolesville.

If anyone believes that the Blair / Poolesville magnet locations supports all children within the county, do a google maps test. You'll find that some locations will take an hour travel time (without rush hour traffic).

Blaming a parent for working in DC or VA clearly shows how out of touch the people supporting Blair / Poolesville magnet locations are. If there is ever an emergency (child is ill, school incident, etc.) or even enjoy extracurricular programs, PTA meeting particpation and other "perks" the walkers get, parents and students need to reach their child's school in a reasonable amount of time.

Unless MCPS serves all children equally, it is promoting an unsustainable agenda. The idea that placing an unprepared child into a different classroom because of their skin color or because they're poor is setting them up for failure. The child and their parents have to have the desire to catch up, only then will opportunities make a difference.

A parent not able to have their child participate in a program may not be happy about paying taxes to benefit other kids. Eventually they will vote accordingly or lobby for vouchers, or worse, vote in Youngkin-style candidates.

If you can't figure this out on your own, then who is really out of touch?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

Wealthy? Please. Heaven knows the apartment complexes in Rockville, Germantown, Grosvenor; or just Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village just scream out "wealth" to me.

We all know the down county magnet only catered only to the TPES home school area and no one else. Same went for Poolesville. No one in the center, northwest or southeast of the county can access either one easily. A child can easily spend an hour or hour and a half one way.

Want to claim "oh, just move"? I'd much rather change the voting rules so that district reps are only voted on by their own district voters to represent the interests of all children in Montgomery County. This is the board "elected" primarily by Silver Spring voters. That needs to change.

This comment illustrates so much that is wrong with the discourse on this board, and the way that people speak with "authority" on topics that they don't fully understand.

OP asked about the downcounty middle school magnets, which pull from a specific subset of HS clusters. So of course PP talks about a defunct ES program that only ever served 20 or so kids, and a HS program that isn't even part of the downcounty area.

If there is something that you "fully understand" then why not explain it with factual references and not just be condescending?

If it's defunct, then why doesn't the magnet program move from TPMS and Blair? I understand why MCPS wants to forget anything before 2020 and blame everything on covid, but it doesn't answer the question. I still think Woodward is a better downcounty location than Blair. If you think Blair is easy access, you must live in Silver Spring? At least the kids of parents working in VA would be able to access the program that way. Public education means equal access for all the children - not just personal favorites.

DP but who asked you to work in VA? The school has always been in SS. You knew the location of the school before accepting a job in VA, right?

How utterly arrogant of you. Unless MCPS specifically officially advertises it's rule that "if you work in Virginia and you want your children educated beyond the basics you should only live here (and publish a map)", I would suggest that MCPS is doing something should be investigated by the Maryland Inspector General.

Again, I ask why the parent of a presumably gifted high schooler needs their teenaged child's school to be on their driving route to work. Blair is served by MCPS buses and many many public transportation options. Parents driving to Virginia should have nothing to do with it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

Wealthy? Please. Heaven knows the apartment complexes in Rockville, Germantown, Grosvenor; or just Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village just scream out "wealth" to me.

We all know the down county magnet only catered only to the TPES home school area and no one else. Same went for Poolesville. No one in the center, northwest or southeast of the county can access either one easily. A child can easily spend an hour or hour and a half one way.

Want to claim "oh, just move"? I'd much rather change the voting rules so that district reps are only voted on by their own district voters to represent the interests of all children in Montgomery County. This is the board "elected" primarily by Silver Spring voters. That needs to change.

This comment illustrates so much that is wrong with the discourse on this board, and the way that people speak with "authority" on topics that they don't fully understand.

OP asked about the downcounty middle school magnets, which pull from a specific subset of HS clusters. So of course PP talks about a defunct ES program that only ever served 20 or so kids, and a HS program that isn't even part of the downcounty area.

If there is something that you "fully understand" then why not explain it with factual references and not just be condescending?

If it's defunct, then why doesn't the magnet program move from TPMS and Blair? I understand why MCPS wants to forget anything before 2020 and blame everything on covid, but it doesn't answer the question. I still think Woodward is a better downcounty location than Blair. If you think Blair is easy access, you must live in Silver Spring? At least the kids of parents working in VA would be able to access the program that way. Public education means equal access for all the children - not just personal favorites.

DP but who asked you to work in VA? The school has always been in SS. You knew the location of the school before accepting a job in VA, right?

The poster needs to stop blaming others for their bad personal choices.

Oy. DP here. I went to magnets at Eastern and Blair, lived far upcounty, and now live in the Blair cluster with my family.

-The person who keeps talking about how if you "prioritized education" you'd move to Silver Spring is having you on-- you know that, right? Because that's what the W school parents say allllll the time. It's satire.

-OP, yes, you understand! They are "magnets"-- "pulling" upcounty people of an on-average different demographic-- created for the express purpose of integration. IN FACT, Montgomery County, MD is pretty unique in that bylaws stipulate that "the burden of bussing shall not fall disproportionately on minority students" (or something like that-- it's been a while). That was why these programs were created, and Blair, TPES and Eastern (same cluster) were major sites of white flight in the 70s/80s. Hence, the magnets, which became fully operational in the mid-late 80s. They also killed the "G&T" bird with the same stone.

-Unlike NYC and other places where like 20-30% of kids, but the vast majority of white kids, are miraculously "G&T," MCPS in the past targeted that "gifted" group quite narrowly. I fear we are moving ever so slightly in the NYC/Lake Woebegone-for-UMC-kids direction, but we are not there yet. That's why the magnets are not being placed simply at convenient locations or new schools. They still serve the primary purpose of integration. While there are places upcounty that are much less white than they were in the 80s/90s, DTSS/TP still have the highest Black/Latino school-aged population. Maybe nearby Wheaton is close.

-I don't actually know much about the Poolesville program, but at the time I was in HS it was still Poolesville Junior-Senior High (with no magnet). In a sense, the "burden of bussing" would almost have to fall disproportionately on POC because almost by definition, any program that pulls students countywide to a school otherwise as white as Poolesville would drawn more POC to it (also integrating it!) but probably still not more POC of any one demographic than white people. I don't know. But then, that wasn't the subject of this post.

-Although being extremely advanced can be a special need of sorts, arguably/actually requiring accommodation, most of y'all have (extremely bright!) kids that fall below that tier. But some of you think that you're owed the convenience of a specialized, highly-gifted education located precisely at the 270 spur for your future ivy leaguers.

-There is no conspiracy. That's bizarre and ahistorical. The end.

Parents - I don't know if this person works for MCPS, if this is how the current board and superintendent thinks, is there any doubt in your minds now why they need to be fired?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

Wealthy? Please. Heaven knows the apartment complexes in Rockville, Germantown, Grosvenor; or just Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village just scream out "wealth" to me.

We all know the down county magnet only catered only to the TPES home school area and no one else. Same went for Poolesville. No one in the center, northwest or southeast of the county can access either one easily. A child can easily spend an hour or hour and a half one way.

Want to claim "oh, just move"? I'd much rather change the voting rules so that district reps are only voted on by their own district voters to represent the interests of all children in Montgomery County. This is the board "elected" primarily by Silver Spring voters. That needs to change.

This comment illustrates so much that is wrong with the discourse on this board, and the way that people speak with "authority" on topics that they don't fully understand.

OP asked about the downcounty middle school magnets, which pull from a specific subset of HS clusters. So of course PP talks about a defunct ES program that only ever served 20 or so kids, and a HS program that isn't even part of the downcounty area.

If there is something that you "fully understand" then why not explain it with factual references and not just be condescending?

If it's defunct, then why doesn't the magnet program move from TPMS and Blair? I understand why MCPS wants to forget anything before 2020 and blame everything on covid, but it doesn't answer the question. I still think Woodward is a better downcounty location than Blair. If you think Blair is easy access, you must live in Silver Spring? At least the kids of parents working in VA would be able to access the program that way. Public education means equal access for all the children - not just personal favorites.

NP, but you are dense. The TPMS and Blair magnets had nothing to do with TPES's little program. One was not based on the other.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

Wealthy? Please. Heaven knows the apartment complexes in Rockville, Germantown, Grosvenor; or just Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village just scream out "wealth" to me.

We all know the down county magnet only catered only to the TPES home school area and no one else. Same went for Poolesville. No one in the center, northwest or southeast of the county can access either one easily. A child can easily spend an hour or hour and a half one way.

Want to claim "oh, just move"? I'd much rather change the voting rules so that district reps are only voted on by their own district voters to represent the interests of all children in Montgomery County. This is the board "elected" primarily by Silver Spring voters. That needs to change.

This comment illustrates so much that is wrong with the discourse on this board, and the way that people speak with "authority" on topics that they don't fully understand.

OP asked about the downcounty middle school magnets, which pull from a specific subset of HS clusters. So of course PP talks about a defunct ES program that only ever served 20 or so kids, and a HS program that isn't even part of the downcounty area.

If there is something that you "fully understand" then why not explain it with factual references and not just be condescending?

If it's defunct, then why doesn't the magnet program move from TPMS and Blair? I understand why MCPS wants to forget anything before 2020 and blame everything on covid, but it doesn't answer the question. I still think Woodward is a better downcounty location than Blair. If you think Blair is easy access, you must live in Silver Spring? At least the kids of parents working in VA would be able to access the program that way. Public education means equal access for all the children - not just personal favorites.

DP but who asked you to work in VA? The school has always been in SS. You knew the location of the school before accepting a job in VA, right?

How utterly arrogant of you. Unless MCPS specifically officially advertises it's rule that "if you work in Virginia and you want your children educated beyond the basics you should only live here (and publish a map)", I would suggest that MCPS is doing something should be investigated by the Maryland Inspector General.

How stupid of you. You should have done your homework before accepting a job in VA. Learn to take responsibility for your actions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

Wealthy? Please. Heaven knows the apartment complexes in Rockville, Germantown, Grosvenor; or just Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village just scream out "wealth" to me.

We all know the down county magnet only catered only to the TPES home school area and no one else. Same went for Poolesville. No one in the center, northwest or southeast of the county can access either one easily. A child can easily spend an hour or hour and a half one way.

Want to claim "oh, just move"? I'd much rather change the voting rules so that district reps are only voted on by their own district voters to represent the interests of all children in Montgomery County. This is the board "elected" primarily by Silver Spring voters. That needs to change.

This comment illustrates so much that is wrong with the discourse on this board, and the way that people speak with "authority" on topics that they don't fully understand.

OP asked about the downcounty middle school magnets, which pull from a specific subset of HS clusters. So of course PP talks about a defunct ES program that only ever served 20 or so kids, and a HS program that isn't even part of the downcounty area.

If there is something that you "fully understand" then why not explain it with factual references and not just be condescending?

If it's defunct, then why doesn't the magnet program move from TPMS and Blair? I understand why MCPS wants to forget anything before 2020 and blame everything on covid, but it doesn't answer the question. I still think Woodward is a better downcounty location than Blair. If you think Blair is easy access, you must live in Silver Spring? At least the kids of parents working in VA would be able to access the program that way. Public education means equal access for all the children - not just personal favorites.

DP but who asked you to work in VA? The school has always been in SS. You knew the location of the school before accepting a job in VA, right?

How utterly arrogant of you. Unless MCPS specifically officially advertises it's rule that "if you work in Virginia and you want your children educated beyond the basics you should only live here (and publish a map)", I would suggest that MCPS is doing something should be investigated by the Maryland Inspector General.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

Wealthy? Please. Heaven knows the apartment complexes in Rockville, Germantown, Grosvenor; or just Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village just scream out "wealth" to me.

We all know the down county magnet only catered only to the TPES home school area and no one else. Same went for Poolesville. No one in the center, northwest or southeast of the county can access either one easily. A child can easily spend an hour or hour and a half one way.

Want to claim "oh, just move"? I'd much rather change the voting rules so that district reps are only voted on by their own district voters to represent the interests of all children in Montgomery County. This is the board "elected" primarily by Silver Spring voters. That needs to change.

This comment illustrates so much that is wrong with the discourse on this board, and the way that people speak with "authority" on topics that they don't fully understand.

OP asked about the downcounty middle school magnets, which pull from a specific subset of HS clusters. So of course PP talks about a defunct ES program that only ever served 20 or so kids, and a HS program that isn't even part of the downcounty area.

If there is something that you "fully understand" then why not explain it with factual references and not just be condescending?

If it's defunct, then why doesn't the magnet program move from TPMS and Blair? I understand why MCPS wants to forget anything before 2020 and blame everything on covid, but it doesn't answer the question. I still think Woodward is a better downcounty location than Blair. If you think Blair is easy access, you must live in Silver Spring? At least the kids of parents working in VA would be able to access the program that way. Public education means equal access for all the children - not just personal favorites.

Well many of us disagree and chose to live near the magnets because we prioritize education. You should be happy you'll have a great performing arts manget nearyou.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

Wealthy? Please. Heaven knows the apartment complexes in Rockville, Germantown, Grosvenor; or just Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village just scream out "wealth" to me.

We all know the down county magnet only catered only to the TPES home school area and no one else. Same went for Poolesville. No one in the center, northwest or southeast of the county can access either one easily. A child can easily spend an hour or hour and a half one way.

Want to claim "oh, just move"? I'd much rather change the voting rules so that district reps are only voted on by their own district voters to represent the interests of all children in Montgomery County. This is the board "elected" primarily by Silver Spring voters. That needs to change.

This comment illustrates so much that is wrong with the discourse on this board, and the way that people speak with "authority" on topics that they don't fully understand.

OP asked about the downcounty middle school magnets, which pull from a specific subset of HS clusters. So of course PP talks about a defunct ES program that only ever served 20 or so kids, and a HS program that isn't even part of the downcounty area.

If there is something that you "fully understand" then why not explain it with factual references and not just be condescending?

If it's defunct, then why doesn't the magnet program move from TPMS and Blair? I understand why MCPS wants to forget anything before 2020 and blame everything on covid, but it doesn't answer the question. I still think Woodward is a better downcounty location than Blair. If you think Blair is easy access, you must live in Silver Spring? At least the kids of parents working in VA would be able to access the program that way. Public education means equal access for all the children - not just personal favorites.

DP but who asked you to work in VA? The school has always been in SS. You knew the location of the school before accepting a job in VA, right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1990: Let’s put the magnet over here because these schools are underenrolled and none of the wealthy people want their kids to go here
2022: All the wealthy people: “it’s not fair the magnet is all the way over there.”

Wealthy? Please. Heaven knows the apartment complexes in Rockville, Germantown, Grosvenor; or just Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village just scream out "wealth" to me.

We all know the down county magnet only catered only to the TPES home school area and no one else. Same went for Poolesville. No one in the center, northwest or southeast of the county can access either one easily. A child can easily spend an hour or hour and a half one way.

Want to claim "oh, just move"? I'd much rather change the voting rules so that district reps are only voted on by their own district voters to represent the interests of all children in Montgomery County. This is the board "elected" primarily by Silver Spring voters. That needs to change.

This comment illustrates so much that is wrong with the discourse on this board, and the way that people speak with "authority" on topics that they don't fully understand.

OP asked about the downcounty middle school magnets, which pull from a specific subset of HS clusters. So of course PP talks about a defunct ES program that only ever served 20 or so kids, and a HS program that isn't even part of the downcounty area.

If there is something that you "fully understand" then why not explain it with factual references and not just be condescending?

If it's defunct, then why doesn't the magnet program move from TPMS and Blair? I understand why MCPS wants to forget anything before 2020 and blame everything on covid, but it doesn't answer the question. I still think Woodward is a better downcounty location than Blair. If you think Blair is easy access, you must live in Silver Spring? At least the kids of parents working in VA would be able to access the program that way. Public education means equal access for all the children - not just personal favorites.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What fascinates me is how much it incenses the TPSS crowd that Poolesville should get anything from the county. The same crowd that wants to “protect the Ag reserve” doesn’t want to give the residents there any public services. While most people who live in the Ag reserve want to be able to use it for more economic activity because news flash: small scale farming is just not profitable. Absolutely awful people who would complain about the county spending a measly amount of money to upgrade school facilities in Poolesville that haven’t seen a dollar from the county in 40 years.

Not in TP/SS, but PLEASE! Both Wootton and Damascus HSs are in just as bad shape as Poolesville, if not worse, and both have more students than Poolesville. But Poolesville whined the loudest, Wootton pissed off the Board of Education by saying Whitman got all the money and they didn't because they were the "miserable middle class" and Damascus is not organized at all.

Poolesville should have waited their turn just like everyone else.

The board of education and MCPS central office were not mature enough to have prioritized children over parents? Wow. They gotta go.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The primary magnet at TPES ended years ago.

OP, if your kid wants to do one of those magnets and gets in tons of kids ride the bus or drive in from upper River Road or wherever you live.

My kid attends (walks though) and it's an excellent program.

That said, the W middle schools are also excellent. If we lived over there we would likely not commute for the magnet.

Right. I don't know why PP tried to debunk the earlier post by talking about TPES, which isn't even a magnet anymore, instead of the OP's request to discuss the downcounty MS magnets.

How is it not a magnet anymore? Isn't it still a school with a focused/specialized curriculum?

Yes it is. PP is wrong.

By definition, it is only a "magnet" if it pulls children in from out of bounds. It does not, therefore it is not a magnet. It's just a normal local public school that allows kids to accelerate in math if they have the capacity and even that's not that accelerated.

One of my kids went through the primary magnet at TPES the other also was there after it ended. Both received additional STEM content and accelerated math beyond what is offered at other elemeentaries.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The primary magnet at TPES ended years ago.

OP, if your kid wants to do one of those magnets and gets in tons of kids ride the bus or drive in from upper River Road or wherever you live.

My kid attends (walks though) and it's an excellent program.

That said, the W middle schools are also excellent. If we lived over there we would likely not commute for the magnet.

Right. I don't know why PP tried to debunk the earlier post by talking about TPES, which isn't even a magnet anymore, instead of the OP's request to discuss the downcounty MS magnets.

How is it not a magnet anymore? Isn't it still a school with a focused/specialized curriculum?

Yes it is. PP is wrong.

By definition, it is only a "magnet" if it pulls children in from out of bounds. It does not, therefore it is not a magnet. It's just a normal local public school that allows kids to accelerate in math if they have the capacity and even that's not that accelerated.