Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child who would be the inaugural class of this change, and the change looks reasonable to me.

Change is hard, but there have long been more kids capable of doing magnet-level work than spots available. Creating new, diverse, regions and expanding magnet offerings is a common-sense solution.

Those are nice sentiments, but your post doesn’t address the actual logistical challenges presented by this plan. You call the plan reasonable; please explain how it is even feasible, let alone reasonable.

Do you have any children who have already participated in one of the existing high school magnet programs? I have a senior who has experienced a CES and magnets for middle school and high school. I’m surprised that anyone whose child will be in high school during this transition would support it. Significant and widespread changes will not roll out smoothly. There will be disparities in the implementation between regions.

I'm the PP and I do have a child in one of the existing programs, after participating in a CES and MS magnet. Those experiences revealed how many talented kids are being missed by the current scarcity.

You asked about feasibility, as though no one has ever thought about this question before. This is not an insurmountable issue. It's just a matter of sequencing.

They've already drawn up the regions, and determined the 5 magnets for each region. Now they need to assign the programs to the schools. If we take the southernmost region, I'd assume Blair keeps STEM, Northwood gets medical, Einstein takes performing arts, B-CC has IB/Humanities, and Whitman takes leadership/public service. This more or less tracks with their existing programs.

Curricula already exist for most of those programs, so all they need to do is create the course sequence for performing/fine arts, building off VAC and probably CAP sequencing.

There is already an online system to apply to the magnets. So they just need to program the application to let the kids rank/select the programs that interest them, and to consider them only for those in their region.

Finally, transportation. That's sticky, but again not insurmountable. Right now, MCPS runs magnet busses all over the county, and across the DCC. Multiple busses for the Poolesville program go 20+ miles. The longest bus ride in the new regions would be about 10 miles. It's a logistical challenge, but not a particularly hard one.

10-20 mile bus rides are absurd. And, what happens with after school activities for kids who have no transportation outside the school bus. How about providing the same opportunities at all schools.

That would make the special kids less special and we couldn’t possibly have that. Enough resources for everyone who qualifies? How scandalous!

I have no qualms about admitting more students to special programs, but I don’t think substantially increasing the number of special programs and decreasing catchment areas is going to result in the same experience that today’s magnet students are having. It’s going to give more students something moderately better than what they currently have, while taking away the thing that is most valuable to the highest performing of the high performers: an exceptional cohort. Given the issues with staffing, can MCPS even deliver enough qualified teachers who are willing to take on these classes?

So, I don't actually think it is the job of a public education system to offer classes that only 10/200,000 kids per year take. Yes, the top .1% of kids might lose access to "an exceptional cohort" but thousands of kids are going to benefit.

In public education, the goal cannot be to absolutely maximize the experience of a tiny handful of kids. It has to be serving the largest number of learners possible with available resources.

But there is an argument to be made that some learners do actually need more challenging material in order to be academically successful. Being gifted and bored in a mainstream class is not awesome and is shown to lead to behavioral issues and disengagement.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why, why, why can't we just work on 26 strong high schools that all offer a variety of leveled work? Why can't all students just go to their zoned school? What if we used all of this money from their "Research," buses, program procurement etc, to add more teachers to the county and reduce the size of classes? Why does everyone need a program?

Because in this county, like everywhere else, the rich hoard the good stuff. If you are a kid who goes to predominantly poor school and you want to take advanced physics or be in a stellar symphony, you just can’t, because there aren’t enough other kids like you at your school. Specialized programs help those kids.

You have to private pay for the stellar orchestra. It sucks not having the same opportunities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm highly skeptical that MCPS can serve kids grandfathered into the existing countywide and consortia program models AND simultaneously stand up and transition into the regional program models.

While it sounds nice, that would require a level of planning, coordination and competence from MCPS that I have never seen before.

I agree. It will be a logistical nightmare just in terms of staffing allocations. Teachers will have to hyper specialize in multiple things. Plus the transportation will still be a nightmare if the old and new routes are running at the same time.

I also think Taylor overestimates what teachers want. Many want a short commute, a good principal and a safe school where they can feel part of a community. Shuffling teachers around for program interests wont do that. Having to get training to hyperspecialize in the flavor of the month courses wastes a lot of time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why, why, why can't we just work on 26 strong high schools that all offer a variety of leveled work? Why can't all students just go to their zoned school? What if we used all of this money from their "Research," buses, program procurement etc, to add more teachers to the county and reduce the size of classes? Why does everyone need a program?

Because in this county, like everywhere else, the rich hoard the good stuff. If you are a kid who goes to predominantly poor school and you want to take advanced physics or be in a stellar symphony, you just can’t, because there aren’t enough other kids like you at your school. Specialized programs help those kids.

And this new regional system is going to help poor students. Watkins Mill, Gaithersburg, Springbrook, and Kennedy will not rise in performance because of this new system. No one in these schools' new regions are going to be signing up to attend these schools. So, low-income students whose families are not well engaged with their school choices will attend these schools because these are their home schools. And the school district will have done nothing significant to raise the prospects of these schools. That really starts with having excellent principals who are well-supported by the school district.

Anonymous wrote:I'm highly skeptical that MCPS can serve kids grandfathered into the existing countywide and consortia program models AND simultaneously stand up and transition into the regional program models.

While it sounds nice, that would require a level of planning, coordination and competence from MCPS that I have never seen before.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child who would be the inaugural class of this change, and the change looks reasonable to me.

Change is hard, but there have long been more kids capable of doing magnet-level work than spots available. Creating new, diverse, regions and expanding magnet offerings is a common-sense solution.

Those are nice sentiments, but your post doesn’t address the actual logistical challenges presented by this plan. You call the plan reasonable; please explain how it is even feasible, let alone reasonable.

Do you have any children who have already participated in one of the existing high school magnet programs? I have a senior who has experienced a CES and magnets for middle school and high school. I’m surprised that anyone whose child will be in high school during this transition would support it. Significant and widespread changes will not roll out smoothly. There will be disparities in the implementation between regions.

I'm the PP and I do have a child in one of the existing programs, after participating in a CES and MS magnet. Those experiences revealed how many talented kids are being missed by the current scarcity.

You asked about feasibility, as though no one has ever thought about this question before. This is not an insurmountable issue. It's just a matter of sequencing.

They've already drawn up the regions, and determined the 5 magnets for each region. Now they need to assign the programs to the schools. If we take the southernmost region, I'd assume Blair keeps STEM, Northwood gets medical, Einstein takes performing arts, B-CC has IB/Humanities, and Whitman takes leadership/public service. This more or less tracks with their existing programs.

Curricula already exist for most of those programs, so all they need to do is create the course sequence for performing/fine arts, building off VAC and probably CAP sequencing.

There is already an online system to apply to the magnets. So they just need to program the application to let the kids rank/select the programs that interest them, and to consider them only for those in their region.

Finally, transportation. That's sticky, but again not insurmountable. Right now, MCPS runs magnet busses all over the county, and across the DCC. Multiple busses for the Poolesville program go 20+ miles. The longest bus ride in the new regions would be about 10 miles. It's a logistical challenge, but not a particularly hard one.

10-20 mile bus rides are absurd. And, what happens with after school activities for kids who have no transportation outside the school bus. How about providing the same opportunities at all schools.

That would make the special kids less special and we couldn’t possibly have that. Enough resources for everyone who qualifies? How scandalous!

I have no qualms about admitting more students to special programs, but I don’t think substantially increasing the number of special programs and decreasing catchment areas is going to result in the same experience that today’s magnet students are having. It’s going to give more students something moderately better than what they currently have, while taking away the thing that is most valuable to the highest performing of the high performers: an exceptional cohort. Given the issues with staffing, can MCPS even deliver enough qualified teachers who are willing to take on these classes?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child who would be the inaugural class of this change, and the change looks reasonable to me.

Change is hard, but there have long been more kids capable of doing magnet-level work than spots available. Creating new, diverse, regions and expanding magnet offerings is a common-sense solution.

Those are nice sentiments, but your post doesn’t address the actual logistical challenges presented by this plan. You call the plan reasonable; please explain how it is even feasible, let alone reasonable.

Do you have any children who have already participated in one of the existing high school magnet programs? I have a senior who has experienced a CES and magnets for middle school and high school. I’m surprised that anyone whose child will be in high school during this transition would support it. Significant and widespread changes will not roll out smoothly. There will be disparities in the implementation between regions.

I'm the PP and I do have a child in one of the existing programs, after participating in a CES and MS magnet. Those experiences revealed how many talented kids are being missed by the current scarcity.

You asked about feasibility, as though no one has ever thought about this question before. This is not an insurmountable issue. It's just a matter of sequencing.

They've already drawn up the regions, and determined the 5 magnets for each region. Now they need to assign the programs to the schools. If we take the southernmost region, I'd assume Blair keeps STEM, Northwood gets medical, Einstein takes performing arts, B-CC has IB/Humanities, and Whitman takes leadership/public service. This more or less tracks with their existing programs.

Curricula already exist for most of those programs, so all they need to do is create the course sequence for performing/fine arts, building off VAC and probably CAP sequencing.

There is already an online system to apply to the magnets. So they just need to program the application to let the kids rank/select the programs that interest them, and to consider them only for those in their region.

Finally, transportation. That's sticky, but again not insurmountable. Right now, MCPS runs magnet busses all over the county, and across the DCC. Multiple busses for the Poolesville program go 20+ miles. The longest bus ride in the new regions would be about 10 miles. It's a logistical challenge, but not a particularly hard one.

10-20 mile bus rides are absurd. And, what happens with after school activities for kids who have no transportation outside the school bus. How about providing the same opportunities at all schools.

That would make the special kids less special and we couldn’t possibly have that. Enough resources for everyone who qualifies? How scandalous!

I have no qualms about admitting more students to special programs, but I don’t think substantially increasing the number of special programs and decreasing catchment areas is going to result in the same experience that today’s magnet students are having. It’s going to give more students something moderately better than what they currently have, while taking away the thing that is most valuable to the highest performing of the high performers: an exceptional cohort. Given the issues with staffing, can MCPS even deliver enough qualified teachers who are willing to take on these classes?

So, I don't actually think it is the job of a public education system to offer classes that only 10/200,000 kids per year take. Yes, the top .1% of kids might lose access to "an exceptional cohort" but thousands of kids are going to benefit.

In public education, the goal cannot be to absolutely maximize the experience of a tiny handful of kids. It has to be serving the largest number of learners possible with available resources.

Anonymous wrote:These students complaining about the new grading program sound so ridiculous. Saying they wouldn't have chosen classes if they knew there was going to be rigor? Ridiculous! MCPS better not go back on the policies in place!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child who would be the inaugural class of this change, and the change looks reasonable to me.

Change is hard, but there have long been more kids capable of doing magnet-level work than spots available. Creating new, diverse, regions and expanding magnet offerings is a common-sense solution.

Those are nice sentiments, but your post doesn’t address the actual logistical challenges presented by this plan. You call the plan reasonable; please explain how it is even feasible, let alone reasonable.

Do you have any children who have already participated in one of the existing high school magnet programs? I have a senior who has experienced a CES and magnets for middle school and high school. I’m surprised that anyone whose child will be in high school during this transition would support it. Significant and widespread changes will not roll out smoothly. There will be disparities in the implementation between regions.

I'm the PP and I do have a child in one of the existing programs, after participating in a CES and MS magnet. Those experiences revealed how many talented kids are being missed by the current scarcity.

You asked about feasibility, as though no one has ever thought about this question before. This is not an insurmountable issue. It's just a matter of sequencing.

They've already drawn up the regions, and determined the 5 magnets for each region. Now they need to assign the programs to the schools. If we take the southernmost region, I'd assume Blair keeps STEM, Northwood gets medical, Einstein takes performing arts, B-CC has IB/Humanities, and Whitman takes leadership/public service. This more or less tracks with their existing programs.

Curricula already exist for most of those programs, so all they need to do is create the course sequence for performing/fine arts, building off VAC and probably CAP sequencing.

There is already an online system to apply to the magnets. So they just need to program the application to let the kids rank/select the programs that interest them, and to consider them only for those in their region.

Finally, transportation. That's sticky, but again not insurmountable. Right now, MCPS runs magnet busses all over the county, and across the DCC. Multiple busses for the Poolesville program go 20+ miles. The longest bus ride in the new regions would be about 10 miles. It's a logistical challenge, but not a particularly hard one.

10-20 mile bus rides are absurd. And, what happens with after school activities for kids who have no transportation outside the school bus. How about providing the same opportunities at all schools.

That would make the special kids less special and we couldn’t possibly have that. Enough resources for everyone who qualifies? How scandalous!

I have no qualms about admitting more students to special programs, but I don’t think substantially increasing the number of special programs and decreasing catchment areas is going to result in the same experience that today’s magnet students are having. It’s going to give more students something moderately better than what they currently have, while taking away the thing that is most valuable to the highest performing of the high performers: an exceptional cohort. Given the issues with staffing, can MCPS even deliver enough qualified teachers who are willing to take on these classes?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child who would be the inaugural class of this change, and the change looks reasonable to me.

Change is hard, but there have long been more kids capable of doing magnet-level work than spots available. Creating new, diverse, regions and expanding magnet offerings is a common-sense solution.

Those are nice sentiments, but your post doesn’t address the actual logistical challenges presented by this plan. You call the plan reasonable; please explain how it is even feasible, let alone reasonable.

Do you have any children who have already participated in one of the existing high school magnet programs? I have a senior who has experienced a CES and magnets for middle school and high school. I’m surprised that anyone whose child will be in high school during this transition would support it. Significant and widespread changes will not roll out smoothly. There will be disparities in the implementation between regions.

I'm the PP and I do have a child in one of the existing programs, after participating in a CES and MS magnet. Those experiences revealed how many talented kids are being missed by the current scarcity.

You asked about feasibility, as though no one has ever thought about this question before. This is not an insurmountable issue. It's just a matter of sequencing.

They've already drawn up the regions, and determined the 5 magnets for each region. Now they need to assign the programs to the schools. If we take the southernmost region, I'd assume Blair keeps STEM, Northwood gets medical, Einstein takes performing arts, B-CC has IB/Humanities, and Whitman takes leadership/public service. This more or less tracks with their existing programs.

Curricula already exist for most of those programs, so all they need to do is create the course sequence for performing/fine arts, building off VAC and probably CAP sequencing.

There is already an online system to apply to the magnets. So they just need to program the application to let the kids rank/select the programs that interest them, and to consider them only for those in their region.

Finally, transportation. That's sticky, but again not insurmountable. Right now, MCPS runs magnet busses all over the county, and across the DCC. Multiple busses for the Poolesville program go 20+ miles. The longest bus ride in the new regions would be about 10 miles. It's a logistical challenge, but not a particularly hard one.

10-20 mile bus rides are absurd. And, what happens with after school activities for kids who have no transportation outside the school bus. How about providing the same opportunities at all schools.

That would make the special kids less special and we couldn’t possibly have that. Enough resources for everyone who qualifies? How scandalous!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm highly skeptical that MCPS can serve kids grandfathered into the existing countywide and consortia program models AND simultaneously stand up and transition into the regional program models.

While it sounds nice, that would require a level of planning, coordination and competence from MCPS that I have never seen before.

I'm not sure how they'll afford transportation for this plan. Between Metro and Ride-on DCC has population density, and a lot of bus options. The more suburban and rural parts of the county do not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child who would be the inaugural class of this change, and the change looks reasonable to me.

Change is hard, but there have long been more kids capable of doing magnet-level work than spots available. Creating new, diverse, regions and expanding magnet offerings is a common-sense solution.

Those are nice sentiments, but your post doesn’t address the actual logistical challenges presented by this plan. You call the plan reasonable; please explain how it is even feasible, let alone reasonable.

Do you have any children who have already participated in one of the existing high school magnet programs? I have a senior who has experienced a CES and magnets for middle school and high school. I’m surprised that anyone whose child will be in high school during this transition would support it. Significant and widespread changes will not roll out smoothly. There will be disparities in the implementation between regions.

I'm the PP and I do have a child in one of the existing programs, after participating in a CES and MS magnet. Those experiences revealed how many talented kids are being missed by the current scarcity.

You asked about feasibility, as though no one has ever thought about this question before. This is not an insurmountable issue. It's just a matter of sequencing.

They've already drawn up the regions, and determined the 5 magnets for each region. Now they need to assign the programs to the schools. If we take the southernmost region, I'd assume Blair keeps STEM, Northwood gets medical, Einstein takes performing arts, B-CC has IB/Humanities, and Whitman takes leadership/public service. This more or less tracks with their existing programs.

Curricula already exist for most of those programs, so all they need to do is create the course sequence for performing/fine arts, building off VAC and probably CAP sequencing.

There is already an online system to apply to the magnets. So they just need to program the application to let the kids rank/select the programs that interest them, and to consider them only for those in their region.

Finally, transportation. That's sticky, but again not insurmountable. Right now, MCPS runs magnet busses all over the county, and across the DCC. Multiple busses for the Poolesville program go 20+ miles. The longest bus ride in the new regions would be about 10 miles. It's a logistical challenge, but not a particularly hard one.

10-20 mile bus rides are absurd. And, what happens with after school activities for kids who have no transportation outside the school bus. How about providing the same opportunities at all schools.

There are late buses for kids in extracurricular activities.

The top students benefit from having very high performing cohorts. If we expanded the seats in the existing magnets, we could still draw talent from large pools and send the very best, but provide more kids with rigorous educations. Instead, we’re going to create 30 magnets that all draw from much smaller pools. Be careful what you wish for; we’re about to spread the talent out thin. None of these magnets will be of the same caliber as the current magnets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child who would be the inaugural class of this change, and the change looks reasonable to me.

Change is hard, but there have long been more kids capable of doing magnet-level work than spots available. Creating new, diverse, regions and expanding magnet offerings is a common-sense solution.

Those are nice sentiments, but your post doesn’t address the actual logistical challenges presented by this plan. You call the plan reasonable; please explain how it is even feasible, let alone reasonable.

Do you have any children who have already participated in one of the existing high school magnet programs? I have a senior who has experienced a CES and magnets for middle school and high school. I’m surprised that anyone whose child will be in high school during this transition would support it. Significant and widespread changes will not roll out smoothly. There will be disparities in the implementation between regions.

I'm the PP and I do have a child in one of the existing programs, after participating in a CES and MS magnet. Those experiences revealed how many talented kids are being missed by the current scarcity.

You asked about feasibility, as though no one has ever thought about this question before. This is not an insurmountable issue. It's just a matter of sequencing.

They've already drawn up the regions, and determined the 5 magnets for each region. Now they need to assign the programs to the schools. If we take the southernmost region, I'd assume Blair keeps STEM, Northwood gets medical, Einstein takes performing arts, B-CC has IB/Humanities, and Whitman takes leadership/public service. This more or less tracks with their existing programs.

Curricula already exist for most of those programs, so all they need to do is create the course sequence for performing/fine arts, building off VAC and probably CAP sequencing.

There is already an online system to apply to the magnets. So they just need to program the application to let the kids rank/select the programs that interest them, and to consider them only for those in their region.

Finally, transportation. That's sticky, but again not insurmountable. Right now, MCPS runs magnet busses all over the county, and across the DCC. Multiple busses for the Poolesville program go 20+ miles. The longest bus ride in the new regions would be about 10 miles. It's a logistical challenge, but not a particularly hard one.

10-20 mile bus rides are absurd. And, what happens with after school activities for kids who have no transportation outside the school bus. How about providing the same opportunities at all schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why, why, why can't we just work on 26 strong high schools that all offer a variety of leveled work? Why can't all students just go to their zoned school? What if we used all of this money from their "Research," buses, program procurement etc, to add more teachers to the county and reduce the size of classes? Why does everyone need a program?

Because in this county, like everywhere else, the rich hoard the good stuff. If you are a kid who goes to predominantly poor school and you want to take advanced physics or be in a stellar symphony, you just can’t, because there aren’t enough other kids like you at your school. Specialized programs help those kids.