Anonymous wrote:The magnets are an incredible waste of time, resources, upper administration staff, and terrible for the environment as kids are bussed all over this traffic infested county. I say this as a parent of 2 of 3 magnet kids. Right now is not the time to invest in this program anymore.

Translation: I no longer see value in this program that my kids each invested years in.

Anonymous wrote:The magnets are an incredible waste of time, resources, upper administration staff, and terrible for the environment as kids are bussed all over this traffic infested county. I say this as a parent of 2 of 3 magnet kids. Right now is not the time to invest in this program anymore.

If you're worried about the effect of buses on the environment, it doesn't make sense to focus on the small number of kids in magnet programs. You should focus on

1. the large number of kids who live in walking distance but get bus service because it's not safe to walk/bike
2. the large number of kids who get driven by their parents instead of taking the bus or walking/biking
3. the large number of kids who could take RideOn/Metrobus but get bus service

The magnets are an incredible waste of time, resources, upper administration staff, and terrible for the environment as kids are bussed all over this traffic infested county. I say this as a parent of 2 of 3 magnet kids. Right now is not the time to invest in this program anymore.

If you look at NYC their magnets have a lot of socioeconomic diversity (not a lot of racial diversity but I personally think that socioeconomic diversity is more important)
Both Stuyvesant and Bronx Science Magnet have 40%+ low income students

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nydailynews.com/opinion/stuyvesant-serves-needy-minorities-article-1.3944199%3foutputType=amp

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents who send their kids to magnets should be required to transport them themselves. It’s crazy how much money mcps spends bussing those kids.

How much, exactly? Please tell us, because every time this has come up in the past, the amount has turned out to be negligible given the total amount of money MCPS spends on bus transportation.

When you've done that, please explain how this would expand the access of kids from poor/underresourced families to magnet programs.

Last year, I had a magnet student whose Vietnamese immigrant parents were working multiple jobs. They never could take time off to come to meetings to discuss his underperformance in both magnet and non-magnet classes. There’s no way they would have transported him to school every day for the past two years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Magnets are the ‘special forces’ for admin promotions. Notice where they choose to put them. This way admins can take credit for raising almighty test scores without actually doing anything for the vast majority of kids. Also, agree with the point they are trying to keep higher SES kids in the system. Going to be interesting to see how MCPS continues to justify their existence going forward...

For example, in Poolesville?

And Germantown (Clemente and MLK).

Richard Montgomery

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Magnets are the ‘special forces’ for admin promotions. Notice where they choose to put them. This way admins can take credit for raising almighty test scores without actually doing anything for the vast majority of kids. Also, agree with the point they are trying to keep higher SES kids in the system. Going to be interesting to see how MCPS continues to justify their existence going forward...

For example, in Poolesville?

And Germantown (Clemente and MLK).