Statement on the Magnet Program from Dr. Margo Handy, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction and Student Services, Wicomico County Public Schools:
Over the past several months, teachers, principals, school system administrators and Board members have received many comments and inquiries about the status of the Elementary Magnet Program for the 2010-2011 school year. At this time, the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee on High Performing Learners is in the midst of a comprehensive, research-based examination of the Magnet Program and many answers are not yet available, but I would like to address a few key points.
Current Magnet Program Students: Students now in grades 3 and 4 at the North Salisbury Elementary and Pemberton Elementary Magnet Centers will continue in the Magnet Program at the same school next year.
Magnet Program Criteria for This Year’s Second-Graders: A criteria subcommittee of the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee on High Performing Learners is evaluating the existing criteria and drafting suggested changes. The full committee of approximately 42 parents, teachers, Board members, and school and district-level administrators will discuss the criteria and could recommend changes to criteria to the superintendent this spring. If the school system adopts new criteria at the direction of the superintendent but there is not sufficient time for the criteria to be changed for consideration of this year’s second-graders (next year’s third-grade class), then the criteria for the Magnet Program would remain the same as the criteria used to determine eligibility for the 2009-10 school year. The current criteria take into account math and reading benchmark scores, end-of-year Leveled Reading Passage Book performance level, and a 15-item teacher checklist, and other factors including grade point average and Primary Talent Development.
Expansion of the Magnet Program: The Superintendent’s Advisory Committee on High Performing Learners is actively working and has not yet made any recommendations on the Magnet Program, including whether to expand Magnet-type services to other schools. This discussion began in November, when an expansion of the Magnet Program was discussed as part of the Superintendent’s Task Force on Redistricting, and again in December, when the centers-based Magnet Program was included on a list of potential budget reductions for the next school year. The Magnet Program is no longer on the list of potential budget reductions for the fiscal 2011 budget.
More details will be shared with parents and guardians and the community when the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee on High Performing Learners makes its recommendations to the superintendent. Information will continue to be posted at http://www.wcboe.org/boe/high_performing_learners/ as the committee continues its work.
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10 comments:
Well, as always, the squeaky wheels get the grease...a small percentage of misguided parents hollared and screamed to maintain the Magnet program because they think it separates their children into a so-called elite group. Every one of those kids could be properly challenged in their neighborhood schools. It's sad to see that money being spent on a small percentage of children when so many more could benefit from it.
If you want your kids to be segregated from the general school population, trade in your designer cars and send them to private school. The BOE needs to grow a backbone and dedicate their budget to the majority for a change. And these parents who are nothing more than adult brats need to stop being so self absorbed and learn to realize that ALL kids are special, not just their kids.
Hello, Anonymous. My name is Kerrie, I have a name. Your tyraid is so full of assumptions and misconceptions, I don't know where to begin. Magnet is designed to educate those children who learn in a different manner than most children. They are not elite, they are not rich, they are not racist. They learn different. All children learn at different levels. Some quicker, some slower, some right in the middle. No one would ever suggest eliminating programming for those with special needs, as they learn slower than most. How is this any different than those who learn quicker? My child has ADHD and has proven that the regular classroom only increases his boredom and ansyness as he finishes his work quicker than the rest. I do not have a fancy car and do not live in a fancy house or neighborhood. I am barely keeping my head about water but my sons learning level should be accommodated just as everyone elses is. The idiotic assumption that Magnet = Segregation is in your minds, not ours.
1:04 you are wrong!!! As a parent of a child with autism he gets his education in the school that is IN our neighborhood. He is not bused to a special school. Why should children be bused to a different school? I live in the Pemberton district and I talk to these parents. Trust me, they do not want their children in the "traditional" classroom. Pick up a copy of the Pemberton yearbook and check out the traditional versus the magnet classes. It is blatant segregation and I am surprised the NAACP hasn't jumped all over it. All a parent has to do is demand that their kid get in the Magnet program and they get in.
And if their kids can get good grades in the Magnet program then more power to them! I don't have a problem with the program going back to home schools. My son would go to Pittsville, a fine school. But they are the only one in the county without a Gate program. Does the Bd/Frederickson think we believe Pittsville will get Magnet programming? No, it won't because there isn't enough of the population to support it. My child shouldn't be allowed to flounder because of geography. I wish equity for all children but only have time in my world to fight for my kids and their needs. I am sure this is the case for all parents these days. I empower you to fight for the needs of your child, whatever their case may be, as I have done for mine.
I'm for magnet for the kids who are so quick at learning that they do need a special program. It shouldn't be because their parents raised the devil at the central office though. That is the fault of Dr. Handy who then turns around and says the program is social. She should have had some backbone.
4:48
You are correct. Any special education child has his/her needs met in their school if possible, but if not there is a Special Learning Center at Pinehurst. Special ed. costs over $30,000,000 a year in this county, but anything that will help them get a good education is given. Some even have their own personal assistant with them all day. The cost of magnet busing for 500 kids is $42,000 for the entire year. They get larger classes, only one teacher with no extras at all, and the county is looking at how expensive $42,000 is for 500 kids.So your child can stay in his school and everything will be given to him. Others are not so fortunate.
4:48 says that 9:49 am has made a great point. Thanks for enlightening me! I am very happy that my guy can go to his home school. I am fortunate.
Not all schools in wicomico county have enough students that are preforming at magnet level to form a whole classroom. Some schools have way to many and could form two classes.ie fruitland. My daughter is currently a magnet student at North Salisbury school. Fruitland is her home school. Nothing was said at the meeting as to wether they are going to pull students for advance learning or if they are putting them in certain classroom at their home schools. Fruitland is already crowded with the kids they have how are they going to fit more in. Where are the new teachers salaries coming from and where are the extra class rooms coming from. The $42,000.00 wont even pay for one teacher let alone more. These kids are not just smart for a few hours a day. They are bored in the regular class rooms and need the extra stimulus of higher education. I am a single parent trying to make my daughter accountable for herself and allow her to get the best education that public school can give her. I can not afford to send my child to private school that may or may not give her the best education there is in wicomico county.
My point was, and remains, that before all of the "grouping" demanded by parents, there were several "levels" in each classroom. Teachers worked with each group based on their ability and learning needs. There is absolutely no reason why this wouldn't work now, eliminating the need for a special program for the more advanced students which would save the county a ton of money. BUT, then these "brilliant children would have to be in their home schools and not segregated from the general population - which would not be acceptable to the majority of Magnet parents. Sadly, as 5:36 said, the BOE needs to get a backbone and stop allowing parents to demand placement for their children, and moreso, to do what is fiscally responsible despite the screamers!
I'm happy for any family that has an extremely intelligent child, but there's no need to separate them from the rest. They CAN and SHOULD BE in their home schools, especially during these economic times. Magnet has become, among other things, a status symbol among many parents. Even the Magnet children make disparaging comments to other children that are absolutely outrageous...don't tell me they didn't hear it at home! Come on, BOE, do what needs to be done - stop being cowards!
-For anyone who believes on rich, elitist, white kids are in magnet apparantly haven't ever stepped into a magnet classroom to see the comparison between home school and magnet. based on information collected by the board of ed, magnet and home school classrooms both have over half the class being white kids, with roughly 25% african american in magnet and 35% in home school, with more asian/hispanic/other ethnicities in magnet than home school. so based on an average class size of 20-25 people, a magnet class will have 12 white kids, 5 african american kids, and 3 asian/hispanic kids compared to home school having 11 white kids, 7 african american, and 2 asian/hispanic. so based on this breakdown all the non-white kids must have been absent during the pemberton yearbook day or perhaps just more of the african american population of kids live closer to north salisbury and therefore get bused there.
so any claims of race inequality is nonsense. there is bound to be some percentage difference between programs simply because magnet has only a few hundred kids versus 3000 kids in home school and so the percentage is alot easier to change by simply have a few more/less african american kids enrolled that year.
similarly, talks about magnet as a status symbol and elitism is stupid as well. as was pointed out above, everyone that is in magnet or home school are still in public school. there are plenty of parents picking up there kids in home school in nice cars with different designer outfits for each day of the week and there are plenty of kids in magnet that get free lunches and rely on busing to get to school. if kids in either home school or magnet start making disparaging comments about the other kids that is a direct representative to what version of equality that are taught at home. there are certainly kids and parents that think their magnet kids are a symbol of elitism but there are plenty of kids in home school who talk "down" to magnet kids just because....of what exactly? i can't think of anything but they heard it at home. so before any parent goes off on some 3rd graders talking bad about their kids, they better think hard about what they may have said that their own kids may have overheard and are spreading to their friends.
bottom line, magnet is an opportunity not some status based acceptance only club. kids that are smart enough, driven enough, and have enough parent support should be in it. it shouldn't be at more than 1-2 schools because it's a waste of money to pay a bunch of extra teachers to only teach 10-15 kids at their home school where they can get grouped with other kids at a centralized school.
if anyone thinks the magnet program is a waste, just look at the test scores the country uses to validate schools are doing their job. around 70% of magnet students scored above the advanced level on MSA tests, with an equal breakdown of white/african american/asian/hispanic all averaging around that 70% mark---another indicator that the kids in the program are all there based on ability not simply social status.
are there issues with the home school/magnet system overall? yes. do some kids in both programs really belong in the other? yes. but as it is, with the realities of funding concerns and the inability to assign private tutors to every student, its the best system for the educational system the country and state has.
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