MCCPTA Gifted Child Committee

Proposed Resolution

W H E R E A S,

• The MCPS Board of Education has stated that increasing rigor is one of its main goals
• Providing a general continuum of services is one of MCPS guiding policies
• Over 300 students prepared for accelerated work will be graduating this school year from the competitive middle school programs in MCPS, while only 200 slots are available at the high school level for the whole county      
• Expanding the number of spaces available in these programs increases opportunities for all students down county and upcounty
• Existing programs of this nature generate and share best practices of excellence within the communities where they operate, thus indirectly improving the educational level for all students
• The current upcounty middle school program at Roberto Clemente enrolls significantly higher proportions of African American students than its sister down county programs
• The name recognition and prestige of Montgomery County is constantly enhanced by its great school system, of which its well-known magnet programs are a highly visible element; thus attracting desirable organizations and increasing job opportunities for all
• The existing HS magnet programs were created a long time ago when the student population of Montgomery County was approximately half of what it is today, and their number of spaces has not grown at all since then
• The bulk of new development and growth in the county is taking place within the upcounty area
• Current busing of upcounty students to down county programs incurs significant costs: financial (the cost of transportation) and human (wasted student-hours each day and disruption to family schedules)
• Deserving upcounty students who currently miss the opportunity for more enriched education as either themselves or their parents are unwilling/unable to make the sacrifices implicit in attending school at locations far removed from their homes
• The recent Report from the Deputy Superintendent Advisory Committee on GT Education indicates as one of its recommendations that: “MCPS must meet the need for additional seats in centers and secondary magnet programs.  Of critical concern is the establishment of an upcounty high school program to align with the Roberto Clemente model.”
• The cost of this program (expected to be less than $500,000 p.a. when fully operational; less during its initial years of operation) represents approximately 3/100 of 1% (three hundredths of one percent) of the overall MCPS yearly budget of $1.7 billion; and

MCCPTA  R E S O L V E S,
That MCPS should establish, by Fall 2006, upcounty high school programs for the highly gifted, along the lines of the successful middle school programs at Roberto Clement Middle School.

[1] / The word “upcounty”, as normally used by MCPS, refers to the northern area of Montgomery County as defined by the area covered by the two northern groups of clusters, i.e., the northwestern quad-cluster of: Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard and Seneca Valley HS; and the northeastern penta-cluster of: Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Magruder, and Watkins Mill HS.

[2] / The expression “along the lines of the successful programs at Roberto Clemente Middle School” is intended to convey the many design aspects that have made such programs so successful.  Among them: The proposed HS programs should: a) offer open enrollment; b) include both, math-science-computer science and humanities programs (i.e., no IB program, their curricula will be based on Blair’s math-science-computer science magnet and on its CAPS humanities program); c) attract underserved minority students, just as the middle school programs at Roberto Clemente are doing currently; etc