Parents Contest Possible Changes to Middle School Magnet Program

The annual trips to New York and Boston are safe for now, but that wasn't enough to calm the fears of many Germantown parents on Thursday night.

When it was recently announced that popular annual trips may soon become a thing of the past at the 'Upcounty Center' at Roberto Clemente Middle School, parents of students enrolled in this advanced curriculum began to take action.

The Center, commonly referred to as a "magnet program" because it attracts some of the area's most gifted students at Roberto Clemente, features an accelerated course load in areas of science, math and humanities. The three-year program generally culminates with annual week-long trips to Boston and New York for eighth graders.

It was recently announced that there will be changes made to the program as a whole and that the trips would not be immune to such changes.

The trips are a huge draw, so say many vocal parents who showed up at the school Thursday night to voice their concerns at a monthly meeting of the Parents' Advisory Committee. Parents expressed concerns throughout the night on topics such as the quality of the teachers in the program and the communication deficiencies between the school and parents.

The real topic of the night was the school trips, which resulted in what school officials called the biggest turnout ever. Parents were wearing "I Love NY" and "I Love MA" stickers to show their support of the trips. 

The meeting came on the heels of an online petition insisting the trips remain unchanged. As of Thursday night, 565 signatures had been collected. 

While school principal Khadija Barkley announced Thursday that the trips in 2011 and 2012 would take place as planned, that news did little to alleviate the concerns of parents with children who will still be in the program in 2013. 

Marjorie Lope of Montgomery County's Division of Accelerated and Enriched Instruction told the crowd Thursday night that the program is evaluated on a yearly basis, and that some schools in the county that offer similar magnet programs, such as Takoma Park Middle School, did away with their school trips in exchange for year-long internships in Washington, D.C. 

Again, this did not silence the largely partisan audience. Many parents questioned the process, wondering how the programs are evaluated and by whom. Many also asked to be more involved in such decisions, which Barkley agreed was a step in the right direction to creating better synergy between the school and parents. 

The school, as of now, has not decided on what the future of the trips will look like in the long term, but Barkley said she will work closely with the parents and program officials to determine the outcome, taking all opinions into account.

"I've also gotten e-mails from parents who have said that they're not necessarily committed to these trips," Barkley said. "There is a voice of parents who feel like these trips may be excessive and expensive. But if there is one thing I have learned in the past month, it is that I am not going to make decisions in isolation."