Call to Action

August 16, 2025

Dear Magnet Community,

On July 24, 2025, MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor unveiled a proposed model for MCPS schools that would replace longstanding programs like the Blair Magnet with new regional programs. The Magnet Foundation is deeply concerned about the proposed changes and views them as an end to the Magnet program as we know it. We urge concerned parents, students, and community members to contact members of the Board of Education and the Superintendent to share your concerns and advocate on behalf of the Magnet. MCPS needs to hear the voices of the Blair Magnet community before moving forward with its regional plan.

Challenges with region based proposal

The proposed regional model was described in two recent Bethesda Magazine articles:

• https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/07/25/mcps-end-countywide-program-consortia/

• https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/08/13/mcps-program-changes-concerns/

In our view, there are numerous challenges with the superintendent’s proposal. First, the timeline for creating six regional programs by 2026-27 is impractical. We know that the requirements for staffing the Magnet Program are demanding. The program works hard to recruit, train, and retain teachers with the right qualifications and abilities to meet the unique challenges of teaching Magnet students. Standing up six similar programs in a short time is unrealistic and it is unlikely that such programs will be comparable to the Blair Magnet.

The Magnet serves a group of kids whose needs aren’t easily met in their home schools. These needs are not merely academic – the Magnet also meets the social needs of many kids without a close peer group. When students enter the program in ninth grade, many experience, for the first time, an environment filled with others who share their interests and abilities. They thrive in this setting—engaging with others, delving deeper into their passions, and growing socially. This peer group will be severely diluted in six regional programs, and the loss will be felt most acutely by students from parts of the county that have historically sent fewer kids to Blair – if they are cut off from the rest of the county, they will be less likely to find a critical mass of peers in their home region.

The Magnet’s large catchment area has allowed the program to offer many classes that would not be possible in a regional model – even now, there are barely enough students that meet the prerequisites for some of the Magnet’s advanced electives. Splitting into regional programs will mean that no one school will consistently have enough students each year ready for these courses, making them impossible to run. Students in some regions may have no math classes to take by senior year, forcing them to pursue alternatives.

Over the past 40 years, the program and its students have developed a novel interdisciplinary curriculum including many new course curricula (including multivariable calculus, genetic analysis, artificial intelligence), distinctive extra-curricular activities benefiting the entire county (like BunnyBots, MBMT, and mBIT), and a unique culture amongst both students and staff (in traditions like Puzzlepalooza, STEM Arts Night, and Wallops Island). Blair Magnet students have won many national and international awards over the decades bringing recognition to Montgomery County as one of the best educational systems in the country.

When the Poolesville Magnet program was created a decade ago, there was a careful process where staff members from the Blair Magnet participated in the creation and development of that program. It will be impossible to follow a similar procedure when launching six programs at once – we want to encourage MCPS to think more carefully about the transition process.

We recognize that there are real concerns with inequality and fairness that MCPS is trying to address. We believe that the county should strive to meet the needs of every student. In our view, the proposed regional model would not serve those goals, and the county could lose something very special that has developed over 40 years in the Magnet Program.

Plea to the community

The County’s proposal has been developed without understanding or hearing from the members of the Blair Magnet community. We urge every member of the Blair Magnet community—parents, students, alumni, and supporters—to make your voice heard. The decisions being made in the coming months will have long-term implications for academic excellence in Montgomery County. Please contact members of the Board of Education and Superintendent Taylor directly to share your personal experiences, express your concerns, and advocate for a plan that strengthens—not dismantles—what works. The Board of Education holds monthly meetings where the public is invited to offer testimony. If you are interested in offering testimony in support of the Magnet Program, please feel free to contact us.

We can let the Board know that equity and excellence are not mutually exclusive. MCPS can and must do both. Let’s work together to expand opportunity while preserving a program that has built a national reputation.

You can write directly to MCPS officials and elected representatives:

• Thomas Taylor (Thomas_W_Taylor@mcpsmd.org, 240-740-3020) is the Superintendent of MCPS 

• Niki Porter (Niki_T_Porter@mcpsmd.org, 240-740-3970) is the Chief Academic Officer of MCPS

• The Board of Education oversees MCPS.

  • Julie Yang (Julie_Yang@mcpsmd.org, 240-740-3030) is the current Board Chair.

  • Laura Stewart (Laura_M_Stewart@mcpsmd.org, 240-740-3030), represents District 4 (which includes Blair).

  • Find the Board member who represents your home school district: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/about/redistricting/

In the coming weeks and months, the Foundation will be reaching out to Board members and anyone else willing to meet to sit down and discuss our concerns and work together to formulate a plan that addresses the existing challenges facing the county without negatively impacting existing programs. If you are interested in participating in these sessions or getting more directly involved in other ways please let us know by filling out the form below.

There is more information about advocating for the Magnet Program on the Foundation’s website here: mbhsmagnet.org/action 

Thank you for your support of the Magnet program. We look forward to working together towards continued excellence in MCPS education.

Regards,

Zeki Mokhtarzada, Class of '96,

on behalf of the Montgomery Blair High School Magnet Foundation