Montgomery Public Schools

Update: We were going to apply this year to Forest. Forest had a perfect accreditation visit and is a top Magnet school. Our child has a 4.0 GPA and would be an excellent candidate. However, we decided that MPS currently has way too much drama. They seem to contiuously have issues with some of their other schools. We feel that even indirectly, this has to negatively impact all schools incluing Forest. For these reasons, we decided to stay with the base military school.n_________________________________________nMilitary beware- I do not have a child in an MPS, however, I have dealt with them and have never received answers to my questions (see below). If you are just moving here there are some things you should be aware of. In 2017, the state took over many of the Montgomery schools. Many (20+ish) were essentially failing schools and will be taken over for the next 3-5 years. After taking them over, the state gave the principals a raise. The state said it was to get their salary in-line with other schools. Obviously, to the public, it appeared that school leadership was being financially rewarded for their failing schools. Recently, there were shootings at 2 of the schools and tragically 1 young girl lost her life. The magnet schools do have decent reputations, however, if you have a young child transferring from a DODEA school, they run the risk of not being accepted into an MPS magnet school. For instance, DODEA schools do not give numerical grades for K-3rd grade. Their grading system cannot be converted into a numerical grade. But, if your child applies to a magnet school, they have to meet certain GPA requirements. So, the MPS magnet program uses their own conversion. For 2 years, I have been unable to get MPS to disclose their secret conversion formula. As a result, I do not know which magnet schools my son would even be eligible for. And, when you apply to the magnets, you can select your child's 1st and 2nd choice schools. However, MPS basically told me that because so many kids apply to the magnet schools, kids will never get considered for their second choice school. So....if your child applies to one school and doesn't meet MPS' magical GPA conversion, that is it, the application process is essentially done and you child won't get accepted and they won't be considered for their second choice either. From what I understand, children are much better off going to a private school IF you can afford it. For military families, I personally recommend the base school. It has its own set of issues, but overall, it is a solid school and most of the teachers are amazing. Living in base housing isn't great, but having a good and relatively safer school is worth it.