The Board of Education today [Tuesday, December 12] authorized the submission of a federal grant application for $9 million to develop and implement magnet and signature programs at the four high schools in a new consortium involving the Montgomery Blair, Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy, and Wheaton clusters.

If funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the multi-year grant would allow the opening of new signature programs starting with ninth grade students in the fall of 2002. In addition, the former Northwood High School facility is proposed to reopen for the 2004-05 school year and would be added to the consortium with its own signature or magnet program.

The new high school programs would be part of a larger academic initiative designed to address the pre-kindergarten through post high school educational needs of students in the targeted clusters. The signature programs would help address continued enrollment growth, demographic changes, and interest in choosing among highly specialized academic programs in high school.

The new initiative would be similar to the current Northeast Consortium of the James Hubert Blake, Paint Branch, and Springbrook clusters in which students and their parents participate in a process known as "Preferred Choice." This choice process allows each student to indicate a preference from among the participating schools.

In the new consortium, the proposed signature programs would be:

* Academies of Communications/Media Literacy, Entrepreneurship, and Science and Technology at Montgomery Blair High School.

* International Baccalaureate, International Studies, Visual Arts and Performing Arts, and the Academy of Finance at Albert Einstein High School.

* Advanced Placement Diploma Program, the Academy of Leadership, and the Space, Earth, and Human Life Academy at John F. Kennedy High School.

* Academies of Information Technology, Biological Technology, Engineering Technology, and Foreign Language and Cultural Studies at Wheaton High School.

The Thomas Edison High School of Technology, located adjacent to Wheaton High School, would support each of the magnet or signature programs.

The design of the programs will continue this year and next year in collaboration with parents, students, teachers, principals, and staff, along with the participating communities and private and public organizations related to the signature themes. The Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education will be working with all schools as signature programs are developed. Mr. Michael J. Martirano, formerly principal of Sligo Creek Elementary School, is directing the overall development of the consortium.