The Baltimore County schools have outgrown their magnet fair.
With 25 programs to show off this year, the school system will have two fairs, instead of one, this week -- Monday at Parkville High School for those interested in eastside schools and Thursday at Woodlawn High School for westside programs. Both will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Some programs will be represented at both fairs because they are open to students countywide or because they draw from areas that overlap the two sides of the county.
Last year, about 1,700 people jammed the Towson Center on a rainy night to get a look at the magnet offerings. School officials decided then that interest in the programs warranted two fairs.
Officials expect about 1,000 people at each fair. Each magnet program will have a display explaining its curricula, application process and the area from which it draws students. School administrators and magnet faculty and students from existing programs will talk to fair-goers about their schools.
The fairs are an unofficial kickoff to the application-acceptance process for students wishing to attend magnet schools next year. Each school can set its own application deadline, but most will be in early or mid-January. Students will be notified of acceptance by late February.
About 6,000 students are enrolled in 15 magnet programs this year. The school board has approved eight more for next fall.
Seventeen programs at 16 schools will be included in the eastside fair at Parkville. They are:
High schools: Carver Center for Arts and Technology; Eastern Technical; Kenwood's International Baccalaureate program and Academy for Sports Sciences; Overlea Academy of Finance; Parkville Center for Mathematics, Science and Computer Science; Southeastern Technical; Western School of Technology and Environmental Science; Woodlawn Center for Pre-Engineering and Research; Towson Center for Law and Public Policy; Patapsco Center for the Arts.
Middle schools: Loch Raven Technological Academy for Environmental Sciences and the Arts; Parkville Center of Technology.
Elementaries: Cromwell Valley School of Technology; Lutherville Laboratory for Science, Mathematics and Communications; Eastwood Primary Center, and Hillendale, which will be renamed the Halstead Academy of Mathematics, Science, Technology and Visual Arts.
Thirteen schools will participate at the westside fair at Woodlawn:
High schools: Lansdowne Business Administration and Finance Institute; Milford Mill Academy's International Baccalaureate program and technology magnets; Carver; Western; Towson; Woodlawn, and Kenwood's sports academy.
Middle schools: Sudbrook; Deer Park, and Southwest Academy at Johnnycake. All three will have similar programs with four curricula to choose from: visual arts, performing arts, computer applications of mathematics and science and foreign language immersion. Deer Park will offer a fifth program in mass communication.
Elementaries: Church Lane Technology School; Wellwood International School, and Chatsworth Multiage Center. Chatsworth technically is not a magnet but draws students from nearby elementary schools for its innovative method of putting children together by age rather than traditional grade levels.
Information: (410) 887-4127.