AACPS Redistricting

[Anonymous]

Is anyone else following? It seems like a complete shit show. AACPS spent boat loads of taxpayer dollars on hiring WXY to come up with scenarios and it seems like the board is insistent on changing no school boundaries. They shuffled tens and thousands of students around during the first phase of redistricting and mostly left the consultant-generated maps unchanged, but in Phase II they are altering the original scenarios in a way that moves no students. White money in Severna Park, Broadneck, Crofton, and Davidsonville clearly talks.

[Anonymous]

Yeah I don’t get how redistricting never happens in AACPS but does in HoCo and it’s much more accepted there.

[Anonymous]

Severna park was in phase 1. There was not much pushback in that phase.

Crofton IS in phase 2 and the residents there are actually fighting the redistricting to try to KEEP the poorest/most diverse kids in the Crofton feeder (Nantucket elementary.) The redistricting as proposed has not at all been about diversifying school populations, which you seem to suggest. In the case of Crofton it would have effectively reduced the FARMS rate at CHS and made it whiter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Severna park was in phase 1. There was not much pushback in that phase.

Crofton IS in phase 2 and the residents there are actually fighting the redistricting to try to KEEP the poorest/most diverse kids in the Crofton feeder (Nantucket elementary.) The redistricting as proposed has not at all been about diversifying school populations, which you seem to suggest. In the case of Crofton it would have effectively reduced the FARMS rate at CHS and made it whiter.

Yeah but majority white neighborhoods in Crofton Woods area stay in Crofton instead of moving to South River. The overarching theme in Crofton is “leave us alone.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Severna park was in phase 1. There was not much pushback in that phase.

Crofton IS in phase 2 and the residents there are actually fighting the redistricting to try to KEEP the poorest/most diverse kids in the Crofton feeder (Nantucket elementary.) The redistricting as proposed has not at all been about diversifying school populations, which you seem to suggest. In the case of Crofton it would have effectively reduced the FARMS rate at CHS and made it whiter.

Severna Park was not in Phase I, and there was a lot of controversy around that because it is almost entirely surrounded by schools in Phase I of redistricting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Severna park was in phase 1. There was not much pushback in that phase.

Crofton IS in phase 2 and the residents there are actually fighting the redistricting to try to KEEP the poorest/most diverse kids in the Crofton feeder (Nantucket elementary.) The redistricting as proposed has not at all been about diversifying school populations, which you seem to suggest. In the case of Crofton it would have effectively reduced the FARMS rate at CHS and made it whiter.

That's not what's happening. The sliver of Nantucket that would move to Arundel Middle/High is the wealthiest portion of the Nantucket neighborhood. It is a small group of relatively rich, white Nantucket parents fighting being redistricted to a less white school.

Were you around for the "Option Four" debacle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Severna park was in phase 1. There was not much pushback in that phase.

Crofton IS in phase 2 and the residents there are actually fighting the redistricting to try to KEEP the poorest/most diverse kids in the Crofton feeder (Nantucket elementary.) The redistricting as proposed has not at all been about diversifying school populations, which you seem to suggest. In the case of Crofton it would have effectively reduced the FARMS rate at CHS and made it whiter.

Yeah but majority white neighborhoods in Crofton Woods area stay in Crofton instead of moving to South River. The overarching theme in Crofton is “leave us alone.”

South river is “whiter” (70 vs 50) than Crofton ! So they are actually choosing more diversity. But yeah, most feeder schools students want to stay with their classmates - that makes sense logically and logistically.

Anyway the premise that it’s about white people fighting integration which the op claimed is completely false, and in fact the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Severna park was in phase 1. There was not much pushback in that phase.

Crofton IS in phase 2 and the residents there are actually fighting the redistricting to try to KEEP the poorest/most diverse kids in the Crofton feeder (Nantucket elementary.) The redistricting as proposed has not at all been about diversifying school populations, which you seem to suggest. In the case of Crofton it would have effectively reduced the FARMS rate at CHS and made it whiter.

Yeah but majority white neighborhoods in Crofton Woods area stay in Crofton instead of moving to South River. The overarching theme in Crofton is “leave us alone.”

South river is “whiter” (70 vs 50) than Crofton ! So they are actually choosing more diversity. But yeah, most feeder schools students want to stay with their classmates - that makes sense logically and logistically.

Anyway the premise that it’s about white people fighting integration which the op claimed is completely false, and in fact the opposite.

It is. Maybe not in Crofton, but in other areas it is. There is a big fight being put up against redistricting Annapolis students to South River. The South River parents have been loud in Edgewater area Facebook groups saying “those Bywater kids” are going to come to their schools and bring crime to the South River and decrease test scores there. Black families in Annapolis are protesting against the redistricting saying that South River is racist and they don’t want to send their kids there.

The superintendent bowed down to these racist concerns by proposing to move APEX magnet kids at Annapolis High to Severn Run High instead, which wouldn’t solve overcrowding but rather simply move it to Severn Run (recent board meeting found that Severn Run is already almost capacity).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Severna park was in phase 1. There was not much pushback in that phase.

Crofton IS in phase 2 and the residents there are actually fighting the redistricting to try to KEEP the poorest/most diverse kids in the Crofton feeder (Nantucket elementary.) The redistricting as proposed has not at all been about diversifying school populations, which you seem to suggest. In the case of Crofton it would have effectively reduced the FARMS rate at CHS and made it whiter.

That's not what's happening. The sliver of Nantucket that would move to Arundel Middle/High is the wealthiest portion of the Nantucket neighborhood. It is a small group of relatively rich, white Nantucket parents fighting being redistricted to a less white school.

Were you around for the "Option Four" debacle?

The idea of splitting out a small portion of an elementary school and sending the kids to a different middle and high school than the rest of their peers is honestly bonkers. Most redistricting keeps all the kids in one elementary school together for middle school, then all the kids who go to that middle school go to the same high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Severna park was in phase 1. There was not much pushback in that phase.

Crofton IS in phase 2 and the residents there are actually fighting the redistricting to try to KEEP the poorest/most diverse kids in the Crofton feeder (Nantucket elementary.) The redistricting as proposed has not at all been about diversifying school populations, which you seem to suggest. In the case of Crofton it would have effectively reduced the FARMS rate at CHS and made it whiter.

That's not what's happening. The sliver of Nantucket that would move to Arundel Middle/High is the wealthiest portion of the Nantucket neighborhood. It is a small group of relatively rich, white Nantucket parents fighting being redistricted to a less white school.

Were you around for the "Option Four" debacle?

The idea of splitting out a small portion of an elementary school and sending the kids to a different middle and high school than the rest of their peers is honestly bonkers. Most redistricting keeps all the kids in one elementary school together for middle school, then all the kids who go to that middle school go to the same high school.

This group of parents submitted their own maps to the district, lobbying the county to kick other children out of their elementary schools so their own kids wouldn’t be affected. No sympathy from me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Severna park was in phase 1. There was not much pushback in that phase.

Crofton IS in phase 2 and the residents there are actually fighting the redistricting to try to KEEP the poorest/most diverse kids in the Crofton feeder (Nantucket elementary.) The redistricting as proposed has not at all been about diversifying school populations, which you seem to suggest. In the case of Crofton it would have effectively reduced the FARMS rate at CHS and made it whiter.

That's not what's happening. The sliver of Nantucket that would move to Arundel Middle/High is the wealthiest portion of the Nantucket neighborhood. It is a small group of relatively rich, white Nantucket parents fighting being redistricted to a less white school.

Were you around for the "Option Four" debacle?

That’s not true. Nantucket ES is both less white and has a higher FARMS rate than every school in the Crofton or Arundel cluster except for Odenton Elementary School. Also many parents in these neighborhoods are alumni of Arundel High School or sent their older children to Arundel High. It has never been about race or one school being better than the other, it’s completely about not splitting up kids at an elementary school every year and sending them down danegerous roads to schools that are even more overcrowded. Every family got out of redistricting except for Nantucket, and that’s messed up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Severna park was in phase 1. There was not much pushback in that phase.

Crofton IS in phase 2 and the residents there are actually fighting the redistricting to try to KEEP the poorest/most diverse kids in the Crofton feeder (Nantucket elementary.) The redistricting as proposed has not at all been about diversifying school populations, which you seem to suggest. In the case of Crofton it would have effectively reduced the FARMS rate at CHS and made it whiter.

That's not what's happening. The sliver of Nantucket that would move to Arundel Middle/High is the wealthiest portion of the Nantucket neighborhood. It is a small group of relatively rich, white Nantucket parents fighting being redistricted to a less white school.

Were you around for the "Option Four" debacle?

That’s not true. Nantucket ES is both less white and has a higher FARMS rate than every school in the Crofton or Arundel cluster except for Odenton Elementary School. Also many parents in these neighborhoods are alumni of Arundel High School or sent their older children to Arundel High. It has never been about race or one school being better than the other, it’s completely about not splitting up kids at an elementary school every year and sending them down danegerous roads to schools that are even more overcrowded. Every family got out of redistricting except for Nantucket, and that’s messed up.

Again, I have very little sympathy for Nantucket parents who actively lobbied the board to kick other children out of the Crofton cluster. That was horrible and as far as I’m concerned, they got what they deserved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Severna park was in phase 1. There was not much pushback in that phase.

Crofton IS in phase 2 and the residents there are actually fighting the redistricting to try to KEEP the poorest/most diverse kids in the Crofton feeder (Nantucket elementary.) The redistricting as proposed has not at all been about diversifying school populations, which you seem to suggest. In the case of Crofton it would have effectively reduced the FARMS rate at CHS and made it whiter.

That's not what's happening. The sliver of Nantucket that would move to Arundel Middle/High is the wealthiest portion of the Nantucket neighborhood. It is a small group of relatively rich, white Nantucket parents fighting being redistricted to a less white school.

Were you around for the "Option Four" debacle?

That’s not true. Nantucket ES is both less white and has a higher FARMS rate than every school in the Crofton or Arundel cluster except for Odenton Elementary School. Also many parents in these neighborhoods are alumni of Arundel High School or sent their older children to Arundel High. It has never been about race or one school being better than the other, it’s completely about not splitting up kids at an elementary school every year and sending them down danegerous roads to schools that are even more overcrowded. Every family got out of redistricting except for Nantucket, and that’s messed up.

Again, I have very little sympathy for Nantucket parents who actively lobbied the board to kick other children out of the Crofton cluster. That was horrible and as far as I’m concerned, they got what they deserved.

When did that ever happen? They advocated to keep Crofton’s boundaries as is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Severna park was in phase 1. There was not much pushback in that phase.

Crofton IS in phase 2 and the residents there are actually fighting the redistricting to try to KEEP the poorest/most diverse kids in the Crofton feeder (Nantucket elementary.) The redistricting as proposed has not at all been about diversifying school populations, which you seem to suggest. In the case of Crofton it would have effectively reduced the FARMS rate at CHS and made it whiter.

That's not what's happening. The sliver of Nantucket that would move to Arundel Middle/High is the wealthiest portion of the Nantucket neighborhood. It is a small group of relatively rich, white Nantucket parents fighting being redistricted to a less white school.

Were you around for the "Option Four" debacle?

That’s not true. Nantucket ES is both less white and has a higher FARMS rate than every school in the Crofton or Arundel cluster except for Odenton Elementary School. Also many parents in these neighborhoods are alumni of Arundel High School or sent their older children to Arundel High. It has never been about race or one school being better than the other, it’s completely about not splitting up kids at an elementary school every year and sending them down danegerous roads to schools that are even more overcrowded. Every family got out of redistricting except for Nantucket, and that’s messed up.

Again, I have very little sympathy for Nantucket parents who actively lobbied the board to kick other children out of the Crofton cluster. That was horrible and as far as I’m concerned, they got what they deserved.

When did that ever happen? They advocated to keep Crofton’s boundaries as is.

They initially asked the Board to redistrict all kids west of Route 3 to Arundel, even those living miles south of Nantucket, despite the fact that those neighborhoods were never even contemplated for redistricting in the original WXY scenarios. Their idea was to trade those kids for Nantucket kids. They abandoned that plan after a pretty significant backlash and a critical facebook post from the president of the AA County chapter of the NAACP. This happened in April/May.

There's no easy way to share the PDFs they circulated outlining the plan, so I apologize for the janky links.

https://publuu.com/flip-book/1020148/2254607
https://publuu.com/flip-book/1020148/2254612

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Severna park was in phase 1. There was not much pushback in that phase.

Crofton IS in phase 2 and the residents there are actually fighting the redistricting to try to KEEP the poorest/most diverse kids in the Crofton feeder (Nantucket elementary.) The redistricting as proposed has not at all been about diversifying school populations, which you seem to suggest. In the case of Crofton it would have effectively reduced the FARMS rate at CHS and made it whiter.

That's not what's happening. The sliver of Nantucket that would move to Arundel Middle/High is the wealthiest portion of the Nantucket neighborhood. It is a small group of relatively rich, white Nantucket parents fighting being redistricted to a less white school.

Were you around for the "Option Four" debacle?

That’s not true. Nantucket ES is both less white and has a higher FARMS rate than every school in the Crofton or Arundel cluster except for Odenton Elementary School. Also many parents in these neighborhoods are alumni of Arundel High School or sent their older children to Arundel High. It has never been about race or one school being better than the other, it’s completely about not splitting up kids at an elementary school every year and sending them down danegerous roads to schools that are even more overcrowded. Every family got out of redistricting except for Nantucket, and that’s messed up.

Again, I have very little sympathy for Nantucket parents who actively lobbied the board to kick other children out of the Crofton cluster. That was horrible and as far as I’m concerned, they got what they deserved.

When did that ever happen? They advocated to keep Crofton’s boundaries as is.

They initially asked the Board to redistrict all kids west of Route 3 to Arundel, even those living miles south of Nantucket, despite the fact that those neighborhoods were never even contemplated for redistricting in the original WXY scenarios. Their idea was to trade those kids for Nantucket kids. They abandoned that plan after a pretty significant backlash and a critical facebook post from the president of the AA County chapter of the NAACP. This happened in April/May.

There's no easy way to share the PDFs they circulated outlining the plan, so I apologize for the janky links.

https://publuu.com/flip-book/1020148/2254607
https://publuu.com/flip-book/1020148/2254612

Thank you for sharing! I do remember Option 4, I just didn’t realize that it got that much controversy. Why did the NAACP make a post? Did the neighborhoods they propose go to Arundel have a lot of Black students?

I do know that during the districting of Crofton High School in 2018, there was a lot of controversy around making Route 3 the boundary between Crofton and Arundel cluster schools (also largely pushed by Nantucket parents) because it never had been the boundary before, and making that the boundary meant that mostly Black communities living in the Waugh Chapel Town Center area would have to get bussed to Arundel.

I thought it made sense to send Two Rivers to Arundel since they are deeper into Odenton, but I had a bad feeling about sending those Waugh Chapel neighborhoods to Arundel. I think they should have sent them to Crofton.