Howard County Public High Schools
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Anonymous
They won’t totally ship you across town, but you can be zoned to another school when you are in walking distance of another. The last time we had a big redistricting we had a few questionable decisions in the initial proposal. Kids from one island were being bussed past three schools to get to another school. Some kids could literally see a school from their homes but were zoned to another one. Some schools had direct student swaps with other schools. A middle school saw something like 50% turnover. But people complained, and it became reasonable after several rounds of redrawing the maps. In general, the population increases are coming from the East side of the county, so restricting tends to push kids West. |
Anonymous
I appreciate your response! The last line about increases in the east tending to push kids west is very helpful. |
Anonymous
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The HCPSS leans heavily towards balancing by socioeconomic levels. They try to reduce the number of FARMS students in any given school. They try to balance out by moving lower income/less expensive housing octagons to schools with a higher average income/more expensive housing school. They also try to move higher income/more expensive octagons to lower average income zoned schools. It's the latter that tends to get the complaints. People don't like to buy more expensive housing zoned for a "stronger" school and then get bussed to a different "weaker" school. You have fewer complaints from the former, but sometimes those do generate complaints. Often the people who live in the lower income/less expensive housing areas are working multiple jobs or have transportation issues. A household that is sharing one vehicle and using public transportation cannot handle kids being bussed further away from home. Often it makes it much harder for those kids to participate in after school activities. Those parents find it harder to get from work to a more distant school for evening or parent-teacher activities. And so forth.
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Anonymous
| When is the next redistricting? |
Anonymous
NP, but I'm a HCPSS parent. The school attendance areas are evaluated every year to see if the boundaries need to be redrawn. It does not happen every year, and when it does, it may only be confined to a particular area. This fall, a new high school is opening in Jessup which is causing a big shift on the east side for high schools and some middle schools. (This redistricting has already been passed by the BOE.) Because of the growing county population, it's not unusual for a new school to be opening up so there will always be some redistricting related to that. Otherwise, redistricting occurs when there is a capacity imbalance. If they see a school is above or below a certain capacity threshold, attempts are made to even it out. While they are at it, they do try to balance FARMS students to avoid having very wealthy or very poor schools, but it is not the primary goal of redistricting. |
Anonymous
While they do reevaluated every year, in recent history, it's been about every 2-5 years where there is more than just a few octagons moved. However, as PP mentioned, this year (SY23-24), High School 13 is opening up in Jessup. There is a major change for this coming fall. The problem is that due to many constraints, many of the zoned kids will be electing to stay at their current school. The school district exempted juniors and seniors if they chose so that they could finish their school year at the current school. Additionally, the school district is allowing students/families to appeal the redistricting if they are involved in activities, clubs, courses that may be impacted by changing schools. For instance, athletes, cheerleaders, band, orchestra and others who are involved in their school program and made commitments or have achievement goals that may not be met at the new school (not all of these activities will be ready to be offered in the first year), were allowed to appeal their zoning to the new school. Due to the high volume of requests to remain, this school year, will be hectic. So, it is likely that next year, based on the results of this year's attendance, they may be doing another zoning reorganization to try to make sure to use the new school to avoid overcrowding at existing schools. Also, Elementary school #43 i Jessup will be opening SY26-27. And they purchased the land for ES #44 in Ellicott City (near Turf Valley). The is likely to be opening within 3 years of #43 opening (so likely around SY29-30 or SY30-31). So, likely SY24-25 will have some significant reorganizations as the dust settles from HS #13 and SY23-24. Likely SY26-27 will have some reorganizations on the East side to take advantage of the new ES And then another one 2-3 years later when ES #44 opens. |
Anonymous
| I’m personally an Atholton/Howard/Wilde Lake type of guy. |
Anonymous
+2 then! Agree on the amazing principal! Hard to find a better mix of diversity and rigorous courses than WLHS. |
Anonymous
The kids at river hill don't do basic studenty things like have summer jobs. There are barely any Black or Latina students there. Families spoil their kids rotten, yet so many have mental health issues. It's a mess |
Anonymous
Lots of stereotypes in this post. The school is about 10% black and 6% Latino. That’s not terrible when compared to the county as a whole, which is 20% black and 8% Latino. We aren’t talking like 2% or 3% here, and you make it seem like only the black and Latino kids matter. |
Anonymous
PP- I disagree, many of the students do work. There are plenty people of color and my kids never faced discrimination. The families and area that make up the school district are highly educated and wealthy. The students have a lot of resources to support them. For example, tutors, private sport coaches, college consultants, etc… |