Reply to Baltimore Sun article about Howard County rezoning

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There are certainly points to be made for or against the particular proposal under consideration. I have posted upthread in favor but have some reservations and understand some of the objections. However, I keep looking at a map and I don't see how anyone is being bused past "7 schools that are closer" to attend School 8.

On the current map, the River Hill attendance area abuts to the attendance areas for Glenelg High, Marriotts Ridge High, Atholton High, and Wilde Lake. So trading some polygons between any of these areas is within the realms of reasonable.

And to give people an idea of distances, at least with the High Schools:

River Hill High School to Wilde Lake High School: 4.9 Miles
River Hill High School to Centennial High School: 4.7 Miles
River Hill High School to Reservoir High School: 6.8
River Hill High School to Atholton High School: 6.0 Miles 
River Hill High School to Marriotts Ridge: 10.8 Miles
River Hill High School to Hammond High School: 7.6 Miles

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I also have some reservations about the plan, although I generally support the idea of creating more diverse student populations wherever possible.

Redistricting is a pain and potentially damanging to anyone involved. And it is not ideal to move students to a school that is farther away from their current school, but . . .

The first night of testimony had many parents complaining about being moved from Mount Hebron to Mariotts Ridge, because they can bike to Mount Hebron and the community has attended that school for many years. I'm sympathetic. However . . .

At the same time, there is overcrowding in the eastern areas and capacity in the west.  What should happen? There has to be a shift to the west.  You can't take kids from Howard or Long Reach and send them to Marriotts Ridge. That would be more than 20 miles!  And is it fair to fill WL and OM by shifting even more students receiving FARMs into them?  The feasibility study proposals impacted fewer students, but they did little to address the concentration of poverty at a few schools.

People whose kids are not attending or districted to attend overcrowded schools didn't care about crowding in the east until now, when it has the potential to impact them.  They also didn't care about povery until now.  Now it's all about, "let's get video AP classes" or "I'll volunteer to tutor, just don't move my kid away from her friends."

Perhaps if there had been more concern about crowding and povery countywide before now, HCPSS would have moved more quickly to get HS 13 and even 14 built and these "swaps" and longer commutes would not be necessar.y  Sometimes, taking time to care about the big picture and the overall well being of students in the county winds up serving your individual interests more than promoting only what matters to you.  Want to stay in your current school?  Advocate for fairness throughout the system before we pass the point of no return.

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