Reply to Baltimore Sun article about Howard County rezoning

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

I don't know about Howard County, but in MCPS's case,  "Bussing kids in an overcrowded, traffic-filled county, past 2-4 other schools to their destination" is not what's being proposed or analyzed.[/quote]

This already happens in MoCo.  Bussing Darnestown kids last QO to NW and the discussion of bussing them past QO and NW to send them to SV.  We have students at our ES who are bussed right past another ES to come to our school (I think this is because when that development came on line the closer school had less space but I don’t know for sure).  MCPS busses CCES kids past RCF and RH to get to NCC and CCES.  (The pairing of schools is kind of a separate issue I guess).  [b]It is really not clear at all what the new assessment might recommend and how much travel/additional travel may be involved.  They may not make recommendations that involve being bussed past multiple schools or they may.  Really no one knows at this point.[/b][/quote]

But we do know that MCPS has stated this: "Any potential future process would continue to be based on the four factors established in Board Policy FAA, Educational Facilities Planning, for consideration in determining boundaries for student assignment. These four factors are: demographics of the student body population; geographic proximity of communities to schools; stability of assignments over time; and school capacity and enrollment."

[/quote]

And we also know that they made a big deal about adding "especially" to the FAA policy in reference to diversity as if it meant a change from the past.  And that it was done after some people were not happy with the RM #5 boundary study where Twinbrook was left as a Title I school with a much higher FARMs rate than the other elementary schools in the cluster (though that is what the Twinbrook community advocated for).  I really, honestly think we do not know how significant the changes proposed will be.  It could be nibbling around the edges of particular boundaries and zones where there actually are under-capacity schools or it could be something more dramatic.  We don't know and both the people who are convinced there will be kids being "bussed across the county" and those that say there is no reason for alarm and X, Y, or Z thing will not happen are wrong.  We just don't know.    [/quote]

I live in Howard County, but agree with the PP.  You just don't know.  When the Howard County redistricting process was initiated in January, the stated objective was to balance capacity - move students to schools with capacity to address over-crowding.  To anyone in the know, they would realize that many of the schools with capacity were schools with higher FARMs concentration, but the equity angle was not emphasized at that time. Next, the staff released its Feasbility Study, which contained several proposals for adjusting boundaries.  These did not significantly alter FARMs concentrations, in part because of geographic issues (i.e. thte lower income schools are close together which could lead to shifting students receiving FARMs from one high-FARMs school to another).

Then, when the Superintendent presented his plan in August, the theme was boundary adjustments "through an equity lens."  Equity became a driver for a plan that goes beyond minor adjustments, caling for what people are calling "swaps" of populations - chunks in of students receiving FARMs in and chunks out of higher SES out of less diverse schools to promote "equity."

Bottom line - it is important to stay informed. The River Hill outcry demonstrates how blindsided the community was by this plan, even though if you paid careful and close attention, the writing was on the wall. This is a hot topic nationally, and the "increase diversity" forces seem to be gaining momentum.[/quote]

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