School board rejects redistricting alternative

The Howard County Board of Education designated the superintendent’s redistricting proposal, with slight modifications, as its preliminary plan for the 2023-2024 school year, rejecting an alternative that would have sent fewer Elkridge students to the county’s 13th high school in Jessup.

The motion passed 7-0 at Thursday’s work session.

At public hearings on redistricting, Elkridge community members had spoken out against the superintendent’s plan, which they argued would fracture their community by moving more than 1,000 students from Long Reach and Howard high schools to high school 13 in the county’s southeast and lead to a dangerous commute down Route 1.

Howard County Council member Liz Walsh, a Democrat representing District 1, which includes parts of Elkridge, testified Sept. 14 that the proposal would sentence Elkridge families to being “bused down a lanes-wide state highway, alongside massive tractor-trailers that travel to and from literal distribution centers every hour of the day, every day of the week.

“It is unimaginable to me that county schools would intentionally add to this significant risk with our own children,” added Walsh, who is seeking reelection this year.

School board members said the alternative scenarios would create enrollment imbalances at schools and impact more students than the superintendent’s plan, which is projected to keep all high schools below 110% utilization through the 2030-2031 school year.

The alternative plan submitted by Elkridge residents would have impacted about 3,714 students, nearly 1,200 more than in the superintendent’s proposal, and reassigned nearly 900 students from Long Reach High School alone.

“It’s a tough situation,” said board member Chao Wu. “I definitely see the value from the community plan from Elkridge. At the same time, I have a concern. So many new students would be moved, and a large portion of students moved back and forth.”

Walsh and others commented that the redistricting process is the culmination of years of failure by county officials to address rapid growth in Elkridge and give the area its own high school.

“After so many years of advocating and testifying in front of the Board of Education, it doesn’t seem like we ever make a dent,” said Leslie Kornreich, 51, of Hanover in greater Elkridge.

“It’s sort of like the movie ‘Groundhog Day,’ ” explained Kornreich, who ran unsuccessfully for an at-large school board seat in 2010, 2012 and 2014. “The Elkridge community has every right to be upset.”

Another alternate scenario considered Thursday would have created a contiguous high school 13 zone with a western limit of Interstate 95, to address the concern about the superintendent’s plan, which separates Elkridge residents from other attendees of the new school. But the board also rejected that plan, given it would lead to high school capacity utilizations as low as 64% and as high as 118% next year.

Capacities that low could jeopardize state funding for capital projects at adjacent schools, according to Daniel Lubeley, director of capital planning and construction.

As part of its preliminary plan, the board also chose to reassign about 74 students from Thomas Viaduct Middle School to Patuxent Valley Middle School.

Since the board already voted to exempt all rising juniors from this redistricting cycle, the superintendent’s proposal would now reassign about 1,277 students.

School board Chair Vicky Cutroneo wanted to continue consideration of the Elkridge-generated plan, but said she didn’t have the votes and made no motion.

“I appreciate all of the feedback we’ve gotten from the community,” Cutroneo said. “I know that you’ve worked hard on it . ... I hope that there are things that we can do to mitigate the impacts of the Route 1 corridor and travel time.”

At its next work session, the board will consider whether to exempt sophomores and populate high school 13 solely with ninth graders when it opens in the fall of 2023.

Remaining work sessions, which begin at 4 p.m., are scheduled for Oct. 27 and Nov. 2 and 14. A third public hearing on redistricting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday. Adoption of boundaries for the 2023-24 school year must occur by Nov. 17.

Community members must register to testify at a public hearing and may also submit written testimony. The public may attend work sessions in person or via livestream but cannot participate in them. All sessions and hearings take place at the Howard County Public School System central office at 10910 Clarksville Pike in Ellicott City.