Some elementary students in central Baltimore County will attend different schools next year, according to a new enrollment zone map adopted by the county school board Tuesday night.
The board’s unanimous vote ended a complex redistricting process that began in September, with the goal of alleviating overcrowding in the region’s schools. The new map is largely based on the recommended version from a committee of school leaders, staff and parents – with one last-minute amendment.
The committee’s recommended map, approved on Feb. 27, unknowingly split a Towson neighborhood called Fellowship Forrest into two different elementary schools. Concerned parents called on leaders to keep the neighborhood together at a public hearing on March 6.
“With the questions that we received, we went back and did research and confirmed that [the streets] are linked through a homeowner's association,” said Chief Operating Officer Jess Grim.
No elementary-aged students currently live in the 24 homes originally separated from the rest of the neighborhood, Grim said.
But Magali Christopher, member of the redistricting committee, said that there are toddlers who would eventually age-in to elementary school.
“I think it's important to keep those neighborhoods together. And I think it's also important to try to disrupt the least amount of students as possible,” she said in an interview with WYPR. “Now, that little handful of houses gets to go with the rest of their neighborhood to West Towson.”
Under the original map, children on the two separated streets of Fellowship Forrest would have attended Stoneleigh Elementary School, which is nearly four miles away from West Towson Elementary.
Some board members questioned changing the recommended map without the redistricting committee members present. But others argued that it’s the board’s responsibility to make adjustments based on community feedback.
“I recognize the tedious work of the boundary study committee, however I do think it is the board's job to make tiny tweaks such as this when something comes up that may have been overlooked in the process,” said member Christina Pumphrey.
Christopher said that in order for these re-zoning maps to be fully successful, the boundary study policy needs to be amended to require consideration of new residence buildings in the works.
“If we want these boundary studies to have longer lasting effects, we really need the committee members to be able to consider new development,” she said. “if we know that a school is going to have a new apartment complex, potentially bringing 30, 40, 50 kids to their neighborhood school, it might be wise to leave a little bit of room in that school. And that is not something that's currently considered in the process.”
The county’s boundary study policy is currently up for review and revision. Board members voted last night to send the policy back to the review committee, instead of approving it, for further changes.
