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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What will be the scope of school attendance area adjustments this year?

This fall the Board of Education will adjust school attendance areas to accommodate the opening of a new elementary school in eastern Ellicott City. Middle school attendance area adjustments will also be considered in the Northeastern and Western regions. The new school attendance areas will go into effect for the 2007-2008 school year. The Superintendent will present attendance area adjustment plans for the Board of Education’s consideration on Oct. 26, 2006.

2. How does the attendance area adjustment process work?

The four-step Capital Budget/Redistricting Process includes the attendance area adjustment process. This portion of the process begins with long-range planning that aligns redistricting with future capital projects. As a first step, the Board receives a strategic plan called a Feasibility Study that is dynamic and will continue to respond to changes in the environment. In the second step, staff refines the plan based on a “review and comment” session with the Board of Education as well as a session with key HCPSS staff.

Next, the Attendance Area Committee (AAC), which is advisory to the Superintendent, critiques the plan by applying criteria set by the Board of Education, the System-Level-Process Requirements, and the factors spelled out in Policy 1675. The duties of the AAC include commenting and reviewing the Capital Budget and Capital Improvement Program and preliminary attendance area adjustment plans developed by staff. After review by the Superintendent, the proposed plans are presented to the Board of Education and the public.

3. How are members of the Attendance Area Committee selected?

Each spring the Department of Education solicits members for the Attendance Area Committee. Persons who are interested in serving on the committee submit a letter of interest and are then interviewed. Based on the letters of interest and interviews, a list of potential committee members is recommended to the Superintendent.

Members are selected with the intention of having at least one member from each of the school system's six planning regions- Columbia East, Columbia West, Northeastern, Northern, Southeastern, and Western. Candidates are selected on their personal skills, knowledge of schools, roads, neighborhoods, and past experience with the redistricting process.

4. Why isn't my school represented on the committee?

The Attendance Area Committee is comprised of no more than 12 members including one student member. Due to the number of schools in the Howard County Public School System (70), not every school can have representation. Members do not represent any one school or particular neighborhood; members must consider the needs of the entire county rather than one school or neighborhood when making their decisions.

5. It seems that the Board of Education adjusts school attendance areas almost every year. Why is that?

Howard County reviews school attendance areas each year to balance school capacities with enrollments. This review is not only needed when the system is opening new schools. Rapid growth in Howard County requires the school system to adjust school attendance to accommodate the new students and occasionally to balance enrollments across regions or improve existing school feeds. The county has opened 25 new schools in the past 14 years.

6. My child is happy at the school he attends. Why are we being redistricted?

The Howard County Public School System is responsible for ensuring that all school buildings in the county are run efficiently and effectively. This means keeping all schools at or near capacity. Ensuring that all available seats in all schools are used before new schools are built saves tax dollars in the school system's operating and capital budgets. When a school's enrollment exceeds its capacity, relocatable classrooms may be used as a temporary solution. If enrollment growth is expected to continue, then a permanent addition or a new school may be considered. However, if space is available in other schools in the county then students may be moved through the attendance area adjustment process to a school with available space. When the county opens a new school, the redrawing of attendance lines is inevitable.

7. Our school is not overcrowded. Why is my child being redistricted while other children are being moved into our school?

Rapid growth in an area, available seats in nearby schools, and the proximity of one school to another can make multiple attendance area adjustments the most feasible option for ensuring enrollment balance among all schools. This may result in students being redistricted from a school that is not overcrowded to a nearby school with available space in order to accommodate students from a school that is overcrowded.

8. We were redistricted a few years ago, and now you are moving us again. Why can't our neighborhood have stability?

Every attempt is made to not move any particular neighborhood more than every five years at each organizational level. However, the growth in a specific area might necessitate more frequent moves. Whenever possible, changes are phased in at the high school level so as not to disrupt the continuity of a student's school experience any more than absolutely necessary.

In the event that your child is redistricted, all those involved in making the changes are sensitive to the impact on families and children. Transition teams are established to ensure that students move smoothly between sending and receiving schools.

9. You are trying to break up our neighborhood. We are a community and we don't want to be split.

There is no definition of neighborhood that works for everyone. When redistricting is necessary, attempts are made to keep geographical areas in tact. However it is not always possible to do so. As a result, villages and neighborhoods may be divided between schools.

10. We are a small neighborhood of only a few students. Can't you just leave us at the school we currently attend?

Although a small group of students may seem insignificant, even 20-25 students can have an impact on an individual school, requiring an additional teacher and/or a relocatable classroom. Often it is many small adjustments, such as moving a small group of students to better align neighborhoods and feeds with school attendance areas, that when combined result in significant improvements to overall school enrollment capacities.

11. What factors are considered when determining school attendance areas?

There are eleven (11) factors listed in Policy 1675 that are considered when attendance area adjustments are proposed. These factors are: educational welfare of the students at the sending and receiving schools, frequency with which students have been redistricted, impact on number of students transported, costs, demographic makeup and academic performance of the sending and receiving schools, number of students redistricted, feeder patterns, changes in program capacity, changes in programs, functional and operational capacity of school infrastructures, and capacity utilization rates.

While each of these factors is considered, it may be impractical to reconcile each and every school attendance area adjustment with each and every factor.

12. We live closer to a particular school. Why doesn't my child attend that school?

Every effort is made to keep all children who live within the “non-transported” area of a school attendance area at that school and to assign students to the school that is closest to their home. However, that is not always possible as the school system attempts to make the most effective and efficient use of all school buildings.

Due to the unavailability of sites, schools can't always be located where they are most needed. Sometimes a new school must be built close to an existing school. This can result in the assignment of students to a school that is not necessarily the closest to their home.

13. How can I become more involved in the redistricting process?

Interested persons can attend the Attendance Area Committee meetings, which are typically held every other Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Applications and Research Laboratory, 10920 Route108 in Ellicott City. Members of the community are welcome to observe the work of the committee and give input using the form provided at the meetings or via read-only e-mail at boundary@hcpss.org.

Information about the progress of the Attendance Area Committee will be posted regularly on the school system's website.

The committee is scheduled to meet through September. Meetings may need to be cancelled or rescheduled, so please check in advance with the school system's School Planning Office, 410-313-6684, if you are interested in attending.

14. What are the important dates remaining in this process?

• The tentative recommendations will be presented to the community at two public
  meetings - September 26 at Centennial High and Sept. 27 at Hammond High, 7:30 p.m.
• The Superintendent’s Recommendation will be presented to the Board of Education, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the boardroom at the Department of Education.
• The Board of Education will hold three public work sessions in the boardroom at the Department of Education - Nov. 2, Nov. 14, and Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. Written comments from the public will be accepted after each work session.
• The Board of Education will hold a public hearing on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. in the
  boardroom at the Department of Education.
• The Board will approve the school attendance areas for the 2007-2008 school year on Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the boardroom at the Department of Education.