North Harford Parent Group Opposes Redistricting Draft

The proposed elementary school redistricting plan is not just stirring a reaction from Bel Air area parents, but in the northern part of Harford County as well.

Michele Hall, Parent-Teacher Association president for North Harford Elementary School, has formed a group with other parents in that district to come up with a list of concerns with the proposed move of approximately 35 children to North Bend Elementary School. One of their main problems is transportation time on the bus.  

"North Harford is approximately six miles away from our house, whereas North Bend is anywhere from 13 to 17 miles depending on where you live," she said. "We're going from a half-an-hour bus ride to way over an hour for an elementary school child."

"Right now [the bus driver] goes down and turns around, and that doesn't include that mileage," added another parent, Debbie Wilson.

Hall held a meeting with parents on Dec. 7 to discuss these concerns and included on the list were issues with increasing capacity at North Bend and budget funds.

"North Bend is considered an early intervention school and so is Edgewood," Hall said. "We were told at the meeting that Edgewood's numbers are not increasing because it is an early intervention school.

"Well why is North Bend going from 70-something percent to over 100 percent if it's an early intervention school?" she asked.

As for budget funds, Hall and Wilson both discussed the costs associated with pushing a school over capacity, including potentially having to increase the amount of buses and materials for classrooms.

"The buses have to be ordered," Wilson said. "My dad used to own buses and it's not something like they have [buses] sitting on lots."

Wilson, , also praised Hall's volunteer efforts as PTA president for North Harford, adding that the children looked forward to her activities.

"We have an event pretty much every month … whether it's Breakfast with Santa or something special," she said. "She's not going to have the time to get home from work and drive to North Bend to try to create the same similarity they had at North Harford."

The small group of children that is being moved from North Harford to North Bend would not necessarily affect capacity either, according to Wilson and Hall.

"Our principal said she could keep our kids … that she had room to keep our kids and take the kids from Hickory," Wilson said. "They're the ones that need to be involved in this because they do it day-to-day."

The group was also concerned for their children and how the proposed move would affect them psychologically if it were approved as is. 

"My daughter went to the meeting with us the other night and she was writing notes as to why she doesn't want to go to North Bend," Hall said. "She's scared to death, she cries; is that fair to a [third] grader?"

Barbara Stine just moved to the area in March but said her second grader has already formed relationships and will have trouble if he is uprooted and sent to North Bend.

"It's hard for him because he does have learning disabilities and he is severely ADHD," she said.

In terms of solutions, Hall suggested that the Board of Education slow the process down and focus on filling Red Pump Elementary School.

"Why don't [they] concentrate on Red Pump and then a year down the line, two years down the line, if you have to, redistrict," she said. "That's different because you tried it, it didn't work and you have to make it work."

The group does plan on attending the next redistricting hearing on Jan. 12 in the Aberdeen High School auditorium to voice their concerns and propose solutions.

"We're going to have each parent get up there and speak about different items that we have found so we can get our point across," Hall said.