Crofton School Redistricting Tackled By Board Of Education

From AACPS: A day after taking part in a workshop to get more information and answer questions about the redistricting process next week, the Board of Education of Anne Arundel County will decide what Crofton area redistricting proposals it will take to public hearing.

The January 22 public workshop will set the stage for the Board’s January 23 meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Board Room of the Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road in Annapolis.

At its December 5, 2018, meeting, the Board was presented with Superintendent George Arlotto’s recommendation regarding the redistricting of school boundaries to form an attendance area for the Crofton area. The Board had been scheduled to vote on which proposal or proposals to move forward at its January 9, 2019, meeting, but instead asked to hold a workshop with staff to better understand the process.
Dr. Arlotto’s recommendation generally aligned with that crafted by the Crofton Area Redistricting Committee with exception of the following:

• All boundary shifts will occur in the 2020-2021 school year.
• There is no recommended grandfathering.

The committee had originally recommended that some boundary shifts take effect in the 2019-2020 school year, with a two-year grandfathering.
Dr. Arlotto’s recommendation would:

• redistrict all Crofton Elementary School and Crofton Middle School students in the Two Rivers/Forks of the Patuxent and Waugh Chapel communities temporarily to Piney Orchard Elementary School and Arundel Middle School beginning in the 2020-2021 school year, until West County Elementary School opens in the Arundel feeder system. These students will continue to attend Arundel High School.
• redistrict the Riverwalk at Crofton community to Crofton Woods Elementary School, Crofton Middle School and Crofton Area High School beginning in the 2020-2021 school year (there are no students currently living in this area.)
• redistrict all Arundel High School students living in the Nantucket, Crofton Meadows, and Crofton elementary school attendance zones on the east side of Route 3 to Crofton Area High School beginning in the 2020-2021 school year. These students would continue to attend Crofton Middle School.
• redistrict all South River High School students in the Crofton Meadows and Crofton Woods elementary school attendance zones to Crofton Area High School beginning in the 2020-2021 school year. These students would continue to attend Crofton Middle School.
• not include grandfathering provisions at any schools.

The January 22 redistricting workshop runs from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Board Room.
The Board can choose to move Dr. Arlotto’s recommendation forward, choose others developed by the committee, or formulate one of its own to take to public hearing for comment.
School system staff will conduct a briefing at which the public can get answers to questions regarding the plan or plans moved forward.

Dates for the briefing and hearings will be announced in the near future.

Image via AACPS