From Harford County Public Schools:
Dear Parents,
The Superintendent’s Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) has been meeting to modify the proposed attendance areas based on community feedback and issues that still needed to be addressed. When the proposed plan was initially released, five schools remained at or over 100 percent capacity.
The modifications made in the last several weeks allowed STAC to make those corrections, however, STAC still has work to complete. The first revision to the Proposed Elementary Redistricting Plan has been posted to the school system website. The ‘School Locator’ and the smaller, individual school proposed attendance area maps are currently being updated with these modifications. Both items will be posted as soon as they are available.
Please keep in mind that this is still a proposal and modifications will continue to be made throughout the process. A plan will not become final until the Board votes on it at the end of February. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section of the website continues to be updated as parents and community members submit questions to the elementaryredistricting@hcps.org email address. In addition, as proposals are received they are posted to a matrix located on the website. This matrix will continue to be updated as STAC considers proposals. As you are aware, the Board and STAC have scheduled regional community hearings to gather feedback and the public is invited to attend any hearing date or location to share comments and proposals. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m. Comment cards will be available at the door and must be filled out prior to the start of the meeting. All hearings are scheduled to be held from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. unless otherwise noted below.
The dates of the upcoming meetings are as follows (public comment accepted at all meetings unless otherwise noted):
Wednesday, January 19, 2011 – Public Hearing — Bel Air High School and Fallston High School auditoriums
Thursday, January 20, 2011 – Public Hearing — Edgewood High School and North Harford High School auditoriums
Monday, January 31, 2011 – Public Hearing — Havre de Grace High School auditorium (rescheduled meeting from January 12th)
Monday, February 7, 2011 – A.A. Roberty Building Board Room – Board Work Session Plan Modifications Presentation – no public comment accepted at this meeting
Monday, February 14, 2011 – A.A. Roberty Building Board Room – Final Public Hearing – 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Monday, February 28, 2011 – A.A. Roberty Building Board Room – Board Decision on Elementary Redistricting Plan – 6:30 p.m.
In addition, the Elementary Redistricting email address(elementaryredistricting@hcps.org) will remain open throughout the process to collect feedback and proposals.
Sincerely,
Superintendent’s Technical Advisory Committee (STAC)
For more news and updates visit www.hcps.org.
Wow it seems like all the well thought out data based plans people presented got fixed. See what happens people when you take time to think about things and actually look at it objectively, things can change and people listen.
“Comprehensive Redistricting” should balance the enrollment for more than this year. While this version seems to be responsive to the suggestions that the STAC received, it leaves the northern schools well under capacity. Growth in those areas will be much slower and it seems that those schools will remain under utilized indefinitely. I appreciate the concerns of families that live so close to Route 23. Wouldn’t a traffic light be more cost effective than a new school? No matter what the BOE approves, somebody won’t be happy. I hope that we look closely at what will give the best use of funds and resources and show strong leadership.