Redrawing the lines
by Cheryl Keffer
news@timesheraldnews.com
It’s one thing to look at a map and draw a line around a site to determine where a school district boundary will lie. But it’s another thing altogether when such boundaries affect your children.
That is why the Perry Hall Improvement Association is staying out of the fray on the issue of redistricting to accommodate the new Vincent Farms Elementary School, according to PHIA President David Marks.
“It’s a divisive issue,” he said. “We’re not in the business of pitting neighborhoods against each other.”
The association has encouraged its leaders – past and present – to step back and let people form their own opinions.
And the PHIA has encouraged those potentially affected by the redistricting to attend the scheduled public forum to express those opinions.
They distributed 500 flyers in the Philadelphia Road area over the last two weekends, Marks said.
The forum, set to be held after press time on Wednesday, January 16, was planned to include a presentation showing a few options for the new district lines before attendees broke off into small discussion groups.
Using a process that the county schools system has followed for about 10 years, according to spokesman Charles Herndon, the strategic planning department will present options for the new school boundary and ask those present which they prefer.
“A consensus usually forms around one or two options,” he said. “Usually one.”
Planners then take a recommendation to the board of education. At that point, the public has another chance to comment before the boundary is finalized. Tentative dates for this process include the recommendation to the board on February 12, a board hearing February 27, and the board decision on March 11, Herndon said.
After the boundary is approved, things will “speed up,” according to Herndon, with the school system working to contact parents within the new lines, lining up teachers, and getting the building ready for the school year.
Vincent Farms is under construction now and the county school system plans to have it open for the upcoming school year.
Located at Vincent Farm Lane and Ebenezer Road, southeast of Pulaski Highway and northwest of Bird River Road, the elementary school should accommodate up to 700 students.
About 75 to 80 percent of them will be reassigned from Chapel Hill Elementary in Perry Hall, according to Kent Smith, who represented the Northeast Area Education Council on the boundary committee.
Smith said in an e-mail that the two basic questions that need to be decided are:
Where will the eastern boundary for the new school be?
And where will Tremper Farms children attend?
Tremper Farms is a development across the street from Joppa View Elementary, but in the current Chapel Hill district. It affects about 18 students, Marks said, and changing where they attend (moving them from Chapel Hill to Joppa View) is something that could be included in the final proposal.
The eastern boundary has the potential to be more of an issue, according to Trish Bisaha, second vice president of the Chapel Hill PTA.
All along parents were told that Philadelphia Road would be the boundary for the new school, she said, but they’ve since heard that I-95 and Pulaski Highway are also being considered.
Marks and Smith confirmed that I-95, Philadelphia Road, and Pulaski Highway are the options for Vincent Farms’ eastern boundary.
In general, “parents are very anxious,” and many “will be shocked” to hear of the potential change, Bisaha said.
Current enrollment at Chapel Hill is 794. The state rated capacity for the school is 636 pupils, so it’s nearly 160 students beyond that, and three temporary trailers are on site. The school has the highest enrollment of any county elementary school, and this year the recreation department gave up much of its space to be used as classrooms. “We’re using every closet, nook and cranny,” Bisaha said.
And while her family will stay at Chapel Hill regardless of the boundary shift, it will still affect them. “We’re definitely looking forward to it being a lot smaller,” she said.
Looking forward, with development blossoming around Perry Hall, White Marsh, and Middle River, local leaders are concerned that just one new school won’t hold everyone. Both Chapel Hill and Vincent Farms are expected to fill quickly, according to Marks. Even with the new elementary school, in five years Chapel Hill will be overcrowded again – and we’ll need another new elementary school, he said.
Note: Look for more on the Vincent Farms redistricting in the February 15 issue of the Times-Herald.