Anne Arundel County parents, students question proposed school redistricting

Questions over where students will attend school next year are still swirling in Anne Arundel County, creating quite the controversy amongst parents and the Board of Education.

More than 100 people came out to the second public input session on Monday as the school board heard feedback on six different redistricting options in the county.  

"It's not a numbers game. It's real experiences, real people, families," said Nee Colbert, who has two students at Eastport Elementary School.

The proposed redistricting plan

The proposed plans would move anywhere from 900 to 1,500 students beginning in the fall of the next school year in an effort to address student overcrowding and under-enrollment across the southern half of the county.

A vote is scheduled for next month.  

"Moving families around does not build stronger schools; investing in them does," a parent said during the meeting.

But some parents argue it has to do with some communities wanting to keep their schools limited to certain neighborhoods, which the board denies.

"Each school serves lower-class families, middle-class families, and it's not about class for us. We just want all of our children to have the same experience," Colbert said.

Parents speak out about the plan

Colbert's children face the potential of having to switch schools depending on which way the Anne Arundel County Board of Education votes to move with their redistricting plan.

She's joined by fellow parent Stacy Husk.

"We just really want to make sure we can minimize disruptions for these kids and keep them in the current school assignments," said Husk.

More concerns about redistricting

Other concerns include longer commutes for children and the lack of data presented to support the need for redistricting.

"You said it would be data-driven. It's not. And if it is, we cannot see the math that supports it," a parent said at the meeting.

And for the children, it's about comfort, safety, and friendships.

"I would have to move to the Annapolis schools. I do not want to do that because I would lose my friends and I don't want to lose them," said fourth-grader Farrah Husk.

"We've been through COVID and so much together, and if we were to move communities, that would just break apart the people I fought COVID and all these other different wars with," said sixth-grader Lydia Husk.