BCPS will limit redistricting and consider conditions of high schools as overcrowding fixes are studied
Next month, Sage Policy Group will start another round of community-input meetings related to its study of how to solve overcrowding in Baltimore County high schools. Going forward, it will be tasked with taking into account the structural quality of the schools — something that was missing from its original mandate.
BCPS interim superintendent Verletta White announced the change in scope in a letter posted to the system’s website:
“Baltimore County Public Schools (“BCPS”) will work with Sage to ensure that building conditions are taken into consideration as we move forward. We have asked that Sage proceed with this recommendation and make the consideration of conditions transparent in the scenarios presented in the public information sessions in September,” White wrote.
Many parents had expressed concern that Sage had said considering the buildings themselves was not part of their project. That was seen as especially problematic at Lansdowne High and at Dulaney High — the latter was a potential spot to redistrict some students from the overcrowded Towson High. Parents said it made no sense to add new students to schools that were structurally unsound.
Related: Community gets more details about possible high school overcrowding solutions, gives input
White also indicated in the letter that redistricting will be a last resort. She wrote that “it is clear that the continuity of communities and feeder patterns is very important to our stakeholders. Therefore, Sage will also take community continuity and feeder patterns into account as they develop the final round of scenarios.”
There are decidedly mixed feelings in Towson about how to handle Towson High’s severe overcrowding issue. (Towson has a state-rated capacity of 1,260 students and the current enrollment is about 1,550. A “Students Count” report from BCPS says that Towson High is projected to have 2,022 students in the year 2026. But Towson High also has the smallest plot of land of any county high school, with just 28 acres compared to Loch Raven’s 46 acres or Catonsville’s is 63 acres.)
Some parents say they bought their houses with the expectation that their children would attend Towson High and they don’t want to be redistricted elsewhere — which means BCPS would need to rebuild Towson High into a much larger school to be able to accommodate the additional students that are expected.
Related: For Towson High, some parents say bigger isn’t necessarily better
Others say a huge school on such a small site — a site that is bisected by the Herring Run stream — makes no sense because they are already short on space for sports activities and parking.
White’s letter also indicated that additional magnets would be considered in order to limit redistricting. It was not immediately clear if BCPS was ruling out redistricting or simply hoping to keep it to a minimum, nor whether Sage Policy’s contract was renegotiated to pay the firm more to consider school conditions.
“All the information we have on the High School Capacity Study is posted to the website at http://www.bcps.org/system/
-Kris Henry,
The Towson Flyer
Personally I would annex the Sudatenland.