Committee Gathers Data on Crofton Schools
The group charged with coming up with redistricting proposals collected pages of information on population and construction.
The redistricting committee for Crofton Schools held its second meeting Tuesday night, and received a packet of requested data on everything from student populations to planned construction.
The 16-member group is examining solutions to the overcrowding at Nantucket Elementary School, and hopes to present a redistricting solution within the next few weeks.
But first, members wanted to do some research.
The data packet provided by Anne Arundel County Public Schools includes 21 pages of maps, charts and figures.
The most interesting pieces of information are the maps of the developments that feed into each elementary school, with student population figures broken down by grade. (For instance, there are 18 fifth-graders from Crofton Farms that go to school at Nantucket.)
This is useful data, because it will help the committee decide where to re-draw the feeder boundaries.
Here's a partial breakdown for where the kids at Nantucket are coming from, based on the information provided by AACPS:
- Crofton Farms - 92 students
- Crofton Valley - 46 students
- Walden Drive Area - 59 students
- Chelmsford Drive/"East Walden" - 110 students
Note that this does not represent the full Nantucket student population. The committee has requested more information.
We've uploaded the full data packet here.
The committee's next meeting is Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. at Crofton Meadows Elementary School.
See also:
- Committee Meets to Tackle Crofton School Redistricting
- Crofton School Redistricting, By the Numbers
- A Path to a Crofton High School
Brenda Reiber
10:46 am on Thursday, October 4, 2012
Do not trust promises from AACPS. We were promised a high school if we agreed to split our community between AHS and SRHS. As soon as we did, they took the money out of the budget. We used the AACPS numbers and they told us our numbers were wrong. How can we keep building elementary schools without addressing our HS issue. Our kids drive 20 minutes to SRHS or to Arundel. Is that fair?
RNC
12:59 pm on Thursday, October 4, 2012
I know there are several students that attend Nantucket and Crofton Meadows Elementary that do not live in the appropriate district. Whether they are lying about where they live or lying about their daycare, not sure. I believe this REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE needs to start by verifying addresses and/or changing the rules as far as where a student's daycare is located etc...I am sure this would alleviate much of the overcrowding at Nantucket and the overcrowding that is now at Crofton Meadows. The "surprise" increase in enrollment in kindergarten at Crofton Meadows enrollment is proof that this is happening. When Nantucket opened, parents who did not live in the district wanted their kids to go to a brand new school, now parents want their children attending a Blue Ribbon School. These are students who DO NOT even live in Crofton, let alone Anne Arundel County. This NEEDS to be investigated, proof of residency needs to be reevaluated by the BOARD. I am sure this would solve many problems. It is not fair to the students to live in the correct districts, that are now not able to get the education they deserve, THEY are the ones who are suffering.
Eric Smith
8:47 pm on Thursday, October 4, 2012
The redistricting committee has a very limited charter and power. I don't believe they have been given the resources to re-verify addresses of 819 students at Nantucket or the 436 at Crofton Meadows. The primary charter they have been given is to come up with a suggested redistricting solution to the 2014 projected 858 students in a 684 capacity Nantucket school. That is they need to suggest how to move about 200 students. I think it is highly unlikely that students sneaking in or attending with the daycare exception add up to any where near 200 students. Please attend the meetings and voice any of your concerns in the public forum.
RNC
9:35 am on Friday, October 5, 2012
Eric,
You are correct that the redistricting committee may not have the resources to verify the addresses of every student at Nantucket and Crofton Meadows but AACPS Student Services does. That is their job. Do you have students at either of these schools? If you do you would know that this is an ongoing and very obvious problem and does make a huge impact on enrollment. Since Crofton Meadows became a Blue Ribbon School enrollment has increased significantly. Kindergarten enrollment alone jumped from around 50-60 students over the past several years to 107 this year alone. So yes, 200 students that maybe sneaking in or using the day care exception is not a far off figure when considering both schools. This issue must be taken into consideration by the redistricting committee, and I have attended the meetings and will continue to be at future meetings.