One of the biggest controversies so far this year in Baltimore County should be settled Tuesday night. The county school board is expected to choose between two redistricting plans for the new Mays Chapel Elementary School, about five miles north west of Timonium.
For months, Mays Chapel has been at the center of a big political puzzle. Almost all of the ten surrounding schools are overcrowded. That’s why the new school was built. But which students from which schools will go to Mays Chapel? And which students will be shuffled from one existing school to another?
There are two plans on the table. They are called A-1 and B-1. And parents in each camp find themselves lined up against each other. Parents at Riderwood Elementary have been lobbying intensely for the B-1 plan because it leaves Riderwood alone. None of its students would go to Mays Chapel or anywhere else.
Joel Signor, president of The Riderwood Elementary PTA, says, “A-1 is built under the idea that we need relief which we don’t. The data provided from the school system says we are eight students over our state-rated capacity, which is a fairly insignificant number.”
Another plus for B-1, according to its supporters, is that fewer students would be moved from their current schools. But parent Mike Madsen says it’s not just about head counts. Madsen’s two children go to Pinewood Elementary. Under either plan, they will go to Mays Chapel. But Madsen says he favors A-1, because it does a better job of equally spreading around those students who get free or reduced price lunches. Madsen says there is evidence that a lower percentage of students on the free lunch program in a school leads to that school having an overall better academic performance. “My kids are going to a new school and I want it to feel like it’s a school that has just as much of a chance to be successful as all the other schools,” Madsen says. “And maybe you obviate some of that fighting about them versus us if everyone is on the same base and it doesn’t matter which boundary you cross.”
Under the A-1 plan, 14 percent of the students at the new Mays Chapel School would be on free or reduced lunches. Under B-1, the figure would be 27 percent. A-1 supporters also say students would spend less time on buses. County School Superintendent Dr. Dallas Dance says he’s heard arguments from both sides. Dance says nothing is more controversial for a school system than redistricting. “Redistricting always has a way of making sure that you engage your community," he says. Everyone "really defends the pros and cons of their schools.”
Mays Chapel Principal Steve Coco says it doesn’t matter to him how tonight’s vote goes. He says Mays Chapel Elementary will accept and greet all the students, no matter where they come from. Coco is spending most of his time hiring his staff. And he hopes they will include some familiar faces for the students.
Coco says, “So if there are teachers that are able to join us from some of the affected schools that know our community directly and our students directly, I think that creates a certain level of comfort for our students and families.”
The school is still under construction, but Coco says the building will be ready to open its doors to students in August.