More than 3,100 Anne Arundel County students would change schools under a redistricting proposal submitted to the school board last night.
The goal is to reduce crowding, and the proposal from the 12-member Countywide Redistricting Committee also calls for building five new elementary schools and a West County high school after 1998. The committee also suggested building additions onto Jacobsville, Fort Smallwood and Deale elementaries.
In addition, the proposal calls for construction of small additions of no more than six to eight classrooms onto Crofton Middle School and Crofton, Davidsonville and Windsor Farm elementary schools.
The committee has recommended that the projects be built or planned within five years. No cost projections have been made. The problem of crowding "is not going to go away," said Bill Church, chairman of the committee.
"Classrooms are not spontaneously going to start breathing, and students aren't going to suddenly move out of overcrowded areas," Mr. Church said. "Our plan will work for the next five years and probably for five years after that."
The school board ordered the study in January because piecemeal redistricting once a year has been ineffective in reducing crowding.
The plan would eliminate the worst of the crowding, said Mr. Church. For example, nearly all portable classrooms at High Point Elementary, sometimes called the "trailer park" because of its 12 trailer-like extra classrooms, could be removed by reassigning students to new schools.
The committee's proposal recognizes that some crowding would continue -- up to 15 percent beyond a building's capacity in some elementary schools and 20 percent over capacity in some middle schools.
The proposal would realign school attendance boundaries in nine "feeder systems": Annapolis, Arundel, Broadneck, Chesapeake, Glen Burnie, Northeast, Meade, Severna Park and Old Mill.
Feeder systems are the combination of elementary and middle schools that feed students into a particular high school.
No students would be affected in the North County, South River or Southern feeder systems under the redistricting proposal.
George E. Hatch Jr., a school system planning officer, said the committee tried to maintain the neighborhood school approach, for which many parents had asked during redistricting meetings in June.
"If we don't build wings, we'll be moving 10 times the number of children," Mr. Hatch said. "The committee was trying to keep the concept of community schools, starting with Annapolis."
The school board used the same concept when it decided to reopen Adams Park Elementary School at the request of parents in that neighborhood, Mr. Hatch said.
The earliest any redistricting plan could take effect is next September. Superintendent Carol S. Parham will review the committee's proposal and make a recommendation to the school board Dec. 7.
The school board will decide in January what plan to recommend for public hearing.
HIGHLIGHTS OF REDISTRICTING PROPOSAL
These are some of the highlights of the proposal by the Countywide Redistricting Committee. The proposed changes are listed by high school area.
ANNAPOLIS FEEDER SYSTEM
* South Shore Elementary School would be moved from the Old Mill feeder system into the Annapolis feeder system.
* As a result, 127 middle school students living in the South Shore attendance area would transfer to Annapolis Middle School; 127 high school students in that area would go to Annapolis High.
ARUNDEL FEEDER SYSTEM
* Students in Seven Oaks -- now in the Odenton Elementary district -- would switch to schools in the Meade High feeder system.
* Middle school students living in the Four Seasons Elementary area would attend Arundel Middle. This would shift about 110 students from Crofton Middle School.
* As a result, 70 students would move from Odenton to Meade Heights Elementary once it is built; 28 students would transfer from Arundel Middle to MacArthur Middle School; and 28 students would transfer from Arundel Senior High to Meade High.
BROADNECK FEEDER SYSTEM
* The Belvedere Elementary attendance area, except for 100 students from Manhattan Beach, would be shifted from the Severna Park High feeder system. This would move 300 students from Severna Park High to Broadneck High and 77 middle school students from Magothy River Middle School to Severna Park Middle School.
CHESAPEAKE FEEDER SYSTEM
* 650 students in the attendance areas of Sunset and Riviera Beach elementaries would move from George Fox Middle School to Chesapeake Bay Middle School.
GLEN BURNIE FEEDER SYSTEM
* Glendale Elementary students would move on to Corkran Middle instead of Marley Middle. This would immediately affect 180 middle-school age students living in the Glendale Elementary attendance area.
* Shift 77 students living in Quarterfield Farms and New Cut Farms to Quarterfield Elementary.
* Pair Marley Elementary and Marley Glen Elementary so students in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten would attend Marley Glen, and students in grades one through five would attend Marley.
MEADE FEEDER SYSTEM
* Move Severn Elementary from the Old Mill feeder system into the Meade feeder system, resulting in the shift of 200 high-school age students from Old Mill High to Meade High and 150 middle school students from Old Mill Middle North to McArthur Middle.
* Move 71 students who live in Meade Village from Harmans Elementary, and 100 students living in Warfield from Jessup Elementary, to the paired Meade Heights and Van Bokkelen elementaries. Students in pre-K through second grade will go to Meade Heights, while students in grades three through five will go to Van Bokkelen.
SEVERNA PARK FEEDER SYSTEM
* Move 100 students in the Manhattan Beach area from Belvedere Elementary to Oak Hill Elementary.
* Move 48 students living in Cypress Creek Road developments from Folger-McKinsey Elementary to Oak Hill Elementary.