Parents in Crofton say they would rather their children stay in an overcrowded school close to home than be moved to a less-crowded school as part of redistricting.
Even parents whose children aren't affected by the proposed move have joined the fight against the Board of Education's proposal to send about 110 Crofton Middle School students to Arundel Middle School.
A survey conducted last fall by the Greater Crofton Community-Based School Committee found that parents' first priority was to keep their children in Crofton schools.
"The issue for our community is that the community stays together," said Jon Sherbune, chairman of the 15-member committee formed two years ago to fight other proposed redistricting plans. The first of four public hearings on the current redistricting proposal is to be at Old Mill Senior High School tomorrow evening, starting at 7 o'clock.
The Board of Education has proposed moving 2,900 of the county's 70,000 students to ease overcrowding in some areas. According to the plan, children who live north of Johns Hopkins Road in Crofton would attend Arundel Middle School. The school's population is about half its state-listed capacity of 1,165 students. Crofton Middle School is already near its state-listed capacity of 953 students.
The northern part of Crofton went through redistricting about 10 years ago when nearly 100 students were sent to Four Seasons Elementary in Odenton, then returned to Crofton Middle for grades six through eight. The current proposal would control overcrowding at Crofton Middle School and allow Crofton students attending Four Seasons to continue going to school with their friends from elementary school, said committee member Donald B. Everitt Jr. All Crofton students still would graduate from Arundel High School.
"As a committee of moms and dads, we tried to the keep community together," said Mr. Everitt, a Crofton resident on the 12-citizen redistricting committee. The school board altered the committee's initial plan slightly. "When that wasn't possible we tried to keep the neighborhoods together."
Some Crofton residents already object to sending children out of Crofton for elementary school. For them, moving middle school students is equally distasteful.
"We've been pushed around before. People are calling us north Crofton. We're Crofton," said Mike Ledger, president of the Crofton Village Town homeowners' association. The development is affected by the proposal. "We're part of the community, except when it comes to the kids."
Last week the Greater Crofton Council (GCC) endorsed the idea of keeping Crofton children in Crofton. Thomas Dimka of the GCC said the council understands that the board's proposal aims to keep together the Crofton children now attending Four Seasons, but the council would prefer that those students go to Crofton Middle.
"It doesn't mean [the board's plan] is a good course of action," said Mr. Dimka, who will speak on behalf of the GCC at the public hearings. "It's the lesser of evils."
The redistricting committee has also proposed adding a wing of six classrooms to Crofton Elementary School and another to Crofton Middle by 1998.