Districted to Attend Howard High School, Like Their Neighbors Before
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Kathleen V. Hanks From: Sami Alasfar <samialasfar@yahoo. com> Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2019 11:51 PM To: Hcpss Redistricting Subject: [External] Request - polygon 1086 Hello, My name is Sami Alasfar and I live in Rockbum Township, polygon 1086. 1 have 3 children who have been districted to attendHoward High School, like their neighbors beforethem. I urge you to keep ourpolygon districted to HowardHigh so my children remain with same friends andneighbors they attendedwith during elementary andmiddle school. It's dissapointing for my childrento knowthey will be separated from their friends. Best, Sami Alasfar 7710 Gravstone Ct Ellicott city. MD 21043 2159090029 Kathleen V. Hanks From: Chris Zink <mczink1(s>mac. com> Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2019 11:43 PM To: Hcpss Redistricting Subject: [External] Polygon 183 I am writing to say that I am strongly opposed to Ms. Mallo's version ofthe redistoicting plan, and in fact opposedto the wholeplan in general. Wetned this in the 70'sand it wasan abject failure. Youmight respond that this plan is differentbut it really isn't. Let's fix the schools that are deficient rather than making entire populations pay for the problem. The students will be the ultimate losers, being cut offfrom friendships andbeing unable to mature socially or intellectually the waythey shouldbe ableto. A whole generationof children shouldnot be sacrificedfor the deficiencies that exist. This is a complex problem that will NOT be solved simply by bussing a subset ofchildren elsewhere. I will NOT vote to elect ANY ofthe incumbents should this poorly conceived planbe carried out. Chris Zink Kathleen V. Hanks From: Shesh Mudiyanur <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2019 11:18 PM To: Hcpss Redistricting Subject: [External] Redistricting for 2148 Dear Board Members, Ln'e, m 2148''amwritin9 to y°.u '" referenceto BoardMember Jen Mallo'sproposal as presented on herFacebook page (10/29). I wouldjike to request that you reconsider the proposal for Dorsey Search. The proposal splits the neighborhood and moves nearly all ofthe affordable housing out of NESand DMS, while leaving almost all'single family homes unchanged. It impacts my 9+ year old NES student along with others in 2148, 148, 276, 302, 1148 changing them from NES to RBES and from DMStoWLMS. ?-'?r^?^!as^fTw^ars' w.e. '" thisnei8hb°rhood have worked hardto make it a community and onewhich is saferfor walking and_hiking. Columbia road hassafer crossings and the result has been a lot ofstudents includingour son whowalk and bike to NES and DMS. Forall these reasons and more, I wantto request that you please reconsider any changesfor this neighborhood. Thank you for your consideration. Respectfully, Shesh Kingscup Ct, Ellicott City Kathleen V. Hanks From: Pinkal Patel <pinkal.jayesh@gmail. com> Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2019 11:21 PM To: Hcpss Redistricting Subject: [External] Opposition to board member Jen Mallo's plan Dear HCPSS Board of Education Members, I am writing this letter to express my concern and opposition to the proposal (i. e., 'testscenario')for Howard County school redistricting posted by Jen Mallo on her Facebook page (httos://www. facebook. com/ienmallo/, boe/). Though, am grateful for the BOE's time and dedication to the school redistricting process including for Ms. Mallo sharing her 'test scenario', her proposal has several issues. First, the total movement of 7, 300 students is too large of an impactforredistricting in SY 2020-2021 when HS13will open shortly in 2023. Considering that Dr. Martirano's proposed plan will move similar number of students (~7, 400), believe Ms. Mallo's proposal will have a similar financial impact, which is not fiscally responsible with the consideration that HCPSS already has a limited budget where certain programs (e. g., technology) and staff (e. g., paraeducators) had to be cut recently. Although I acknowledge Ms. Malta's proposed plan may reduce the individual school capacities, the plan will split communities and school feeds. Dividing one or more polygons from the rest of their established, cohesive community neighborhooddestroys the very community stabilitythat your constituents have repeatedlyvoiced asthe number one priority. Keepingthese highlydiverse neighborhoodstogether in their neighborhoodschools directly upholds the standards in Policy 6010 with regards to community stability, maintaining strong feeds, minimizing transportation costs, fiscal responsibility, demographic characteristics, minimizing the number of students moved, and optimizing facility utilization. Furthermore, sending students outside of their communities without addressing the root cause of the achievement gap places greater barriers to student achievement. Moving any child awayfrom their neighborhood school and community supports does more harm than good. I would also like to remind the BOE that through online surveys, community input sessions in July, and written and spoken testimony that an overwhelming majority of Howard County residents stronglyvalue community stability, strong feedsfrom one school level to the next, and minimized transportation costs when redistricting. Ms. Mallo's proposal would not be aligned with the Howard County community's input. In closing, I urgethe BOEto consideralternative redistricting plans that better balance emergencycapacity issueswith community continuity in mind and wait to do any major redistricting until HS13 is available. Furthermore, I ask the BOE to considerchoice-based alternative methods such as Magnet schools and Controlled Choice Policiesto addressequity instead ofjust redistricting. These alternative methods can be developed as we wait for the availability of HS13 and concurrently implemented with its opening. Thank you, District 4 Voter: Pinkal Patel Polygon ft 1186 Kathleen V. Hanks From: Jayesh Patel <jayesh. pinkal@gmail. com> Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2019 11:20 PM To: Hcpss Redistricting Subject: [External; Opposition to board member Jen Mallo's plan Dear HCPSS Board of Education Members, I am writing this letter to express my concern and opposition to the proposal (i. e., 'test scenario') for Howard County school redlstricting posted by Jen Mallo on her Facebook page (httDS://www. facebook. com/ienmallo4boe/). Though, am grateful for the BOE's time and dedication to the school redistricting process including for Ms. Mallo sharing her'test scenario', her proposal has several issues. First, the total movement of 7, 300 students is too large of an impact for redistrlcting in SY 2020-2021 when HS13 will open shortly in 2023. Considering that Dr. Martirano's proposed plan will move similar number of students (~7, 400), I believe Ms. Mallo's proposal will have a similar financial impact, which is not fiscally responsible with the consideration that HCPSS already has a limited budget where certain programs (e. g., technology) and staff (e. g., paraeducators) had to be cut recently. Although I acknowledge Ms. Mallo's proposed plan may reduce the individual school capacities, the plan will split communities and school feeds. Dividing one or more polygonsfrom the rest of their established, cohesive community neighborhood destroys the very community stability that your constituents have repeatedly voiced as the number one priority. Keeping these highly diverse neighborhoods together in their neighborhood schools directly upholds the standards in Policy 6010 with regards to community stability, maintaining strong feeds, minimizing transportation costs, fiscal responsibility, demographic characteristics, minimizing the number of students moved, and optimizing facility utilization. Furthermore, sending students outside of their communities without addressing the root cause of the achievement gap places greater barriers to student achievement. Moving any child awayfrom their neighborhood school and community supports does more harm than good. I would also like to remind the BOE that through online surveys, community input sessions in July, and written and spoken testimony that an overwhelming majority of Howard County residents strongly value community stability, strong feeds from one school level to the next, and minimized transportation costs when redistricting. Ms. Mallo's proposal would not be aligned with the Howard County community's input. In closing, I urge the BOE to consider alternative redistricting plans that better balance emergency capacity issues with community continuity in mind and wait to do any major redistricting until HS13 is available. Furthermore, I ask the BOE to consider choice-based alternative methods such as Magnet schools and Controlled Choice Policies to address equity instead of just redistricting. These alternative methods can be developed as we wait for the availability of HS13 and concurrently implemented with its opening. Thank you, District 4 Voter: Jayesh Patel Polygon ff 1186 Kathleen V. Hanks From: Liz Nudo <elizabeth_nudo@yahoo. com> Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2019 10:57 PM To: Hcpss Redistricting Subject: [External] Empty Polygons Hello, I hope that this email finds everyone well. I would like for the boardto consider omitting all empty polygons from any school assignment. Empty polygons shouldnot have an assigmnentto any school until the developers have submitted their plans to the BOE and an estimated student count is assessed. Once that is done, then the board can assignthe polygon to their appropriate school- whatever it may be at that time based on capacity and other factors. Thank you for your time and consideration.