Bill Lang's Statement at the FEAC Forum

The following is a statement that Keedysville resident Bill Lang presented to the FEAC during the public forum at Rockland Woods on September 17th.  Unfortunately, due to the 3 minute time limit, Bill was only able to hit the highlights even though another audience member requested to allow Bill to use his 3 minutes.  Here is Bill's statement in it's entirety.

FEAC Redistricting Response

Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Bill Lang and I live in the Cannon Ridge subdivision, in Keedysville, Maryland.  First, thank you for giving me the time to respond to the redistricting proposal that has been put forth, as the parent of 4 children in Boonsboro Elementary, if I am not the single largest consumer of teaching services at Boonsboro I am sure I am in the top 5.  I would like to focus my comments on the section of the proposal of moving the children of Cannon Ridge and Rockingham to Rockland Woods Elementary.  I am sorely disappointed that in the 9 months that the committee has been looking at the redistricting that the best that you can come up with is a modified version of a proposal that was rejected 2 years ago.  Let’s review some of the factors that were supposed to be taken into account in this redistricting:

·      The geographic location of each school in relationship to the surrounding population area.

o      There are 5 elementary schools that are closer to Cannon Ridge and Rockingham than Rockland Woods; they are in order Boonsboro, Sharpsburg, Greenbrier, Fountain Rock and Pleasant Valley.  None of the other redistricting candidates are forced to go to a school that far out of their natural area.

o      There is no geographic connection between Keedysville and the current Rockland Woods district.  The proposed district has been drawn so that at one point it is as wide as the 2-lane road it is on so that there can be a connection created thus allowing the committee to not violate county transportation edicts that do not allow transportation across school districts.  If we were talking about election districts what you have done would be called gerrymandering

·      Assigning students to schools so that the LRC of each school is not exceeded.

o      The 2012 percentage of SRC projected for Rockland Woods is 100%.  The 2012 projected percentage of SRC for Boonsboro is 103%, so even with disenfranchising these 75 students you have failed to meet the objectives of school capacity.

·      The cost associated with the various options.

o      I am not going to focus on the cost to the BOE; I want to focus on the cost to the community.  First is the cost to the parents, especially those who require before and after school care.  Parents will be forced to change their child care providers as the county will not allow buses to transport children outside of their school district.  To put it simply children from Cannon Ridge or Rockingham would not be able to have afterschool care at the Keedysville community center which is less than a mile from their house under this proposal.  Parents who work to the east in places like Frederick, Loudoun or Montgomery Counties would be forced to drive to Hagerstown to pick up their children.  Adding time to their commute and costing them money.  Second, let’s talk about the cost to the children, Rockland Woods starts their school day at 7:25am, which means that when you factor in the time to pick up the students our children will be getting on the bus between 6:15 and 6:30am, and traveling 30 minutes on a bus, and depending on the route passing within 1 mile of Sharpsburg Elementary and 2 miles of Fountain Rock.  Children getting on the busses that early will be forced to get up at about 5:30am, and since the American Association of Pediatrics recommends 10 to 12 hours of sleep for elementary age children, those children would be going to bed between 5:30 and 7:30pm on school nights which would not allow them to participate in activities such as scouting, sports or music programs.  These times would also reduce the ability of parents to be active participants in school venues such as the PTA.

·      Here are some other areas of contention are.

o      You are moving 35 students from Rockland Woods, back to Fountain Rock so that you can accommodate the number of incoming students.  These students were just moved to Rockland Woods when it opened.  Wouldn’t it be better to keep those students in place?

o      The local activity area.  These children have no connections with the Westfields or Hagerstown.  They play sports in Boonsboro, Pleasant Valley, or Sharpsburg.  They attend Church in Boonsboro, Keedysville or Sharpsburg.  They are members of Scout troops in Keedysville or Boonsboro. 

The definition of arbitrary and capricious is: Absence of a rational connection between the facts found and the choice made, and the decision to include these 75 children is a classic case of an arbitrary and capricious decision. 

I don’t want the members of the committee to think that I am only here to denigrate your work, instead I would like to offer some suggestions that I believe make more sense moving forward. 

• Move the 5^th grade from Boonsboro Elementary to Boonsboro Middle.  There is historic precedent for this and based on the current number of 4^th graders it would provide and instant relief of almost 100 students, pushing Boonsboro Elementary below SRC, while not pushing Boonsboro Middle above the SRC.  There would be no need to move the children from Cannon Ridge and Rockingham to Rockland Woods, or from Rockland Woods to Fountain Rock.   The projected enrollment for Rockland Woods in 2012 would be 700 leaving room for expansion.
• Draw a line in the map, at either Reno Monument Road or Marble Quarry Road and send children south of that line to Pleasant Valley.
• If you want to send the children from Rockland Woods back to Fountain Rock, then make up the difference by sending the children in the Beaver Creek area who are not being redistricted to Eastern, to Rockland Woods or include them in the redistricting to Eastern.  This would relieve the stress on Greenbrier and both Rockland Woods and Eastern have the projected capacity.

In closing I would like to say that the Board of Education has failed the citizens twice leading up to this process.  The first failure was being seduced by the thought of free land, which leads to the building of a school that was positioned not to support the greater good of the county but to support a single subdivision.  The second failure was by not following their own policies in attendance projects and expanding Boonsboro Elementary to be able to handle the increased load put on it by all of these subdivisions, some of which have been on the books for over 10 years.  It is not the children of Cannon Ridge or Rockingham’s fault that the adults who are in charge failed to act for the greater good, nor should they have to pay for those failures.  It is my duty as a parent to look out for the best interests of my children and my family, and I can promise this committee and the members of the Board of Education who are here, if this redistricting is approved as proposed I will use any and all means at my disposal to fight it.

Thank you for your time.

Redistricting Panel Won't Recommend School Building Delay

Article in the Herald-Mail today about the FEAC meeting last night.  I also posted some of the comments that have already been put up although the article was just posted.  Click on the link above to go directly to the article and scroll down to read additional comments as they are posted or leave your own.

The Herald-Mail

http://www.herald-mail.com/

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09/29/2009

Redistricting panel won’t recommend school building delay

By DAN DEARTH
dan.dearth@herald-mail.com

HAGERSTOWN — A committee responsible for making redistricting recommendations for 20 of 26 elementary schools in Washington County will not suggest delaying the construction of the proposed Eastern Primary School.

Redistricting is being considered to alleviate overcrowding. If it is approved, about 1,500 elementary students could be affected, and many of them would be sent from their current schools to Eastern Primary School.

The Facilities Enrollment and Advisory Committee met Tuesday to review redistricting recommendations that were made by the public during three forums held this month. One of the most popular proposals from the public was to delay building Eastern Primary School on the east end of Hagerstown.

Many people who spoke at the forums said South County would be a better spot for a new school.

Committee co-chair Adam Lewis said the group needed to decide at its Tuesday meeting whether to recommend delaying the construction of Eastern Primary School because the Washington County Board of Education is to vote on awarding contracts for the $25 million project next week.

The committee voted 5-3 against recommending to the board that the project be delayed.

Lewis, Darin Lewis and Dirk DeVault were the committee members who voted to delay construction. John Bellistri, James Micco, Bert Iseminger, Gwynne Cavey and Kira Hamman voted against recommending a delay.

Adam Lewis said he believed the board would approve the contracts for Eastern Primary School regardless of the committee’s vote. He said the board acquired the land for the school without consulting the committee.

“The board never asked for the committee’s or public’s input on the site,” Adam Lewis said.

Iseminger said Eastern Primary School needs to go forward because that area of the county will need a school when development resumes.

He said he didn’t have enough expertise to doubt the professionals who determined that Eastern Primary School would be among the best solutions for redistricting.

“What justification do I have to say that?” Iseminger asked. “I don’t have that ability.”

Iseminger said he also supported Eastern Primary School because the funding was in place.

About $14 million of the project would be provided by the state, Deputy Superintendent Boyd Michael said. The remaining $11 million would come from the county.

Rob Rollins, executive director of school operations, told the committee the school system already received approval from the state to proceed with Eastern Primary School.

“Eastern Primary was picked because we thought it would help the most kids,” Rollins said. “We felt that would be the best place to put a school to meet the greatest need.”

He said additions to overcrowded schools would cost more than building a new one.

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Reader Comments:

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From: niverd Tue 29 Sep 2009 11:56:53 PM EDT	So much for listening to the public. I think Mr. Lewis' observation is quite telling: “The board never asked for the committee’s or public’s input on the site,” Adam Lewis said. Also regarding Mr Rollins' comment "He said additions to overcrowded schools would cost more than building a new one." So when were these estimates done and who had a chance to review them? This whole process was a joke from the start. The BOE will do whatever it wants to in spite of the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of its past (ie Rockland Woods). Incompetence lives on in Washington County.
From:never_trust_u Wed 30 Sep 2009 12:15:05 AM EDT	Lets take account of the ones who voted against the delay: (1) one is a WCPS bus driver (2) one is a neighbor of Dr. Morgan (3) one is a former county commissioner who is close friends with BOE President Wayne Ridenour, sits on the zoning appeals committee and who publicly stated it is okay to change schools multiple times because he did himself as the child of the military. Even Mr Iseminger said it may take many years, but the area near Eastern will eventually be developed. Eventually....how about addressing South County NOW!!!! Thank you to the FEAC members who had the courage to at least consider the recommendation of suggesting to the BOE to delay the acceptance of the bids for Eastern.
From: SafeTfirst Wed 30 Sep 2009 06:09:12 AM EDT	The public forums seem to be held at the wrong time in the process. Perhaps public input should be sought prior to funds being applied for and contract bids initiated and the members of the FEAC should not be stakeholders... I would think all of the relationships mentioned by never_trust_u above would make each of the FEAC members ineligible - sort of like jury selection. How sad for the children and families who will be affected. Does anyone know who owned the property for the new Eastern Primary? There's more than likely a link back to someone in position as well. Children do better in smaller neighborhood schools not the larger ones. Schools add to community and are the center focus. Remove the school from the community where the attendees family lives and you've created additional stress and headaches for the families. Add Pres. Obama's extra time to the school day and families will only see their children in time for a bath and bath. Schools will be raising our kids as the only ones who see them
From:AConcernedMom Wed 30 Sep 2009 06:13:57 AM EDT	I too want to thank those that stodd up for the right thing, and not the political thing. Yes, seeing who voted against stopping Eastern.... It is exactly for these reasons we as parents filed a formal complaint with the State Ethics Department. We do not need another shiny new school in Hagerstown (sorry Art Callaham), we need to address South County without disrupting 1500 kids. ANYONE who says that ripping 1500 kids out of their schools is the best thing for the kids, is not thinking of the kids at all, are they. They are hoping they will just push this through, and over time parents will forgive and forget. With elections right around the corner, they are committing political suicide. There are parents working in groups on stopping this, and parents working on plans for the upcoming elections, to make sure the public knows how any of these elected officials do NOT care for the citizens, nor the children of our district.
From: brihunt Wed 30 Sep 2009 07:02:46 AM EDT	I think the FEAC just held the forums for show. They new from the beginning that there was no way of stopping or delaying the process. I am glad to see that at least three had some sense. I guess they will be the only three who will be re-elected to their post. I know I will not re-elect and I will make sure my friends and family will not re-elect the four who clearly do not care about the little ones. When you are selfish you do not deserve to work in a county of non-selfish people who care about their kids. My daughter will not being moving to this school. I will do everything I can to make sure this does not happen. If the school is in the east then the children to attend it need to come out of the east. My daughters elementary, middle and high school are all within 3 to 5 blocks from my house and I refuse to send her 10 miles out of her way because the four on the FEAC and the board do not have anything else to do but to interrupt little kids lives!!!!!!!!!!

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Washington County Schools Plan Redistricting

Washington County Schools Plan Redistricting

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Craig Whetstine Letter to the FEAC

The following is a letter sent to the FEAC by Keedysville resident  Craig Whetstine via email

September 18, 2009

Facilities & Enrollment Advisory Committee

Washington County Public Schools

Via email:  FEAC@wcboe.k12.md.us

Committee Members,

I attended the FEAC Public Forum at Rockland Woods Elementary School Thursday night (September 17).  I elected to provide my feedback in written form rather than speak at the Forum.

Each member of the FEAC is to be commended for being involved on the committee.  Your charge from the WCBOE is difficult, at best.  Each of you has sacrificed many hours of your life to contribute to the committee, a fact most parents involved in this process recognize.

My wife and I just moved into the Cannon Ridge subdivision in July 09 and were not involved in the proposed redistricting last year.  We are looking at this with a “fresh” view.  We have a daughter who will begin kindergarten in September 2010.

There was a great deal of information available at the Forum, both written (from the FEAC) and verbal (from the speakers).  The most striking information is the list of considerations in the FEAC Charge from the Board of Education (page six of the PowerPoint handout).  There is no consideration listed regarding the well-being of students impacted by the proposed redistricting.  Some 1500 students and their families would be affected by this plan, a fact the Board of Education has, seemingly, deemed not worthy of consideration.  The Board’s Charge reduces the children involved to a commodity to be moved in order to reach a projected number at each school.  I think the FEAC realizes the numbers being looked at represent kids.  Not percentages, not projections…kids.  I hope the FEAC will be able to help the Board of Education realize this, as well.

My concern is sending kids from Keedysville to Rockland Woods.  Keedysville is connected to Boonsboro, figuratively (children’s activities and community events) and literally (our water line comes from Boonsboro).  When we moved to Keedysville (from Middletown) the calls for local civic services went to Boonsboro.  The kids in our neighborhood play soccer, learn gymnastics and go to cheerleader classes in Boonsboro.  This is part of the fabric of the community.

Moving kids from Keedysville to Rockland Woods is counter to several of the guidelines put forth by the Maryland State Department of Education:

1.    The MSDE Division of Early Childhood Development tells parents “…most five-year-olds need 10 to 12 hours of sleep a day.”  Kids who have to catch a school bus at 6:30AM will likely not reach this goal.

2.    The Maryland Early Childhood Advisory Council writes in What Success Looks Like that “A child…exposed to stress is not in a good position to learn.”  Five-year-old kids boarding a bus at 6:30AM for a minimum 30-minute ride to kindergarten will be exposed to stress.

3.    The MSDE has instituted an award for parental involvement in education, the JoAnne L. Carter Memorial Award.  This is the second award the MSDE has for parental involvement in education (the Comcast Parental Involvement Matters award is the other).  You heard at your Forum that parents from Keedysville will struggle just to make certain their kids get to after-school care.  There are scores of parents in Keedysville who will want to contribute time to their kids’ school who will be unable to do so because of the geography involved in this proposal.

A number of options were presented at the Forum as well as a number of concerns.  Many were valid and there’s no reason to repeat them here.

What I did not hear at the Forum, either from the presentation or any of the speakers, is mention of a ten or twenty year plan from the Board regarding growth in Washington County.  Without such plans, which project population distribution and growth, these redistricting plans will become an annual event.

I suggest this committee add a recommendation putting a cap on the number of times a kid can be moved to a different school.  This cap should be once for grades K-6 and once for grades 7-10.  High School juniors and seniors should not be moved. 

Has there been any consideration of moving to year-round schools?  This will immediately ease the overcrowding without moving kids to different schools.  I recall one committee member saying the FEAC was told to “think outside the box” and year-round schools in Washington County would fit that description. 

My “fresh” look at this redistricting issue includes the comments made about the Eastern Primary School.  From what I’ve read, heard and researched that school is clearly not being planned for optimal use in Washington County.  Anyone can see, based on the Summary from the FEAC proposal that a new school needs to be located in the southern part of the county.  It was stated at the Forum that because the state has approved funding for the proposed Eastern location that the plans cannot change.  That’s incorrect.  A review of Title 23, Board of Public Works, Subtitle 03, Public School Construction will provide information about how to change the location of the new school. 

I left the Forum with the sense that the FEAC is making an honest effort to create a fair and effective redistricting plan.  My concern is that the Board will ultimately do what is politically expedient for the Board and not what is best for the kids of Washington County.

Thank you again for your efforts.  I would be happy to discuss this letter and/or contribute in any way to the committee.

Sincerely,

Craig Whetstine

Misty Roosa Statement at FEAC Forum

Statement read at the FEAC forum on September 17th in Rockland Woods by Misty Roosa on behalf of Keedysville residents Kim Arnold and Kendra Jenkins


When the first reports were posted in the Herald Mail regarding the new Rockland Woods School being built in the back of the Westfields subdivision by land donated by the developer, many Keedysville residents voiced opinions of it not being a very wise choice of the Board. To assume that an entire development and close surrounding areas would fill a school of that size would bring disappointment and failure from a housing bubble that was nationally coming to a halt.

Seeing communities throughout the County grow at such rapid rates, while existing schools were left untouched, other than the additions of mobile units to house the growing number of students and teachers was extremely frustrating. Knowing that the Board approached the State for $11 million dollars to go into building this new "pet" project was a basic slap in the face to our over-crowded schools that are located nowhere near Westfields.

We do not want our children to be sent to a Hagerstown school...and potentially to a city middle or high school...this is not why we chose to live in Keedysville. We feel that if we are redistricted we will never be able to be assured that our children won’t attend a city school. Had we wanted our children to attend a city school we would have chose to live in the city.

With that said this proposal would actually add additional students to Rockland Woods than what is preferred. What will happen to these students, when the economy and home sales in Westfields increases? Ship them BACK to Boonsboro? Are these children? Or pieces to a mathematical equation that you just add and subtract at will to fit the numbers that are needed at any given time to fill Rockland Woods ES so that their allotted state funding remains intact? 

Before the FEAC and/or Board of Ed approve this move, we would like to see that each of the concerns from the Keedysville Residents are heard and will be addressed to the public.

Now on to our concerns for once again choosing Keedysville children to help fill the empty seats at Rockland Woods ES...

 First and foremost, Keedysville has been part of both Sharpsburg and Boonsboro community and school districts upon the closing of Keedysville Elementary School decades ago. This proposal is allowing our children to be pulled from their schools, communities and classmates to attend, for all intensive purposes, a "city school". Is it really fair to split a town up and single out parts of us because we happen to hold the “magic number” you are looking for? We don’t feel that our children are being thought about at all in this process and that should be the FEAC and the BOE’s top priority considering you are interfering with our children’s education. If the thought of the FEAC and Board is this will not affect our kids in anyway then why is it continually stressed at school orientations to let the  school know of any change in our children’s lives because “CHANGE AFFECTS KIDS”?  This change will affect our kids. We are talking about small children that are trying to adjust to the first years of school in the first place which makes the  bonds and relationships with teachers and other students that much more important.

Second, the proposal states that travel time will only increase by no more than 5 minutes. Which route would the buses be traveling? I have personally timed the trip verses the route to Boonsboro Elementary and the travel time increased 17 minutes, along with adding almost 12 miles. This was completed by traveling Keedysville Road. A route along Sharpsburg Pike through Sharpsburg, which would be the safest route, would only increase the travel time and mileage even more.

Third, another concern with the proposal is obviously an important one to many of the working parents – daycare. The main daycare facility for many of the BES students in the Keedysville area is Beginnings Day Care. The daycare has children from both the Keedysville and Boonsboro districts. It is our understanding through the last proposal, that the only bus that will be traveling to the daycare will be the one for the Boonsboro Students. Why will a bus from Rockland Woods Elem not travel there also?

If families are forced to change daycare providers, or attend the Before/After School Care at Rockland Woods, this would potentially add an additional 30 miles to a parents commute one way..for a total daily commute of 60 miles.  This added to many parents already commuting 30 – 60 miles per day to work from there homes.  In addition to a longer commute, this will more than likely result in hardship for any families who have children that participate in Boonsboro area sports such as BAAA or AYSO as making practice and game times are much more manageable when the location of the daycare and school is close to practice and game fields.

Forth, what happens to the 5^th graders as they leave Rockland Woods ES^?  It was made clear in a handout we received at our the last CAC meeting that Rockland Woods ES would be fed into NO MORE than 2 feeder schools, yet at the same CAC meeting we were told Rockland Woods already feeds into 2 middle schools so where does that leave our children???

Boonsboro Middle School is under capacity right now so why not move the 5^th graders over to the middle school? They could still start the same time as BES and maybe even confine them to one area. This has worked in the past so why not now??? To us this move makes more sense because we will not be splitting the community up or encountering all the other concerns we have with move to Rockland Woods ES. 

Fifth, the proposal also mentioned that leaving the students who live in Fletcher’s Grove IN Boonsboro Elementary because they could walk to school. The distance from this development to the school is 1.25 miles. What is the cut off for safe walking distance? Not to mention that Rt. 40 into Town is a busy roadway. Why not propose to send the students from Fletcher’s Gove to Rockland Woods? The distance then would be seven miles as opposed to twelve miles for Keedysville students.  Why not take a look at those students closer to Rockland Woods? Taking students from Sharpsburg Pike, Fletcher’s Grove and possibly along Roxbury Road would eliminate some of the overcrowding at Sharpsburg, Greenbrier and Boonsboro while increasing enrollment at Rockland Woods. It may not be that magical number you are looking for, but it’s a start. And a logical one at that.

Sixth, Rockland Woods was built for Westfields and once that subdivision is complete it will put Rockland Woods at about 112% over capacity (with Keedysville there). Where as if Beaver Creek and Black Rock move between Eastern and Rockland Woods, it will put Rockland Woods right at capacity. Black Rock and Beaver Creek are not towns and they just pay county taxes. They are not a town and therefore it would have less of an impact breaking them up. Where as Keedysville is a town paying town and county taxes BOTH and splitting a town is hard on the community.  Increasing some boundaries and decreasing others would be a logical solution as opposed to pulling towns and communities out of the middle as you are proposing with Keedysville.

      Lastly, As we are sure you are aware, Boonsboro is a magnet school that has children from other districts attend.  Although we are very proud of our school’s status, would it not make better sense to move the magnet program to Rockland Woods, which can offer smaller classroom sizes, newer facilities while increasing enrollment for Rockland and decreasing for Boonsboro.

We hope you take the time to read all of our concerns we have sent and we further more hope you and the FEAC and the BOE take them into consideration and remember that there are children being affected by this and our children are NOT just “magic numbers” to be thrown around.

All parents and attendees in agreement with what has been read, please stand.

Thank you for allowing us to voice our concerns. We welcome any response on the situation.

Misty Roosa/Representing many Keedysville Residents

Misty Roosa Letter to the FEAC

The following is a letter sent to the FEAC from Keedysville resident Misty Roosa.


I am writing to express my thoughts and concerns about the possible recommendations the FEAC are considering in regards to Redistricting Keedysville to Rockland Woods ES.

It is very unfortunate that this is a fight that we Keedysville residents have encountered yet again and it seems we will continue to have, however our concerns and issues remain the same the last time we stood together and fought this...and as of last year, still have yet to be addressed or resolved.

It just seems to me that Keedysville has the so called magic number that the FEAC Committee seems to be looking for so we are obviously an easy target. Which leads to my question of…WHY? Why do we have to go through this once again if none of the issues or concerns we had last year have been addressed or fixed and it makes me wonder if they have even been taken into consideration at all?

Below were my concerns last year, and continue to be my concerns.

1. Moving Keedysville, will put the enrollment at Rockland Woods over capacity and not allow for growth from the surrounding neighborhoods. What will be the proposal when those surrounding communities continue to grow and the enrollment of Rockland Woods continues to go up...will our children be shipped back to BES, so this is yet another move they will need to make?

I was reading the minutes from the June 9th meeting and it sounds like it is even a possibility that Keedysville could be SHIPPED to Fountain Rock first. I could be misinterpreting this and maybe the reason could be because Keedysville residents haven’t been told anything about the possibilities that will affect our children we have just been hearing the “hear say”.


2. After a little research it looks to me, the start time for Rockland Woods is 7:30, where BES is 7:50. My children catch the bus now at 7:08, what would be the time my children would have to catch the bus in order to travel farther to a school that starts 20 minutes earlier then their current school?

I did read that a solution to this would be to eliminate some bus stops. Is this really in the best interest of our children? This could potentially put them walking further to bus stops, and in harm’s way of vehicles which to me shouldn’t even
require thought to know that is not the right decision.

3. Isn’t it taken into consideration that these kids are still in elementary school and start at the age of 5 and at some point they will need required amounts of sleep? Yes, we could take our children out of all sports and after school activities to ensure they get more of the required sleep but is that really good for our children to take them away from activities that they enjoy and help them learn and bond with other children???
4. This leads me to yet another concern that our children won’t be able to participate in afterschool activities because they will be so far from their communities.



5. With the above concern, the travel time to get to Rockland Woods and routes will be the longest and most dangerous for our children.


6. Has anyone given any thought or estimate to the number of kids that will be leaving BES over the next year or two, in comparison to the students coming in? It has been brought to my attention that the number of 5th graders leaving BES this year was higher than the number of students registered to start Kindergarten in Aug 2009.


7. I have also heard, that if a student is going into 5th grade they will get to stay in BES, what happens to those families where they have multiple children, and one goes to BES and the other is over 12 miles away at Rockland Woods. Would special permission be granted to those families to keep all their children at BES?



8. Before and after care will be a major hardship on families. There are a number of families that use the Before/After care at BES, if they were required to do this at Rockland Woods, this could potentially add 30 miles (to and from) to their commute one way. So total additional daily commute would be 60 miles...over an hour of travel time which takes away from family time and homework time.

When those of us moved to the area, we chose this area specifically for the schools, and the location of the schools. Having the schools so close to home is very convenient especially when those of us with multiple children at a given time (like myself) could have a child in each ES, MS and HS....with the location of each of these in Boonsboro it makes it most convenient.

Personally, I do not want my children to get sent to a Hagerstown school...and potentially be sent to a city school...this is not why I moved to Keedysville. And I don’t think that if we are redistricted we will never be sure our kids won’t attend a city school. Had I wanted my children to attend a city school I would have moved to the city.

I know I am not the only Keedysville resident with these concerns and issues. Before the FEAC and/or Board of Ed approve this move, I would like to see that each of the concerns from the Keedysville Residents are heard and will be addressed to the public. After all it is OUR children that are being affected.
I hope you have taken the time to read my concerns and I further more hope you and the FEAC take them into consideration and remember that there is children being affected by this and our children are NOT just “numbers” to be thrown around.

Thanks.

Sincerely,
Misty Roosa

Varney Statement at FEAC Forum 9/17/09

This statement was delivered to the FEAC during the forum held at Rockland Woods on September 17th.

To: FEAC Committee

From: Samuel and Kayce Varney

Date: 9/27/2009

Re: Proposed Redistricting of Keedysville students

We are Keedysville residents with two children currently attending Boonesboro Elementary and with two additional children who will be attending in the near future. We are strongly against the proposed redistricting of Keedysville which would split our community in two and is not a viable long term solution to the current issue of student distribution in Washington County.

The negative impact on the close knit community of Keedysville is significant. Some of the negative impact to our community includes requiring our young children to get on the school bus at a much earlier time to get to school, more travel time spent on the school bus, and creating an undue hardship on families who would have students attending school at different locations and would have to arrange for after school care. Many Keedysville residents work towards the DC area and students attending Rockland Woods would be further away causing hardship on them and negatively impacting the ability of the students to participate in after school activities. During one of your meetings, it was commented that it is “the obligation of communities to lobby churches and other daycare providers to purchase vans to transport students to schools.” This places undue pressure on our community resources in a challenging economic environment.

Rockland Woods was built for the community of Westfield which is still not complete. If you send the students from Keedysville to Rockland Woods, the school would be overcrowded once the development is complete. This would require once again for the students of Keedysville to be moved back to Boonesboro causing further disruption to our students. A better solution would be to not break up the town of Keedysville but rather take the students from the subdivisions of Black Rock and Beaver Creek and send them to Rockland Woods. It makes more sense geographically and would not break up a community since those subdivisions are in the County but are not incorporated as part of a city. In addition, once the community of Westfield is complete, Rockland Woods would be at capacity. Another option would be to place our fifth graders in the sixth grade wing of Boonesboro Middle School.

The decision to have the students of Keedysville pass two other elementary schools to attend school at Rockland Woods is not logical. It is an arbitrary decision that puts the need of filling Rockland Woods above the more important needs of a community and what is right for our children. It is a short sighted decision that lacks clear explanation.

The format of these public forums is very disappointing. The decision of the Committee to not answer questions from the audience stifles an open and transparent discussion with the stakeholders. The redistricting of Keedysville was attempted a year ago and did not pass. I would recommend the Committee open their floor to discussion with those of us who are being impacted in order to better explain their methodology of approaching the redistricting problem and defend the validity of their findings. In doing so, they may be able to work with the community in more of a collaborative effort and come up with a better solution that would be more palatable to all.

Proposed Redistricting of Elementary School Students

The memo listed below was delivered to residents in the Cannon Ridge and Rockingham developments in Keedysville over Labor Day weekend.



To: Keedysville Residents

From: Keedysville Community Action Committee (Scott and Rachael Rinebolt, Matt and Stephanie Hicks, Sam and Kayce Varney, Craig and Beth Whetstine)

Date: 9/4/2009

Re: Proposed Redistricting of Elementary School Students

Once again, the Town of Keedysville is in jeopardy of being redistricted which would force our elementary aged children out of Boonsboro Elementary and require them to attend school at Rockland Woods Elementary. In January, the Board of Education charged the Facilities & Enrollment Advisory Committee (FEAC) with coming up with a recommendation for redistricting Washington County Public Schools. The current proposal has Keedysville moving to Rockland Woods Elementary next year and it will be recommended to the Board of Education unless we take action.

It is important to note that although the FEAC makes the recommendation, the Board of Education (with strong support of the Superintendent) makes the final decision.

Some of the negative impact to our community includes requiring our young children to get on the school bus at a much earlier time to get to school, more time spent on the school bus, breaking up our close- knit community, and creating an undue hardship on families who would have students attending school at different locations. Unfortunately, dealing with this hardship is not the concern of the FEAC as evidenced in the meeting minutes. One committee member said it is “the obligation of communities to lobby churches and other daycare providers to purchase vans to transport students to schools.” This is a tremendous disruption to our families and places undue pressure on our community resources in a challenging economic environment. It is a strong consensus that a redistrict in elementary schools will ultimately lead to a redistrict in Middle and High School.

The lack of public awareness on this redistricting, in addition to the large number of opposing voices who have been briefed lends merit to the argument that our community is not being represented fairly in the FEAC. Giving further credence to the argument, a review of the minutes of a FEAC meeting reveals a committee member asking “why the committee avoided disturbing every other town except Keedysville-which is being divided.(6/9/09)” The representative on the FEAC for Boonsboro, Keedysville, and Sharpsburg is Lorraine O Connor. The WCPS website request you send comments to spongrob@wcboe.k12.md.us or call the Facilities Management Office at 301-766-2861. Please send your comments also to The Herald-Mail to raise the awareness of this issue. Address your comments to Dan Dearth at dan.dearth@herald-mail.com and check out his article on the FEAC forums.

Public forums on school attendance zone realignment will be held on September 17th, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. at Rockland Woods Elementary School. You must request permission to speak prior to the forum by calling 301-766-8901, or email FEAC@wcboe.k12.md.us, to provide them the name of the speaker and the date and location of the forum you will be attending. The FEAC will not answer questions at this forum; they will only listen to statements. Only one member of the Committee felt they should answer questions (Kira Hamman of Smithburg). Please plan on attending if at all possible. Your voice and/or presence is important for our children’s future.

We will be canvassing the local neighborhoods over the next two weeks to gather signatures to keep our community and families together by keeping our children attending Boonsboro Elementary. Information about the FEAC including the current proposal and minutes of their meetings is available at www.wcps.k12.md.us. If you would like to receive email updates, send your email address to keedysvilleredistricting@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/KeedysvilleCAC Please contact the FEAC, the Board of Education, and the Superintendent (Dr. Elizabeth Morgan email is morgabet@wcboe.k12.md.us) to make sure they know how you feel. Please keep your correspondence polite- respect goes a long way, whereas uncontrolled emotion will only damage our case and credibility.