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.