Alternate Redistricting Plan

Stone Ridge Neighborhood | Fountain Green Elementary School

The community of Stone Ridge (west of MD 543 and north of Wheel Road) has approximately 100 elementary students
who currently attend Fountain Green Elementary School (FGES). The redistricting plan shifts the Stone Ridge children
from FGES to Homestead-Wakefield Elementary School (HWES). We have reviewed the proposed Superintendent’s
Technical Advisory Committee’s (STAC) redistricting plan in detail. As a result of this review, Stone Ridge has identified
numerous inconsistencies to the STAC parameters (See Appendix A). Per STAC recommendations Stone Ridge has devel-
oped an alternative redistricting plan that addresses these contradictions. In addition, the original FGES attendance data
distributed by the STAC is inaccurate. As a community, we feel that the school board should evaluate these contradictions
and base its conclusion on valid statistics.

Alternate Plan to the STAC plan:

Stone Ridge neighborhood children remain at FGES
There is no need to redistrict a school that is not over capacity and has a declining enrollment. Moving Stone Ridge from
the Fountain Green district is not required to meet the county’s capacity goals. The STAC plan uses 2009 enrollment data
rather than current year data as the basis for the decision to move Stone Ridge. FGES capacity is 571 students. Currently,
the STAC is using an enrollment of 604 students or 106% capacity (See Appendix B). The corrected current attendance of
567 (as verified by FGES PTA) equates to a 99% capacity this year, versus 106% as defined by the STAC.

As is apparent from the graph below, FGES has experienced a steady decline for the last 5 years.

Grade Level Attendance at FGES

130

120
Number of Students

110 36 %
dec
100
line
90

80

70

5th 4th 3rd 2nd 1st K

Actual Enrollment by Grade

Assuming we have reached the end of this downward trend by projecting flat enrollment (rather than the current decline)
for Kindergarten for future years, FGES capacity will be 92% in 2011-12. This is within the STAC target capacity
of 85%-95%. The following graph displays the projected capacity for future school years with Stone Ridge students
remaining at FGES.
 FGES CAPACITY PROJECTIONS TO 2015

700
Actual Capacity Projected Capacity
600
Number of Students

500

400

300
106 % 99 % 92 % 86 % 81 % 77 % 76 % Capacity
200

100

0
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
604 567 526 492 464 442 432

Enrollment by Year

FGES is at 99% capacity THIS year, 92% in 2011-12 and 86% in 2012-13
Current Year 2011-12 Projections 2012-13 Projections

5th Grade 113 5th Grade 106 5th Grade 100

4th Grade 106 4th Grade 100 4th Grade 94
3rd Grade 100 3rd Grade 94 3rd Grade 82
2nd Grade 94 2nd Grade 82 2nd Grade 72
1st Grade 82 1st Grade 72 1st Grade 72
Kindergarten 72 Kindergarten 72 Kindergarten 72

99% 567 92% 526 86% 492

Capacity Capacity Capacity

Given the consistent decline over 5 years and the zero to minimal growth projected for the FGES district, using flat
enrollment is reasonable and conservative. Ultimately, within the next six years the capacity will decline to 76%, 139
students below capacity. When you remove the Stone Ridge children from these numbers per the STAC plan, capacity
immediately falls to 77% in 2011-12 (132 students below capacity). This is well below the 85%-95% STAC target
(See Appendix C: FGES Capacity Projections Without Stone Ridge)

The current STAC plan of moving the Stone Ridge community, where no overcapacity issue currently exists, risks
creating a capacity issue at HWES by moving students from a zero to minimal growth area (FGES) where there are only
7 housing permits on file, to a higher growth area (HWES) where there are already 391 housing units on file. Using the
county’s .3 projected students per home, these permits alone will add 117 more students into the HWES district.

Not only does the cutrrent STAC plan not achieve the county’s primary goal of relieving overcrowding, it is also inconsis-
tent with several of the other STAC parameters. The students from Stone Ridge will be bussed farther from their homes by
attending HWES, increase their time on the bus, and increase the total miles driven. Furthermore, Stone Ridge students
will be the only children feeding to Southampton Middle School (SMS) from HWES; which is again inconsistent with
STAC parameters.
The following table outlines the inconsistencies between STAC parameters and the result of moving the Stone Ridge
community.

STAC Parameter Inconsistency

Stick with 85%-95% capacity Without moving Stone Ridge, FGES capacity goal
is met. Moving Stone Ridge will result in
77% capacity for FGES in 2011-12.

The plan should be as least disruptive as possible. There is no reason to redistrict a school that will
Donʼt move people for the sake of moving them. be at 92% capacity next year with declining
Move as few students as possible. enrollment.

Avoid “small pockets” of students feeding Under current STAC plan, Stone Ridge students
into a different middle school than the rest will be the only HWES students feeding to SMS.
of their classmates

Attending the school closest FGES is 1.02 miles from Stone Ridge while
to community HWES is 4.39 miles. FGES is the closest school
to Stone Ridge. The current STAC plan results
in an increase in the distance our children will be
Minimize time on bus
bussed, the length of time they will spend on
Minimize total miles buses travel the bus and will add to the countyʼs cost of
transportation.

Look at major roads as Wheel Road is the natural dividing line

natural dividing lines between the FGES district and surrounding areas.

Consider those schools within a high There is no growth in the FGES district.
development area (whereʼs the growth?)

Recommendation:
Stone Ridge neighborhood children remain at FGES
 Appendix A
The STAC and local Focus Groups created a set of parameters which serve as guidelines/rules to keep
the redistricting effort balanced. The STAC parameters can be found here:
http://www.hcps.org/boe/docs/Elementary_Redistricting Parameters.pdf
 Appendix B

http://www.hcps.org/boe/docs/Elementary_Redistricting/RedistrictingParameters.pdf
 Appendix C
FGES CAPACITY PROJECTIONS WithouT Stone Ridge Students

600
Implementation of current
STAC Redistricting Plan
500
Number of Students

400

300

200 106% 99 % 77 % 72 % 68 % 65 % 63 % Capacity

100

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Enrollment 604 567 439 411 388 370 367

Enrollment by Year

Supplemental Information
Scenario Using Averaged Enrollment Data
Using an average of this year’s kindergarten, first and second grade class sizes (rather than the current
decline trend) still yields 94% capacity for 2011-12 and 89% capacity for 2012-13. These numbers are still
within the STAC target capacity of 85%-95%.

Current Year 2011-12 Projections 2012-13 Projections

Current Year 2011-12 Projections 2012-13 Projections

5th Grade 113 5th Grade 106 5th Grade 100

4th Grade 106 4th Grade 100 4th Grade 94
3rd Grade 100 3rd Grade 94 3rd Grade 82
2nd Grade 94 2nd Grade 82 2nd Grade 72
1st Grade 82 1st Grade 72 1st Grade 83 (avg)
Kindergarten 72 Kindergarten 83 (avg) Kindergarten 79 (avg)
567 537 510
99 % 94 % 89 %
Capacity Capacity Capacity