05/15/2025
Following the special meeting of the Annapolis Education Commission last night, this statement was submitted to AACPS today. If you have not submitted your comment on redistricting, please do so today: https://aacpsredistricting.org/
The Annapolis Education Commission would like to express our concern for the scenarios presented for Phase 2 Redistricting Plan:
1. The proposed scenarios do not take into account the Title 1 status or FARMS and ELD numbers for the schools and communities affected by this phase.
a. Title 1 schools traditionally aim for smaller class sizes than the state-rated capacity (SRC) numbers provide for. Thus, a Title 1 school with greater than 80% SRC capacity would be overcrowded by Title 1 standards. Mills Parole Elementary School is a Title 1 school with a high percentage of FARMS students. It is currently at 79% capacity. All three scenarios will increase Mills Parole to 89% capacity, which will preclude the smaller class sizes that will give its Title 1 population the best chance of future success.
b. Our Title 1 schools have large populations of students who need additional services (ELD, reading/math intervention, behavioral/social/emotional supports, etc.), all of which require additional space. Filling schools to capacity means those services have no dedicated space and happen in hallways, stairwells, etc., in violation of student privacy.
c. FARMS families frequently lack access to private transportation. Moving FARMS students further away from their homes (and in areas without public transportation) essentially removes opportunities for students to participate in sports or other extracurricular activities, as well as preventing families from participating in school activities such as parent-teacher conferences, performances, and sports events.
d. Students in the Annapolis Cluster often participate in programs that offer mentorship and other educational supports (such as the Boys and Girls Club, Seeds for Success, Charting Careers, etc.). Moving students to South River HS will reduce student access to these necessary programs.
e. FARMS families have a higher priority for Pre-K program seats, as FARMS students have a much greater need for these programs (and are the first tier to be considered for available seats). Do these scenarios include seats equal to the number of students who will qualify for them?
2. The numbers used for Eastport Elementary School do not reflect the planned redevelopment of Eastport Terrace/Harbour House (Eastport CNI), which will essentially double the number of units in the community and will add a significant number of students to the cluster. Furthermore, the school pupil generation factors yield per unit contained in the Anne Arundel County Educational Facilities Master Plan is much lower than the actual student population generated, which will further impact school utilization.
3. AACPS is simultaneously embarking on the development of a new 10-year Strategic Facilities Utilization Master Plan (SFUMP), and the Board of Education will be presented with the final report in September 2025. The Annapolis cluster has seen marked changes in many areas since the 2015 MGT study and it would seem to be more prudent to receive the results of this plan (with updated/anticipated SRC numbers and renovation plans) first, as we are using these outdated SRC numbers and decade old facility plans to determine school capacity and future planning. Moving forward with redistricting without the benefit of the information from the new SFUMP will lead to more disruption of educational access for affected students.
4. A significant factor that seems to be driving these scenarios is the need to decrease the population at Annapolis High School and increase the utilization of Annapolis Middle School. Given that the Blueprint emphasizes the need for additional vocational training for students, and given that our CAT-S program can only accommodate a tiny fraction of the students who apply, perhaps space at AMS could be re-allocated to meet these needs. This is likely something else that could or will be addressed in the SFUMP.
The Annapolis Education Commission recognizes the need to address overcrowding at Annapolis High School, and address capacity issues elsewhere. We hope that the factors above will be taken into account as AACPS considers how best to redistrict the Annapolis and surrounding clusters in a way that puts the students and their access to education into the forefront, even if that requires a pause in the process until accurate and timely information can be utilized. It is better to do this correctly than to do it quickly.
Jessica Pachler
Chair
Annapolis Education Commission
https://www.annapolis.gov/736/Boards-Commissions
[email protected]
The purpose of the Education Commission shall be to make recommendations to the Anne Arundel County Board of Education and the Superintendent and to the State Board of Education concerning the Annapolis School feeder system, serve as the primary liaison between City and the County Board of Education and elected officials, and work with other governmental, private, and non-governmental organizations to obtain educational opportunities, resources and facilities for the citizens of Annapolis.
Explore this page to learn more about the project’s objectives and timeline, familiarize yourself with key concepts and background, and keep track of important updates and announcements.
