Board Seeks Public Input on Options to Relieve High School Overcrowding, Public Hearing September 11, 2018

August 28th, 2018

The Howard County Public School System’s (HCPSS) Board of Education is seeking public input as it reviews several options to relieve high school overcrowding in School Year 2019-2020 and beyond. The Board will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, September 11 at 7 p.m. at the Department of Education.

The Board is considering the following options to relieve high school overcrowding:

• Option 1. JumpStart Trailing Siblings: Based on trends, in SY 2019-20, 13 to 24 percent of students at Centennial, Long Reach and Howard high schools are expected to take advantage of either JumpStart or other existing off-campus programmatic offerings.
• Option 2. Boundary Adjustments: Boundary adjustments are an option for SY 2019-20, based on Policy 6010.
• Option 3. Open Enrollment: Open enrollment would offer family choice for reassignment from Centennial, Howard, Long Reach and Mt. Hebron high schools to attend out-of-district schools that are currently below capacity, such as Glenelg, Marriotts Ridge and Oakland Mills high schools.
• Option 4. Rising 9th Grade Temporary Reassignment: For four years, each class of rising 9th graders geographically assigned to Howard or Centennial high schools would be reassigned to a receiving school for one year before transferring to their geographic home high school.
• Option 5. Rising 9th Grade Permanent Reassignment: A single cohort of rising 9th graders geographically assigned to Howard or Centennial high schools would be assigned to a receiving school for the entirety of their high school experience.
• Option 6. 9th Grade Academy: As a mid- to long-term possibility, HCPSS could establish a 9th grade academy after a renovation of the Faulkner Ridge Center.
• Option 7. Do Nothing: This option keeps the status quo for SY 2019-20.
• Option 8. Other: Other suggestions that are not listed.

To learn more about the options to relieve high school overcrowding, visit the HCPSS School Planning webpage.

Please refer to the specific option you wish to support or oppose when providing feedback. To register to speak at the public hearing, click here. In lieu of public testimony, community members may provide written testimony via letter (Board of Education Office, 10910 Clarksville Pike, Ellicott City, MD 21042) or email (BOE@hcpss.org) no later than 4:30 p.m. on September 18, 2018. The Board is scheduled to take action on September 20, 2018.

For questions, please contact the Board of Education office at 410-313-7194.