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Protesters say board ignored parents’ wishes on redistricting
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Related Topics: Carroll County
Carroll County (Map, News) - Parents opposed to a Carroll school board redistricting plan protested Wednesday, saying the school board had ignored their wishes.
Picketing in the rain for four hours, about 15 people protested the school board's decision to move fewer than 100 students from Charles Carroll Elementary, East Middle and Winters Mill High schools.
Plans to move about 30 students from each school would do little to ease overcrowding but would disrupt children’s lives unnecessarily, parents said.
“My daughter doesn’t deal with this at all without sobbing,” said Kathy Steinwedel. “She’s the only one of her friends” changing schools. “None of her girlfriends are going.”
Manchester Valley High School will open in two years, and Ebb Valley Elementary will open in North Carroll County, prompting the school board to funnel students there based on where they live. Jeffrey Morse and Cynthia Foley cast the only votes against the redistricting plan.
“It’s typical that when a new school is built, a large number of kids will be moved, and sometimes it’s a small number,” Superintendent Charles Ecker said.
The board had two public hearings on the issue, but parents said they were not made aware of the first until a day before.
“Everybody's just like, ‘You should be happy, you're going to a new school,’ ” Steinwedel said. “I told [Board of Education President Gary] Bauer, I’d rather have them going to the oldest school in the county because they’re doing well.”
As a car passed by with a honk of approval, Steinwedel’s sixth-grade son, Dave, added: “I'm really ticked off.” He then listed the friends he would leave behind at East Middle when he’s transferred to North Carroll Middle next year.
After the board refused Wednesday to reconsider the decision, the parents said they would appeal to the state school board.
“There's still options remaining for us,” parent Kelley McIver said, “and we will exhaust them.”
msilvestri@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
7:03 PM MST on Thu., Oct. 25, 2007 re: "Protesters say board ignored parents’ wishes on redistricting"
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Examiner Reader said:
Since the demonstration, the number of children affected has been reduced to 51 taking into account the grandfathering of 4th, 7th and 9th graders. We have sent an email to all involved for a reconsideration after learning the new numbers, but we still plan on a meeting to sign appeal documents. Any parent involved in this arbitrary redistricting should contact Kelley McIver at (410) 876-4552. The meeting is currently scheduled on November 1st at Jerusalem Lutheran Church on Bixler Church Road in Westminster.
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