The Board of Education of Anne Arundel County will, at its next meeting, consider a recommendation from Superintendent George Arlotto to take three separate votes on the Annapolis Peninsula redistricting recommendation when it formally adopts a plan later this year.
The plan the Board has moved to public hearing essentially consists of three separate parts:
- Altering the boundaries of elementary schools in the Annapolis cluster in the 2017-2018 school year
- Shifting Mills-Parole Elementary School to feed into Annapolis Middle School in the 2017-2018 school year
- Moving students from two neighborhoods north of the Severn River from Annapolis Elementary School to Arnold Elementary School, as well as some students from Germantown Elementary School to Annapolis Elementary School, in the 2019-2020 school year.
Each portion of the plan can be accomplished independently. Administrative Regulation JAA-RA dictates that the Board must hold a public hearing on any plan it ultimately adopts. If it approves Dr. Arlotto’s recommendation, the Board would vote on each of the three aforementioned portions separately. Therefore, the public would have an opportunity to address specific portions of the plan at the public hearing scheduled for April 3, 2017, and potentially endorse one portion without endorsing the others.
Such a move would not in any way change the entirety of the plan being presented at public hearing.
The Board will take up the matter at its March 15, 2017, meeting, which will be held in the Board Room at the Parham Building, 2644 Riva Road, Annapolis. The Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. to vote to go into closed session, during which time it will discuss confidential matters as permitted by the Maryland Open Meetings Act including, but not limited to, legal advice, personnel, and negotiations. Closed session is not open to the public. The general session of the meeting, which is open to the public, will begin at 7:00 p.m.
A complete agenda for the meeting accompanies this news release. More information on agenda items will be posted on the AACPS website in the Board Docs section under the Board of Education tab.
The general session of Wednesday’s Board meeting will be broadcast live on AACPS-TV, which can be found on Channel 96 on Comcast and Broadstripe, and Channel 36 on Verizon. High definition broadcasts can be seen on Channel 996 on Comcast, Channel 496 on Broadstripe, and Channel 1961 on Verizon. Rebroadcasts are scheduled for 7:00 p.m. the day after the meeting and 2:00 p.m. on subsequent Sundays.
The meeting can also be viewed live on the Internet here.
Archived videos of Board meetings can be found online here.
PUBLIC BRIEFING, PUBLIC HEARING ON REDISTRICTING
AACPS staff will conduct a public community briefing on the Superintendent’s recommendation, which the Board moved to public hearing, from 7 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, March 14, 2017, in the Board Room of the Parham Building. The meeting is open to the public. While questions may be posed and will be answered, no public testimony will be taken.
Public testimony will be taken at a public hearing scheduled for 6 p.m. on April 3, 2017, at Annapolis High School. Speakers may testify only on the plan currently before the Board at the hearing. Speakers will be limited to 3 minutes, and can sign up beginning at 5 p.m.
The Board is scheduled to vote on a final redistricting plan on April 19, 2017.