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Vital Views
The Severna Park Voice, March 2006
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Council in Action
by Councilwoman Cathleen M. Vitale
FOUR CHAIRS, FIVE STUDENTS
(a simple math problem)
The other night, I was pondering decimals and fourth grade math homework
with my son, and preparing for a local Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC)
meeting. It struck me as funny that, just as my parents said to me, I
was telling my son, "This must be 'new math', because that's not how I
learned to do it." How many times, I wonder, do parents all over the
County utter those words to their children? I, as I suppose many of you,
still believe that 2 plus 2 is four, and just like in musical chairs,
when you have four chairs and five children, one gets left out. I always
wonder, which one?
The Anne Arundel County Council recently passed Resolution 04-06, the
new utilization charts for schools. From a practical point of view, the
action by the Council was to review which schools, based on the number
of students are enrolled in a school, had room for more students, and
which ones did not. If there is space, the school is deemed open for
development purposes and if no space, closed for development purposes.
By way of example, Broadneck High school is a closed school. Therefore
there can be no development in the Broadneck that would result in
additional students being sent to the high school. Since there is no
space at the high school, even where there is space at a middle or
elementary school, development is stopped because of over capacity at
the high school. (This does not however, as you have seen prevent
development of age restricted housing). If an elementary school is
closed, say, Folger McKinsey, then new subdivisions are stopped in those
areas where the children would attend Folger, but could continue in the
Oak Hill Elementary school area where there is space (or so they say).
That brought me to the following. When I travel throughout the schools
in our district, I pay particular attention to how a school is being
used. Are there portables? Are the specials in the portables or are they
in the main part of the school. In most cases, the principal utilizes
the space in a away that he or she feels best meets the needs of the
students. O.K., so far so good. Well then, what happens when you go to
the school and count the number of children actually attending the
school? I was surprised to see that those numbers, are not the ones we
use when developing the open/closed chart. For that, it appears, we
count the children based on where they Ashould be@ attending, not where
they are in actual attendance. I find myself asking, what good is that?
Anne Arundel County permits transfers between schools and school feeder
systems. The best example these days would be a transfer for day care.
Your child is attending Cape St. Claire Elementary for day care purposes
rather than Arnold Elementary, his home school. The County, for purposes
of the development chart, counts the child as if he were attending
Arnold Elementary, even though he is not there. He is not counted at
Cape St. Claire, where he is attending. Four chairs, five students. If
the placement of that one student changes the capacity figures for the
school, it could mean allowing development in an area where there is no
space and disallowing it where there is. ........... And they said
fourth grade math was tough.
For those who watched the County Council meetings last month, be advised
that as promised, I will be introducing Legislation that clarifies those
streets and highways which have been designated as scenic or historic
roads in order that we maybe insured that the protection we intended for
these roads and the characteristics that make them scenic or historic
are preserved. The hearing dates should be posted on our web site.
Remember, May is quickly approaching. Please let me know of budgetary
concerns in and around your area. Feel free to email me at cvitale@aacounty.org.
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