At its meeting on November 15, 2023, the Board of Education approved a plan for the first phase of the school system’s comprehensive redistricting process that redraws attendance boundaries at 48 schools, establishes attendance areas at two new schools, and will move all schools in the county’s six northernmost clusters under 100 percent capacity.

The plan creates attendance zones for Old Mill West High School and West County Elementary School while balancing enrollments across schools in the Chesapeake, Glen Burnie, Meade, North County, Northeast, and Old Mill clusters. It comes after work by consultant WXY and Anne Arundel County Public Schools to examine enrollment patterns across the 58 schools in the clusters that had been undertaken since early 2023 as well as multiple conversations at public Board meetings and a variety of avenues for public input.

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Key parts of the plan include:

• a change of schools at some point in the educational process for approximately 6,400 students (fewer than in either of the consultant-developed scenarios).
• an increase in the number of “well-utilized” and “optimally utilized” schools (between 70 percent and 100 percent of capacity) from 41 to 54.
• a decrease in the number of “over-utilized” schools (greater than 100 percent of capacity) from 13 to zero.
• changes in middle school and/or high school feeder patterns for 16 schools.
• two split articulations as students move from elementary school through high school: MacArthur Middle School students living in the Frank Hebron-Harman Elementary School and Van Bokkelen Elementary School boundary areas would attend Old Mill West High School rather than Meade High School; and Corkran Middle School students living in the Oakwood Elementary School and Woodside Elementary School boundaries would attend Old Mill High School rather than Glen Burnie High School.
• in response to feedback from the public, Freetown Elementary School students would continue to attend Marley Middle School and Glen Burnie High School.
• a “legacy student” provision that would provide a choice for any 12th-grade student who would otherwise be changing schools as a result of redistricting to remain at the student’s current school for their senior year of high school. Transportation would not be provided for such students.
• continuation of enrollment and transportation services for magnet program students.
• a need for just four additional buses (inclusive of the opening of Old Mill West High School and West County Elementary School) when a plan is implemented in the 2024-2025 school year.
• no additional buses on Mountain Road in Pasadena, consistent with a study done for Anne Arundel County and the State Highway Administration that indicates concerns about safety and vehicular load.
• the examination, pending approval of the recommendation by the Board, of utilizing empty space at Chesapeake Bay Middle School for adult offices and/or storage.