This past February, Anne Arundel County Public Schools and the Board of Education began the long, difficult process of school redistricting. Both of Dr. Bedell’s proposed plans would have a profound effect on the Crofton community by sending a portion of students currently enrolled at Nantucket Elementary, Crofton Middle, and Crofton High Schools to Arundel Middle and Arundel High School, beginning with the 2026/2027 school year. The proposals would continue to send Nantucket Elementary students to Arundel Middle and High every year in perpetuity.
AACPS estimates that with the proposed changes, at the start of the next school year, 103 middle school students would be moved from Crofton Middle to Arundel, and 184 high school students would be moved out of Crofton High School and into Arundel High. This number may seem small, but the impact that this will have on the affected students and the Crofton community will be devastating. The impacted students live in the Nantucket area of Crofton, along Riedel Road, after you cross Nantucket Drive and drive towards Route 3. We will be ripped from our friends, clubs, sports, and other extracurricular activities. All the connections that we have built in this community will be torn apart.
But unlike all other redistricting changes proposed in this phase, these changes will be felt for decades to come. Students who live in this area will get to be a part of Crofton from K-5th grade, but then they will be moved out of the Crofton Cluster and sent to the Arundel Cluster as they enter 6th grade. Throughout elementary school, when these students go to football games, concerts, plays, musicals, and “Cluster-Wide Events” at Crofton Middle or Crofton High, they will know that they will never be able to participate in these events themselves at Crofton Middle or Crofton High. There are no other students in the entire county who this would happen to at this pivotal age.
All of this is happening just so the Board of Education can say that all their schools are below 100% State Rated Capacity, or SRC. SRC is a number given by the State that says how many students can be enrolled at each school without it being considered overcrowded. For Crofton High School, this number does not reflect the actual capacity of the school. We know our school isn’t overcrowded. There are empty seats in many classes and at lunch. And unlike many other truly overcrowded schools, Crofton High doesn’t have portable classrooms. We also know that there are rooms being used as classrooms that haven’t been counted towards the SRC. The SRC for Crofton High is incorrect.
Additionally, many adults in the community have worked tirelessly to analyze the data that AACPS has used to justify redistricting, including estimates of future enrollment. We believe AACPS’ data is wrong and have asked repeatedly that they correct it or justify their own data. They have done neither.
While we have tried to explain all of this to the Board, it is unclear if they have listened. We will know if they have listened at their next Board Meeting on September 17th. At that meeting, the 8 members of the Board will decide which redistricting proposals will move forward to the next round for public comment. They could move forward with Dr. Bedell’s plans, a new one of their own, or no plans. We need them to move forward with a plan that doesn’t unnecessarily fracture our community, and allows all students to remain in Crofton Schools.
We have been fighting for our community for the past eight months, since this process started. Committees of students and parents have testified publicly, met with Board members, studied loads of data, written countless emails, and spent hundreds of hours fighting to keep our community together. We have been brought to tears by the stress and the nasty things that have been said to us. And while we will keep fighting, we can’t finish this alone. We need your help.
At the next Board meeting on Wednesday, September 17th, despite redistricting being on the agenda, it appears that the board isn’t going to allow in-person testimony about redistricting, which is cowardly. Those of us who are affected need you to email the Board with your support for keeping Crofton together. You don’t have to write a long email with a lot of data. Anything you say will help. Flood their emails and tell them that you don’t support them tearing our community apart.
There are 184 students in this High School and 103 middle school students who desperately need you to write to the Board and tell them that we matter, and that we each deserve to belong, grow, and succeed in our community like the other 86,000 AACPS students. Please don’t let us down.
If you have questions or want more information, check out the One Crofton Instagram page or email me at [email protected]
