0(2- ll 3 'AO(C7 Sayers, Margery From: MyGmail Sent: Monday, September 23, 2019 9:28 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: Council Resolution 112 [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.1 Dear Howard County Council: I am a 17 year resident of Oakland Mills and I strongly support Council Resolution 112, calling on the Howard County Public School System to ensure that Howard County Public Schools are integrated by socioeconomic factors and focus additional efforts and resources on addressing the achievement gaps and racial and socioeconomic disparities in Howard County schools. I want to thank Councilpeople Opel Jones, Christiana Rigby, and Deb Jung for their courage in sponsoring this resolution. I am deeply concerned that Howard County schools are more segregated than they were in 1956. Economic isolation disadvantages all students in our system. Multiple studies show that when schools are integrated test scores and achievement rise for all students. Segregation in Howard County schools is unacceptable and against Howard County values! CR 112 is a courageous statement that Howard County will lead the way in confronting, and reversing, this tragic trend. Thank you for your support for the Talbott Springs ES rebuild. We have been waiting patiently for years for improvements to our school. The kids deserve a healthy and safe building to learn within. I would support higher taxes for education. Sincerely, Stephanie Reid 9540 Wandering Way Columbia MD 21045 Sent from my iPhone Sayers, Margery From: Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz Sent: Monday, September 23, 201 9 8:15 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: Council Resolution 112 [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] Dear Members of the Howard County Council, I am emailing in support of Council Resolution 112, calling on HCPSS to ensure that Howard County Public Schools are integrated by socioeconomic factors and focus additional efforts and resources on addressing the achievement gaps and racial and socioeconomic disparities in Howard County schools. I want to thank Councilpeople Opel Jones, Christiana Rigby, and Deb Jung for sponsoring this resolution. I am concerned that Howard County schools are more segregated than they were in 1956. Economic isolation disadvantages all students in our system. Multiple studies show that when schools are integrated test scores and achievement rise for all students. Segregation in Howard County schools is unacceptable and against Howard County values. CR 112 is a courageous statement that Howard County will lead the way in confronting, and reversing, this trend. Sincerely, Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz President, bbsconsulting Nonprofits Foundations Political Campaigns bbsconsultina@buffvbschwartz.com www.buffvbschwartz.com 443-621-4501 Working with foundations, nonprofits, individuals and political campaigns focusing on strategic communications, social media management, philanthropic advisement, and general project oversight, Sayers, Margery From: Jane Sent: Monday, September 23, 201 9 7:13 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: school redistricting [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] Hi- I am a Centennial High School parent. I am very opposed to the current plan. School redistricting should be based upon geography, not income levels. Kids like to be in their neighborhood schools. Parents are super inconvenienced by having to drive all over the county for their kids after school activities. This plan will not provide "equity" in our county. The schools already offer equitable opportunity, but cannot force equitable outcomes. Jane Fisher Sayers, Mlargery From: Lana Goldberg Sent: Monday, September 23, 201 9 5:44 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: Opposition to CR11 2 Attachments: CR112 letter.docx [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] Please find my attached document opposing the CR112 Resolution. Sincerely, Lana Goldberg I do not oppose the idea and purpose behind CR 112 which is to eliminate the education achievement gap that exists between lower income students in Howard County and higher income students. However I do very much oppose the resolution telling the Board of Education to achieve this goal through redistricting. This would ultimately fail in its goal to achieve equity and success for all Howard County students and may do more harm than good for the low income students that need the most help. Attempts to "desegregated" schools by engineering social and economic diversity has been tried multiple times in the past and has failed each and every time. According to an article in Time magazine "the academic results from economic-integration initiatives are mixed. Students can be segregated within schools as well as from them." According to current statistics, many of the Farm children have low test scores for a myriad of reasons including poor parental support, lack of funding for tutors and early childhood education. These children are then placed in general studies which promotes further segregation from their peers who are in honors, GT and AP classes. I was a student at a high Farm high school in Baltimore County in the 1980's. I was an honors student and was segregated into classes with other honors and GT students. Most of my peers had supportive home environments and put education as priority. We were the minority in my high school and seldom interacted with the general school population. Unfortunately most of those students were caught up in negative/dangerous activities and struggled academically. A simple solution like mixing kids from different socioeconomic backgrounds will not fix the underlying problems that are causing these kids to not be successful in school. A federal study called the Moving to Opportunity Program (MTO) showed that moving families out of high-poverty neighborhoods had no overall positive impact on the children's learning no matter at what age they were moved. Unfortunately taking low income families out of their communities or bringing high income kids into Farm schools does not fix the problem. Studies show that many of these underprivileged families take with them the same habits and attitudes that undercut local school success. The only way to truly achieve socio economic equity in schools is to change the Howard County government's approach to its zoning policy for housing projects. The current county council zoning policies concentrates low income families into 3 school districts. The council should be putting their efforts into changing their policies so that affordable housing can be built in every school district. This is the only way to bring socio economic and cultural diversity into each school district without splitting up communities and moving kids to far away schools. Unfortunately, the Superintendent has chosen an ineffective "quick fix" that merely adjusts numbers rather than addressing the underlying structural issues. At this time it is imperative that focus is placed on issues that have an immediate impact on improving outcomes at low performing schools such as improving teacher effectiveness, modifying the curriculum and expanding high-performing charter schools in underserved communities. Teaching behaviors and skills to promote success that these students are not being exposed to in their home environments is also key. Providing extra counselors to deal with family problems and to reach out to parents of children at risk would have a tangible and immediate impact. These are more transformational steps and is considerably more desirable than forcing families to move to different school districts for the sole purpose of exposing their children to different social economic classes. Again, this will not fix the underlying sources of the problem but instead is just political window dressing. The COUNTY needs to focus its resources and programs to the specific population needs of each school district. Moving kids just to make numbers look better, for equity's sake is not the answer. Exposing kids to different socio economic classes for the sake of diversity is not the answer. This plan will not fix the identified problem of achieving educational success and community equity for all Howard County students. Respectfully yours, Lana Goldberg Polygon # 3176 Sayers, Margery From: Erik Nudo Sent: Monday, September 23, 201 9 5:27 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: CR 112 Opposed [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.1 County Council, I am writing to express my opposition to CR-112 and the purpose it serves. I do not disagree with idea to desegregate schools and that Howard County may have a problem in some areas, but how the elected leaders of this county are trying to accomplish this is wrong and not well thought out. Shuffling children around and busing them across the county to promote a grand idea is not the way. I watched the public hearing held by the County Council last week and I was quite appalled by the reactions and defensiveness of Mrs. Rigby, Dr. Jones and Mrs. Jung. Every person who came to have their moment to speak about their concerns or disapproval of CR 112 was quickly shot down and met with a sort of arrogance, or a "I know better than you" attitude from those 3 Council members. Are you not elected officials who are supposed to listen to the concerns of the people who put you in office and represent your specific districts? The arrogance was shocking. I also heard Mrs. Rigby make the comment during this public hearing that "CR-112 has nothing to do with the Redistricting Plan". I don't know how anyone can accept this comment considering how closely everyone in the county is following the Redistricting Plan. It has everything to do with it. One of the line items that bothers me the most in CR112 is for the "Howard County Public School System to draft, approve, and implement a lawful multi-year Integration Plan." So you are basically saying that you want MULTIPLE redistricting plans to be implemented and provide ZERO stability to communities and the children that reside in them. This goes against what the superintendent has said about keeping communities together. As I stated before,I am not against a plan to desegregate schools in Howard County, but this feels rushed and with a hidden agenda behind it. There is a much bigger problem than this resolution in this county and it all stems from allowing developers to build and build without accounting for the growing number of children needing to attend public schools. Please consider starting there and build HS13 before you move these children around and remove their sense of community and stability. Thank you. Erik Nudo Sayers, Margery From: swchang@gmail.com on behalf of Sucie and Stephen Chang Sent: Monday, September 23, 2019 4:47 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: redistricting comments [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] Hello, We live in polygon 187. Our schools are Clarksville Elementary, Clarksville Middle, and River Hill. I'm writing to express concern about redistricting proposals. One, I would prefer if our communities would remain intact. Contiguous neighborhoods should, to the greatest extent possible, attend the same and the closest schools. I grew up in Fairfax County and I believe we never redistricted (or if we did, I was unaware). If there was overcrowding, schools were added to and capacity expanded. I think Montgomery County has also taken this approach. Two, while I appreciate the intent behind the FARMS-driven redistricting, I'd be interested in learning more about the studies that have prompted this line of thinking. Are these posted anywhere for the public to view? Thank you for your attention, Stephen Chang Sayers, Margery From: Kathy Osborne Sent: Monday, September 23, 2019 4:18 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: support for Council Resolution 112 [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] Dear Howard County Council, I strongly support Council Resolution 112. My children attend Jeffers Hill Elementary School, Lake Elkhorn Middle School and will continue on to Oakland Mills Middle School. I love these schools and we do not have any desire to move. But we see first hand how socioeconomic disparities in our schools impact the children in our area. Not only are we looked down upon and demeaned by other Howard County schools, more importantly, we are not providing the educational opportunities and achievements by leaving this to just a few schools. I am on the PTSA at Lake Elkhorn Middle School and we were able to raise about $3k for the entire year in 2018, while other PTAs are able to raise 20-100,000k for theirs. How can this be fair for our children? How can we help lift up and help those those without the financial support. How can we support our teachers and administrators. It's a losing fight. I appreciate and thank Councilpeople Opel Jones, Christiana Rigby, and Deb Jung for their courage in sponsoring this resolution. Multiple studies show that when schools are integrated test scores and achievement rise for all students. Segregation in Howard County schools is unacceptable and against Howard County values! Again, I strongly support Council Resolution 112. Kathy Osborne 9230 Hobnail Court Columbia, MD 21045 Sayers, Margery From: kiju Sent: Monday, September 23, 2019 12:50 PM To: superintendent@hcpss.org; Redistricting@hcpss.org; CouncilMail; Ball, Calvin Subject: Re: Howard County redistricting plan divides a multi-ethnic Clarksville [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] Dear Dr. Martirano, Thank you for your public testimony before the Board of Education and County Council this morning. I am a Clarksville parent and as I learn more about the issues/1 am impressed with the complexities and challenges with funding and maintaining excellence in the Howard County Public School System. I learned that per pupil spending is actually higher at Title 1 schools than elsewhere. Yet, more experienced (and possibly more qualified) teachers do not want to work there and choose to leave due to burnout. If that is the case, it does not appear reasonable to expect parents to send children to high-need schools with poor academic outcomes if other options exist. Not being an expert in public education, I am interested in learning more. Can you kindly clarify: a. What is the citation for the "90-90-90" study that you mentioned? I am unaware of it, and I would like to read it as someone who reviews clinical trials for a living. Any other supporting citations for your proposal would also be appreciated as the 8/20/19 report does not appear to include any. b. The test scores in your report (pages 21-22/34) seem to merely report averages. Can you provide the sample size, as well as base standard deviations, 95% percentile, median, minimum and maximum for Clarksville Elementary, Swansfield Elementary, Clarksville Middle School, Harper's Choice Middle School, River Hill High School and Wilde Lake High School? Understanding the spread might help the community better understand how these schools are expected to be integrated academically. c. Under your proposal, how would the system teach students with wildly variable testing ability (i.e., 30% v. 99%) in the same school? Will there be tracking? Differentiated instruction in the same class? Will advanced courses be webcast across schools? Many are concerned with how the proposal will affect high performers and maintain opportunities beyond high school graduation. Thank you again for your time and attention. Kind regards, Julie Kim, M.D. On Wed, Sep 4, 2019 at 7:00 AM kiju wrote: Dear all, Many of us in Clarksville do not agree with the redistricting plan, as proposed. Please consider letters from 3 concerned parents and a photo of our children. See attached. Kind regards, Julie Kim, MD. Sayers, Margery From: euk369@gmail.com Sent: Monday, September 23, 2019 12:39 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: Poor Schools Keep Getting Crushed in Football. Is It Time to Level the Playing Field? The New York Times [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] This is what is happening in Howard County. Either we go forward with CB112 or we accept that kids in poor will never be able to complete with kids in rich schools and that we as a county no longer believe in equal opportunity. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/22/us/school-football-poverty.html Sent from my iPhone Sayers, Margery From: 1-Ping Shih Sent: Monday, September 23, 2019 11 26 AM To: CouncilMail Subject: OPPOSE CR112 - Please KILL it! [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] Dear County Council, CR112 already sparked anger and uproar in Howard County. We felt betrayed! CR112 recklessly mandates the middle-class majority to sacrifice their interest in order to satisfy a few Council members' worthless Utopian ideology. It reminded me of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The poor FARMers and the bottom class people who owned nothing and had nothing to lose began a bloody and brutal riot against the "rich" land and business owners, elites, etc. in the name of "equity" and "social justice". Everyone suffered and millions died but Mao's power was secured. Government's job is NOT to impose unreasonable polices and to force the majority middle-class to comply at the expense of their well-being in the name of balancing wealth and averaging performance. Government's job is NOT lecturing what is moral and mandates everybody to do "morally right". It's always an individual's own choice to do good deeds. Government's job is, however, to encourage the communities and neighborhoods help the needed and the disadvantaged including teaching them personal & social responsibilities & accountabilities. The less Government's intervention, the better. The more Government's interruption, the more mess-ups! Please leave us alone! Do you really know whom you are making enemies with? You are making enemies with the middle class - the backbone that supports Howard County. We don't want you even to try to experiment Socialism. We don't need to repeat the disaster. When the "rich" middle class flee the County, it's not good to the "poor". They will become the true victims. CR112, a social engineering agenda, is not the answer to solve the problem of poverty. You need to solve it from the bottom - the root problems, not from the top - the surface. Socialism will make everybody equally poor and equally dumb, so willCR112 PleaSe kill it- Thank you Respectfully, 1-Ping Shih Ellicott City Sayers, Margery From: Senthil Kumar Ranganathan Sent: Monday, September 23, 201 9 9:50 AM To: kirsten_coombs@hcpss.org; vicky_cutroneo@hcpss.org; christina_delmontsmall@hcpss.org; jennifer_mallo@hcpss.org; sabina_taj@hcpss.org; chao_wu@hcpss.org; studentjnember@hcpss.org; redistricting@hcpss.org; boe@hcpss.org; superintendent@hcpss.org; Jung, Deb; CouncilMail Subject: Polygon 176 please don't ask kids to sacrifice [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] Dear Dr., Martirano, I hope you are doing well. Thanks to you and your team to constantly working to improve our county education and environment to benefit our families and kids. I am writing to you to share my opinion about a recent proposal on school redistricting. It's really unfortunate to be at the current situation and surprises me that we have to deal this issue in one of the best county in our nation. I also feel somewhat shame, that we [county officials and parents) end up using kids' education as a bargaining tool. My concerns is, We are encouraging and promoting something like second child syndrome, Your proposal is similar to the syndrome effect, few kids are more prone to receiving privileges, while the others in the family [county) is more likely to receive indulgences, they no longer has their status as the baby and is left with no clear role in the family, or a feeling of being "left out", elng "left out". A typical parent wouldn't show unbalanced love between their children. Your proposal is like stealing peacefulness, opportunity to learn and bright future from one set of county schools kids and giving it to other set of county school kids. The biggest concern is that, this a social test which as no facts or background data to prove that the receiving kids will show progress. Let's not show progress by asking kids to scarify their quality time, friends and hard work. You can't take credit on someone donation's money, you have to spend money from your bank account to take some credit. If balancing FARM is primary issue we are trying to resolve, where the end goal is to deliver quality of life and education equally to all kids in our county, then kids should not be part of the solution equation. Why do I oppose your proposal? 1. Your proposal virtually distributes across county schools, here you are impacting kids across all families, you are taking away time from parents and make the kids travel longer which will also increase transportation cost. Instead build low income houses near schools that can share and provide an opportunity to move family not just moving kids. You are separating kids from their own family. 2. More people on road is more cost for county to maintain and operate, eventually you are going to disturb all businesses by increasing travel time by adding more traffic on road. This will have a direct impact on county economy which may force businesses to move out of county. 3. More traffic could cause more pollution and waste of energy which will end up in more health issues. 4. Families in your county will be frustrated and exhausted every day. Your proposal will have a direct impact on Kids on a daily basis, kids health -less sleep, more stress. Imagine every day at this early age they have to wake up at least 45 minutes before than their typical time, which will have a direct stress on the entire family. This will have conflicts/arguments and stress level will increase to the most every day for parents and kids, similar experience in evening to pick the kids from the after-school programs. 5. Evidence is mounting from sociology research that this kind of situation where parents and kids gets frustrated and exhausted every day will impact happiness and increase divorce rates and impact a good family across the county. 6. We know we are going to have new school district HS #13 in 2023, let's wait and consider solution that can serve the county people for long period. Too much of changes in short period is not healthy. Your proposal is for Kids and they should not be part of your solution. They should be just at the receiving end getting benefits. I would strive to use this opportunity by creating awareness on qualities. Support Kids & parents to promote Volunteering service which could save cost and reduce expenses, where the cost saving could be spend on the areas to reduce FARM price. Promoting "donation" habits to increase quality of education across county. Don't push us to move out of county or state please, this is our home and it is disturbing and takes away confidence that Howard county officials are not for public and they are more in this role for personnel gain. Our nation has prides to have "leave no man behind" mantra and we take very step to follow that, our county is part if this great nation, how come we had a heart to even proposal a solution to impact majority of the kids to fix one issue. I am pretty sure our county officials are smarter than this proposal. Thanks Senthil K Ranganathan. Parent of Two kids. Living in Howard county from 2005. 10 Sayers, Margery From: Tom Yung Sent: Monday, September 23, 201 9 7:28 AM To: CouncilMail Subject: HCPSS Redistricting - Polygon 1256 CONSTITUENT EMAIL. NOT TESTIMONY [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] Dear Howard County Council, I am writing today as a constituent because I was made aware that your office has not heard from the Maple Lawn community. The rectistricting in Howard County has an anomaly in its movement of polygon 1256, which I want to ensure you I find to be a significant problem, mistake, or oversight. I am also concerned about Superintendent Martirano's proposal to redistrict schools in Howard County for racial diversity and equality and in particular my neighborhood in polygon #1256. Although I know this is a BOE decision and I agree with the goals of the plan to promote diversity and equity in our county, I would like to voice to you that I do not agree that this proposed redistricting is the answer. I live in the planned neighborhood in Maple Lawn in the Hillside district that is within polygon #1256. The community of Maple Lawn (polygons #115, 259, 1256,1259) was built with five distinct neighborhoods/districts: Midtown, Hillside, Midtown West, Westside and Garden district all within the same property boundary. This community is adjacent to the educational campus of FES, Lime Kiln Middle and Reservoir High School. Our community website www.maplelawnmd.com/live/schools suggests that is where the children in our community will be attending. Therefore, it is a surprise that the redistricting proposal is choosing to cut one district away from the other four. Also, our community is already a diverse neighborhood, with a spectrum of races, ethnicities and religious groups. This makes absolutely no sense to me or my neighbors, and the Superintendent has offered no explanation for the logic of splitting up our community. My children currently attend Fulton Elementary school. I am concerned about how this proposal will disrupt my family's life, the neighbors in our home community, and those in the Laurel Woods Elementary community (where we would be redistricting to) and still not achieve the proposed goals of diversity and equity. If the redistricting proposal passes, my children would have to start the school day earlier and travel longer (20 mins round trip instead of 8 mins without traffic), since they will have to travel 5.4 mi to Laurel Woods rather than 1.3mi to Fulton Elementary School (FES). My daughter just started Kindergarten and my son is in third grade in FES. The new proposal would interrupt the formative years of learning for my children rather than the natural transitional years at Kindergarten, sixth and ninth grades. Not only would there be an involuntary interruption, they would return back to the middle school in our neighborhood to only lose the friendships they made in their old school, and have to rebuild new ones. We also rely on before and after care for our children at FES, and fear that we would lose those resources if we are redistricted, which would adversely affect our work commute and work/life balance. My wife is an educator at a Title 1 school. As an educator, she is very concerned with the overcrowding of schools in the county. Title 1 funds have enabled her school to have smaller class sizes in order to meet the needs of her students. By taking Polygon #1256 and moving it to overcrowd Laurel Woods Elementary, we would be taking away from the resources that Title 1 schools are given. 11 Capacity utilization is rightfully of concern. However, this proposal results in a 115% capacity at Laurel Woods ES and thus does not achieve a meaningful improvement in school capacity for students in polygons #256 or #1256. Also, according to the projections presented in the superintendent's proposal, the disruptive redistricting of a portion of Maple Lawn does not result in a meaningful improvement in any achievement gaps existing at Laurel Woods ES and arguably increases their burden by crowding their classrooms. The proposal also refers to the Attendance Area Boundary Review Survey and prioritization of Policy 6010 elements. When the community was surveyed, the overwhelming top 3 priorities were: 1. Keeping feeds of students together from one school to the next (Policy 6010 IV.B.2.a) - 65.95% 2. Maintaining contiguous communities or neighborhoods (Policy 6010 IV.B.2.b) - 59.59% 3. Transportation considerations (e.g. walkers, bus routes, etc.) (Policy 6010 IV.B.l.d) - 42.64% For reference, the next highest priority only received 25.88% of responses. In relation to these top priorities, the proposal for polygons #256 and #1256 results in a very small feed from Laurel Woods ES to Lime Kiln MS (10.6%) whereas Fulton ES represents 48.4% of Lime Kiln MS. Policy 6010 refers to "avoiding feeds of less than 15% at the receiving school". The proposal also does not maintain a contiguous community or neighborhood for Maple Lawn (Policy 6010 IV.B.2.b). As the proposal was completed by a consultant group based in Ohio, I would like to emphasize that Maple Lawn is not merely a collection of streets in close proximity to one another; it is a planned community built specifically with a variety of homes and retail close together so that residents could easily build community. In addition to the adverse impacts of separating the community, the proposal greatly increases the transportation distance (over 400%) for students redistricted from Fulton ES to Laurel Woods ES. There are 8 elementary schools closer to polygon #1256 than Laurel Woods ES, with Fulton ES being the closest. In addition, the transportation distance and disconnected polygons in the superintendent's proposal provide unfair challenges for before and after school care, whether at a center or using neighbor/family support. The number one priority in our family is to create a stable, engaging and diverse environment for our children to learn and grow—our community in Maple Lawn has this. Therefore, I implore that you examine the redistricting proposed by the superintendent and soon to be approved by the BOE. Help us to find an alternative solution to the current proposal to promote diversity and equity, but to keep the community of Maple Lawn together with less violations of policy 6010.Thank you. Sincerely, Thomas Yung 12 Sayers, Mlargery From: Rose Edwards Sent: Sunday, September 22, 201 9 8:52 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: Support CR 11 2-2019 [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] I fully support CR 112-2019. Rose Edwards Sent from my iPad 13 Sayers, Margery From: Colleen Hughes Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2019 7:56 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: support CR112-2019 [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] To Howard county council members - I'm writing to say that I support CR112-2019. The achievement gaps identified in both equity reports (from HCPSS and from Horizon) clearly show that action is needed. My parents moved to Columbia in 1969 because of the promise of equal housing. Somewhere along the way, Rouse's vision has been lost and we need to be reminded of what those original lofty goals were. Already the redistricting discussions have taken an ugly, hateful, racist turn. Please help our communities to stay calm and see the benefits of change. Thank you for your work, Colleen Hughes Columbia MD 21042 14 Sayers, Margery From: Khalid Zirvi Sent: Sunday, September 22, 201 9 6:45 PM To: Walsh, Elizabeth; Jones, Opel; Rigby, Christiana; Jung, Deb; Katie Fry Senator Hester; CouncilMail Subject: CR112 Attachments: CR112 KMZ.docx [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] See attached Khalid Zirvi CR112 "Justice", "Peace", "Equity" -these are convenient catch phrases currently being used by politicians and some educators to divert attention from poorly constructed plans which lack substance and do not make sense. Dr. Martirano's plan is flawed on many levels with many potential adverse unintended long-term effects which have not been defined. The notion that the kids who do not want to move would be "just fine" is convenient and callous. Our kids are telling us they will not be fine with this forced move with lack of choice and they feel that the superintendent and Board of Education do not represent their interests. We are not interested in an experiment with how our kids will do with turning their world upside down. Over the past several years the driving force for redistricting was overcrowding. There was no mention of social economic factors as a primary driver earlier this year or in the feasibility studies released a few months ago. This concept is now being rushed and forced onto the general public by the Superintendent with the cover of the County Council. There has not been time to digest the actual process, costs, transportation issues and other unforeseen ramifications. There has been no actual cost analysis and feasibility study performed on this plan. This is unacceptable. Segregation has been synonymous with less funding for certain underrepresented minorities and fewer opportunities which is NOT the case in Howard County where every student is funded equally and given the same opportunities. The concept of integration assumes that there is inequity in the education resources delivered to all the students in Howard County. Our Superintendent has contradicted himself by stating that every child in Howard County receives an excellent education yet in a recent Baltimore Sun article also said "I have inherited this system of great disparity of wealth" and "this is preventing us from delivering an equitable education for all our children." The Howard County school system has an operating budget of almost a billion dollars. There is equity in opportunity regarding access to all tiers of education including GT and AP courses and Jumpstart courses. If every teacher is excellent and the system is excellent what is preventing him from delivering equitable education to the children? Perhaps we need a better manager. If a CEO with a billion dollar budget which had a recent shortfall puts out a non-validated plan based on ideology with excessive unaccounted-for costs with no funding, they would be removed. In demanding equity to be applied to redistricting, some Council members and County Executive Calvin Ball are shirking their duties and covering up their lack of responsibility in providing equity in the socio-economic makeup of our county. They have not promoted affordable housing options and have allowed overdevelopment in other areas. Christina Rigby stated that she "believes in diversity and inclusion and this is the opportunity to live it." She insults the population of Howard County which is a diverse inclusive county as if we do not mix and interact in all aspects of our day-to-day life. The Council discounts the many social interactions that families engage in that provide exposure to many races, ethnicities and socioeconomic levels including faith-based groups, sports and community recreational activities. These go much further in building character and emotional intelligence for our kids than any legislated concept of school integration. There is also no accounting of the large Asian population in Howard County which apparently does not factor into the council's interpretation of diversity. No school district in the US considering integration based on social economic status is even remotely similar to Howard County's demographics. For high school, Howard County demographics are 39% white, 24% black, 20% Asian, 10% Hispanic, 6% other. A recent Washington Post article indicates Howard County is much more integrated than a majority of other school districts in the US. "Decades" of peer reviewed research on socioeconomic integration do NOT exist - only trends and some did not show positive student outcomes. Proponents cite studies with small sample sizes that are not randomized, mostly anecdotal and extrapolating them to a diverse population like Howard County - is a bit of a stretch. Recent analysis by education experts have provided a reality check with regards to the conclusions that can be drawn from previous studies indicating that there are flaws including selection bias and other confounding factors such as teacher quality which affect outcomes. The Superintendent, some members of the Board of Education and Council have chosen to cherry-pick the studies that support their narrative that would not hold up to rigorous scientific standards. Yet they are perfectly comfortable with forcing our kids into this involuntary experiment to satisfy their curiosity. In 2017, the US Department of Education released guidance on how to improve the outcomes for all students and consideration to increase diversity. Its take-away point? A successful plan should include community participation early on and buying in to ensure ownership for the key stake holders and inspire them. Every study regarding success of integration initiatives has emphasized this need for early community engagement with choice without which it is doomed to fail. The US Dept of Education stressed giving the public voluntary options and choice including magnet schools, controlled choice systems, open enrollment, high quality charter schools, weighted lottery systems. The least preferred option was involuntary redistributing /busing. Experts have said that busing is not a magic wand and should be a last resort as it will not solve the underlying problems. The common theme to success and sustainability is choice. Growing up in early elementary school we moved multiple times and it was not fun changing schools. I still recall the stress and anxiety as a student. When we resided in San Diego, California and Nashville, Tennessee we qualified for reduced lunch and I would not have appreciated being singled out and moved around based on that status. Broadly speaking, many individuals currently opposing the superintendent's plan started off with limited means and have strived to achieve the American dream through hard work and providing a better life for their children including more control over their children's educational opportunities. Many did not have these options when growing up. How can the Council members, Board of education and Superintendent discount this American dream by telling them their concerns for their children no longer matter and are not a priority? Many of us would not have achieved if we had just assumed things would be "just fine" without taking action. We do not reject diversity-we simply want to stay at the school that we chose which is under capacity and thus does not justify us to be forced out involuntarily. Our desire is to be surrounded by individuals who share similar academic values regardless of race and socioeconomic status and who strive for excellence. Our standard should not be "just good enough"— higher standards help nurture driven, productive members of society and benefits everyone. The bottom line is this plan will not pass the smell test by the citizens of Howard County and will ultimately fail. There will continue to be massive resistance even if passed unless a more measured approach is pursued allowing more voluntary choice. Take for example Wake County, North Carolina which has a much larger school district and attempted socio-economic integration by pushing involuntary redistricting despite strong resistance. After a few years, the Board of Education and administration was replaced or voted out and the plan was reversed by the new board following the election mandate. What a wasted effort. This is a cautionary tale of what will happen to Howard County Board of Education and County council/County executive unless a more balanced plan is offered. Khalid Zirvi Howard County, MD Sayers, Margery From: Kendra Kay Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2019 8:35 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: CR 112 testimony Attachments: CR112 testimony.docx [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] Dear County Council members: I ask you act courageously and reject the CR112 resolution as it is currently written. It is rampant with language that is completely irrelevant to our current state of educational inequity. Brown v. Board reflected a specific time in history where racial segregation was shamefully upheld by law. This is NOT the case today. I suppose the first 5 "Whereas" clauses are setting the stage for the battle but it is not relevant to the goal of closing achievement gaps. It is a look backwards at factors reflecting institutionalized racism and laws that disproportionately hurt a certain population. Although we acknowledge past injustice/ it should not be a driving factor to promote improvements for the future as they relate to the school system. Those injustices may still remain and reflect complex factors that are embedded in society. The burden should not be placed upon HCPSS to dismantle this overarching problem. It requires the participation of government and society. HCPSS can resolve to close achievement gaps but should not be swept into language that seems to implicate the school system as the root cause of the problem. The vagueness of the goals in CR112 is flummoxing to say the least. Is it referring to reducing racial segregation or socioeconomic segregation? The words "racial" and "socioeconomic" are sprinkled throughout the resolution as if they are one and the same. Perhaps conflating them is a political maneuver to ensure all future measures that include these terms can be justified as relevant. This resolution's language is so imprecise it loses its impact and comes across as a desperate attempt to fan emotions without a clear statement about its true goals. A recent study of Maryland schools determined that Howard County is considered mostly integrated (racially) compared to other districts. Also/ the high concentration of Asians in Howard County does not seem to factor in the very binary definition of segregation. 22. even in Howard County/ Maryland/ where diversity and inclusion are touted by 23. many/ there is growing evidence that these desirable characteristics have declined in individual 24. schools in the Howard County Public School System; Please be specific: racial diversity or socioeconomic diversity? The resolution then discusses achievement gaps reflected in FARMS data. The data is incomplete and excludes information about the Asian and Pacific Islander population. Conveniently/ it appears the definition of racial diversity also excludes this population. The County Council states they are not directing the HCPSS redistricdng proposals but the resolution states that the boundary review process is an opportunity to "lawfully integrate the school system, and address the achievement gap issue through proactive integration plans." This is a direct call to action for HCPSS to use redistricting to promote "integration." It does not refer to closing achievement gaps with any other methods (pouring resources into at-risk kids/ providing additional financial support to underperforming schools) and so leaves no room for other options for HCPSS (except redistricting). This abhorrently restrictive language jeopardizes true efforts for equity that will be more effective and less disruptive to the community. The narrow scope touted by the resolution means it is acceptable to shuttle students like currency to remedy societal ills. The words "lawfully integrate" and "proactive integration plans" are deliberately vague so as to encompass all sorts of possible actions. It is injecting race as a tool to apply to boundary changes which was ruled unconstitutional in 2007 by the Supreme Court. Upholding equity in education is a laudable and necessary objective; unfortunately/ forced redistricting will be a failed venture. Other options that are more appealing to the community such as educational choice/ magnet schools/ weighted lottery do not fit in the narrow definition provided by the resolution. By failing to include options other than "integration" or redistricting/ the resolution ultimately will (unwittingly) act like a stranglehold on educational equity. Kendra Kay Clarksville Sayers, Margery From: Hong Hsu Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2019 4:37 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: Written Testimony for 112 Resolution Public Hearing Attachments: 2017 FARM Students SAT per school.PDF [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] Dear Council members, When I read 112 Resolution, I saw three issues that County Council try to tackle using multi-year Integration Plan same wording used by Superintendent in his plan: racial segregation, poverty concentration, and students' performance at schools. 112 Resolution started historical racial segregation cases from Plessyv. Ferguson in 1896 and Brown v. Board of Education case in 1952. Then it presented the poverty concentration issues in 4 high schools from LRHS, WLHS, OMHS and Hammond HS with 40% FARM rate contrasted with 7% rate of FARM students in 5 high schools of RHHS, GHS, MRHS, AHS and CHS. Finally, it touched the students' performance issue for lower graduation rate for FARM students and AA students. All of three issues of racial segregation, poverty concentration and students' performance ARE different issues though they have correlation in certain degree. Let us started the last one first: students' performance at schools to see if council's prescription can conquer the issue. Based on SAT Test statistics from HCPSS, FARM students do have lower scores comparing to non-FARM students at same school. However, FARM students at Oakland Mill HS and Marriotts Ridge HS have SAT scores of 988 and 986 respectively (See attachment). That means that for school or building doesn't make difference for FARM students' performance. HCPSS data also has same conclusion for FARM and AA students' graduate rate at different schools. Let all of us respect the facts! The 112 resolution will not work for this third issue. Let us look at second issue: poverty concentration. You don't need a math PhD degree to understand that poverty concentration. Poverty concentration was generated from migration of resident population over time, and it will be generated when poverty residents move in from outside the county in future. Does Howard County School System have legal responsibility for the poverty concentration? NO. It is County Council's responsibility to issue prescription to other government body for solving the problem, not the School System who should take the medicine. If second and third issues cannot be solved by Council's 112 resolution, let us to study first issue to see if 112 resolution for that: racial segregation. Each of council member should answer following two questions: Is there a school in Howard County Public Schools rejected an enrollment of AA students or gave less opportunity to AA students than other racial students? Is there a school in Howard County Public School rejected an enrollment because of parents' income qualifies of FARM program? If answers are yes, then school system has legal requirement to identify these cases and fix this individual immediately regardless he or she is teacher, staff or central office personal. If answers are no. why using racial segregation history event to intimidate readers? I would say that racial segregation doesn't exist in our school system in general. These irrelevant racial segregation historical paragraphs should be removed completely from the 112 resolution. In conclusion, the structure of 112 resolution of historical event, contents and resolution confuses us one thing with another and mislead us to a wrong direction to the problems we are facing today. -Hong Hsu Resident of District 1 Table A9 SAT Section Scores for the HCPSS Class of 2017 by High School and Gender and Special Service Group: Most Recent Administration English Learner Male Female FARMS School Special Education Math Math Math Total Reading Total Reading Math Total Reading Math Total Total Reading Reading "592 :- 57S -;ri7& 922- "^;.^::*.;y.',^^..'^,.^'^ 503 1014 J :^ -462 ^.: 460 -AU Schools - . 592: :-.: 607;:- -119& ^'^ 596 626 612 554 580 545 Atholton Centennial Glenelg Hammond Howard Long Reach Mamotts Ridge . Mt.Hebron fand Mills ?621 594 ^ ^65 567 630 575 Reservoir River Hill Wilde Lake 606 662 631 547 596 534 650 616 565 573 654 592 1201 1285 1240 1102 1176 1078 1269 1208 1130 1139 1281 1167 596 638 604 564 589 544 625 601 544 573 641 556 587 633 597 530 577 514 621 592 528 550 638 534 1183 1270 1200 1094 1166 1058 1246 1194 1072 1122 1278 1091 499 576 501 589 1000 1166 464 474 938 502 510 501 492 549 506 499 483 516 483 494 562 482 487 985 1025 1106 988 986 497 472 423 460 455 484 t 430 438 457 448 456 418 445 483 580 435 953 920 879 878 900 967 1010 874 499 493 993 440 460 900 .^:t<2§3^ 286 Note. Results are not reported for groups with fewer than ten graduates (-) or with fewer than ten test takers (*) to protect student privacy. Graduates enrolled in Homewood are included with all students but performance not separately reported to protect student privacy. SAT scores are based on the most recent SAT test. FARMS = Free and Reduced Price Meals Service (p>^ Y^ ..u. 22 Sayers, Margery From: Sampath Seshadri Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2019 8:49 AM To: CouncilMail Subject: CR-112-2019 [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender,] We object to CR-112-2019 plan to redistrict with the following arguments: 1. It is a mistaken notion that we are all privileged rich in this area or that we are somehow elite. To the contrary , as first generation immigrants, we have struggled our way up with limited resources to move to a good school district. We ask now that the fruits of our labor not be taken away from us. 2. This move seems like a socialistic initiative in capitalistic America. There is nothing wrong with that other than it is not a doctrine that made America the land of opportunity and fairness for us. 3. It is divisive and disruptive in many ways. For instance, it denies one sibling the same opportunity that the other had for no fault of the parents. We request you to reject CR-112-2019 plan as it is unfair and dispiriting. Regards, Sampath Seshadri Sayers, Margery From: Stephanie Kaminsky Sent: Friday, September 20, 2019 9:35 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: Resolution 112 [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] I am writing to write my opposition to Resolution 112 which is currently pending before the County Council. While the goals of 112 are commendable- the approach that is being taken by the County Council in this resolution will not have the positive results that are sought. Most distressing about the resolution is the lack of ownership by the County Council for the problem. The pockets of poverty in the county are caused by poor development planning. Developers seem to be able to pay their way out of building affordable housing in certain areas. The result play out in the school systems— but bussing will not really resolve the underlying causes which the County Council do have control over. Bussing promises to be very disruptive in the lives of teens in this community. Teens will be severed from friends and emotional stability. It is enough for teens to navigate the challenges of middle and high school; but easier done if they are doing this in a social framework that is familiar and longstanding. To ask kids to not only manage their academic and social challenges of these years— but also to throw them into new and somewhat foreign environments is putting a much bigger added stressor on them; with potentially very harmful results. The money that may be spent on bussing should be spent to bolster the schools in need. Real services- extra time time with teachers; and extra curricular activities should be the focus. And it it is not fair to the community to have new plans made every few years- given the fact that 2023 is sure to bring change with the new highschool opening then. Please do not support this Resolution. We are smart and educated in this county. We must think of other solutions that have greater community support so that it is sure to be successful. The goals at issue— to improve the education for all members of the county— are too important to avoid addressing. We just have to be sure that the solution is a real one that has benefits that outweigh its disadvantages. Sincerely, Stephanie Kaminsky 11828 Chapel Estates Dr. Clarksville, MD 21029 Sayers, Margery From: Eun Suk Kim <4prsmom@gmail.com> Sent: Friday, September 20, 2019 4:07 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: Opposition to Redistricting - Howard County Public School [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender,] TO: HO. CO. Public School Board, Opposition to Redistricting. Resolution 112 (the Catalyst to Redistricting) Thank you. Eun S. Kim (CP) 240-353-6610 Sayers, Margery From: Yi, Xin Sent: Friday, September 20, 201 9 122 PM To: Sayers, Margery Subject: Re: CR112-2019 Continuation - Thursday, September 26 at 3:30pm [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] Hi, Margery My name isXin Yi. Can you tell me how many people will be ahead of me to give the testimony on 9/26? Thanks. Xin On Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 3:19 PM Sayers, Margery wrote: IMPORTANT LEGISLATIVE HEARINGS NOTICE Wednesday night's hearing recessed as testimony was being taken on Council Resolution 112-2019. Speakers on CR112- 2019 who signed up to testify by 7PM on Monday, September 16 and who did not present their testimony on Wednesday evening, may present testimony on Thursday, September 26 at 3:30 PM in the Banneker Room. The hearing on September 26 is only for the continuation of receiving testimony on Council Resolution 112-2019 from those who timely signed up to testify. Written testimony may continue to be submitted. Mflrgery sayers e.xec.i^tiA/e Asststfli^t H-owarol C.D\A.V±^ C.DU.V^CA^ 410-313-02'32 Xin Sayers, Margery From: cpixiew@verizon.net Sent: Friday, September 20, 2019 12:51 PM To: CouncilMail Subject: CR 112-2019 Testimony [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] September 18, 2019 Good evening, County Council Members, My name is Carolyn Weibel, and I have been a Howard County resident for over 40 years. I want to go on record as being opposed to Council Resolution 112-2019. I can't really add anything new in my opposition to this Council Resolution than what has already been said here tonight, though I do question the timing and the value of CR 112-2019. I only ask that the redistricting be done for overcrowding only, and that this County Council won't be funding a socioeconomic experiment. September 20, 2019 I am concerned about the yellow handout I picked up on Wednesday, September 18th; in particular, the language in bold highlighted below. I quote, "Proposed Council Resolution 112-2019 is not a redistricting plan. CR112-2019, as introduced, is a statement acknowledging inequities within the Howard County education system. It does not prescribe, endorse or comment on a redistricting plan. Rather, if adopted, it calls upon the Board of Education, the board with authority, to take these inequities into consideration." End of quote. I encourage you to reread Council Resolution 112-2019 as the CR uses the words, and I quote," A resolution requesting the Howard County Public School System to draft, approve, and implement a lawful multi-year Integration Plan to ensure that Howard County Public Schools are integrated by socioeconomic factors." End of quote. The words are in conflict between both documents, the CR being a legal document. The BOE is being asked to take "inequities into consideration" (the yellow handout), while this CR is requesting the BOE to draft, approve, and implement, a lawful multi-year Integration Plan. I feel that Council Resolution 112-2019 is unduly influencing the Board of Education and is promoting a personal agenda, rather than an agenda that impacts all constitutents. This has the look of "prescribing, endorsing, and commenting on a redistricting plan". This is the very thing you said you wouldn't be doing in this yellow handout entitled, "Information on Board of Education Redistricting Process", and CR 1 12-2019 states the exact opposite. We need to do what is right not only for the children, but for the parents and the communities in which they reside as well. If additional monies and sen/ices are needed at certain schools, then investigate their needs. We spend around $16,000/year per student. Let's have an audit and see how the money is being spent. If it has been disproportionately allocated, then let's find out why and correct it. Accountability! I wasn't able to stay to speak on September 18, 2012, and I have a potential schedule conflict on Thursday, September 26th. Thank you for taking the time to read my testimony. Carolyn Weibel Longview Drive, Valley Mede Ellicott City, MD Sayers, Margery From: Leslie Toussaint <12saint@gmail.com> Sent: Friday, September 20, 2019 11:51 AM To: CouncilMail Subject: CR112-2019 [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] Dear Council Members and Executive: I am strongly against CR112-2019 calling for HCPSS to develop an aggressive school integration plan. Using the school system to redistribute wealth is not the way a democracy should work. You may want to posture as social justice warriors, but know this: you are doing so at the expense of the very taxpayers (and the majority of your electorate) who fund the initiatives that make our county a great place to live. Proceeding with this plan will gut the property values in areas where homes are being redistricted to schools with lower scores and ratings. While I will be the first to argue that HCPSS does a fantastic job, and all of our schools are great, the reality is homebuyers look at those test scores and choose to live where the schools look strong on paper. If citizens feel like they have to resort to private schools, they'll stop voting for candidates who support public education. And then what do you think will happen to our great schools? But "What about integration?" you ask: Howard County has become socio-economically segregated because the Columbia model for integration doesn't work. We lived in Columbia for 10 years before moving to western Ellicott City. We moved because we were tired of the blighted rental properties on our street, tired of the empty stores in the Long Reach Village Center, weary of the noise from the bus stop in front of our house, the door-to-door solicitors, the constant public works projects and the foot traffic through our yard generated by the closing of the grocery store in the Long Reach Village Center. And most importantly, tired of the crime; several murders and a rape occurred less than a mile from our house. On the eve of our decision to put in an offer on our current home, I was followed on the path to Jackson Pond by a young man who exposed himself and masturbated in front of me! The police response to this incident was to shrug it off as "typical for our area." Bottom line: we live in a free-market society where citizens expect hard work and money to buy them a better quality of life. Not everybody wants to live in a socio-economically mixed, urban area. My son's current school is racially and culturally integrated, our community is welcoming and safe; it's a community of shared values. I am sure if my son is sent to a high poverty school he will do just fine, because all HCPSS schools are top-notch and he has all the supports in place at home. What I am not sure about is how his mere presence in the classroom will do anything to alleviate the problems that plague his low-income classmates. Sincerely, Leslie Toussaint Ellicott City, M D 21042 Sayers, Margery From: Cleo Belmonte Sent: Friday, September 20, 2019 11:19 AM To: CouncilMail Subject: Opposition to School Redistricting [Note: This email originated from outside of the organization. Please only click on links or attachments if you know the sender.] To Whom it May Concern, My name is Cleo Belmonte. My polygon number is 1,112 and I have two children that are currently in elementary school. I am writing to express my opposition to the school redistricting proposal. Any redistricting in the county should be based on a fulsome approach that takes into the account the needs of students, parents, teachers and others in the community and should not be based on a single purpose or objective. Respectfully, Cleo Belmonte THE UGLY TRUTH These urbanized blacks, farm, whatever—MOST (NOT ALL) are rude, crude, dirty, trashy Crime has also has increased. They used vouchers for subsidized housing, get free meals, assistance with health care, Pay little or no income tax These children have no manners. They are unruly. They disrupt classes. Discipline is high in those schools. These families are transient. Here today. Gone tomorrow. Maybe back again. Yet on MY DIME, The Council want children of these people to go to school with my children Yet the schools these children currently attend were the top schools of Howard County and THEY min the schools. So now the Council wants them to ruin MY school. Well the families of these children need to fix the schools. Why mm my school? These schools can be fixed. My children will not go to these schools. I will move first. Howard County will have a great migration just like PG County. And it will lose their tax base and be like Baltimore City. It appears the council cares more about transient families than homeowners who pay property taxes. Solution: Create magnet schools in the elementary, middle and high school level Families should volunteer to send their children to these schools. ~c~"" Prove to the Community that these schools can work. Vanessa Carolyn Smith 10710 Charter Drive Columbia, Maryland 21044 September 20,2019 'K® 2^3. ••^, ^a^j^t^ ^ i/^' J^ u ^^1^^' , •-} T^T^ilv^ 21043-43Q03? hihiiIiliililiii!!liiii:lliii'iil'ilitiil"iii'iiiii'iIHlHfi ? f^ September 19, 2019 I-^J Howard County Council Cc: Howard County School Board/System Re: Redistricting Plan' There are two issues here. Overcrowding of schools and equity of schools. The problem is the housing. The County did not do well in planning and developing housing. Rouse was correct when he made the new town Columbia to have equal distribution of housing with mix incomes in each subdivision (single family, town homes and apartments) After Rouse died, greedy developers with the help of the county caused the housing market to change with Section 8 federal subsidy entering overwhelming the Columbia apartments which are centralized and resulting in the schools in the neighborhood being flooded with a large percentage of students from those areas. Now for equity, the County wants the school system to correct the problem and some residents have an issue with that. It all about people and their culture. It should be no problem that the schools' test scores and PTA involvement should have anything to do with income and race. BUT because of the values and standards of groups of people it happens. Data shows it's a state and nationwide problem. Research shows it has been going on for at least 50 years (East Asia scores highest, next whites with blacks lowest). There is yet a model to show that black core will score higher if mix together. Individually yes but not as a group. Mixing will only dumb down the school. Howard County will go from having the top schools to mediocre scores which will affect the housing market even more. Baltimore City and Prince Georges County used to be majority white with great to mediocre school systems. Now that it is majority black, its school systems have the schools with lowest PTA involvement and lowest test scores. That's not the schools, it's the culture and environment of the people who live there and it seems there is some force that wants to bring that same mediocre system to Howard County and Residents of Howard County of ALL RACES and cultures DO NOT WANT THAT. We resent being called racist because we want the best for our children. If the opponents what the best for their children (1) they would get involved with their school (2) they would teach their children (3) they would have made better choices 9t?03 ZB£t?s:£t?GT£ "?'7?/?f'/(??/'?/f^f/fff'^f"r^f^'?f^^-/??^/f?"/'f ^^^a^'^^)l3 ^ ^.^ Q^' ,-y\ '•^ /'7W/? C I ^I i-~ Joanhe Monica Lewiston ^lhlnie!fLeSeemislost/there is more disruptive behavior in the classroom, more fights among the different groups (socioeconomic and/or race) ~ ~ ~" """" ' ln^da^and age'the county is putting chlldren in danger for their °wn political greed and mistake. '','". l:".^^s ..^••"--^. ..^"":°°-~^. Cii^v>^) -m^ srs2 • ^^^^» ^.,0.\U>.H^_ _ '^'"Wti^.*^'.' .«u»' ^SSP^MS&.^NSl. •-^..^'S^ ^——»^ FOREVER ' US/ A , r\ _.v' ^(^-k1 ^^'^^' 3^6 <^'K^c <^^^ gd'c^ C.V^ ^•^2' 2:: O'A-3—'•43QO:3:5 !!tiii5'}i'liiliIi"!i!iiilil{ iii-}i5{iiS,iihiinin'iShl^l