April 10, 2020

Families for Education Improvement (FEI) and its affiliate non-profit FEI Foundation applaud the Howard County BOE and Superintendent Martirano for a rapid response to maintain nutrition assistance to students in need via the Grab-N-Go program.  FEI also urges the Howard County BOE to immediately postpone implementation of the Redistricting plan in lieu of more critical and urgent priorities. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the social and educational framework and the BOE needs to focus all human and capital resources in this effort urgently. FEI requests the BOE consider the following immediate priorities:

1. Create a task force and develop short-term, intermediate and long-term plans to maintain student, teacher and staff health and safety in order for schools to reopen.
2. Develop more comprehensive on-line learning processes and protocols to allow uninterrupted education for all grades that meet the same standards of education that HCPSS provided via in-classroom education.  The BOE and HCPSS must consider distance learning to be a priority. 
3. Reevaluate all operating budget decisions in light of the potential for a significantly different operating environment.  

HCPSS must deliver rigorous education opportunities to ALL students in Howard County, while also determining how to provide additional resources directly to students for whom distance learning may create challenges such as special needs and families without in-home access to internet connectivity. The county is entering an unprecedented situation with regard to public health concerns and also economic disruption.  Governor Hogan announced an immediate State budget freeze and anticipates that declines in state revenue due to COVID-19 will impact state budgets for years to come. We should expect similar COVID-19 ramifications at the county level. In the last 3 weeks, over 17 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits. Many economists now predict that the national unemployment rate could reach or exceed 20%.   The Socio-economic status (SES) data upon which the prior Redistricting was based, is now obsolete and useless in attempting to balance needs among schools. HCPSS and BOE must consider the potential for a dramatic increase in FARM needs at all schools and grade levels. Many additional families across all regions of Howard County will be experiencing economic hardship and the BOE needs to focus on (1) an operating plan for distance learning  (2) an operating plan that prioritizes safety and health and (3) capital spending plan that focuses resources and delivery of educational opportunities to the students and anticipates significantly greater FARMS needs.

Great work done by the legal team at Lawrence Whittaker, PC and coordinated by FEI legal team to get to the finish line.

Please donate here today to allow us to continue pushing forward for you: https://www.aplos.com/aws/give/FamiliesforEducationImprovement/general. Remember to designate it “legal”!

Thank you so much!

FEI is dissatisfied and frustrated by the decision made by the HCPSS Board of Education on November 21, 2019 to proceed with a disruptive and harmful school attendance area adjustment plan. This plan ignored the overwhelming input from thousands of parents, students, researchers and health experts. Their diverse voices implored the BOE to address overcrowding with minimal student impact and separately improve educational equity using proven strategies.

Throughout this process, FEI has served as a steadfast voice for ALL of Howard County’s children, calling repeatedly for the BOE to “do no harm.” Since the BOE’s vote, FEI has heard from hundreds of Howard County residents whose children will be harmed by this rushed and misguided plan. FEI has been exploring how best to right the injustice inflicted on our County’s children and families. It is not yet clear whether FEI, as an organization, has standing to pursue legal action. However, FEI is committed to supporting communities who have been wrongly redistricted and who would like to pursue legal action.   If your polygon or community has been wrongfully redistricted by this plan and is interested in connecting with FEI, please take the following steps:

1. Immediately engage your community.  Talk with your neighbors and ensure everyone is aware that your schools are being redistricted. Determine whether your community wants to learn more about possible legal options. Collect names and contact information for interested community members.
2. Reach out to FEI.  Select one lead representative from your community or polygon, and have him or her email FEILegalCommittee@gmail.com no later than Monday, November 25, 2019 at 5 pm. Please include your name and contact information as the lead community representative, your polygon number, community name and your total number of interested community members.

As we reflect on the BOE’s decision, we firmly believe the majority of its members have failed the County’s parents, students and community. We applaud the efforts of BOE members who pleaded for additional time and thoughtful planning to ensure the wellbeing of our County’s students. The plan, originally intended to incorporate BOE and community feedback, has clearly ignored its core guiding principles, including:

• Fiscal responsibility – our County must adhere to a budget, and cost is a clear factor in redistricting, given projected HCPSS budget shortfalls of up to $60 million in 2020. The approved redistricting plan will cost millions of dollars in additional transportation in the first two years alone, coupled with a significant shortage in bus drivers.
• Maintenance of community boundaries and feeds (per Policy 6010 IV.B.2.a and b) – we need to avoid frequent widespread redistricting and provide stability for our students. The approved redistricting plan’s poorly executed and hasty redistricting will mean double moves due to High School 13, and produces even more “microfeeds,” which directly contradicts Policy 6010.

FEI remains committed to identifying and working toward real, long-term solutions to create educational equity, not the superficial approach adopted by the BOE.  Equity cannot be achieved by minimally balancing FARM rates. Furthermore, Policy 6010 does not call for the balancing of FARM ratios to be the highest priority of redistricting. Even if it did, the approved redistricting plan is questionable at best in its balancing of FARMs rates. Despite alarming concerns that the foundational FARMs data used in the area adjustment process can swing dramatically month to month by school, the redistricting vote rushed forward. Given this fluctuating data, how can our County accurately measure outcomes? Members of the BOE themselves rightly questioned what “success” will truly look like moving forward. To truly improve equity in our school system, we must rely on proven strategies, such as screening for adverse childhood experiences in early childhood, extended learning opportunities, and diversification and further training of our educators. 

As we continue to advocate for all of our County’s students, FEI is also committed to healing our community. Howard County is a national model of integration, diversity and peace. The area adjustment process and the false narratives used to support it have created unrest and extreme division. We must ensure this never happens again. We must unite as a community and commit to creating sustainable and proven solutions that put all of our children’s best interests, mental health and wellbeing first.

HoCo Families for Education Improvement is a registered 501(c)(4) organization run by a dedicated group of parent volunteers.  Should you wish to make a donation towards our research and advocacy efforts, visit hoco-fei.org and click on “Donation Info.” Follow our work by visiting our website and “liking” our Facebook page, facebook.com/HoCoFEI.

FEI is disappointed by the outcome of the November 18, 2019 straw vote conducted by the HCPSS BOE, which was 5-2 in favor of the current disruptive and harmful school attendance area adjustment proposal. Pleas from the Howard County community and members of the BOE themselves to add additional work sessions in order to ensure a fully researched and vetted final plan were ignored. This decision, which impacts thousands of our children across the County, is too important to be rushed or to be founded upon inaccurate, incomplete data. We must get it right the first time – our children’s future, and our County’s future, depends on it. 

FEI and the greater Howard County community have been firm, consistent and clear in our collective opposition to the Superintendent’s plan. That plan ignored the community’s top priorities – keeping student feeds substantial, keeping communities together, and minimizing transportation/operational costs. Submitted testimony has been resounding – 100 to 1 against the plan. Successive moves made during BOE work sessions attempted to improve upon the Superintendent’s plan, but the final output was rushed. Large segments of our HoCo community were left without a voice or time to properly share community feedback and, critically, have that feedback be heard and reviewed with the full attention of each BOE member. 

Throughout the HCPSS school attendance area adjustment proposal process, FEI has sought to be the voice for ALL of our County’s children. Hundreds of children and several pediatric health experts testified against the Superintendent’s redistricting plan, citing the multitude of ways the plan would harm kids – emotionally and academically. While FEI strongly supports efforts to address overcrowding with minimal student impact and improve educational equity using proven strategies, the final version of the plan up for vote does not achieve stated goals. 

We are concerned that the resulting plan produces even more “microfeeds,” which directly contradicts the community stability standards in Policy 6010 – for example, avoiding feeds of less than 15% at the receiving school. Attempts by Ms. Cutroneo and Ms. Delmont-Small during the Monday work session to refocus attention on possible solutions to reduce the number microfeeds were immediately dismissed. 

As a voice for integrity and in the spirit of accountability, FEI also urges the BOE to consider the significant questions being raised surrounding proposed redistricting falsely labeled under the pretense of “equity.” For example, as questioned in a recent Maryland Reporter article, FEI is concerned that developer special interests appear to have co-opted the equity agenda for their own financial benefit, using redistricting as the mechanism to allow further development around already overcrowded schools. This was born out in some of the small-feed moves that reduce “just enough” under the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) threshold to remove development moratoriums. This false narrative relies on the assumption that minimally balancing FARM rates will help disadvantaged students. To truly improve equity in our school system, we must rely on proven strategies, such as 

screening for adverse childhood experiences in early childhood, extended learning opportunities, and diversification and further training of our educators. We ask the BOE to remember its board member Dr. Chao Wu’s own remark: “Don’t fall to the trap of the developers. I have been involved in community for a while. I know how strong their lobby is. More schools we open for development, more developments will follow that. It is time to say NO to them as a school board.” We urge the BOE to acknowledge and be transparent about the existence, bias and sway of special interests regarding redistricting. 

FEI is also extremely concerned at the questions being raised about the validity of data regarding FARM ratios and school capacity – data which serves as the foundation for the area adjustment process…meaning countless hours of work may have been based on inaccurate data. An equally troubling remark was made by the director of transportation on Monday night, stating there is already a shortage of HCPSS bus drivers. What will happen if additional bus routes are added? 

The bottom line: there are too many questions left unanswered for our Board of Education to responsibly proceed with a final plan ready by November 21. 

FEI will continue to work for ALL children in Howard County. In fact, FEI was proud to join residents throughout HoCo in a protest of harmful school redistricting at the Howard County Fairgrounds on Saturday, November 15. Over 1,300 residents braved the frigid weather to show their solidarity in opposing the redistricting approach, which has been rushed, based on flawed data, and unduly influenced by special interests. The peaceful protest was a show of unity by community members, which epitomized the proud diversity of our County. Participants ranged from community members representing newly impacted polygons who have been denied their opportunity for due process to those who have been impacted by every proposal. Others in attendance were not themselves affected but joined us in concern for the approach being taken to divide our County and its communities. 

We implore each BOE member to cast a final vote on Thursday, November 21 that truly reflects the collective voice of Howard County and the best interests of EVERY CHILD. A rushed plan that lacks appropriate time to evaluate EVERY polygon’s comprehensive situation is not a good plan. A plan founded on inaccurate, incomplete data is not a good plan. A plan that disrupts the lives of 5,320 children and their families, when more moves will come in just a few years, is not a good plan. FEI does not contest that our school capacity is in a dire place; but we do contest the notion that this resulting plan will deliver a long-term solution that puts our children’s best interests, mental health and wellbeing first. “Do No Harm” must remain the first priority for our children across the County. 

Although FEI is appreciative of the opportunity to lend perspective in yesterday’s NYT article, we are angered and dismayed at the many voices left out entirely, including our own FEI member, Dr. Sharma’s, FULL perspective. Dr. Sharma’s work as a researcher specifically focuses on racial and socioeconomic health disparities, which is why he and FEI have advocated for proven solutions to narrowing the opportunity gap in our schools, rather than the proposed superficial band-aids. FEI publicly supports efforts to balance school capacity and separately address the achievement gap. We opposed the superintendent’s plan NOT because we are anti-desegregation, but because the plan was flawed from its inception and will not provide an equitable outcome for our entire County’s students. We are firmly anti-racism and passionately support solutions that will “do no harm” to ALL children. For more information on FEI’s position, visit https://hoco-fei.com/support-of-new-plan.

Additionally, FEI denounces attempts to divide our communities and pit one school or group against another.  We’ve learned from our members that many children and parents across the County were interviewed by the NYT, but only two high schools were unfairly pitted against each other. President Barack Obama could have very well been speaking to our County when he addressed the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago recently. He condemned, head-on, the worrisome trend for activists to attempt to drive change simply by being “as judgmental as possible about other people.”  The act of public shaming, President Obama said, is “not activism. That’s not bringing about change. If all you’re doing is casting stones, you’re probably not going to get that far.” We must remember that we are stronger together, and through considering and listening to diverse perspectives, we will arrive at the best solutions. 

We refuse to allow biased news to go unaddressed and encourage our community members to constructively share their voices with the NYT. These letters can only be 150-175 words, and must be submitted within 7 days of an article’s publish date – more information can be found along with instructions here:  https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/115014925288-How-to-submit-a-letter-to-the-editor.