'We Weren't Heard' | Parents Of Howard County Schools Students React To Redistricting Plan
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (WJZ) -- The Howard County School Board voted preliminarily to move forward with a controversial redistricting plan which would change where thousands of students go to school.
After a 10-hour long workshop, the school board preliminarily voted 5-2 in favor of the superintendents' redistricting plan Monday ahead of a final vote on Thursday.
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The proposed plan would reassign nearly 5,300 students to new schools for the 2020 school year, something the superintendent says will reduce overcrowding and balance the poverty rate across the schools in the county.
The board has held multiple work sessions, voting on motions that create guidelines for the redistricting plan. But as the deadline is fast approaching, some board members expressed the need for even more time.
"I feel like we're being rushed at this point," Vicky Cutroneo said.
Parents and teachers packed inside the final workshop wearing T-shirts and holding signs in protest.
"More so than the actual vote itself was just seeing how we weren't heard, and although we were brought up many times, it just seemed to be shut down," Bettina Wachter, a parent, said.
Members of the school board will be back at school headquarters for their final vote on Thursday night.
