Howard County school officials are considering eliminating the county's two open enrollment areas, the "Greenbridge Area" and "Woodmark Triangle."

The county's redistricting committee (Attendance Area Adjustment Committee) discussed the proposal at a meeting earlier this summer.

The committee will assist school staff in creating redistricting recommendations this fall. The Board of Education will then review the recommendations, take public comment and vote on the proposals. Redistricting decisions made this fall would take effect in the 2010-2011 school year.

The "Greenbridge" area -- in which residents are assigned to River Hill High School but may attend Glenelg if they provide their own transportation -- is located in Dayton north of Green Bridge Road and west of Route 32.

The roughly 160 to 180 high school students in the area are fairly evenly split between the two schools, according to school system planning documents. The exception was created while Glenelg underwent an extended period of renovation and expansion.

With Glenelg's renovation complete, school officials are proposing ending the open enrollment option and reassigning the students to Glenelg High School with transportation.

The second area under consideration for redistricting, the "Woodmark Triangle," includes the homes surrounding the University of Maryland research farm off Folly Quarter and Homewood roads on the western edge of Ellicott City. Students who live in the area are assigned to Marriotts Ridge High School, but have the option of enrolling at River Hill.

The exception was created because of the small number of children who live in the area and advance from Folly Quarter to Marriotts Ridge, while the rest of their Folly Quarter classmates are sent to River Hill. The system's redistricting policy attempts to have students advance from school to school with a group of familiar classmates representing at least 15 percent of the class.

To help remedy the situation, planners are considering redistricting a group of about 40 Mount View Middle School students (those who live in neighborhoods surrounding West Friendship Elementary School and who already are slated to attend Marriotts Ridge High) to Folly Quarter. The newly redistricted group would advance to Marriotts Ridge along with students from the "Woodmark Triangle," making a larger contingent. The group moving from Folly Quarter to Marriotts Ridge would consist of more than 100 students and represent almost 11 percent of the class, rather than the current 3 percent, according to planning documents.

Regional redistricting meetings are scheduled for Sept. 29 at Hammond High School, in Columbia, and Sept. 30 at Centennial High School, in Ellicott City. Both meetings begin at 7:30 p.m. and the same material will be presented at each.

Notes from the system's July 14 redistricting committee meeting are available on the system's Web site www.hcpss.org.

-- Jennifer Broadwater

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