From David E. Thalheimer, Clarksville Happenings of Facebook. It is very informative.
Back to the Future (of Redistricting): I wanted to provide a little historical perspective on the current redistricting proposals and discuss the current proposals. The HCPSS presented a Feasibility Study and the AAC is in the process of drafting their own proposal, which will be presented to the Superintendent. The Superintendent will then have his staff prepare a final recommendation to the Board. The Board will look at this recommendation, but may decide to start all over again.
For those who remember, there was a comparable high school redistricting in 2002 that moved many students from the west to the east and was very contentious for the residents of Clarksville/River Hill and the surrounding area. Glenelg HS had water and septic issues that required a reduction in capacity, so many students were redistricted to RHHS. However, because the population of River Hill was experiencing a huge amount of growth at the same time and could not handle the influx of Glenelg students, a large portion of the neighborhood was redistricted from RHHS to Atholton and Reservoir. In 2005, the new Marriotts Ridge HS was built, which then required further redistricting. The new school drew students from RHHS, Centennial, Glenelg, and Mount Hebron.
Now, 16 years later, the pendulum has swung back due to over-capacity in the east and the need for a new high school to handle the growth.
However, until the new high school site is located and funded, we will not be able to design a solid redistricting plan that does not need to be changed within a few years. So, I think that redistricting this year may be premature as it may result in further dislocations. The Board first needs to finalize the plan for a new high school. If you are interested, please see these redistricting news articles from 2002: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2002-01-31/news/0201310073_1_river-hill-clarksville-hill-high and 2005: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2004-11-24/news/0411240472_1_hebron-high-mount-hebron-river-hill-high