Amanda Fisher was relieved early this year when it looked as though her children would not need to switch schools.

Plans to redistrict the southern half of Anne Arundel County Public Schools initially called for shuffling between 150 and 200 kids out of Davidsonville Elementary, a sought-after, overcrowded school in the Annapolis suburbs. Her community in Riva would be spared.

That changed when Superintendent Mark Bedell released his redistricting plan in July.

Fisher was shocked to discover that her child and two dozen of her neighbors’ children would be the only ones booted from Davidsonville under the plan, which impacts up to 1,500 students.

Whose children get to stay at Davidsonville is now among the most contentious battles in Anne Arundel’s yearlong redistricting process.

Some Riva parents have accused Bedell and board members of advancing a plan influenced by well-connected Davidsonville parents that deprioritizes data, equity and transparency. The Davidsonville parents who advocated for their children to stay say they empathize with Riva families and reject the notion of special treatment as a false narrative.

School assignments will be a focus of Wednesday night’s board meeting, when Bedell is scheduled to present new enrollment data that may cause the county’s redistricting plans to shift again.

“Too often, our questions to the board and staff have been met with vague answers, shifting justifications, or, in many cases, outright silence,” Fisher and a coalition of families from Anne Arundel’s Glen Isle, Hambleton, Blue Heron, River Creek and Shire Oaks neighborhoods wrote in an Oct. 3 email to a board members and district staff.

Bob Mosier, a spokesperson for the district, stressed that all viewpoints are being considered and the path forward is still in flux. He also said he empathizes with parents who feel frustrated, acknowledging there is perhaps no more emotional issue for a school system than redistricting.

“While it is understandable that some may feel they have not had an adequate voice, the fact is that every piece of feedback has been read or heard,” Mosier said.

A fight over ZIP codes

The initial redistricting scenario that called for reassigning more than a quarter of Davidsonville Elementary’s nearly 700 students was developed by a New York-based independent consultant called WXY. The firm called for moving 87 children to Central Elementary, 66 children to Edgewater Elementary, and 53 children to Lothian Elementary.

Davidsonville, Central and Edgewater elementaries are in the district’s South River High cluster. But Lothian is in the Southern High cluster. An advocacy group called Unite 21035, named for the Davidsonville ZIP code, sprung up early this year to argue against any new school assignments for Davidsonville children.

The group’s ethos is straightforward — keep Davidsonville children in Davidsonville schools. Other parents across the south county have organized similar neighborhood coalitions.

Davidsonville children account for 83% of the elementary school’s enrollment capacity, according to data shared by Unite 21035. That means there’s enough room at the school for their children and many others, organizers say.

Fisher and her coalition have noted that Maryland school attendance zones commonly stretch across multiple ZIP codes and say Unite 21035 is trying to exclude children from Davidsonville Elementary who lack the right mailing address. Fisher noted that Riva kids have attended Davidsonville Elementary since the school opened in 1960.

“When the board’s redistricting decisions appear to reflect advocacy rooted in preferential zip-code access to schools, it sets a dangerous precedent,” the parents wrote in a recent email to a board member. “It suggests that school assignment is a privilege reserved for certain communities rather than a shared public good.”

The median household income among Riva families is around $150,000, according to Census data, whereas in Davidsonville, it’s closer to $175,000.

At first, the need to move some children out of Davidsonville Elementary seemed irrefutable.

Last year, the school had capacity for 671 children but 689 were enrolled, district data shows. Last month, the district sought state approval to increase the school’s capacity to 694 on paper. But school officials still contend some students must move to further reduce overcrowding.

‘Nobody is happy’

Riva’s Glen Isle neighborhood is a community of small single-family homes situated along the South River. Nearby are Blue Heron, River Creek, Shire Oaks and Hambleton.

Many of the residents here are teachers, firefighters, military members and small-business owners. Some parents attended Davidsonville Elementary and are now raising their kids in the same classrooms they once attended as students, according to an August letter parents sent to the board.

“We recognize that, as a smaller set of communities, we will not generate the same volume of public comments as some of the larger neighborhoods,” the letter states. “But our families and our children matter just as much.”

Of more than 4,000 valid comments the district received about the redistricting options it initially introduced, nearly half came from families in the South River High attendance cluster. There were more negative comments about moving Davidsonville children to new schools than any other boundary changes proposed by the district.

Dawn Pulliam, the school board member who represents the region, said she has been overwhelmed by feedback from parents angry about redistricting. She estimates she has communicated with 2,000 people and “nobody is happy.” Hundreds of children across the attendance clusters she represents are set to switch schools.

Still, she knows the process is necessary. Districts with overcrowded schools won’t be able to get state funding for capital improvement projects under the legislation known as the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, she said.

“I have had many sleepless nights, but I know we must do this,” Pulliam said.

Who will it be?

Early in the redistricting process, Bedell detailed criteria he said would guide the process.

Fisher says the current plan — which includes a provision to move 27 children from her neighborhood to Central Elementary — doesn’t align with the district’s stated goals. Moving so few kids does little to address overcrowding, she said. And the children being reassigned would need to travel through another school’s attendance zone to get to their own, something district leaders have said they want to avoid.

To escape redistricting, Fisher and her coalition will likely need to win support from Pulliam and other board members. But they say Pulliam has been unwilling to endorse the reassignment of any Davidsonville children to new schools. Why? they wonder.

Although Pulliam has met with members of Fisher’s coalition several times and has corresponded with them extensively, Fisher said Pulliam has not explained why she feels certain Davidsonville students should move and not others.

“We are not asking for special treatment,” the coalition wrote in a message to the board. “We are asking for transparency, logic, and equity.”

Pulliam said she understands that Riva would like to be whole — a sentiment shared by many communities facing potential disruption. But the fact remains that the school at the center of the debate is overcrowded.

“This is not Davidsonville v. Riva,” she added. “We need to focus on solutions that serve all students, not just individual neighborhoods.”

The board is set to approve a plan by mid-November, although the timeline might change based on the information presented at Wednesday night’s board meeting.

As board President Robert Silkworth often says, “Redistricting means that some students will be going to a new school.”

Whose children will it be?