The Howard County Board of Education is set to approve moving 146 elementary and middle school students next school year to relieve overcrowding at Bryant Woods Elementary.

In a Thursday straw vote, the board voted 6-1 to move forward with a redistricting plan that reassigns 122 Bryant Woods Elementary students to Longfellow, Running Brook and Swansfield elementary schools. An additional 24 students — rising sixth graders, seventh and eighth graders — assigned to Harper’s Choice Middle would move to Wilde Lake Middle.

Moving the middle schoolers helps balance how many Longfellow Elementary kids move on to Wilde Lake. The school system tries to avoid syphoning off extremely small groups of students, called “feeds,” as they move from elementary to middle school.

A final vote to approve the redistricting plan is scheduled for Thursday Dec. 4.

School board member Jacky McCoy voted against the unofficial plan.

McCoy voiced concerns over taking students out of Harper’s Choice Middle who benefit from the extra resources it receives as a designated “community school.”

“That’s my concern; it’s about making sure that we don’t disadvantage children when we don’t have to,” McCoy said.

No one spoke at the public hearing about the plan Thursday.

Last week, the school board decided in a 5-2 vote to not move Centennial Lane Elementary students next school year. While school board Chair Jolene Mosley and member Antonia Watts voted against the decision, the Centennial community welcomed it.

Centennial Lane families vocally advocated for months to have the elementary school remain untouched, saying it doesn’t feel overcrowded.