The parents and homeowners residing in the Middle/High School Zone 2 (MHS2) change area, within Harford County Public Schools, oppose the potential re-zoning of our students from Fallston Middle School (FMS) and Fallston High School (FHS) to Magnolia Middle School (MMS) and Joppatowne High School (JHS) beginning with the 2022 – 2023 school year. We desire the schools assigned to our area (MHS2) remain unchanged as a result of the Balancing Enrollment process.  We contend the proposed changes will negatively impact our children for the following reasons:

Social-Emotional Impact

The MHS2 area has been affected by previous re-zoning actions and thus, a number of MHS2 students have felt the emotional stress of at least one transition during their K-12 education. Forcing our children to transfer schools, now, on the heels of a traumatic 10+ month period of COVID-19 related change, compounds this emotional stress as well as will lead to:

·  Difficulties in building positive relationships with peers.

·  Decrease in academic performance and social confidence.

·   Increase in behavioral and psychological issues.

·   Deterioration of school-student-family relationships for students with exceptionalities

Community and Economic Impact

We, as a community, are concerned about the general environment, both inside and outside the school building, where our children will be attending middle and high school.

·  Our community is built on the foundation of families from diverse socio-economic backgrounds who purchased homes in the MHS2 area so that our children could receive a quality education in a safe environment. As it is proposed, our children would attend schools located in an area with a crime rate that exceeds the county average.

·   As a result of the 2020-2021 global pandemic and economic downturn, many parents within the MHS2 area made the decision to disenroll their children from private/parochial middle and high schools. This proposal compounds the economic stress on parents and neighbors.

·  Our children have assimilated into Fallston athletic and extracurricular activities – both with HCPS and Fallston Recreation Council – the change will now force our children to start the recruitment process once again.

·  Our families have established relationships with students and parents at FMS and FHS and invested personal time and effort in their associated Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) in order to make positive impacts to each school.

From High Performing to Low Performing Schools

Each of the proposed schools are academically low performing in comparison to the current assigned schools on a number of key measures of overall academic progress and college/career readiness. See our Facebook Page for more statistics. 

School Enrollment Numbers

Currently, neither FMS nor FHS are nearing overcapacity within the next seven years. Thus, the inclusion of students in the MHS2 area should not be under consideration, regardless of the number of students included from other change areas.

·  The proposal shows an addition of roughly 175 – 200 students from Bel Air Middle and High Schools to Fallston Middle and High. The number of students currently residing in the MHS2 area who are assigned to Fallston Middle and High are approximately 75 – 100.

·  Additionally, the enrollment updates provided by HCPS have not shown to include Magnet Program enrollments and the newly created Virtual Learning Academy which will change projected enrollment numbers for both FMS and FHS.

Go to our Facebook Link for more information.