School lines and property values may be at stake when the boundaries for Hampton, Rodgers Forge and Riderwood elementary schools are redrawn next year.

Reconfiguring the school districts paves the way for the opening next September of the new elementary school now under construction in the 6900 block of North Charles Street.

The new school's 451 seats will help eliminate the overcrowding at Rodgers Forge Elementary. In September 2008, the last figures available from Baltimore County Public Schools, Rodgers Forge had 709 students enrolled in a school with a state-rated capacity of 396, and has had to send fourth-graders to the Dumbarton Middle School building next door.

"The number of students will be reduced when the new school is open, and resources won't have to be stretched as far," said Janice Moore, president of the Rodgers Forge Community Association.

Similarly, the new school will relieve overcrowding at Hampton Elementary, which has a capacity of 307 students and an enrollment of 442 students, and Riderwood Elementary, which has a capacity of 463 students and an enrollment of 518.

Theoretically, redistricting also can affect property values, according to some community residents.

"It's a symbiotic relationship," Moore said. "Test scores or anything that affects your school has the potential to affect your property values."

However, Cathi Forbes, founder of Towson Families United, which successfully fought for an additional elementary school to relieve overcrowding, notes that in this case, all the schools involved are highly ranked.

"There's not a low-achieving school in the bunch," she said. "They are all great, because the teachers take an interest and the parents are involved."

Still, redistricting remains "a delicate process," according to Del. Bill Frank.

"People buy homes in certain neighborhoods because they expect to send their children to that neighborhood school," he said. "Changing that causes anxiety."

A Boundary Study Committee, which will recommend to the Board of Education next year how the new lines should be drawn, begins meeting next Wednesday, Oct. 28.

The committee, composed of parents, teachers, administrators and other representatives of the schools and communities, will meet monthly before presenting options to the public in a forum Jan. 6.

Schools spokesman Charles Herndon said the committee initially will focus on Hampton, Riderwood and Rodgers Forge schools. But there is the possibility the committee may take into consideration adjoining school districts, he said.

"There is not a scenario that will make everyone happy," said Forbes. "Everyone is looking first at how their own family will be affected."

As much as nobody wants to bring politics into it, "there is going to be a lot of jockeying," said Moore. "It could be a sticky wicket.

"Who doesn't want to go to a brand new school with state-of-the-art computers?" she said. "Who doesn't want the best for their child?"

But not every parent would want their child in the new school, Tricia Sturm, president of Riderwood's PTA, said.

For a kindergartner, it might be fine, she said, but older children might be split apart from friends, or a parent might have transportation issues if a younger child is in one school and an older child is in another.

Lindsay Conboy, president of the Rodgers Forge PTA, said the hope is that all the decisions will be made in the best interest of all the communities involved.

And Herndon said the redistricting doesn't have to be contentious.

"The process is designed to bring everybody to the table and to make sure all the voices are heard in order to reach a consensus about the best possible boundaries," he said.

"During the last 10 years it, by and large, has been successful in finding a mutually agreeable solution for most if not all of the parties involved."

Drawing the lines

The public can observe the meetings of the school Boundary Study Committee on Oct. 28, Nov. 18, Dec. 2 and Dec. 16, 5:30-7:30 p.m. each night in the library at Dumbarton Middle School, 300 Dumbarton Road.

"People can hear what's going on," county schools' spokesman Charles Herndon said, "but the public cannot participate in the meetings."

The public will be invited to participate in a Jan. 6 Community Forum on the redistricting plan, 7 to 9 p.m. in the Loch Raven High School auditorium. After that there's a final meeting, tentatively scheduled for Jan. 20, 6 to 7 p.m., in the Dumbarton library.

The Board of Education's "Policy 1280" suggests the committee work within certain parameters, including: efficient use of available space; minimizing cost; attempting to ensure students attend schools closest to their homes; maximizing the number of students who can walk to school; attempting to keep communities together; and following natural boundaries, such as railroads and creeks.

The policy states that boundaries should also consider assigning children from new neighborhoods to other attendance areas with available space rather than disrupting students from existing neighborhoods, and should reject options "which foster racial or socioeconomic isolation."

The committee's decision can be approved, modified, altered or rejected by the area assistant superintendent or the school system superintendent before it is presented to the board.

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