District opens redistricting community engagement, schedules multi‑region forums and county survey

Saint Mary's County Public Schools opened a community engagement process Wednesday to begin redistricting work for school boundaries. The district said it has contracted a consultant to facilitate public forums and will collect countywide input before any boundary changes are proposed to the board.

What the district announced: the first community forum is scheduled at the James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center; registration opened the week of the meeting and the district reported about 140 registrations shortly after posting. The district said it will hold additional forums in southern, central and northern parts of the county and will videotape the sessions for later viewing; the meetings will not be live-streamed.

Timing and scope: district staff stressed that no students will be moved for the 2025-26 school year and that any boundary changes would be considered for the 2026-27 school year. The district said a countywide survey will be sent after the consultant's initial engagements to gather broader input beyond forum attendees.

Public process and official information: staff urged residents to rely on official district communications rather than social media and provided the dedicated web page for authoritative materials: smcps.org/redistricting. "This is the part where we really start gathering input from people, not on Facebook, but directly to us," a presenter said.

Format notes: the superintendent said the first forum will be an informational and interactive session led by the consultant and is not equivalent to a board meeting public hearing; the format will differ from a formal public-comment hearing at a board meeting.

Next steps: the district will continue to publicize forums, post materials and share videotaped content; the board will receive regular updates as community engagement continues.