HCPSS MPIA Request #2022-140

Requestor
Lena Kennedy
Requested Information
I am requesting the number of HCPSS PreK students that were or are currently eligible for bus transportation under distance of 0.5 miles. I am requesting the student transportation information be broken down by school. I am also requesting the number or estimate of PreK students that will be eligible for transportation AFTER the change to 1 mile is implemented next year. I would like to know how many fewer kids will be receiving bus service with this change for PreK?
Date Received
Status
Complete
Response Notes

Responsive to this request, no current reports/data reflect the information sought. Please note, under the MPIA process, and as advised in the Sixteenth Edition of the Maryland Public Information Act Manual created by Maryland’s Office of the Attorney General, an agency is only obligated to produce existing records and is not required to generate new data or summarize data. In order to extract estimated eligibility at 1 mile for current school year students by school from the HCPSS transportation software, a custom report would have to be programmed. Per the MPIA GP § 4-205(c)(4)(iii), an agency is not required to program a new record if the type of data extraction requested is outside its normal course of business.

Additionally, prekindergarten application for SY2022-2023 is ongoing throughout the summer, and thus an estimate of enrollment is not yet available. The prekindergarten program is available for eligible students at select school sites, where attendance is based on a feeder system. Many students attend their home school, however, when overflow is needed, an alternative site location may be assigned with transportation provided. For reference, we have included a record below reflecting rough estimates provided by the HCPSS Transportation Office at the time Policy 5200 was under review for approval by the Board in May 2022.

Responsive Documents
Under MPIA GP § 4-330, we have redacted sociological information where it contains personal phone numbers and/or has the potential to pose a risk to individual safety or privacy.

*Some request language is summarized to include the requester's specific document requests and legally protected information (such as personally identifiable information of a student) or personal, defamatory and malicious content removed at the discretion of the school system.

**Responses containing legally protected information available only to the person of interest are omitted from the above report.

***Howard County Public Schools reserves the right to remove erroneous or outdated documents from this site.