Anne Arundel County Public Schools is seeking public input on a once-in-a-decade planning document that will affect students in the county for generations to come.

The Long Range Facilities Plan is a roadmap that will guide the district in decisions that change the school system’s physical footprint. It identifies facility needs, establishes priorities and acts as an objective decision-making tool.

“This study allows us to put in place a well-formulated, data-driven plan that sets expectations for governmental agencies and the public about our school construction priorities in the coming decade,” said Chief Operating Officer Bill Heiser in a statement.

The district launched a website last week to collect community input. The website features an interactive map, with metrics including the buildings’ ages, utilization ratings and various assessments of building condition. Residents can click anywhere on the map to leave a comment.

The approach is modeled after the website used for the ongoing redistricting process, which uses an interactive map to collect comments. At a recent community meeting, Superintendent Mark Bedell said other school districts have been reaching out to learn how Anne Arundel created the portal.

“I’ve been through a few of these, for people out there who are watching, community involvement in this process is critical, and I’m thinking that web tool is going to be as valuable as the web tool is in the redistricting process so people need to make use of that web tool,” Board of Education President Robert Silkworth said at the April 2 board meeting.

This is an opportunity for residents to call attention to facilities they think may need care or upgrades. For example, Southern High School was built in 1968 and, according to district data, is deficient in fire protection, HVAC and electrical. So stakeholders in that community may share comments about that.

The last facilities plan was released in 2015. It was nearly 500 pages and influenced the construction of three new schools — Crofton High School, Severn Run High School and Two Rivers Elementary — and nine other projects involving replacements and renovations.

The district is working with Perkins Eastman, a Washington D.C.-based architectural firm, in this latest plan.

The website will collect comments through June 1. The final plan will be presented to the Board of Education in September.

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