Councilman Opel Jones has prefiled CR134-2019 (A RESOLUTION calling on those offering homes for sale in Howard County to omit references to schools and school zones in certain advertising).

After you get through all of the “WhereAs” statements in the resolution…here is what the resolution call for:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the County Council of Howard County, Maryland this ________ day of ________________, 2019, that the County Council finds that the practice of including school attendance areas when advertising homes is unethical and calls upon real estate agents and others advertising homes for sale in Howard County to eliminate immediately all references to schools, school districts, and school attendance boundaries on directional and promotional signs.

Read the full resolution here: https://apps.howardcountymd.gov/olis/LegislationDetail.aspx?LegislationID=12362

If you drive around the county…it is not uncommon to see this type of advertisements on homes for sale:

Other council members have posted on social media calling out this practice “Howard County Council Member Liz Walsh Raises Concerns About Beazer Homes”

I have seen this practice of advertising schools on home sales discussed many times by many people in the community during the redistricting process the HCPSS is going through right now.

I support this resolution…but I also understand it is a resolution and not a bill (not that different from CR-112)…it holds no legal authority to stop this practice by those choosing to promote specific schools on advertising or marketing materials. This is an ask them to stop…not a tell them to stop or else.

I guess I am hoping that this resolution passes (I can not see why it would not) and that maybe those advertising specific schools will omit this practice in the future.

We will see what happens…I am VERY interested to see if anyone comes out against this resolution publicly…that will be fun to watch (and give me more to write about on this blog).

Scott E